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It seems like everywhere you turn these days, someone is touting the benefits of AI. Artificial intelligence can now be used to write content, create images, even develop entire ad campaigns. The issue is that using AI requires lots of trial and error on the inputs you provide as well as oversight and fact-checking of the results you receive. Not everyone is going to be a whiz at using AI for marketing purposes.
But take a step back from the computer overlords, and marketing automation is a tool that any marketer can use. Yes, it still involves a basic understanding of technology. But marketing automation tools generally require less oversight once they are set up. And today’s tools are often user-friendly and intuitive to use.
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing automation uses technology to make various tasks and processes run by themselves. You set up rules, triggers, and guidelines for the tools you’re using, and the tools follow them. These tools are typically software applications that integrate with your existing marketing software.
And leveraging automation for mundane and repetitive tasks has massive ROI. According to a report by McKinsey, automation can save marketers up to 20% of their work time, allowing them to perform human-centric strategic work. Marketing automation can also ensure a better customer experiencedue to its ability to deliver personalized communications.
5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation
What marketing tasks can be automated? There are a ton of things you can automate, but they all fall within one of these five categories:
1. Database Management
It’s critical to have a “clean” database to use any marketing automation tools. On the plus side, these same tools can actually help you practice good list hygiene!
You can automate lead capture by incorporating forms on your website and in your paid advertising. From there, your leads enter your database and all information is entered into separate fields. Automated processes can document any interactions these leads have with your brand, from web page views to engagement to purchases.
Later, you can automate targeted content delivery based on these fields. You can also use automation to score your leads, prioritizing contact with those who are most likely to convert into customers. The benefits of using marketing automation this way are massive. A Forrester study found that companies automating their lead nurturing workflows see a 451% increase in qualified leads.
2. Personalized Messaging and Content
The automation benefits don’t stop once leads become customers. Both groups can be segmented and sent personalized communications that increase conversion rates. Any field in your database can be used to segment your list, so keep this in mind when you’re building your forms! From demographics to behavior and purchase history, the possibilities are huge.
Marketing automation allows users to create and deliver personalized communications that would take ages to craft by humans. Not only can you automate content sourcing by audience segment, you can also implement triggers within your database to deliver specific pieces of content per field or entry type.
For example, let’s say you have a field in your database that tracks purchases by product. You can automate sending a promotional email to all customers who have purchased a specific product before so that they can save money on a repeat purchase. Even direct mailcan be tied to your database by using triggers to assign variable content to be printed—even images!
Beyond database triggers, you can also set up workflows and sequences that trigger off each other. A series of touches can be set up for specific audience segments, leading them through a sales funnel, onboarding sequence, or other process. Your entire content strategy can set up in advance, and once leads or customers enter your database they can begin your specified workflows.
And this boosts conversions. An Epsilon study shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to buy when brands provide personalized experiences. Automation enables targeted messaging, tailored content, and customized offers, resulting in better engagement and customer satisfaction.
3. Social Media Posting and Tracking
One of the most common uses for marketing automation tools is for social media management. Specifically, scheduling posts in advance. This allows marketers to batch their content creation and posting, creating efficient workflows that save time. This is especially helpful for companies with multiple channels for various aspects of their business.
Automation tools also monitor your engagement by channel. You can receive suggestions for the best time to post on each channel to achieve the most engagement from your audience. Many even have the capability to allow you to respond to comments and mentions directly from the tool, reducing response time and improving the customer experience.
Beyond scheduling and monitoring, you can also automate your analytics tracking and KPI reporting. With a few clicks, you can set up a dashboard that constantly updates with the latest data on the metrics you care about most.
4. Advertising and Campaign Management
One of the coolest capabilities (I think) of automation tools is A/B testing. When you create ad copy and select images, there’s always an element of uncertainty that you’ve nailed your strategy. With A/B testing, you can create variables in your content and test which elements lead to the most engagement.
Marketing automation tools eliminate the need for you to sort contacts into test groups, constantly watch the analytics for results, and optimize your content for maximum performance. This testing can be done in traditional digital display ads, social media advertising, and even in email marketing.
Aside from A/B testing, automated processes can help optimize your ad bidding strategy and adjust your audience targeting. All these processes maximize efficiency and performance and ultimately improve your conversion rates. And higher conversion rates means lower customer acquisition costs and higher return on investment.
