As times change, so do all things. A thing that was popular two years back is obsolete at the moment. When it comes to the world of marketing, nowadays marketing automation is the only word that can be heard. Considered to be a perfect solution, marketing automation is a robust tool for marketers.
There is nothing greater than marketing automation, in theory.
It is a complex tool. Yes, you can generate an incredible amount of traffic, attract loads of leads and close a high number of deals. But you have to be clever about it. You have to have a strategy otherwise your days of running from pillar to post in order to increase your organization’s revenue will never be over.
Over 55% of B2B companies are using marketing automation in order to run their business. How long till all industries start adopting automation as their saviour?
Our guess? Not long.
With so many positive aspects, one cannot help but wonder about the possibilities of negative aspects that might creep in with time. After all every good thing has a bad side to it, but people learn how to curb it, control it, etc.
So, does marketing automation pose any danger?
It does, but it is also easy to take care of it once you identify it. However, in order to make it easy, we have taken the pains of identifying the dangers so that you have an idea of how to deal with it.
Autopilot Dependency
One of the primary dangers of marketing automation is a sense of dependence. Marketers, you know what I’m talking about. Automation gives us a sense of running on autopilot. If this is not kept in check, then the system will suffer a setback.
Total dependence on marketing automation leads to the replacement of the real. As a marketer you lose touch with reality and day to day interactions with humans. After all, automation is meant to improve customer relations.
Marketing automation is not a robot. The name might suggest otherwise. But you can’t just give it a list of tasks and sit back while it works.
No.
You have to monitor the system from time to time. You have to tweak the system based on feedback so that it can perform better.
With marketing automation, you have the opportunity of being relevant. Being on autopilot will not really allow you to be relevant to your customers or leads forever. You will have to keep improving the configuration, workflows and your content. Otherwise, it will just keep churning content without thinking whether it is relevant or not.
Relevance is key for today’s consumer, and if you don’t monitor your system, then you are going to lose business. You have to be quick and have the right content at the right time in order to attract your target audience.
Here’s a few things that you might notice once you start taking control of your own marketing automation platform:
- Carefully cultivated client relationships
- Personalized communication with leads and prospects
- No more missed opportunities
- Increase in customer engagement
- Timely marketing
- Relevant content
You are after all, human. You will be able to read emotions of consumers, something which a piece of technology cannot. Hence, the marketer’s role is becoming increasingly important with the advent of marketing automation. Marketing automation might carry out your mundane tasks, but you will still be calling the shots.
The Evil that is Complacency
Consumers want a brand that they can connect to. They want a brand that takes personal interest in them. Marketing automation allows you to do that. With lead management and dynamic content, you can actually make it work and consumers will soon be flocking over your brand.
But that puts a subtle pressure on you and your brand. Now that you are reaching out to your leads and customers with relevant content all the time, you will always have to be on your toes in order to make sure that the right content reaches the right audience.
To build a personalized relationship with a lead takes time, but if you become complacent, then there might be a chance of losing that relationship in a split second.
You have to pay careful attention to what your lead wants all the time. You have to solve their problems if you want them to take your brand seriously.
Complacency is a real danger and it is directly linked to the dependence of the autopilot nature. If you can eradicate the autopilot nature, fighting complacency is no issue either.
Marketing automation requires you to manage multiple channels from one platform. You have to keep improving your campaigns by tweaking them according to the reports that are generated. If you grow complacent, you will find it difficult to engage customers or close deals.
Rely too much on the tool and your skills will degrade, rely too less on the tool and you are set to lose customers.
Competitor’s Envy
Just like you want to know what your competitors are up to, your competitors too want to know what you are up to.
So, don’t be surprised if you find your competitors subscribed to your email newsletters, blogs, etc.
Earlier on a marketer would send newsletters and other emails manually to each prospect. So, there was no way of that email ending up in a competitor’s inbox.
However that is difficult to prevent now because everything is automated thanks to marketing automation.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Marketing automation helps you add smart lists. You can add a list of competitors’ emails that will be filtered automatically. These email addresses will not receive any form of communication from you anymore. Include email addresses of competition and they will not receive your emails.
Not only that, you can also configure your workflow in such a manner that non-company email addresses based out of Gmail, Yahoo etc. are also filtered (another way to outsmart competition who’s keen to track you).
The danger from marketing automation is a danger to your brand. The source of this danger lies in too much dependency on a tool that is not meant to run independently.
Before you do anything else, review your marketing automation strategy. Is there any possibility of falling prey to the above mentioned dangers? If yes, then take necessary precautions so that such a scenario does not arise.
If you’d like Esanosys to audit your marketing automation system, then send us an email to info@esanosys.com .
