5 Ways On How to Use Marketing Automation to Boost Your Small Business

Marketing automation tools can help grow your business and increase your online engagement with clients. We analyze some popular automated marketing tools to see which one might be right for you.

If you spend a lot of time online, you may have noticed how smoothly everything seems to run. Influencers seamlessly pump out content without ever having a day off, and weekly emails circulate constantly.

Even online casinos offer automated spins for popular games like spielautomaten kostenlos. While much of this is down to the efforts of businesses and dedicated advertising teams, marketing automation is also a huge help.

If you run a business online, having some marketing automation basics could decrease your workload and make your day-to-day operations more efficient. This increased efficiency could even translate into a greater ROI and greater returns on your time. We look at some of the ways marketing automation could boost your profits and help your business flourish online!

Marketing Automation: Definition of Automated Marketing Tools

Before you jump into purchasing a whole host of marketing automation tools, it’s best to understand the marketing automation definition. Automated marketing tools generally allow some aspect of your business to run itself online with only a small amount of personal input. Automated marketing tools usually fall into a few categories.

For instance, all-in-one marketing tools offer a full suite of services or marketing tools that target one area, like automated emails or social media posts.

Marketing automation examples also include things like chatbots, which fall into the category of customer journey automation. However, it’s important to assess your marketing needs carefully before choosing your tools.

When Do You Need Marketing Automation Tools?

Technically, any small or large business can enjoy marketing automation benefits. However, these tools may be more suitable for some businesses rather than others. For example, it is a great investment if you are a sole trader and handles all your advertising yourself. Or it could really help out a small marketing team.

Marketing automation is also a great tool for scaling up marketing ventures or growing your business. It is not ideal for a business that has not yet developed a coherent marketing strategy or if you haven’t figured out which online platform works best for you. However, if you have a small team and a growing online customer base, automated marketing can save you time and energy as you increase your profits.

Marketing Automation: How It Works

Deciding which automation tools to invest in depends on what you want them to do. A concrete marketing plan will help you get the best use out of these tools and engage in marketing automation best practices. Here are some of the main categories of use that these tools fall into, and some marketing automation examples:

1.  Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing tools can save you time by automating your posting schedule and analytics software. This means that you can schedule content posts for optimal user times and observe the response to posts and ads.

This is particularly useful if you update social media a lot or interact with most of your customers via social media sites. It can also save time if you post across various platforms. Tools like Buffer or Sprout Social are good options for this.

2.  Email Automation

Email automation is one of the cheapest marketing automation tools. It can benefit most businesses. Email automation can let you build a regular email schedule to connect with your audience.

However, it is also useful for automating transaction alerts and emails, such as registering payments or confirming purchases. Many businesses opt for tried-and-true automation tools, like Mailchimp or Constant Contact.

3. Customer Journey

Customer journey automation tools are ideal for supporting your sales team or developing your business growth strategy. These tools let you automate the customer’s journey through your store by providing prompts. Automation like this is also ideal for B2B services and things like lead generation.

For instance, tools like Leadfeeder and LeadSquared offer automated processes, like contact forms on your page or info on which companies visit your website to help secure leads.

4.  Pricing

Pricing is one of the best options if you’re looking into marketing automation for small businesses, especially eCommerce. Pricing automation tools, like Prisync and Wiser, help your site automatically adjust to price changes in the market.

In the fast-paced world of eCommerce, having competitive prices is key to holding your place. These pricing tools are a great help with that.

Conclusion

Marketing automation tools can certainly save you time and help you scale your business. They are also useful tools for lead generation and maintaining competitive prices on products.

As with all business tools, marketing automation options should be employed strategically and carefully. With this in mind, you can automate your business to enjoy greater success.

Do you use marketing automation tools to run your business? What kind of automation do you prefer and why? Share your thoughts in the comments!

 

Check out: How Modern Age Social Media Marketing Is Changing In Unimaginable Ways

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Written by: Scott Carrion is a freelance writer and analyst focusing on business and marketing. His Master’s degree in Business research from Curtis L. Carlson School of Management has given him a broad base from which to approach many topics.