Marketing Automation: A New Technology
There was a time when marketing automation was considered to be a trend. That isn't the case anymore. In 2018, marketing automation has found itself to be an established business practice and has proven to be vital for various businesses--big and small.
One of the main reasons why marketing automation has been embraced across all industries is the astonishing increase in revenue. Gartner says that companies with automated lead management see at least a 10% increase in revenue in mere 6-9 months and these businesses that nurture more leads are known to generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a cost that is way lower than that of a traditional platform.
Five years ago, the technology sector struggled to market their products and often had to rely on traditional marketing. As the industry has evolved and the consumption of technology by internet users has changed, marketing has become more integrated than disruptive. Sadly, there are still a lot of companies out there that have marketing strategies which look like they are from prehistoric times. As a technology company, it is integral for you to employ modern marketing methods to increase your reach and deliver relevant content to your key demographic. This is where the need for inbound marketing arises.
Simply defined, inbound marketing is a method focused on attracting customers through relevant and helpful content that ultimately adds value to the customer’s buying journey at every stage.
Seth Godin in his book Permission Marketing explains that there exists a new privilege with companies and that is to deliver anticipated, relevant and personal messages spurring a customer to buy the product right away, thus acknowledging the power of a customer to ignore marketing. Employing marketing automation focuses on building relationships and nurturing them until you have established trust and positioned yourself as a key resource to fulfill the customer’s needs.
Some of the ways to employ marketing automation to promote your services and achieve maximum brand exposure can be found below:
Unique Story:
One major mistake that many tech companies tend to make is that they use far too many technical jargons when communicating with prospective consumers. You have to remember to tell your story that is not only personal but also unique enough to be memorable. Sure, this is an opportunity for you to explain what your company offers, but marketing efforts that are not personalised usually go unheard and unacknowledged.
Understanding the Buyer:
It is just as essential to have a thorough understanding of who is buying your product. When it comes to software, the customer journey isn’t nearly as obvious as one would presume to be because the one making buying decisions is usually not the user. This is why you need to develop an accurate buyer persona which will guide the web design and digital marketing process.
Social Media:
The right step towards having a solid marketing strategy is to invest in social media. Building a Facebook page is a piece of cake, but mastering the platform is a lot harder. It takes time and money to build a social strategy that will start paying off. There is no surprise that investments in social advertising worldwide is forecast to grow from 32 billion USD to approximately 48 million USD in 2021.
SEO Strategy:
Similar to social media, SEO is not an easy or quick endeavor. It takes years to have a robust online presence. This is why it is important not to abandon your SEO efforts even if there are no apparent changes. If you want real results, try to constantly research popular keywords and come up with shareable content that will establish your website as the go-to destination to retrieve reliable information. This would, in turn, lead to boosting rankings on search engines.