5. Analytics and Reporting
By now, you know that marketing automation can track analytics and create reports for your social media channels and ad campaigns in their native platforms. But you can also automate data collection and reporting from other sources.
Automation tools can collect data from website analytics platforms (like Google Analytics), email marketing campaigns, and the above-mentioned social media channels and ad campaigns. All your data can be collected in a central location—and then automation can help you make sense of it all!
These tools can provide insights into the performance of all aspects of your marketing activities, helping you make data-driven decisions for optimization and, ultimately, conversion. After all, it always comes down to the bottom line.
Ready to Get Started?
There are a ton of reasons to incorporate marketing automation tools into your processes and workflows. Yes, there will be an investment to use these tools, but the payoffs will be massive! Your marketing department will be more efficient, better informed, and overall more effective.
If you need recommendations for marketing automation tools for beginners or need help implementing those tools, reach out to me. I’m happy to talk you through strategies for automating your marketing tasks and share my experience with you!
Customer personas have been a valuable marketing tool since developer Alan Cooper came up with the idea in 1983. He used data from specific users—aka personas—to design software interfaces for user segments. Over time, other industries adopted the idea of personas as a way to represent audience segments. Fast forward to today, and personas have become so rote—at least in marketing—that some people are saying they’re over it.
What Are Customer Personas?
Back up a minute! Before we debate the merits of personas, let’s talk about what they are. A customer persona, also called a buyer persona, is a data-centric profile of a singular person who represents a segment of your audience. Almost all personas include basic demographics like age, gender, geographic location, income, etc.
Beyond that, companies select which data to include based on their industry and offerings. A pool service company might include the persona’s comfort level monitoring their pool chemicals. A stock broker might include the persona’s risk aversion or affinity. Marketers often include things like the social media platforms they might use or if they are a decisionmaker in their company.
You Can’t Rely on Quantitative Data Alone
Part of the issue with personas is that you have to build them effectively with accurate data. Fortunately, businesses now have access to large amounts of information. “Big data” refers to massive databases of user analytics, like the data you can access by advertising on social media channels.
But basic demographics aren’t enough to accurately represent a segment of your audience. I mean, take a look at this meme if you need convincing that quantitative data is potentially unhelpful:
The key here is the last line of the meme. The persona means nothing unless you include a person’s behaviors, preferences, and pain points. You must take qualitative data into consideration to get a complete picture of your audience segment.
Today’s digital environment provides access to real time behavioral data. Not to mention that customers’ diverse interests and preferences may be clearer when they feel like no one is looking! Marketers can get a broader understanding of our audience than ever before—thanks again to readily available Big Data. By combining qualitative and quantitative data, we’re poised for success.
How Do You Use Customer Personas?
But how do we use personas successfully? Once you’ve built each persona, the real work begins. The main idea here, at least in marketing, is to treat the persona like a real person and then create strategic content for that specific person. This segmentation of your audience allows you to reach people more effectively based on their preferences. When you “speak their language,” you’re much more likely to engage your audience.
When done right, using personas to develop content for your segments can result in communications that feel personal to them. And consumers engage most with brands who give them custom experiences. Personas are the best way to give a custom-feeling experience to a larger group of people without personalizing it one-to-one. This saves you time—and money.
Some companies post up their personas on the wall so that everyone can see them and reference them. They’re reminders of who the audience is and what each segment needs to hear from the brand. Other companies pay a lot of money for a consultant to create personas for them—and then never look at them again. Obviously, the first example is a better use of the hard work and research that goes into developing customer personas.
Persona creation isn’t a one-and-done kind of process, though. Your strategy should allow for consistently updating your personas based on real-time data. That way, your messaging remains relevant and reflective of your audience’s evolving characteristics.
Final Answer: Personas Are Practical
When developed correctly, personas can be a hugely beneficial part of your marketing strategy. But like everything, they have to be done well AND you have to actually use them!
Sometimes it’s ok to just post on social media. Other times, you might want to send an email to reach people. But if you really want to create an impact for your business, you need a coordinated effort on multiple fronts.
A multichannel marketing campaign uses different marketing channels—like social media, email, landing pages, and yes, direct mail—to reach potential customers. To build an effective campaign, there are several key components you need to consider.
Campaign Goals
What is it that you want to achieve with this campaign? Never go into a campaign without a clear, specific goal in mind! If possible, choose only one main goal. If you are trying to achieve too much with a single campaign, it can be increasingly difficult succeed.
