Proper implementation of a marketing automation strategy, that is aligned to your marketing goals and objectives can boost your sales and improve productivity. Companies with marketing automation generate 2x more leads than their counterparts (Redeye & TFM&A Insights). Still contemplating which automation strategies can help you? Here are 7 marketing automation strategies that are sure to boost your profits!

1. Lead Nurturing – Assembling a massive database of prospective leads is only the
first step in your marketing campaign. Not every lead will be willing to
convert into paying customers. 96% of the visitors who come to your website are
not yet ready to purchase (Marketo). Some prospects will require to be nurtured
over a span of time with interesting and relevant content before they are
willing to purchase. Lead nurturing, as the name suggests, is the process by
which your marketing department establishes engaging communication with your
prospective leads, keeping them interested until the time when the lead becomes
sales-ready. Lead nurturing works as a valuable marketing automation strategy
only when helpful and continuous content is sent to the prospects. 66% of
buyers say that consistent and relevant content communicated by both the
marketing and sales departments is a key aspect in their purchasing decision
(Genius.com). Lead nurturing strategies are most effective with the help of
drip marketing, which we shall discuss in the latter part of this blog. Make
the most of marketing automation by nurturing and nourishing your leads,
ultimately converting them into prime customers.

2. Lead Scoring – Stop wasting your time running after prospects that will not
convert anytime soon! Scoring and ranking your prospects is an important
marketing automation strategy which is essential in identifying those leads
that will convert and generate revenue for you. As mentioned earlier, not every
lead will be willing to immediately purchase your products/services. While lead
nurturing helps in developing those leads which are not yet willing to
purchase, lead scoring helps in segregating leads into those that will
immediately purchase and those that require to be nurtured. According to a
study conducted by Garner, 70% of leads are lost because of poor and
ineffective follow-up. Lead scoring helps marketers segregate leads, ensuring
that the sales team can effectively follow-up with the same. Once you identify
your leads, implement a constructive lead scoring system that ranks leads based
on scope of conversion. While we firmly believe that not a single lead should
be wasted, lead scoring will help you prioritize between prospects which are on
the verge of converting and leads that will require a longer sales cycle. Lead
scoring is a great marketing automation strategy that will definitely boost
your profits.

3. Drip Marketing – Drip marketing is a smart and advanced marketing automation
strategy that is commonly used for lead nurturing of prospective customers. It
refers to the marketing process whereby meaningful messages are “fed”
to prospective leads, usually via email marketing automation. Studies indicate
that drip email open rates are 80% higher than single sends (Martech). A drip
campaign is the best way to improve customer engagement, as it is all about
your customers and their online behaviour. Make the most of marketing
automation by designing a drip marketing campaign, that will effectively engage
your customers. Setting up a drip email campaign is very easy and convenient,
especially with the help of marketing automation tools. All you need to do is
create some interesting and relevant content and automate the content to be
sent at certain predetermined occasions, depending upon actions taken by
prospective customers. These drip emails, when sent over a particular period of
time, helps in developing and nurturing relationships with your prospective
leads, which in turn ensure that you can easily close sales at the required
time.

4. Personalized Content – Content marketing can help you boost your conversion rates by 5
times, according to Aberdeen. A successful marketing automation strategy is
subject to powerful content that speaks to your customers. Customers today are
no longer satisfied by the “one size fits all” approach and require
content that is relevant to them particularly. This has created a big need for
personalized content. Sending content which is irrelevant to your customer can
result in the loss of that customer. Hence it is of utmost importance to
identify your customers’ characteristics, requirements and behaviour before
tailoring content for them. Your target customer group needs to be carefully
analyzed before a content strategy is created which is personalized to their
requirements. Personalized content, which is sent when customers take certain
actions, for example, when they sign up to your newsletter or check out a
particular service, can help driving customer engagement and also convert
potential prospects into buying customers. Personalized and customized content
communicated to relevant customer groups on a timely basis can be a valuable
marketing automation strategy which will definitely boost profits.

5. CRM –
“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all” – Michael
LeBoeuf. Keeping your customers happy and satisfied is the ultimate policy that
will always keep the profits rolling in. Implementing a competitive CRM system
into your marketing automation strategy is a great way to keep a track on your
customer data and interactions, thus ensuring that you can offer an improved
customer lifecycle and customer lifetime value to your buyers. An effective CRM
system creates a centralized database where you can not only store all
information pertaining to your customers but also access and utilize the same
to create compelling marketing campaigns. Implementing a CRM solution can offer
myriad benefits for both your buyers and employees. Apart from storing
information, a CRM system can also track emails and phone calls, add notes,
schedule meetings and follow-ups and much more. Once you understand your
customers’ behaviour and preferences, you can easily up-sell and cross-sell to
them, thereby increasing your revenue.

6. List Segmentation – List segmentation, as the name suggests, refers to dividing and
breaking up your email contacts list into smaller homogeneous groups which
share some specific characteristic. These lists can be divided on the basis of
anything ranging from demographics to interests. Marketing automation makes it
easy to sub-divide your email contacts list based on common characteristics.
Once this is done, personalized content aligned with particular characteristics
and objectives can be communicated to the segmented lists. As discussed
earlier, personalized content is a key aspect in a successful marketing
automation strategy and list segmentation allows you to send the most relevant
content, at the right time, to targeted lists. Why even opt for list
segmentation? According to a HubSpot study, targeting emails to particular
buyer personas can increase your email clickthrough rates by 16%. By segmenting
your email lists into smaller, well-defined groups, you can effectively drive
more responses and conversions from your prospective customers. List
segmentation is one marketing automation strategy that is sure to boost your
profits!

7. Website Visitor Tracking – Website visitor tracking is one of those utterly important
marketing automation strategies that you just cannot afford to ignore! As the
name suggests, website visitor tracking refers to automation tools which track
and trace the steps and actions your visitors take on your website. This can
help you understand the various pain points of your prospective customers and
tailor your content accordingly, resulting in higher engagement rates.
Moreover, you can also identify where your customer is in the purchasing
journey and accordingly provide them relevant content which will accelerate the
sales cycle. For example, if you notice that a particular visitor spent more
than the average amount of time on one of your services page, you can send
him/her additional content on that particular service along with some offers.
Marketing automation makes this entire process extremely easy. With the help of
website visitor tracking and marketing automation, you can automate the
end-to-end process, starting from tracking the customer’s activities to sending
the customer relevant content.

An efficient marketing automation strategy, when implemented properly, can do wonders for your revenue figures! Once you get the hang of marketing automation, nothing can stop you from boosting your profits and productivity. Read on to know how these 5 brands effectively used marketing automation to achieve some grand figures.

5 brands that are succeeding with marketing automation

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