The term ‘marketing automation’ has the ability to strike equal amounts of fear and delight into marketing professionals the world over. For some, it may be seen as a precursor to being found out as a redundant cog in the wheels of industry or for becoming a proponent of spammy messages; for others, it can help alleviate the burden of manual tasks and enable focus to be placed on more creative and rewarding features of a particular campaign. Regardless of your own particular opinion, more and more forms of marketing automation and associated software are available, leaving the door open for embracing the very best marketing automation techniques to help lift your strategies to greater heights.
Content marketing automation
So, how can marketing automation benefit your content strategy? Before going any further, it should be stressed that these techniques will serve only to complement your strategy; there is no shortcut to success, no software that can replicate the skill of experience copywriters, and no substitute for considered planning and strategising. Instead, these marketing automation techniques can be utilised to enhance returns and offer support to your content strategy.
So, what marketing automation techniques are available to help your content strategy? We take a look at three fundamental techniques below.
1. Nurturing leads
By creating a lead nurturing workflow, you can ensure that your business delivers the content your customers need at a time they need it. This nurturing workflow can be a basic checklist of content ideas that help support your prospects through a sale. It should refrain from being too pushy, and simply offer a guiding hand through the necessary stages. In fact, promoting products will only serve to alienate customers, potentially prompting them to unsubscribe from email lists or blocking social media updates.
The nurturing of leads should instead remind customers about how you can help them, create awareness, and establish authority within the marketplace, thereby keeping you at the forefront of their mind when the time comes to invest in your product.
2. Triggered emailing
For increased open rates and a higher click-through rate, triggered emailing represents the perfect marketing automation solution. Effective and efficient, triggered emails can be tailored according to the specifics of your customer. For example, by automating personalised emails to be delivered on specific dates (say, the birthday of your customer), you can stay in touch with your customer via a relevant message at a relevant time, all without lifting a finger.
Similarly, triggered emails can be automated via on-site activity. Should a website user visit three-or-more pages on one particular subject matter, why not set up an automated email to send offering even more information, such as a whitepaper or a link to an ebook?
3. Tailored landing page
It’s common for a paid marketing campaign (PPC) to neglect the importance of a suitable landing page. After all, it’s easier and less effort to simply direct paid traffic to an existing page with links to all sections of your site, right? Wrong. Well-designed, well-configured landing pages with suitable content convert. Combined with the right message supporting the campaign, you can ensure your money is spent effectively. Driving your paid – and email – traffic to a destination already tailored to answer its questions or further its interests enables you to put your PPC budget to work with little effort.
These techniques are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing automation, and it should be noted that there is no sure-fire means of success. That said, you can rest assured that by laying the correct foundations, you will be able to move forward in your marketing strategy with an enhanced selection of automation tactics.
