Let's assume that you need to maintain constant relations with one of your clients. You write to him/her, send proposals, recommendations, event notifications, redirections for your sites where they can find valuable content and many other things that have to be done. To put it simply, the only thing you are not doing is clicking for him/her. Lots of work, right? So let's assume that the same process needs to be repeated 50 times a day. If you tough yourself up, you can manage that alone…at least for some time. But 50 clients are rarely the maximum of company potential. A company’s database can contain hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of contacts, and each of them needs to be informed about various things that are related to his or her interests, preferences, and needs. If undisturbed personalized communication cannot be maintained, then the possibility of losing not only potential leads but also valuable clients (who were on their best way toward long-term loyalty) is going to dangerously skyrocket.
Lose some workload by using Marketing Automation tools designed specifically for that purpose. In this article, you will find out what Marketing Automation is, what it really is – thinking that you do know something, and actually knowing something for sure is a huge difference. In this article, you will find out.
We are iPresso, and we do know what we are talking about.
There are many interpretations regarding Marketing Automation or MA. When asking “what is Marketing Automation by definition?” you should remember that it is a system for automating marketing processes in the company thanks to its many integrated MarTech tools., Part of which helps to safely gather data about users and prepare automated and personalized communication with them in different communication channels.
The spectrum of tools that are ready to use with Marketing Automation software can be expanded according to actual and specific needs (or profile) of the company, goals, and communication challenges. There is a popular myth that automation is focused mainly on sending emails. Email marketing and automation go hand in hand, automatization of email is so much more than just preparing time when a newsletter, for example, needs to be delivered to the recipient's inbox. Automated email marketing tools are just an integrated part of the automation software because email is one of the communication channels, and MA is for most of them.
iPresso is a Marketing Automation System that comes with many integrated tools and features. But we know that even if the profiles of the companies are very similar, the task and goals-related solutions are different. That is why iPresso has its own Integration Center, which allows using tools that users are already used to.
Marketing Automation Software gathers user's data like:
Each of those above is then saved into individual profiles of page visitors, clients, or contacts that already exist in the database. Thanks to this data, the whole base can be more easily segmented into smaller parts - depending on what kind of aspect has been taken into consideration.
Segmentation alone is one of the most important parts of creating and maintaining a professional communication process. When a specific group is selected, the form and tone of the messages can be adjusted to better reflect the most important values and needs of this group. Personalized messages that are sent using different communication channels to segmented groups give recipients a feeling of being more special and connected with the company. If you have ever received an e-mail or direct message from a social media profile that was clearly just a copy of the common template, then you probably didn’t feel lift-up. Email and Marketing Automation working together give much more than used separately. The way how messages are created has a direct impact on the impression that a company is making among their recipients. Through this, stronger relations will be made, and long-term loyalty can be much easier to achieve.
iPresso Marketing Automation software uses such communication channels as:
Maintaining only one communication channel and restricting your company options to only one medium is the best recipe to be left behind and forgotten. There is no way to reach new potential customers and recipients with only one channel. Different groups with different needs also prefer different channels or platforms. You can see it clearly when you take a technological gap between generations - for some groups an email would be enough, but others need to be reached from different directions. Marketing Automation helps to use 360 approaches that maximize the chance that the message will be seen, understood, and will cause a wanted reaction (for example, subscribing to the newsletter). More channels equal more options, one channel is a narrow corridor where you will bounce off the walls.
The other thing with using only one channel of communication is that they have a tendency to stop working from time to time. If all of your ads, plans, and prospects are connected with undisturbed work of social media platforms, for instance, then sooner or later you will have a problem. Recent events have shown that even the biggest companies can't provide undisturbed access to their platform for users indefinitely.
If ever something like that happens, then even your best-automated scenarios which were restricted to one channel wouldn’t be able to do their job.
That is why, you always need to have a backup plan, and each communication channel can be treated as such. Marketing Automation (MA) technologies and strategies can and will help you to easily maintain communication through various channels. When everything is prepared, one person can do the work of the whole team, saving money, time, workforce, nerves, and minimizing the risk of making manual mistakes.
