It’s a conundrum — if marketers don’t produce enough marketing materials, they’ll be forgotten by consumers. If they produce too much, they’ll annoy consumers. If they say the wrong thing at the wrong time, they risk losing any opportunity they once had to convert a customer. The challenge then, is to produce the right amount — but also to create compelling content that will encourage shoppers to remember them.
This is especially important in today’s marketing landscape, when buyer behavior is as unpredictable as the economy. However, according to Centro, “86% of consumers say companies who advertise during a ‘down economy’ are top of mind when it comes to making purchase decisions.” And that same percentage says that they actually feel better about a business if they commit to advertising their products and services, even in a recession. (How the Coronavirus Is Affecting Digital Media, Centro, March 2020.)
On top of that tall order is managing the distribution of marketing materials that are both personalized and applicable to where a consumer falls within the buyer’s journey. That’s where marketing automation comes into play.
Using consumer behavior data correctly, marketers can automate sending the right message at the right time, without overloading customers or leaving them behind. Here are four strategies you can incorporate to use your data and marketing automation to its fullest potential.
Considered purchase consumers need to be educated on the industry and the product, and they need to understand exactly what they’re getting. Only after they understand those things are they then ready to discover why they should purchase from you.
Marketing automation helps you push the right content buttons at the right time. Using data from prior purchases, browsing history, website page views, and email opens, you can create a campaign with strategic behavior triggers for when and how to send the right message at each moment.
For instance, a new visitor to your site would receive general information about your company’s products or services, whereas someone on the verge of making a decision would get a promo code with specifications about a particular model or an invitation to schedule a demo or consultation. A repeat customer would be sent options to upgrade or cross-purchase.
This personalization allows shoppers to feel like more than just names on a list — they’re actual people with needs that are valued by the company. That sentiment goes a longway with prospective customers.
Best of all, marketing automation lets advertisers run an organized and personalized campaign at the unique pace of each customer. A drip email campaign doesn’t activate unless a customer completes a specific action that enrolls them. Plus, the emails are scheduled out ahead of time to automatically send at key intervals.
Segmentation is what gives marketers the opportunity to personalize their approach, tailoring messaging to the specific groups that make up the audience.
Your company resonates with each segment of your audience in a different way, and creating one email blast that goes out to everyone ignores the differing needs among your database. Automation allows you to speak directly to each portion of your audience, building trust and understanding without alienating other segments.
And, better yet, you’re able to provide that personal touch that will separate you from your competitors; it's what keeps you at the forefront of the minds of consumers.
No two leads are the same. Although segmentation and email drips can adjust your advertising to the situation of each unique consumer, the reality is that not everybody is a perfect candidate to proceed through the entirety of the sales funnel.
Lead scoring enables marketers to identify the most valuable prospective customers, while de-prioritizing leads that haven’t been opening up emails or responding to calls-to-action. The process of lead scoring — assigning point values to actions a lead takes or doesn’t take, or qualifications that make them a higher-value prospect — allows the most lucrative and engaged leads to get the focus of both the marketing team and the sales team.
Scoring leads creates a more efficient marketing operation by focusing your energies on nurturing those consumers most likely to make a purchase. And nurturing leads can result in massive wins for marketers. Leads that are nurtured make purchases that are 47 percent larger than those that aren’t. On a considered purchase, that can be a significant increase.
In today’s marketplace, marketers must give consumers exactly what they want, when they want it — because if they don’t, those consumers will find it someplace else. If a buyer doesn’t feel understood, they’re gone.
The good news is that automation can help you create virtually individualized marketing materials through dynamic content. You can automate banner ads, social media ads, email, and website content to display messaging based on your audience’s pain points — all thanks to data captured through their IP address, interactions with your website, emails, and more.
In fact, nearly two-thirds of marketers cite dynamic content automation as their best email tactic to appeal to the pain points of each unique consumer, answering the questions that are holding them back from moving along their path to purchase.
Marketing automation continually offers marketers innovative ways to save time and efficiently reach customers. You can use automation to segment your audience, identify the best leads, send those prospects timed materials, and appeal to all buyers personally. When you have a product or service that requires a period of consideration before purchase, make sure you’re using these automation tactics to keep you top of mind.