3 Proven Marketing Automation Strategies to Improve Your Business

Use Marketing Automation to Streamline Your Business and Connect with Customers

Marketing automation is more than a buzzword — it's a game-changer for businesses seeking to streamline processes, nurture leads, and keep customers.

If done right, marketing automation can significantly enhance your business efficiency, allowing more time for personal connections with your customers and leading to sustainable growth.

When done wrong, it’s used to try to fix a broken or untested process.

This blog post explores the essentials of effective marketing automation, discusses key strategies, and provides practical advice for implementation.

Understanding Marketing Automation

Before diving into the practicalities, it's important to appreciate the fundamental purpose of marketing automation.

At its best, marketing automation removes manual, repetitive marketing tasks.

Things like lead generation, email marketing, social media posts, and even ad campaigns are ripe for automation. This not only saves time but also provides consistency and precision in your marketing efforts.

But before you start exploring marketing automation tools (yeah ... I'm looking at you, ChatGPT) and building out complex automated marketing campaigns (step aside, you hot little chatbot app), let's talk for a minute about how automation supports your overall marketing strategies.

1. Best Practices: Strategy Over Software

One common mistake businesses make is starting with a marketing automation platform, or falling in love with software a competitor or colleague uses, rather than strategy development.

Falling in love with potential is a problem I've seen not only in working with micro businesses, but also within the Fortune 500. 

Let me give you a tangible example.

Supermarkets across the US fell in love with the potential workforce reductions and other cost savings associated with self-checkout.

BUT ... it didn't consider how potential customers would react to completing their own customer journey, or the myriad other downsides (bad user experience, increased theft, etc.). Now, despite the millions it cost to implement, many stores are rolling it back. 

The starting point of every successful marketing automation strategy should always be your business goals, vision, and mission. Your marketing automation strategy should align with these elements to make sure it supports your overarching objectives.

That includes how you treat your current and potential customers. Whether it's B2B or B2C marketing, your success doesn't depend on marketing automation software. Rather, it depends on how you address pains (e.g., mundane, repetitive tasks) within your organization that negatively affect service delivery.

Ask the Right Marketing and Sales Questions

• What are you trying to achieve, and why? Begin by identifying your key goals. Trust me when I say that the answer here should never be "because someone else is doing it," or "it's a hot trend right now." Nor should it be dealing in hypotheticals. What are you trying to do NOW, and why are you doing it? 
• Are you looking to improve lead generation, enhance customer engagement, or streamline your onboarding process? (AKA what are the sales and marketing goals) Write these down and map out your current processes to identify areas ripe for automation. 
• Is this the right marketing automation solution at the RIGHT TIME? This is a tricky question, especially if marketing and sales reps are breathing down your neck, or you're looking for a 'quick fix' because of an upcoming event or new issue. It's ALWAYS better to slow your roll rather than wipe out your budget. For example, the marketing model I use with clients prioritizes things like email marketing automation over more complex automation like SMS marketing or marketing content. Nail the basics first.

Understand What Marketing Automation Helps: Your Process

• Before automating any task, understand your existing processes thoroughly. Those fancy digital marketing automation workflows people are pushing all over Instagram and LinkedIn WON'T fix a broken process.
• For example, if you're looking to automate client onboarding, outline every step you currently take — from sending contracts and links to invoicing. Then, create a successful marketing automation to emulate those key steps.  Automation helps when you have clarity. 
• Having a clear understanding of these processes will enable you to automate them effectively and meaningfully. It may mean that a fully automated solution isn't the solution. It's better to know that BEFORE spending hundreds, thousands, or more. As an executive at the City of Portland, we had our share of failures when we tried to create programs out of thin air. 

2. Consider Your Customer Journey

Your customers should always be at the center of your automation strategy.

Whether they are tech-savvy or prefer simplicity, your automation tools should facilitate, not hinder their experience. You can look at best practices all day, but if your customers aren't aligned with your approach, fuggetaboutit. Every automation plan must include customer adoption. 

For example, it doesn't matter how many people you know (or have seen) using Manychat for Instagram (chatbot and DMs). If your customers aren't on Instagram/What'sApp, or don't respond well to DM marketing, then there's no point in chasing this social media marketing strategy. Yet, every day people chase paper tigers based on potential.

User-Friendly Automation

Make sure your automation processes are straightforward and easy to navigate.

For example, if you have an e-commerce site, minimize the steps needed for customers to make a purchase. The fewer clicks, the better.

Test, and retest before putting things in the wild.

Personalization is Key

Use automation to enhance, not replace, personal interactions.

That's right ... automate marketing processes so you can be MORE human in your business. Why? Because your customers expect it.

Personalized experiences based on customer behavior, past purchases, or preferences can significantly improve engagement and satisfaction.

For example, sending a thank-you email or a special offer on a customer's birthday can make them feel valued.

3. Selecting the Right Marketing Automation Software

Once you have your strategy in place, it's time to choose the software that'll help you achieve your goals.

The right marketing automation software integrates seamlessly with other tools currently in your tech stack to avoid manual data transfer and reduce the likelihood of errors.

I love Zapier as much as the next person, but I'll take a native integration all.day.long. 

Integration Examples

When I work with clients, I'm always searching for long-established, enterprise-grade tools with an affordable option for small businesses. It's not that I have anything against ClickFunnels, ManyChat, HighLevel, or the other high-buzz, garden-variety marketing tools of the moment. They're great for early adopters (like me). 

But tools with a long, successful track record, such as MailerLite, Shopify, and Thinkific, among others, can form the bedrock for a cohesive ecosystem that meets your long-term automation needs.

Each tool should be selected based on how well it talks to (integrates with) your existing systems and fulfills your specific requirements.

Benefits of Marketing Automation Tools

When implemented correctly, marketing automation offers several benefits:

Streamlined Tasks

Automation handles mundane tasks like sending follow-up emails, onboarding, cold emails, content marketing, scheduling social media posts, and managing customer relationships.

This frees up your time to focus on strategic initiatives and customer interaction.

Lead Nurturing

Automated workflows can capture leads through personalized opt-ins, welcome series emails, and educational content.

This makes sure that every lead is nurtured and moved down the sales funnel systematically.

Marketing automation allows you to send the right marketing messages to the right customers at the best time. 

Customer Retention

Keeping existing customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones.

Use automation for onboarding, loyalty programs, feedback collection, and personalized communication like thank-you notes and special offers.

Integrations and Specialized Niches

Some industries have highly specialized needs that require niche solutions.

For example, event planning, real estate, and healthcare have unique regulatory and operational requirements.

It's essential to select integration-friendly tools that cater to these specific needs, providing seamless communication and efficiency.

Marketing Automation is Crucial to Growth

Marketing automation, when aligned with your business strategy, can be a powerful tool to simplify operations, enhance customer engagement, and drive growth.

Start with a clear strategy, focus on customer-friendly processes, choose the right software, and enjoy the benefits of a streamlined and efficient business operation.

By implementing marketing automation thoughtfully, you transform time-consuming tasks into efficient workflows. Then you can focus on what truly matters — building relationships and delivering value to your customers.

Need help with marketing automation? Reach out for a discovery call.