Most companies don’t even consider marketing automation. The reason is often the lack of knowledge of the industry or don’t know the real benefit and so don’t want to actually to utilize one of the most powerful tools in the marketing arsenal. I like to think of it as the email marketing tool on steroids. But the thing is, it can do then just more than marketing. So here are list of ideas that I will build on that businesses should automate.
- Birthdays. You probably have received a product discount, free food, etc. on your birthday. Just about any industry could utilize a celebratory note. Cheers.
- Anniversaries. Who doesn’t want to celebrate a long last relationship? Just be aware that divorce could through this one into a divorce from your mailing list.
- Payments. Billing is massive and a great many companies spend countless hours trying to chase after payments. Help yourself out with a little billing helpful for those companies that want a monthly bill.
- Networking. I’m sure you and the other 99% who went to get the lead or build the list ended up not actually following through. Use marketing automation to follow up with people and see how many people you can connect with.
- Follow up. After the networking, meeting, or event a sequence built to further connect with people who at first don’t respond. Persistence is a lot easier if you have a machine doing it for you.
- Referrals. Do a great job for someone and they often are genuinely happy. Better though to get a pat on the back by getting them to recommend someone else. An occasional ask can help generate the other leads you are looking for.
- Reviews. Same as referrals, reviews can help you generate the 5-star rating you want. Leave it to chance and you’ll get some reviews but ask for the review through automation and see how many more you’ll get.
- Lead captures. This is known to a lot of people. Building a system that captures the leads, sends a whitepaper and then reengages until they buy can be the time worth to capture. I’ve heard of one company that they get some clients that it took 10 years before they bought something resulting in a $100,000.