The top 5 marketing processes you should automate and how to do it

Marketing automation is one of the most important steps you can take to help your business stay ahead of the competition and save time in your day-to-day operations. Automation allows you to quickly and easily execute campaigns, analyze results, and track customers in order to tailor marketing efforts that are more likely to result in sales.

When it comes to marketing automation, there are certain processes that are ideal for streamlining — from segmenting customers to running advertising campaigns and more. Here, we’ll cover the top 5 marketing processes you should automate and how to do it.

1. Segmenting Customers

One of the most powerful benefits of automation when it comes to marketing is the ability to quickly and easily segment customers into groups based on their interests, demographics, purchase history, etc. With the help of automation, you can save time by doing this manually. Automating customer segmentation also makes it easier for you to run targeted campaigns that are tailored to specific audiences and increase engagement rates.

How to Do It: There are plenty of marketing automation tools that allow you to segment customers based on criteria such as location, purchase history, demographic information, interests and more. For example, you can use an automation tool to create segments based on different criteria and then use these segments when crafting targeted campaigns.

Data breaches have become an unfortunate reality of doing business. In the age of online commerce, data breaches have the potential to have a huge negative impact on a company’s reputation, finances, and customer base. Therefore, it is important to take steps to protect your company against a data breach. In this article, we will discuss how to protect your company from potential data threats.

Establish a Security Framework

The first step in protecting your company is to establish a comprehensive security framework. A strong security framework should cover both physical and electronic protections. On the physical side, you should focus on making sure all sensitive data is stored in secure locations and that all employees are aware of the importance of protecting such information. You should also invest in alarm systems and other security measures to protect your physical property from theft or vandalism.

On the electronic side, establish data protection standards for all employees, such as passwords and encryption requirements, as well as policies regarding access and authorization levels. Additionally, make sure you have up-to-date antivirus software installed on all computers, that all devices used to store customer information are regularly monitored, and that all data transmissions are encrypted whenever possible.

If you are interested in segmentation you can go futher in: User Profiles: The Key to Effective Segmentation and Personalized Campaigns

2. Automating Emails

Email automation is an incredibly powerful tool in the world of digital marketing — especially when combined with customer segmentation. Automating email blasts helps you save time and ensures that your emails are sent on time and correctly targeted. You can also use automation for triggered emails — for example, sending out a follow-up message after someone has made a purchase or a “Happy Birthday” message each year.

How to Do It: Most email marketing platforms offer automated email capabilities — from MailChimp to Constant Contact. Simply create your email template and upload your contact list, decide on when and how often the emails should be sent out, and set up triggers for triggered emails. That’s all it takes!

3. Managing Advertising Campaigns

Advertising campaigns are one of the best ways to reach new customers and increase brand awareness — but they can take up a lot of time if done manually. Automation can help you manage advertising campaigns more efficiently by quickly setting up campaign budgets, scheduling ads, testing different advertisements, and tracking results in real time. 

How to Do It: Depending on the size of your business, you may want to consider investing in an advertising automation platform such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads Manager. These platforms make it easy to set up and launch campaigns with specific parameters such as budget, target audience, start and end dates, etc., so that you don’t have to manually manage every step of the process.

4. Tracking Metrics

Analytics are an essential part of any successful marketing strategy — from tracking website visits to measuring ROI — and automation can help make this process much easier. Automated analytics platforms track metrics such as website visits, traffic sources, keyword performance, customer behavior, and more so that you can quickly understand what works best for your business without having to manually crunch the numbers yourself.

How to Do It: Google Analytics is one of the most popular platforms for tracking website metrics in real time — but there are plenty of other options depending on your needs (Hootsuite Insights for social media analytics or Hasoffers for affiliate marketing). Many of these platforms also offer automatic reporting options so that you can easily track your progress over time.

5. Managing Social Media Profiles

Social media is an essential part of any business’s digital marketing strategy — but managing multiple profiles across different networks can take up significant amounts of time if done manually. Luckily, social media automation tools make it easy to streamline your process by scheduling posts in advance, tracking engagement metrics, following other users automatically based on keywords or interests, and more.

How to Do It: Hootsuite is one of the most popular social media scheduling tools out there — but there are plenty of other great options too (such as Buffer or Sprout Social). These platforms make it super easy to create content calendars in advance, schedule posts automatically (or manually), monitor conversations around particular topics or hashtags — all from one place.  

Overall, automating key marketing processes can help save time while optimizing your campaigns for maximum effectiveness — so it’s well worth investing in these types of tools if you want to be competitive in today’s market landscape. Now that you know the top 5 processes you should automate (and how to do it), why not start putting these tips into practice today?

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• The Power of Knowing Your User: A Look at Customer Data Platforms
• Why Data Modeling is Essential for Customer Data