The way to Construct a Excessive-Performing Advertising Automation Technique

Right now, entrepreneurs have the world at their fingertips on the subject of automation.

We are able to design complicated e-mail sequences to exit on repeat, automate social media and show advertisements based mostly on buyer preferences, and ship deserted cart restoration emails with out lifting a finger.

However, this ease of use presents an issue:

Many entrepreneurs don’t have a ton of technique behind their actions. They get straight into the tactical part earlier than considering by means of the strategic parts.

On this article, we’re going to give attention to the latter.

You’ll uncover the 6 essential steps in designing a advertising automation technique and learn the way that technique ought to inform automation techniques and actions. 

Desk of Contents

What’s a advertising automation technique?

A advertising automation technique is an overarching plan behind the advertising actions you resolve to automate and people you resolve not to automate.

So, let’s get 1 factor clear.

Advertising automation methods and advertising automation techniques are usually not the identical factor.

Somewhat, your advertising automation technique informs the automation techniques you select.

The technique is the high-level method, encompassing buyer analysis, market evaluation, competitor comparisons, and goal-setting.

From right here, you may select the advertising efforts that swimsuit you.

A few examples of selling automation techniques embrace e-mail nurture sequences and remarketing advert campaigns on social media.

Beginning with technique is essential to figuring out which techniques will convert. When you discover by means of your analysis that prospects in your sector hardly ever buy from focused social media advertisements, as an example, then automating this course of could also be unsuitable.

With this in thoughts, we’re first going to take a look at learn how to construct a advertising automation technique earlier than diving into the particular techniques you may use to succeed in your viewers and convert gross sales.

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The way to construct a strong advertising automation technique in 6 steps 

Able to design a advertising automation technique to avoid wasting time and pace up workflows? Simply comply with these 6 steps.

1. Collect your mission-critical intel 

Step one is to tug collectively all the information you may have in your viewers, your rivals, and your market.

This contains paperwork like:

• Whole addressable market evaluation 
• Competitor evaluation
• SWOT evaluation
• Splendid firm profile (ICP)
• Buyer personas 

To be clear, creating these paperwork will not be a part of the advertising automation technique design course of.

Automation technique is just one a part of your wider advertising technique. As such, these duties ought to already be accomplished; that is merely a apply of collating the mandatory data to tell automation selections.

2. Audit your current advertising actions 

Check out the advertising actions you’re operating proper now, and ask 2 questions:

1. Which of those actions could be automated?
2. Which actions can be higher off not automated?

Say, for instance, that you simply’re at present operating a sequence of lead nurture campaigns for leads that aren’t fairly but sales-qualified. Primarily based on their interplay with sure emails, you reroute them (at present manually) to completely different sequences.

You may automate this with the proper e-mail advertising device.

You may resolve, nevertheless, that it’s important for an account-based advertising rep to be concerned in writing that first e-mail, because it must be extremely focused to the particular buyer’s curiosity. You may select not to automate on this occasion, then.

3. Perceive how automation impacts the shopper journey 

The buyer journey is a mannequin entrepreneurs use to map out the assorted steps the standard patrons undergo to buy.

It begins on the attain and have interaction stage (the place you goal your messaging to the discover prospects) and strikes proper by means of the convert and shut phases.

You must have already got the shopper journey mapped out by now; your job right here is to grasp how automation may impression that journey.

Take, for instance, the nurture and educate section.

You may determine that your potential patrons spend loads of time comparability posts between you and your rivals.

You would arrange an e-mail automation sequence to ship in-depth comparability posts proper to them, saving them time and guaranteeing you’re positioning your self as the best choice for a given want (i.e., reiterating your worth propositions).

4. Determine automation set off factors 

Upon getting a good suggestion of the automation recipes you’d wish to create, you’ll must be clear on what triggers that recipe.

In some instances, it might be guide, akin to a social media advertising supervisor initiating a brand new automated advert sequence.

In others, automation runs could be triggered robotically—as an example, if a buyer downloads your e book and is robotically entered into an e-mail nurture sequence.

5. Discover the restrictions of your advertising automation platform 

Advertising automation software program is your lifesaver right here, enabling all of these complicated automation concepts you’ve dreamed up.

However not all automation platforms supply the identical options (although there’s vital overlap).

Take the instance we checked out in step 2, the place you’d wish to automate dynamic e-mail sequences based mostly on person interplay.

A variety of automation platforms don’t have this capacity. (ActiveCampaign does, by the best way).

You’ll want to ensure your required automation recipes fall inside the confines of your device’s capabilities or think about switching platforms.

6. Design a plan for reporting and evaluation 

The final part of designing a advertising automation technique is figuring out the way you’ll measure the success of your automation technique and techniques.

This comes down to selecting particular metrics to measure efficacy and ROI and scheduling an everyday time to overview your advertising automation technique and modify as applicable. 

Each 6 to 12 months is probably going applicable for many companies, although startups and quickly rising and altering corporations may wish to step as much as a quarterly overview cadence. 

Use your advertising automation technique to drive these 7 techniques

Now that you’ve your technique sorted, it’s time to resolve which advertising techniques will work finest for attracting your viewers.

Let’s discover 7 examples for instance how this complete factor works.

