Marketing automation saves time and helps you execute your strategy more effectively.
North American Bancard Sales Partners with growing portfolios know the value of executing a marketing strategy that’s both solid and targeted. However, finding time to implement that strategy can be a challenge, especially if you’re doing everything manually. If that’s the case, it may be time to make a change. Marketing automation tools offer you solutions for completing marketing tasks without cutting into the time you need to address other areas of your business.
They can also provide other benefits, such as ensuring you are sending messaging and promotions relevant to different segments of your customer list. There’s even more good news: Many tools that can save you time and help you engage with your audience more effectively are also available at a low or minimal cost!
Do a web search of the following six types of marketing automation tools to start researching your options and their capabilities.
1. Email marketing.
If you’ve ever sent emails one by one or tried sending BCCs – and found out they all went to junk mail and your email address got flagged as spam, we don’t need to tell you the value of a good email marketing tool. With the right one, you’ll be able to effortlessly manage your lists so that your merchants who operate salons don’t get messaging targeting convenience stores. Best of all, you compose the email, select the list, and the tool does the sending. It can even keep track of bad email addresses and bouncebacks to help keep your data clean.
2. Mobile messaging tools.
Your prospects may suffer from email fatigue and ignore the messages you’re sending to their inboxes – but they will likely click on their text messages. In fact, Pew Research Center has found that text messaging is the most frequently used smartphone feature. Furthermore, according to Pew, 33 percent of American adults prefer text to other forms of communication.
Texting links to information your current and potential customers will find valuable, or messages that make them aware of new products or special offers should result in greater marketing ROI. Mobile messaging tools make that process simple and efficient.
3. Social media management.
Social media can be an effective way to reach prospects and build a community, but it takes time and effort to find followers and keep engaging them with fresh content. One of the challenges is the time it takes to go in and out of different platforms that your customers and prospects use. Social media management platforms enable you to use one dashboard to manage all of your social media accounts while keeping one window open to watch for engagement so you can quickly respond.
4. Lead nurturing.
Do your sales and marketing teams qualify leads and nurture them through the sales funnel in a timely and consistent manner? If the answer is no, lead nurturing software can help. This tool, which usually works with customer relationship management (CRM) software, will send follow-up messages after a sales rep contacts a prospect, as well as periodically sending information to keep them engaged. The tool can then provide sales reps with a list of leads due for an in-person call.
You can also find low-cost tools that will help you create professional landing pages and web forms to capture data on leads (from inbound marketing for example) sending emails when a prospect attends a webinar or downloads an ebook.
5. Graphic design and photo editing.
The content you share online, in emails, and on social media will look more professional and polished when you create it with graphic design or photo editing software. You can create infographics, memes, and branded visuals quickly and easily – don’t worry, you won’t need formal training. You can also say goodbye to the pixelated images and screen captures that are reflecting negatively on your brand.
6. Customer surveys.
You may also find it valuable to use a customer survey tool to gauge your customers’ interest in new products and services, and to learn more about your audience’s pain points. You can find low-cost or no-cost marketing automation tools that allow you to put a simple survey together, send it, and even analyze and visualize results to make them both easy to understand, and actionable.
Are you spending your time on tasks that marketing automation tools could be completing?
Why spend time on repetitive tasks, searching for information, or settling for low-quality graphics or images when there are marketing automation tools that will do that work for you?
The number of platforms, applications, and plug-ins that can make the process of automating your marketing activities is overwhelming in its own right. Our team is always available to talk through your strategy to help you find the solution that’s right for you. Contact us for more information.
