Marketing automation is taking over the content marketing platform, as more and more companies and agencies adopt the practice to save time and money and deliver relevant, engaging content to a target audience in a timely manner.
Marketing automation software operates on an “if/then” philosophy, reacting to a prospects actions and sending relevant and related content as a result. For example, a prospect downloads a white paper on brand vision, completing a form with their name and email. The prospect is placed into a marketing automation workflow and receives a series of emails and related content to brand vision.
One concern a lot of marketers have with implementing marketing automation is the lack of personalization. Sure, you can insert someone’s first and last name pulled from the form they filled out, but how else might you keep marketing automation on a more intimate level?
Naming the whitepaper the prospect just downloaded shows a small amount of personalization, but offering relatable content as well strengthens your case as a thought leader and industry expert. Find the most engaged with pieces that relate to the tripwire content topic and include links to that work in the automated email response. Include triggers in your workflow, changing the follow up content if the prospect has already engaged with a certain piece. Marketing automation can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be, so use it.
Having an automated response or email go out at 2:00 in the morning is a dead giveaway that it isn’t being sent by a person. By scheduling the emails in your workflow to go out a day or two later during working hours gives the content a more personal touch. All marketing automation software offers wait steps that allow you to customize the timeline for follow up content.
The signature of an email is often overlooked and left to be filled in by an auto-response within the marketing automation software. Not customizing the footer with a name and contact information is a dead giveaway that the content is automated. Customize the signature to come from someone who is accessible and able to respond to any inquiries generated from the email content. A department head, marketing director or patient liaison is a perfect person for this. Include a phone number and email address that directly links the prospect to someone who can answer their questions.
Most marketing automation software has lead scoring capabilities. By assigning a point value to certain actions such as opening, clicking or engaging in an email, you are able to quickly determine the level of engagement of a prospect. Set a rule that once someone reaches a certain score, you are alerted and can directly follow up with the prospect. Waiting a day or two and emailing them an exclusive piece of content will not only demonstrate your interest in their engagement but will open a direct line of communication between you and the prospect.
Setting up a successful marketing automation campaign can be tedious, but personalizing content and utilizing the tools the platform has to offer will make the process easier.
As Five19 Creative’s Marketing Manager, Margaux brings more than 10 years of experience in marketing automation, SEO, web analytics, social media and content strategy. Like any good strategic thinker, Margaux knows results are what counts. Whether she’s tailoring a marketing campaign to fill a pipeline with prospects, automating processes for efficiency or using analytics to measure results, Margaux’s rock-bottom goal is for our clients to see amazing ROI. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and has worked in marketing for Williams Mullen, OneMind Health and Franklin Street Marketing.