Your goals will define some of the other aspects of your campaign. If you want to generate new leads, you’ll have a different set of priorities than if you’re trying to increase brand awareness. Campaigns can also aim to boost sales, introduce new products or services to existing customers, or encourage customer engagement.
Target Audience
We’ve discussed target audience before—this is your ideal customer. You want to market to a group who share similar characteristics, interests, behaviors, and pain points. Depending on your campaign goals, you might want to segment your list into smaller groups so that you can speak to them even more specifically.
For most companies, you will either build your own prospect list or obtain a list from a data broker. To build your own list, you can collect information from cart abandonments, social media, trade shows or other events, and of course, from previous customers. One issue with building your own list is collecting accurate data that includes email and mailing addresses. If you choose to rent or purchase a list, you’ll incur extra costs but receive a vetted list with accurate information.
Marketing Channels
First, you should analyze the channels you have available to use. If you have a website, you should have the ability to build landing pages to capture leads. If your website has a blog, you can use content marketing to weave campaign-related information into your posts. Most businesses have some existing social media channels, but maybe this campaign is the chance to start on a new platform to further your reach.
Outside of your own resources, paid advertising is available on most digital channels. You can buy ad space on other websites, social media, email newsletters, etc. as well as streaming services. Depending on your budget and goals, you could also consider buying space in physical locations like magazines, billboards, and newspapers. Event sponsorship is yet another avenue to get the word out about your campaign. And of course, we all have the U.S. Postal Service as a resource to send direct mail.
Budget
Speaking of money, your budget is the other main constraint on your campaign possibilities. If you only have $200 to spend, you’re not going to include advertising on subway trains in your campaign. Fortunately, the digital age has facilitated a wide variety of free marketing channels for small businesses.
Don’t be afraid to spend money to achieve your goals, though. So many businesses are reluctant to pay for direct mail, for example. But you always need to consider the return on your investment! For $900, I can print and mail 600 oversized postcards. Direct mail has an average response rate of 9%, which would be 54 people in this example. If I get interest from 54 people, depending on my offer and price point, I can easily make back my $900 and then some! Once you consider the lifetime value of a customer, direct mail can have a major payout in terms of ROI.
Messaging and Content
Your message, which should be aligned with your campaign goals, absolutely must be consistent throughout the campaign. This doesn’t mean you have to use exactly the same words, but the tone, aesthetic, and impact of each touchpoint should remain consistent. All content that is created, whether graphics or copy, should be engaging and aim to resonate with your audience.
When it comes to content, use the differences between channels to your advantage! What works on Instagram (vibrant photos with helpful captions) isn’t going to work on your blog. As long as you’re keeping the message consistent, you can try new things on new channels.
Call to Action
What exactly do you want your audience to do next? We’re humans, which means that most of us dislike having to make decisions. At each touchpoint, you need to provide obvious next steps.
You can direct people to your website or landing with a link or a QR code. You can invite them to follow you on social media and post with a specific hashtag. You can tell them to spend all their money on your latest product line. Whatever you do, make sure they know what they are “supposed” to do next.
Timeline
You need to develop a timeline that contains specific dates (and when applicable, times) for each touchpoint of your campaign. You should also build a content calendar that outlines content creation, publishing, and promotion.
It’s also helpful to include details in your timeline around aspects you can’t control. For example, if you have a direct mail piece mailing on a specific date, estimate how long it will take for the piece to land in mailboxes. You can then plan your follow-up email to reach your audience after they’ve seen the direct mail piece.
Analytics
Your campaign is almost pointless if you can’t measure its success. I say almost because if you made money, then yay! But did you achieve your goal or just break even? Your campaign needs to be tracked so that you know what you do or don’t want to repeat in the future. If your campaign is long enough, you can also course correct in the middle if it is really tanking. If you need to make changes, you can adjust the audience segments, the content, the channels you’re using, or the message (your offer, your call to action, etc.).
My suggestion is to measure as much as relates to your campaign goals. If your goal is brand awareness, measure how many followers you’ve gained and how many views your website gets. If your goal is to increase sales, that’s an easy one to track. So is tracking new leads. But don’t forget to also track some of the behind-the-scenes analytics too.
For example, you’d still want to see how many hits your landing page got if you’re trying to obtain new leads. What if you have 750 hits to your landing page, but only 7 new leads? A 0.9% conversion rate doesn’t sound right to me, so I’d wonder if you need to make your offer more enticing. There’s interest from your audience, but something is holding them back from giving you their information. Next time, go even further and offer them something they feel is worth giving out their email address!
