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With the pandemic forcing companies to go remote, workers have adapted well to the work-from-home setup. In fact, a majority would like to continue to work remotelyfor the rest of their professional careers or for at least some more time.
With remote work becoming more mainstream, a unique set of challenges has emerged. According to the same report, one of the top difficulties for remote workers includes problems with communication and collaboration.
If you want to improve your remote staff’s efficiency, you need to leverage the new tools and technologies available. Automation can help you make remote work easier.
What is marketing automation?
Marketing automation refers to the process of automating marketing activities like publishing posts on social media, sending promotional emails and running ad campaigns. These are repetitive tasks that can be tedious.
When you automate such tasks, you can free up your staff’s time and focus on other important tasks. In addition to this, it can help you boost your efficiency and give your customers a more personalized experience.
Some popular marketing automation software solutions include ActiveCampaign, Freshmarketer, Pardot by Salesforce.
How marketing automation can improve remote work
Still on the fence about leveraging new tools to automate marketing activities? In this section, let’s discuss all of the benefits in detail:
1. You can improve work efficiency
Marketing automation enables you to run repetitive tasks on autopilot. As a result, it becomes easier for you to streamline tasks and workflows without being involved at every step.
For instance, you can create a drip campaign to connect with your subscribers regularly. You can send pre-fed newsletters without having to remember to send them every few days. Since the entire task is automated, it takes less time. This, in turn, can boost your work efficiency.
2. You can leverage personalization
In the age of Big Data, personalization is everything. With the help of specialized tools, you can store user data and create more personalized and better customer experiences.
For instance, advanced social media marketing tools can help you target ads based on location, age, gender, preferences, browsing history, and other criteria. Based on this, you can showcase ads that are more relevant to them.
3. You can save more money
Since marketing automation allows you to automate certain tasks, you may need fewer people on your team. Plus, you can track your spending and analyze which strategies are working the best. By optimizing your campaign, you can make sure you are getting the best ROI.
4. You can scale your business
Through marketing automation, you can communicate with multiple people at once. With more reach, you can scale your marketing efforts if you want. This, in turn, can help you scale up your business quickly.
5. You can nurture customer relationships
As we discussed earlier, marketing automation makes it easy for you to follow up with your customers and reach them through different channels. This ensures that you can nurture your customer relationships well.
What to know before choosing marketing automation software
If you want to automate your entire sales funnel, you can need a combination of different types of marketing automation software. But before you decide to opt for any software solution, here are some of the things you need to be clear about:
- Requirements
- Budget
- Integrations
- Customization Options
- Customer Support
Do you need a software solution for email marketing, customer support, or something else? Whatever your requirements are, you need to be clear about them beforehand.
You need to be clear about how much money you can spend per month or year on marketing automation tools.
Are there any special programs that you want your chosen tools to sync with? List all the integration features that you are looking for.
Note any specific customization feature that is important for you.
You may want to check which platforms the marketing automation software of your choice provides customer support.
Conclusion
Marketing automation offers a lot of benefits for marketers who want to save time and get the most out of their spending. It’s also a boon for those who want to nurture customer relationships and scale their business. If you haven’t started using marketing automation yet, it’s time to get started.
Gaurav Sharma is the founder of Attrock, a digital marketing company. He works closely with top marketing influencers and has helped numerous brands, e-commerce firms and SaaS companies grow. He is also a certified Google Analytics and Google Adwords specialist and regularly contributes to reputable publications like HuffPost, TechCrunch and many more.