One of the hardest things about marketing is the need to keep up with the times, to constantly be aware of all the trends, even if it is not clear at the outset how exactly they will benefit your business or customers.
We don't have to look far for examples: Forrester's first forecast for marketing automation technology predicted that spending on it would grow from $11.4 billion in 2017 to $25.1 billion by 2023, and the agency itself said that marketers are in the early stages of adopting the practice:
Forecast for the global spread of marketing automation technologies, from 2017 to 2023
Forecast for the global spread of marketing automation technologies, from 2017 to 2023
But in another survey, 58% of marketers surveyed said they had failed to find a good use for the technology, due to a “lack of an effective strategy”:
58% of surveyed marketers noted that they were unable to find a proper application for this technology
Marketers typically understand that automation is important and plan to spend more money on it in the near future... but they don't know how to develop a strategy to use it effectively.
If this sounds familiar, don’t worry. Developing an automation strategy isn’t easy, but it’s worth the time. By identifying the audience you plan to reach and the pitch you’ll make before, during, and after the purchase decision, you’ll have a strategy that will make those expensive automation platforms work and pay for themselves.
Let's get started on developing an automation strategy, but first let's figure out what these technologies are particularly good at and what they are not so good at.
Where Marketing Automation Will Benefit You and Where It Won't
While marketing automation is generally good for business, it can't replace traditional marketing tools and campaigns. You'll still need to send seasonal emails to your customers, write articles, and intervene kuwait phone number data with your sales and customer service teams when they need to be more customer-friendly.
Marketing automation shines when it is used to:
delivering messages to landing page visitors , leads and buyers at key moments before, during or after the purchasing process;
providing important information to these same people;
automate registration, subscription or reminder processes for important events that would otherwise have to be delegated to customer service or sales managers.
A survey conducted by Liana Technologies found that most marketers cite improved message targeting, improved user experience, and attracting more qualified leads as the top benefits of using marketing automation software:
Survey conducted by Liana Technologies
Overall, marketing automation is most useful as a tool for delivering messages to potential buyers before, during, and after they become customers. This is worth keeping in mind when you start thinking about what to automate.