Putting It All Together
As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts when you’re planning a campaign. Not to mention the time, skill, and resources it takes to launch and monitor a successful campaign. If you need help with any or all of these parts, get in touch! I’m always happy to help, even if you just have a question about something. 🙂
If you follow any sort of marketing news at all, you’ve at least heard about omnichannel marketing. This gold standard of marketing is often touted as a must-do strategy for any business that wants to crush its goals. The problem is, the omnichannel approach is simply out of reach for millions—maybe even the majority—of businesses in the United States.
What is Omnichannel Marketing?
You can Google the term “omnichannel marketing” and receive tons of dry definitions, but that’s not why you’re here! To be frank: omnichannel marketing is when a company is all up in your business. You get a text message about a sale from Banana Republic while you’re in their store. You receive an abandoned cart email an hour after you decided not to buy those shoes. And those damn Amazon ads follow you EVERYWHERE online.
With so many devices connected to us these days, companies can identify and target us in many ways. If it all feels a bit big brother, that’s because it is! Add in the power and trackability of the internet, and you’ve got a massive amount of data that tells the story of you.
From your hobbies to your brand preferences and everything in between, it’s recorded into databases. This data creates a profile of who you are and, subsequently, how to sell you stuff. Grocery stores have been doing this for years through their “value cards.” They track everything we buy under the guise of offering discounts and then sell us out to manufacturers. Offering us coupons to buy the manufacturers’ competitors’ products is not a coincidence.
Why Omnichannel Marketing Won’t Work for Small Businesses
Let’s face it—omnichannel marketing is not a viable option for small businesses. True omnichannel marketing relies on data, and the analysis of large amounts of data requires the use of AI. Most small businesses can’t afford to invest in the platforms using this kind of AI technology. Not to mention, you have to pay to access the databases that are collecting the information in the first place. Big data is not the playground of even the largest family-owned business or non-tech startup.
Even if you had the money to invest in this kind of AI, would it make sense to? Even if you have a brick-and-mortar storefront or shop, how much foot traffic do you get on the average day? A massive chain store can use the power of AI to target thousands of people across the nation anytime they come in. But if you’re a single store or even a local chain, you just won’t have the numbers to make that investment pay off.
So what’s a small business owner to do?
Use Multichannel Marketing To Its Fullest
Now being villified by marketing snobs, multichannel marketing was the previous gold standard. This strategy delivers the company’s message on multiple channels—like social media, email marketing, direct mail, etc.—to reach as many people as possible. Being present on many channels makes sense, as not every person is present on every channel. The problem comes when people are lazy with their messaging (or just time-strapped).
Multichannel marketing campaigns aren’t inherently bad. Reaching your customers—consistently—where they are is always a good thing. You just have to build a strategy on how to best deliver your message to your audience using the channels and tools available to you. Strengthening and being strategic with your multichannel marketing can create impressive results.
In the past, multichannel marketing was a lengthy, manual process. Because of the time it took, companies often distributed the same content on every channel. The lack of true strategy around what message is delivered on which platform equated to a “spray and pray” method. There was no consideration for the content an Instagram user is most likely to view and engage with versus the content that works best via email.
Now, there are social scheduling tools that not only help you plan content in advance, but help you tailor your posts on each platform. On Hootsuite, for example, you can include hashtags on Instagram posts but remove them from LinkedIn. Email marketing tools have also come a long way, with some even offering workflow builders to automate sequences and follow up.
Using an all-in-one tool like Hubspot can be expensive, but it’s usually still WAY cheaper than trying to use an omnichannel AI platform. With Hubspot and others like it, you can trigger emails from website actions, build automated workflows, and use your database to its fullest. (I’m not a Hubspot rep—it’s just the product I have the most experience with!)
Side note: A marketing audit can help tailor your multichannel strategy and point you in the right direction. For example, if you’re posting consistently on Instagram but your target audience isn’t there, you’re wasting time and resources! You can either try to audit on your own or work with a professional who specializes in audits and strategy.
Fake Omnichannel Marketing With a Little Manual Labor
You also should think outside the box and develop ways to use the data you keep on your customers and prospects. If you’re an oil change service, pull a list of everyone who came in 3-4 months ago. Then send them a personalized email with a $20 coupon. If you’re a wedding photographer, send a text message to all clients within the past year and offer them a referral bonus.
