What You Might Be Doing Wrong with Marketing Automation
Over the last few years, the marketing field has evolved to make use of technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence. These tools are increasingly applied to the burgeoning discipline of sales and marketing automation.
If you've worked in marketing, you're probably aware of some of the powerful tools and platforms promising to streamline the processes involved in marketing to an increasingly connected audience. However, are you overinvesting your resources and falling into some common pitfalls?
Here are a few things you might be doing wrong with marketing automation:
1. Mailing List Spamming
Marketing automation tools can be a great way to reach and engage an audience effectively and directly. However, there's such a thing as overdoing it. Unless you have a great call-to-action and an offer that will generate a response, you are just creating more problems for your business if you spam your mailing list.
Sending a mountain of emails can have a negative effect on both your sender and your business. First, you are clogging up your prospects' inboxes, which could result in emailing being blocked by providers and even some recipients. Second, you are at risk of annoying your recipients through repetitive messages. This can result in them unsubscribing from your email list and even spreading negative reviews of your business.
Instead of mass emailing, you should be segmenting your email list and targeting the right people with the right content.
2. Lack of Testing
An important part of marketing automation is testing. You need to test everything - from your copy to your subject line to your calls to action. Why? Because testing is the only way to ensure that you are using the most effective and relevant marketing materials for your message, for your audience and for your goals.
It makes sense to invest time and effort in learning what works and what doesn't, so you can develop a process that will deliver the results you need.
3. Concentrating on the Wrong Metrics
It's natural to focus on the individual components of your marketing process, such as new site visitors or open email rates.
If you like to get a whole picture of your results, it will be more beneficial to track your email marketing metrics in a broader context, like your marketing funnel. A good funnel will make it easier for you to understand how you are doing and will allow you to make changes and improvements. Focus on tracking the data at each stage of the funnel instead.
4. Not Having a Focused Target Market
While it is certainly good to expand the field of people you are marketing to, it's essential to keep your focus. The more narrowly you can define and target a market, the better placed you will be to create and deliver your marketing messages to them.
If you want to generate leads and make sales, you don't want to be sending out your marketing materials to people who are not interested in what you're selling.
CONCLUSION
Marketing automation tools are a great way to streamline the marketing processes, but they can be more trouble than they're worth if you don't pay attention to the small details of your campaign.
Before you get started, make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your marketing. This way, you'll be able to focus your budget and resources on the right activities instead of being tempted to try out every new feature on all your contacts.
Let our digital marketing agency in Vancouver guide you through your marketing automation. Generate valuable insights and leads through an efficient funnel. Set an appointment, and we’ll help you come up with an effective digital marketing strategy!