What Marketing Processes Should You Automate?

If you’re still manually handling all your marketing processes, you’re missing out on a lot of benefits that marketing automation platforms offer. These tools not only save time and spare you from major headaches but also help keep your business running smoothly. But why are you sticking to manual processing to this day, anyway?

Why is automation non-negotiable in business?

Even when you’re most comfortable with manual processing, your business will need the power of automation at some point. Take data entry, for example. It’s doable if you’re talking hundreds but impossible with thousands or millions of data inputs.

• With repetitive tasks out of the way, your team can focus more on developing strategies and being productive.
• Automation is built for accuracy and consistency, helping eliminate human errors in terms of reporting, messaging, and scheduling.
• Automation platforms are built with scalability in mind, which means they will grow with your business without sacrificing speed or quality.
• Eliminate downtimes and delays that can impact customer experience.

Core Processes Ripe for Automation

You may be wondering which marketing processes your business can automate to keep up with the fast-paced business landscape.

Customer service and support

Dealing with an influx of customer queries and messages can become overwhelming, whether there is one or a number of people dealing with them. And any customer hates being ignored or not receiving a response immediately.

• Automate first-line responses, especially commonly asked questions, for improved customer communication
• Set up auto-ticketing systems to deal with complex issues and ensure they’re routed to the right team member.
• Automate feedback and survey requests following any customer or support interactions.

Social media marketing

Depending on the frequency with which you need to post content on social networks, you could be spending a huge chunk of your time and energy on social media marketing. With many social media scheduling tools and other automation options, you can maintain brand visibility in real time without expending a lot of energy.

• Take advantage of content planners to schedule posts in advance
• Set up auto-responders for DMs to maintain client engagement
• Automate cross-platform posting to expand visibility across multiple channels

Content marketing

Creating and sharing valuable content is the easiest way to establish brand awareness and expand your reach. Creation is one thing, but distribution and consistency are another.

• Take advantage of content calendars to automatically assign tasks, set deadlines and publish dates.
• Automate blog creation, review, and publication
• Set a schedule to repurpose content, especially high-performing content, at the best times

Email marketing

Email outreach is an effective way to reach your audience and establish a partnership with other businesses. Done with the right automation tool, your messages will be timely and relevant.

• Automatically send welcome emails for new subscribers or every time someone signs up.
• Send email reminders for abandoned carts
• Automate sending newsletters to your subscribers

Performance monitoring and reporting

With tons of data to collect, automation will speed up the process and ensure you only collect the data you need to analyse.

• Use real-time dashboards to track KPIs across the board
• Schedule when you want to receive reports, whether weekly or monthly, and have them go straight to your inbox
• Automatically track marketing campaigns to easily identify the source of traffic and the conversion rates

Internal communication

Marketing is just one branch that makes up your business and should be aligned with other departments such as sales and customer support. Automating internal communication ensures everyone stays in sync.

• Use shared channels where you can automatically post updates on marketing campaigns, new leads, and the like.
• Enable task notifications so team members receive alerts whenever new input or changes are made.
• CRM should be automatically synced across all platforms so everyone receives updated information.

Selecting the Ideal Automation Solution for Your Business

With plenty of automation platforms offering different functionalities, it’s important to choose a tool that meets your business’s goals, budget and size.

• Truly understand your business’s workflow and identify which repetitive tasks you can automate.
• Choose a platform with local support, so you can receive a prompt response or assistance if a problem arises.
• Make sure the tool seamlessly integrates with your existing website or CRM.
• Choose an automation tool with a clean interface, user-friendly, feature-rich and with helpful onboarding.
• Take advantage of free trials or run some tests before you commit to any automation tool.

Used strategically, marketing automation platforms will help you run your business more smoothly and with little to no glitches. Since you don’t need to automate every little task, it’s best to do your research and identify which software would suit your needs best. On that note, request a demo for Swift Digital, Australia’s software for marketing automation.

Guest Author