The trick is to really look at the data you have access to and brainstorm ways to use it to your advantage. (P.S. Please don’t ever sell this data to outside companies. That’s a sure way to tank your reputation.)
If you’re one of the millions of small business owners in the U.S. and you want the best marketing you can get, I have one thing for you to remember. One man’s treasure is another man’s trash! Meaning: the gold standard for the Fortune 500 isn’t going to do you any good. Build your strategy, focus on your own business goals, and you’ll be on the right track!
This guest post was written by Sadie Aram for Silverbrook Marketing.
The United States is home to over 4,000 higher education institutions, and each one is competing for the attention of prospective students. If that doesn’t produce enough stress already, college enrollment numbers have been on a decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, it’s important for higher education marketing teams to implement engaging and effective campaigns to reach future attendees. If you’re struggling to spread the word about what your school has to offer, make sure you have these four strategies in your marketing plan.
1. Personalize the experience.
Use emotional marketing to connect with potential students. They will be better able to see themselves at a school that recognizes and addresses their unique needs. Tailor your message to specific groups based on marketing personas developed from existing demographic data. A persona is a semi-fictional description of your ideal candidate that can help you envision the audience you’re appealing to. It can look something like this:
“Alexis is a 19-year-old high school senior. She is a section leader for the marching band and excels in her honors classes. She hopes to pursue a career in engineering when she is older. Alexis values a strong community and hopes to have security in her adult life.”
Each student has a different motive for pursuing higher education, so your institution should develop multiple personas appealing to small groups with like interests. For example, you wouldn’t market to a high school student the same way you would market to a mother looking to further her education.
2. Spotlight success.
College is no small commitment to make, so students want to get a glimpse of what’s waiting for them. Showcase student, faculty, and alumni achievement to demonstrate to prospective students the influence that their education could have on their future.
Showcasing success doesn’t require someone to be the next Albert Einstein or Brad Pitt. Are professors conducting innovative research? Are alumni holding impressive positions at high-profile companies? Are student organizations making an impact on the world? These are all feats to celebrate, and they could be strong factors in someone’s decision to choose your school.
And don’t stop at academic success! Any achievement—whether in athletics, art, entertainment, etc.—is a great way to spotlight your institution in a positive way.
3. Highlight the numbers.
When making critical decisions, we tend to rely on data evidence to inform our choices. Numbers help prove the effectiveness of your institution in a tangible way. Data reinforces your school’s success, and numbers are easier to consume than a chunk of text that portrays the same information.
Does your college have an impressive selection of majors and minors? A high freshman retention rate? A small student-to-professor ratio? Don’t be afraid to brag and show them off! Have general facts and figures easily accessible as well, such as total number of students, price of tuition, and average test scores of admitted students.
4. Adopt a digital-focused approach.
Most of today’s students belong to Generation Z, a group characterized by more digital media usage than ever before. Establishing a space for your institution in the digital world is a foolproof strategy for grabbing your audience’s attention. Here are a few ways to do so:
Build a responsive website: Your website is often the first place students will look for more information about your school. Additionally, over half of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Because of this, be sure that your website is well-organized and mobile-friendly. Make requesting more information easy and use your website as a gateway for your other digital platforms.
Improve SEO: Most people rely on search engines like Google to find the information they need. However, 75% of Google users don’t click past the first page of results, so search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial to your digital success. You can bolster your SEO rankings by producing a variety of content and researching the best keywords to incorporate, but this is a highly technical field. The best results often come from the help of an expert.
Email with intention: Students prefer email over direct mail, but you don’t want to end up in their spam folder. Remember to personalize your messages to peak your reader’s interest. You can streamline this process by using email automation software like Constant Contact or Mailchimp.
Stay active on social media: A recent study showed that 94% of Gen Z use social media, so it’s a no-brainer that you should, too. Be sure you’re frequently posting consistent content to entice your audience. Consider posting various formats and subjects, including photos of campus, infographics, videos, and live streams.
Leverage user-generated content: Amplifying images, videos, reviews, and other assets created by your followers is a great way to influence potential students. Having many different viewpoints from your connections gives your brand an authentic presence and gives students an exclusive look into the university lifestyle.
What do you think? Have you tried these strategies? Are there any that I missed? We’d love to hear from you!
