The digitalization of businesses is gaining momentum. This is particularly evident in marketing, as more and more marketing channels need to be managed. Small and medium-sized enterprises often lack the time for this. It's not just about sales channels like the website, social media, or email marketing. Many other processes can be digitized and automated. Marketing automation aims to make everyday marketing tasks more efficient and customer-centric. A range of tools are available to marketing managers to help manage these tasks. This enables the acquisition of new customers and the efficient maintenance of existing customers, without much effort.

How can you win customers with marketing automation?

Human contact is particularly important in B2B marketing. However, marketing automation is especially effective in this area. It is an excellent way to prepare contacts. Companies can identify potential customers much faster than would be possible using conventional methods. Companies no longer lose sight of customers and prospects and can accompany them on their journey through the sales process. Automatic touchpoints and contact points maintain the connection to the company for longer.

Prospects frequently switch marketing channels, so companies must try to keep up with this development. They meet their target audience where they currently are. Automation helps analyze customer behavior in seconds. The advantage of online marketing is that all measures can be measured and adjusted accordingly. Today's customer is demanding, as they expect two-way interaction. They want to communicate with the company at any time. Therefore, even small and medium-sized businesses benefit, as the effort to acquire a customer is reduced.

Traditional advertising is mostly hidden

Most prospective customers ignore traditional advertising. Users are bombarded with too many stimuli. They search for specific information in search engines and social networks. The internet is a pull medium, which means that companies must be present wherever customers go to obtain information.

Marketing, sales, and customer support synchronize their contact channels to gain a shared view of customer data. Software-supported automation makes it much easier to understand potential customers and all their needs and interests. This is the only way companies can identify individual requirements and respond to them. Automated customer journey management enables real-time monitoring and offers content personalization.

Customer service and quick response promote customer loyalty

Loyalty to a company is no longer as strong as it was a few years ago. If service is not immediately available, there are plenty of alternatives online that customers can switch to. Intelligent tools help employees respond quickly to inquiries. Contacts sorted by topic can be forwarded immediately to the appropriate team. This promotes customer loyalty.

The effort required to support customers is significantly lower than with manual support. User-oriented content and existing customer care can be improved considerably in this way.

The advantages of automated processes in detail:

• effective customer acquisition
• suitable leads for sales
• targeted marketing campaigns
• Time and cost savings
• personalized communication
• More freedom, as recurring tasks are performed automatically
• better customer understanding

An important point is the analysis of acquired data, as it reveals the return on investment for each individual measure. This allows the company to implement only the actions that are truly worthwhile. Marketing managers no longer make decisions based on gut feeling.

Software tools guide customers through the sales process

In practice, software tools guide customers through the sales process. When a potential customer searches for a product or service, the company makes the first contact on the website. This can be done through chatbots, the request of a white paper, or with checklists. If the prospect enters their email address, they receive a follow-up with additional information after a few days. At the same time, the system informs a sales representative about what the potential customer is interested in. This ensures that the sales consultant is fully prepared for the conversation.

Fewer abandoned orders and more sales

For shop operators, abandoned orders are a widespread problem. Now, the system reminds users of their open shopping carts. In addition, reminder emails and discount offers are sent out. If it is a user's birthday, the system sends them birthday wishes and offers a discount for that day. All of this happens automatically.

That's why small and medium-sized businesses also benefit from marketing software.

There are now a wide range of software solutions on the market that give companies a clear competitive advantage. With products and services that require explanation, it takes longer for customers to make a purchase decision. In this case, you should contact prospective customers more often. Automatic customer support is particularly worthwhile in B2B marketing, e-commerce offerings, and digital products. It can be implemented regardless of the size of an organization. Small and medium-sized businesses benefit from this in particular, as they usually do not have enough manpower to perform complex marketing tasks manually.

Marketing software can be used to automatically perform the following tasks:

• Creation and management of landing pages
• Manage newsletter
• Email marketing
• Qualify leads
• contact management
• Analysis and reporting
• multi-channel communication

Many software solutions make individual solutions redundant by combining all functions under one roof. The website, social media, customer relationship management, and marketing are all closely connected through interfaces. The software delivers the relevant content to visitors based on data. Behavior-based and automated workflows manage customers around the clock. It is important to integrate third-party software without the need for additional programming of interfaces. This helps avoid follow-up costs. As a full-service agency, we advise you comprehensively on selecting the right solution for your company.

A good price-performance ratio is important

Small and medium-sized companies need software that can be deployed quickly and offers good value for money. The primary focus is on user-friendliness with as flat a learning curve as possible. License costs should be reasonable and correspond exactly to the intended use. These are usually cloud-based solutions that do not run on the company server. The advantage is that maintenance and data security are handled by the respective provider. Find out whether the provider complies with data protection regulations. The disadvantage is a certain degree of dependency, because once everything is set up, switching later can be expensive.

With over 300 providers in the market, choosing the right one is not easy, so it’s best to start by asking what exactly you need. Some of the most well-known players in the industry include HubSpot, Chimpify, and Mautic. Nowadays, there are even solutions for small businesses and freelancers looking for a user-friendly all-in-one solution. Examples include Sendinblue and Zoho.