Can I Use Digital Marketing Automation and AI To Grow My Business?

AI and automation in digital marketing are forever changing the cost-efficiency of how we market. It is a misconception to think of marketing automation as hands-off. It isn’t. Managed effectively, however, you get a lot more ROI and better results with far, far less effort. AI and automation offer big things. Here’s how you can grow your business with automation fast and effectively.

What Is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation uses software to do repetitive tasks on your behalf, automated to a schedule or behaviour of your choosing. Automation can be used on all digital marketing channels, from social media and email marketing to creating customer service chatbots.

What Is Possible With Marketing Automation?

Automation delivers a dual effect in a marketing campaign. It generates more sales at an increase of 12-16% on average and a similar reduction in marketing overhead. This is great news for businesses that are struggling to make their digital marketing budgets work.

What Can Automation Help With?

Some of the things marketing automation can do is the following:

Customer communications, sending out emails to segmented audiences and cultivating leads.

Lead nurturing, plugging users who have registered with you either via email or social media into different long-term marketing plans.

Content scheduling, setting up blogs, content, images, and video to be released at specific times.

Social media management, scheduling when to put up posts, using chatbots, and automating certain aspects of social media management.

Market research can be automated to a degree through various software and reformatted into relevant recommendations for your business.

Marketing analytics uses automation to gather data on who is viewing your business pages, what they’re clicking on, and can draw all sorts of activity from this behaviour.

Where’s An Easy Place To Start With Marketing Automation?

Email marketing is one of the easier places to begin your journey with automation. You can time emails to be sent at specific moments in the customer-brand relationship. There are also ways to blend in customizations with pre-written messages which can help cultivate these leads. This is strongly recommended.

Can I Use Marketing Automation For A/B Testing?

Yes, A/B testing is a great use of marketing automation. A/B testing through automation saves time, gathers together real-time data, and can help set up a campaign quickly. How to do A/B testing effectively is a whole other subject but it’s absolutely something that every brand should look into. It can really optimize a campaign and, through automation, takes very little time to complete.

How Can I Automate My Marketing Analytics?

Marketing analytics are already automated to a degree. They collect data on sales, leads, and campaigns. Some software will generate automated reports for you to view. They vary in their value. It’s probably best to have someone go over the data and assess it in accordance with strategies in use or considered strategies for the future.

What Is The Best Digital Marketing Automation Software?

The best digital marketing automation software can vary greatly. Some are tailored to specific industries or tasks.

Hubspot is a leader in automation software. It is very user-friendly and can help with content scheduling and distribution, email marketing, leads, and analytics data.

Marketo can help with marketing campaigns and provide automation on emails, user behaviour tracking, and various forms of messaging.

Customer.io is an example of software that is built around email automation. It identifies when a customer is behaving a certain way and triggers an action – i.e. an email – in response. What that email says and how it happens are established by rules set by you.

There are dozens of other platforms, software, and digital marketing services available that use automation.

Where Does The ‘Human’ Come In Play With Automation?

We mentioned earlier how automation is not hands-off. It takes a human being to oversee automation and ensure it’s working as it should. A business should assign a person to fit this automation oversight into their day. Marketing automation is a growing skill and with this area expanding, you want to ensure you understand the software you’re using and avoid potential mistakes in use.

Can Any Task Be Automated?

Automation can be used in an array of contexts. The best way to use marketing automation is strictly on repetitive tasks. This is where you’ll find the biggest gains. Basic admin tasks can be automated, saving you time and allowing you to rededicate your time to the more important business decisions you have to tackle on a day-to-day basis.

What Are Common Marketing Automation Mistakes To Avoid?

Assuming the software is functional, the more common marketing automation mistakes originate in human error. Even though the task is automated, the message you send is still written by the business. Therefore, the focus becomes how to write the best and most potent marketing message.

Create a buyer persona for your audience. Identify location, interests, habits, and motivations.

Adopt a narrative voice and tone that matches your audience. Maintain that tone on every message.

Customizations. A recipient of a message should feel like it’s being crafted for them and as human as possible.

Do not use automation to post the same type of content again and again. Use different formats, i.e. text, image, animation, infographic, video, etc. Be bold and unique.

How Do I Set Up Marketing Automation For My Business?

How to set up automation in marketing is tied directly to your objectives. It’s easy to get very excited about automation and to use it more than you need to. Automation best works when it’s associated with a goal, such as increasing leads, engagement, a specific type of conversion, or sales.

How Do I Know When To Post An Automated Message?

There is no ‘best time’ for all brands and businesses to post something on social media or to send out an email. While there are some standards to follow, you will really have to do your own research and experimenting to find when the right time is to send out a message. If you have sufficient demographics already plugged into your brand, your analytics may be able to shine a light on that.

Is Your Business Ready For Marketing Automation?

Let’s say your marketing automation is a runaway hit. It’s doing exactly what you want it to do and your numbers are terrific. There are still plenty of areas where you can lose people. Badly thought-out web design. A sales funnel that’s too lengthy. Poor-quality content. Content that overlooks certain demographics in your audience. Strengthen your online presence before jumping into marketing automation.

How Do I Plan Out My Content, Emails, And Posts With Automation?

What was an excellent, optimized marketing message on Friday might not be the same the following Monday. When you automate a campaign, be aware that you have to monitor it to ensure your marketing is going to be received as intended. Trends move quickly. Hashtags disappear. Events transpire in the world that can re-contextualize certain posts as highly inappropriate. This is, again, where human oversight is much needed.

Should I Use Digital Marketing Automation For My Business Online?

If you still aren’t sure whether automation is for you in 2022, here are some digital marketing automation statistics that may sway you.

Businesses using marketing automation to nurture leads see an average 450% increase in qualified lead generation.

63% of companies using marketing automation outperformed their competitors in sales and ROI.
The use of chatbots has reduced customer support costs in some businesses by 30% or more.

By automating social media posts, this act alone can save a business owner 6 hours per week.

AI and automation are going to play a role in the majority of digital marketing interactions and Unlimited Exposure is here to offer campaigns, strategies, and guidance on how to optimize automation for your needs and objectives. Reach out to one of our digital marketing experts today to learn more.