Winning a big deal or a dream client is a huge boom for any business owner but if you’re not prepared for the influx of new work that follows, that celebrated new wave of work can quickly become a wave of panic.
As AI (artificial intelligence) performs some of the tasks that are usually carried out by humans, automating tasks can offer quick and effective solutions that enable businesses to be better prepared for the times when internal resources and staff are stretched.
This article will explore how business owners can use automation in their marketing campaigns to develop their brand, grow their online reach and optimise digital marketing across social media channels.
The actual tasks here can be quite varied and might revolve around anything from customer relationship management through to the deployment of email marketing. In addition to automating key campaigns such as marketing, you can tackle repetitive jobs far quicker and therefore avoid the stress of taking on a new and exciting client or contract.
What is marketing automation?
Functionally, when we talk about automation from a marketing perspective, it means using software to perform some of the tasks that are usually carried out by humans. AI can develop their brand and grow their online reach as well as optimise digital marketing campaigns across channels. The actual tasks here can be quite varied and might revolve around anything from customer relationship management through to the deployment of email marketing.
Although there are pitfalls from relying too much on automation over human input, when used effectively, marketing automation allows companies to be more proactive, productive and responsive to customers and potential customers. As well as using automation to help you cope with the big client wins, think ahead to how you can strategise to seal the next big deal, lucrative contract tender or client pitch you’re after!
Knowing how to automate business strategies like marketing or streamline operations allows your business to relieve pressure and reduce down heavier than usual workloads. Here are four reasons why automating your marketing campaign can add value to your business as a whole.
1. Add a personal touch
It is very effective in marketing campaigns to make the recipient of any marketing materials feel valued and that the communications targeted at them have been personalised. For engaging customers and building mutual trust, it pays dividends to personalise a site and your marketing comms. With the Internet likely to become saturated with AI-generated content, search engines will trust content created by someone they know about.
On the flip side, however, individually personalising marketing communications can be an enormous challenge that would almost certainly not be a good use of anyone’s time. Personalization is something that is made simple and instantaneous by automation. There are many different ways that this could work – but take the time of software that can look at a customer’s purchase history, and send out an email with suggestions for other products that customers with a similar buying history also bought.
Once again, this is something that marketing staff would be wasted on, but when it is carried out via software it can be very effective.
2. Boost your brand reach and conversion rates
It is important to point out that one of the major reasons to invest in marketing automation is that it can have such a positive effect on your brand’s reach and your business from a financial perspective. If automation can make your marketing team more effective, it can make it very possible to grow leads and make more sales.
For example, you can use automated software that allows you to track leads more effectively – this can be used to up the conversion rate. The software can track those leads that don’t end up converting and then re-target them with adverts in order to get a second chance at making the sale.
3. Customised customer and client services
There can be no doubt that ChatGPT has opened the world’s eyes to the possibilities of personalised customer service provided by AI chatbots. AI chatbots that remember the conversion, as well as learning and adapting their answers to suit the specifics of the query have the power to provide transformative customer service experience without human interaction. AI chatbots can now more accurately and intelligently mimic human speech and are able to adapt their response depending on the context of the conversation. In fact, according to one report, 74% of customers actually prefer to use chatbots when they are looking to get an answer to a simple query.
Automating your website to communicate and signpost directly to customers can support customers through necessary but time-consuming procedures. If urgent forms need processing in industries that are regulated or require formal licences, such as construction firms, driving centres or healthcare agencies, automated signposting to online forms on site pages will speed up the process, lead to quicker conversions and alleviate your employees having to physically process online applications or requests.
4. Predictive analytics
Predictive analytics is a form of AI that can help marketers make decisions by analysing large sets of data and identifying patterns and trends. By leveraging predictive analytics, marketers can better understand customer behaviour and predict their future actions. This can help in creating targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to result in higher engagement and conversions.
For instance, it can be used to create customer personas by analysing datasets to identify the common characteristics of customers who have made a purchase or interacted with the brand in some way. These personas can then be used to create targeted campaigns that are more likely to resonate with specific customer segments.
In addition, predictive analytics can help in identifying potential churners or customers who are likely to stop using a product or service.
AI tech can elevate your current campaign’s performance, improve your business operations and help to safeguard your customer’s data. Functionally, automation can be extremely effective for your marketing campaigns and there are multiple advantages for businesses to consider business marketing automation, including: greater efficiency, increased productivity, and financial savings. The initial cost of putting effective software in place will generally be recouped quickly by the fact that your marketing team is able to make more sales. New tech can boost businesses and promote online reputation with different examples of how to use AI/automation tech most effectively.
Meanwhile, the arrival of ChatGPT as a powerhouse marketing tool might welcome a new generation of AI chatbots and tools in the future and is sparking a lot of interest. Marketing professionals already recognize their value AI and new automation tools for driving forward website search results, speeding up repetitive processes and for boosting leads or conversions. However, the future potential of AI and automation tools to add value to marketing is exciting. And, remember, marketing automation can be carried out in virtually every industry.
