Technology has made it easier and easier to handle your companies marketing, making it easier to create, capture, convert and collect data and dollars. There are more and more companies forming every day that have built better mouse traps to help assist at every level of the sales and marketing strategy. The key to developing great automation is having a solution that limits the amount of personal touch needed at each level unless that touch is desired because it brings a better outcome. Here are six ways to automate your marketing.
Lead Capture
The number one key to getting a person to reach out and give you their information, is trust. They need to believe that what you are offering is of value. Depending on what you are asking them for. If you are asking for their name, email address, phone number, or other similar information, you have to build a certain amount of trust. If you are asking them to spend money depending on how much money you are asking for, will define the amount of trust you need to generate.
How does one build trust? People in the 21st. Century expect some level of free knowledge, tools or something of value that helps to convince them to do business with you. Here are a few really good suggestions that help to convert prospects into customers:
- Video Tutorials
- Ebooks
- Checklist
- Cheat sheet
- Recipe
- Guide
- Podcast
- Toolkit
- Items
- Quizes
- Assessments
CRM
Once you have captured the information is captured, what do you do with it? Depending on what information is captured will determine what should be done and how best to proceed. A great automated CRM is going to help with the sales process behind the scenes. The CRM will help nurture the prospect, further the sales process and assist with the sale. In addition a great CRM will have additional automations built in to prevent redundancies such as: email, text message, invoice, appointment, tasks and others to limit the amount of work done, reduce errors and sales slipping through the cracks.
Here are a few well known and well trusted CRMs:
Keap (formally Infusionsoft) (This is the software I resale and recommend most)
Not every CRM has a built in email marketing service. Email is the number one way to automate your marketing. So here are several benefits email marketing provides.
Targeting – A high quality email marketing tool will allow you to segment your lists based off any data point. This will allow emails to be personalized which will increase sales, upgrades and further purchases.
Automation – Technology allows for emails to be sent when a prospect triggers the email system. Here are several automations: clicks a link, books an appointment, makes a purchase, opens an email, fills out a form, and completes a task. In addition emails can be sent if they don’t respond to an email, fails to meet some objective or doesn’t make a purchase.
Nurture prospect – One of the strongest benefits of utilizing a strong email marketing strategy is the function of automation. Being able to send emails that “set it and forget it” or being able to send email blasts all based of segmentations and tags that have been preset to the specific customer.
Convert sales – They can close the sale or notify the sales staff that a prospect is ready to buy.
Upsell customers – Email logic can be used to help find a prospect’s pain points, wants and needs, goals and issues. A well constructed email campaign can push products that your prospects want over others they are less likely to purchase. This can lead to additional sales.
Get referrals – Emails can be structured to assist with getting referrals, increasing overall sales as people are more likely to purchase from recommendations of friends and relatives as it increases the trust factor in the sales process.
Get reviews – A good email system will sync with your Google My Business account and when you send an email soliciting a review of a customer, you can have the process automated. This increases the amount of reviews obtained and improves web ranking and overall trust.
Here a few of the industry leaders who specialize just in email marketing:
Chat Bots
Another unique tool utilized to help cut back on customer service is having a chat bot on websites which provide an interactive way of answering the frequently asked questions. This allows customers and prospects to get immediate answers to their questions without having to waste the company’s man hours.
Here are a few companies that offer this service:
Content
While this is not what most would consider a way automate your marketing. Creating content that can be triggered based off customer requests. This could be creating videos for:
- Frequently asked questions – on your website.
- YouTube – to find solutions your company solves.
- Webinars – designed to promote a solution your company offers.
- Podcast – with or without video having discussions with other fellow experts.
I recommend Loom.com as a free tool for creating videos. It records your computer screen, webcam and audio from your computer’s microphone allowing one to create quick and easy videos that explain online processes.
Here are additional services for creating webinars:
Click here for a complete list of lead magnet ideas.
Learning Management Software (LMS)
If ones business has an educational component to it, a LSM software can take their client’s through a step by step process. This allows them to learn at their own speed triggering certain milestones and creating a fun experience for the participant. This type of software can take the participant from A to Z in a completely automated system.
Here are some of the top LMS tools out there:
There are many automation software and tools that can help take a business to the next level. It can free up man hours, illuminate redundancies, as well as cracks in the sales process. With the high cost in hiring and developing employees, automate your marketing is another way to cut back on those costs. Automations work 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
If you are looking for video, email or other traditional marketing services, look no further. We can help you pivot into a company run on better systems with automations.
