Contrary to the widespread belief, marketing automation is not an extremely complex piece of technology. Then again, it is not your elementary arithmetic either. Marketers and businesses get sold on the very idea that marketing automation is a magical piece of technology that will propel their organization forward. Let's bust the myths and understand the true facts behind marketing automation.
There’s a certain misconception that exists amongst business owners and marketers alike. However, you will never believe the bizarre truth behind marketing automation. The expectations that people had based on this misconception, obviously did not match reality. This results in marketers losing hope and giving up on marketing automation.
First things first, your marketing AUTOMATION platform is not a marketing AUTOPILOT platform. The platform does not get you leads. You have to use the platform correctly to generate a greater number of leads. When you opt for a marketing automation platform, you have to do the work, and program the platform so that it can facilitate the generation of leads.
Here are some of the strange facts behind Marketing Automation that you won’t believe:
Fact #1: Marketing Automation seems magical to some, it works with a small JavaScript code added to your website which tracks visitors based on cookies. No complex implementations are required at all. But yes, the configuration is complex and the time-frame depends on your needs.
With marketing automation, you can track every single visitor because of a small cookie is added to their web browser which then tracks their actions on your website. Your platform will diligently store every action taken by a prospect, lead or a customer.
Fact #2: Marketing Automation can identify contacts on social media and help you send them personalized messages.
With the help of social media plugins, your automation platform can identify your contacts on social media networks. Then, based on their actions on your website, you can send them personalized messages. Isn’t it magical?
Fact #3: Marketing Automation can help you create lists of prospects based on their social media interactions.
Depending on how your interactions went on social media with your contacts, you can create a list of prospects. You can segment them using the segmentation feature in automation platforms depending on their actions on your website.
Fact #4: Marketing Automation can identify and show personalized content based on the visitors IP, browsing history or even position in your sales cycle.
Once a visitor’s information is stored on your automation software, it will be able to identify that particular individual based on its unique information, like browsing history, position in the sales funnel and their IP address. You can then use the dynamic content feature, which is nothing but personalized customizable content produced for that specific customer.
Using the IP address, you can show personalized pricing in local currency depending on the location of your visitors. Sounds magical? But it’s simple IP tracking and dynamic content technology at play.
Fact #5: Marketing Automation can identify contacts' interactions and visits even before they sign-up.
The most bizarre thing about marketing automation is that you can start identifying contacts’ actions and interactions even before they opt-in or sign-up on your website. You can still monitor their activities and show relevant content to turn them into leads.
You have to utilize the in-built tools to make sure that your platform is operating correctly. Marketing automation helps you to automate your mundane marketing tasks. It frees you, so that you can concentrate on creating winner marketing campaigns and incorporate that strategy in the platform. It is like a car that lets you travel quickly from one point to another point. It is not a driverless drone, so you have to drive it and maintain it.
More than anything else, marketing automation is a tool.
You will have to create quality content for your blogs, newsletters, and eBooks and interact with people on social media channels. However marketing automation helps you target the correct audience. The process through which it stores vital information lets you segment your leads better. Each segment consists of people who are interested in similar things. Thus you will be creating tailor-made content for that segment only. In this way marketing automation helps you nurture your leads properly.
You will never get leads if you don’t produce content, promote it and analyze the reports that your platform provides. This will only result in wastage of money that is part of your marketing budget. You will have to do the grunt work in order to generate leads.
Most marketers who are using marketing automation and are not achieving any success are unaware of the truth. They use it as a CMS, and do not utilize the tools that come with the platform. Automation is not magic. If you are not creating landing pages, setting up lead generation and nurturing programs, then you are not utilizing your platform to the fullest. If you are not using marketing and educational content to promote your brand and interacting with people on social media channels using your automation tool, then that is not the tool’s fault.
Your lead generation problems will not solve itself if you just adopt a marketing automation platform. It will only make your hard work worthwhile. It will definitely improve your efficiency but it will not improve the quality of marketing. The quality of marketing solely depends on you and your department’s efforts. Automation makes sure that all the processes are working per schedule as per demanded. Automation will not propel itself automatically. You will have to take care and tweak your campaigns. If you are struggling with retaining leads, maybe you should work towards improving your lead nurturing programs. You will have to generate the right content and reach out to your lead at the right moment.
With marketing automation this job becomes easier because you get access to dynamic content and lead scoring. But that does not mean that you will stop generating content. You will have to keep on doing what you were doing before you adopted marketing automation. Your activities will not change, and you should focus on improving them further.
The bottom-line is, marketing automation is not magic. It is a tool just like any other that makes your life easier. You can schedule a FREE consultation, if you want to know more about marketing automation and how it functions.
