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Q&A: 5 Tips for Highly Successful Automated Marketing Campaigns

automated marketing?If you haven?t yet taken a plunge into the marketing automation pool, you might be missing out on sales.

According to survey stats provided by the Chief Marketing Officer Council, 84% of ?top-performing? companies were already using or planned to start using marketing automation in 2015 – and 69% of those in the ?already using? category have reported increased marketing revenue.

Automated marketing campaigns continue to demonstrate their power as efficient, cost-effective, high-potential ROI marketing tactics, which is what led our agency to develop our own marketing automation service to offer our clients, ConversionPoint. In this article, MindEcology?s technical marketing magician Leah Armstrong offers insights that help businesses get the most out of their automated marketing campaigns:

Leah, the term ?automated marketing? has gotten very buzzy lately, but some marketing pros still aren?t sure what it means. Can you shed some light?

Leah: ?An automated marketing campaign is designed to identify, nurture and convert prospective customers and current customers with customized marketing content based on their behaviors. It?s sometimes also called ?drip marketing? or ?automated lead nurturing?.?

Elaborate a bit. Why is it worth it for businesses to pay for this service?

Leah: ?Because automated marketing allows you to do two very cool things: (1) Figure out which leads are most interested in your business and (2) Have an exchange with those leads that more closely resembles a conversation – as opposed to blasting them with a bunch of generic emails or direct mail and hoping for the best.

Let?s say that you?re a prospective client for two family law firms, based on your demographics and because you?re planning to adopt a child in the near future. ?Family Law Firm A, who isn?t using marketing automation, sends you the same ?hire a divorce lawyer? marketing communication they send to everyone. (Assuming that they send anything to you at all, that is. If they aren?t using automated marketing or best customer profiling, they may not even be aware you?re a prospective client for their law firm.)

On the other hand, Family Law Firm B, who is using marketing automation, knows that you?ve previously clicked on adoption related content on their website.? So they begin to send you a series of communications that are highly specific to that practice area. ?In this scenario, you?re going to be much more likely to pick up the phone and call Law Firm B than you are Law Firm A.?

What does the automated marketing process look like?

Leah: ?That process is called a workflow, and it might look something like this:

One: You send out an email to a targeted list of contacts announcing the grand opening of your new salon/spa. Then, in the coming weeks:

Two: You send a ?50% off your first visit? offer to everyone who clicked on the link about spa services.

Three: You send an invite to your next beauty seminar to everyone who downloaded your free hair care tip sheet.

Four: You send a postcard to everyone who clicked on the ‘leasing info’ form inviting them to an open house for stylists.

Five, etc: You continue to nurture each prospect based on their behaviors that relate to clicking, opening, filling out a form, etc.?

I?m sold.? Leah, what can I do to make my automated campaigns more successful?

?Tip 1: Spend some time on your content. That means words as well as images and video. Engaging content drives those clicks and conversions once a prospect opens up your marketing piece.

Tip 2: Build a quality list. The greatest content in the world can?t overcome a bad mailing list. We can help you develop your list through the process of audience definition and segmentation.

Tip 3: Follow the rules. If you don?t maintain a good reputation as a sender, you can get in trouble with email and Internet providers.

Tip 4: Test, test, and test again. It?s automated marketing, not ?set it and forget it? marketing.? At MindEcology we constantly fine-tune campaigns as we go along in order to get the best results.

Tip 5: Put serious thought into subject lines. Without a great subject line, your killer content won?t even be seen. The competition for attention in your prospects? inboxes is very fierce ? so I really can?t stress the importance of subject lines enough. They have to be disruptive and intriguing ? but they can?t be so over the top that you find yourself in everyone?s trash or spam folders. Subject line creation is truly an art form, and you only become a skilled artist with experience.?

Related Articles:
5 Facts to Know About Audience Definition
10 Extremely Cool Things You Can Do With ConversionPoint

Thinking about automated marketing? We can help – so let’s talk.?

 

 

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