1. Lead nurture e-mail sequence 

The lead nurture e-mail sequence is the quintessential instance of selling automation in motion.

This automation sequence begins when your buyer takes a particular motion. That is perhaps downloading your e book, signing up for an e-mail course, or making their first buy.

Let’s say it’s the latter.

That buyer is then put right into a lead nurture sequence and receives a sequence of emails in sequential order. Say, for instance, they obtain 1 per week for 7 weeks.

Every lead nurture e-mail sequence has a particular conversion objective in thoughts. On this occasion, it might be to transform that individual to a repeat buyer by encouraging a second buy. The ultimate e-mail within the sequence may embrace a low cost code as an extra motivator.

An efficient e-mail sequence helps you flip extra subscribers into prospects.

2. Remarketing advertisements 

Remarketing (also referred to as retargeting) advertisements are a advertising automation tactic triggered when a possible buyer browses a product in your web site however doesn’t undergo with the acquisition.

Your web site pixel captures their knowledge and hyperlinks together with your advertising automation platform to set off automated advertisements for that precise product.

These advertisements are mostly displayed on social media platforms like Fb and Instagram however can be efficient as digital banner advertisements.

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3. Social media promoting 

Social media promoting is a well-liked advertising technique on the whole, nevertheless it’s even higher when automated.

For instance, let’s say you may have a sequence of content material you’d like potential prospects to see. One advert isn’t adequate.

In your advertising automation platform, you may arrange a sequence of three advertisements, every with completely different inventive and replica, and automate their show on platforms like Fb and LinkedIn in sequence.

4. Segmented e-mail advertising 

Probably the most highly effective e-mail advertising automation sequences are segmented by key viewers attributes. This ensures that you simply solely ship highly-relevant content material to every viewers section, thereby bettering engagement and conversion charges.

Say, for instance, that you simply’re a gross sales CRM with a lot of completely different person profiles. A lot of your customers are actual property brokers and insurance coverage corporations.

Whereas some e-mail content material could also be related to each, not the entire content material you produce for actual property corporations shall be tremendous related for insurance coverage brokers and vice versa. Segmented e-mail advertising means that you can ship the proper stuff to the proper individuals.

Dynamic e-mail content material may help you are taking issues a step additional. 

Take this e-mail from Northern Path, as an example, which makes use of dynamic e-mail to tailor content material based mostly on recipient gender.

With dynamic content material, as an example, you may ship a single e-mail to your total viewers however automate a sure part to alter based mostly on person knowledge.

5. Deserted cart emails 

Deserted carts are the bane of the ecommerce world. Patrons add your merchandise to their cart (or bag, or field, or no matter you’re calling it) however don’t undergo with the acquisition.

Automated deserted cart emails are a strong technique to regain a few of this misplaced income potential with no need to contain a advertising individual each time.

Couple your cart abandonment emails with retargeting advertisements for a 2-pronged method to cart restoration.

6. Transactional SMS messages 

Transactional emails (like delivery and gross sales notifications) are an effective way to maintain prospects up to date, however they usually get misplaced within the tons of of notifications your e-mail subscribers obtain every month.

SMS advertising could be a highly effective technique to reduce by means of. You’re sending the messages on to a buyer’s cell, stopping you from getting misplaced of their e-mail inbox.

Homesick makes use of transactional SMS to tell prospects about ongoing gross sales, for instance.

7. Welcome e-mail sequence 

Welcome e-mail sequence are an ideal goal for an automation sequence.

This is perhaps triggered when somebody indicators up in your e-mail publication or rewards program after studying 1 of your weblog posts that speaks to a standard trade problem.

For SaaS corporations, welcome e-mail campaigns usually start when a brand new buyer indicators up in your product.

This e-mail from Spotify is a superb instance of an preliminary automated welcome e-mail.

In any case, the concept of a welcome e-mail sequence is to coach the shopper and get them to have interaction together with your product.

For instance, you may schedule a sequence of emails that give customers walk-throughs on particular product options with the objective of accelerating function adoption.

Incessantly requested questions

What’s an instance of selling automation?

One of the crucial widespread examples of selling automation is the e-mail lead nurture sequence.

Right here, you prewrite a sequence of emails. When somebody downloads an e book of yours, your automation is triggered, and the prospect robotically receives that sequence of emails (usually 1 per week).

How efficient is advertising automation?

Advertising automation could be significantly efficient, nevertheless it all depends upon how you employ it!

Swim College, for instance, grew its income by 66% utilizing advertising automation like scheduled e-mail campaigns.

Why do you want advertising automation?

You want advertising automation as a result of it’s the one technique to run scalable advertising campaigns with out investing (learn: losing) tons of of hours on actions that might in any other case be executed by a advertising automation device.

Conclusion 

By automating repetitive duties, your advertising workforce can ship personalised content material to your present prospects, appeal to potential B2B patrons, and supply a greater buyer expertise that improves buyer retention and satisfaction.

And so they can do all of it with no need to raise a finger (besides once they arrange their advertising automation workflows).
Nonetheless, none of that is attainable with no strong advertising automation resolution. Try ActiveCampaign’s deep suite of selling automation options, or dive proper in and expertise the magic for your self with a 14-day free trial.