Above are just a few examples of what can Marketing Automation do. iPresso’s System enhances the company's flexibility to adjust its offer and profile to ever-changing trends in various markets, and through it to better respond to the needs of its customers.
The communication process is a sum of many activities that need to be prepared - that is obvious. But if you want to manually check each time what kind of messages are going to be sent to your recipients, for example from a specific segment, you won't have the time to do anything else, and in a long term, you will fail either way. Why? Because you are not a machine, and you have your limits.
iPresso Marketing Automation systems allow you to create unique automated scenarios which will send what needs to be sent, to people who need to read it. Each scenario can and will work indefinitely without the need for constant checkups. To put it simply - if your contact base consists of thousands of emails through scenarios, each segmented part will have its own specific way by which your company is communicating with them.
Scenarios are used not only for long-term repeated cycles of communication but also while performing RTM (Real Time Marketing) activities, automation of affiliate marketing, loyalty-building, and so on. If something interesting happens that your company can use to promote or recommend its product or service, thanks to scenarios you already have a basic framework of communication in place with a selected segment of recipients. All you have to do is change a message itself, put in related graphics, check if everything is green and press send.
Above you had read about the marketing automation definition and its main focus. So why Marketing Automation is important? What will you and your company gain? Of course, there are many different programs and tools. The main difference is that other programs are fragmented - which means you have to install (or log into the dashboard) separately to use them, and if you have a complex project to create or maintain the constant jumping between tabs makes the risk of serious mistakes much higher. To plan, create, and maintain communication within different channels, you don’t have to be a marketing specialist. Creating strategy is not a one-person job. Marketing Automation solutions help an individual user or a few teams work together simultaneously.
If you have an online shop and you are selling various products or services online, then you invest in promotion which end result should be a higher conversion rate. That is a lot of work, not to mention costs, and it is understandable that you don't want it to go to waste.
Why use Marketing Automation? Because, thanks to its features, it fills the gap at the very moment a potential client is starting to look at your website or online shop. MA quickly gathers details about the user and starts to activate specific scenarios or other functions to grab his/hers attention and point toward the starting point of the Customer Journey.
All of it is happening without you, in the background, at any time, while you are focused on other priorities. The system gathers what it needs on its own, but every action and new data is saved or updated into an individual profile of the user.
All the gathered information shows every action and change that happened. It can be used for creating more effective and adjusted scenarios, strategies, promotions, recommendations, and so on. Marketing Automation benefits aren’t restricted only to a stack of tools that allow working faster and more efficiently. It is also an easy-to-access source of data about the customer base. In iPresso Marketing Automation System, every user has a clear and holistic view of gathered data, so other processes that require this information can be sped up.
In addition, iPresso can be easily integrated with other tools or e-commerce platforms.
Your first steps with MA don’t have to be big. Marketing Automation allows you to choose your own pace, and elements you want to optimize. iPresso doesn’t show you borders and restrictions, you have a wide range of possibilities to bring up to life your unique ideas. At the very beginning, you can, for example, start with automating newsletters or prepare a sequence of e-mails for new users that will register in your database. You can start slowly or optimize whole segments of your company. It is up to you, automation of marketing is a process. iPresso will be there to help you achieve that at your own pace.
Watch more about our Marketing Automation system:
So why Marketing Automation? To efficiently use the Marketing Automation System, you don’t have to be certified tech-savvy specialists with a NASA letter of recommendation. The system is very intuitive, and every step and function you can find is clearly explained in the help section.
If you are wondering how long it will take to learn how to automate, you can scratch weeks from your estimations. To use iPresso Marketing Automation for B2B or B2C, you will need mere hours.
It sounds great, we know that. But actions speak louder than words. If you want to start to automate processes in your company, you can register for a free 30-day trial - no strings attached. Thanks to it, you can easily learn and check for yourself what Marketing Automation tools are all about and which benefits of Marketing Automation are best suited for you.
If iPresso meets your expectations, then go ahead and choose one of many subscription plans.
Start to automate and see what you can do...
…but before that, check also: