3 Marketing Automation Tips and Tricks for SMBs

Google "marketing automation" and you'll find a ton of posts debunking myths about software and strategies. But before diving into best practices, it's a good idea to brush up on the basics. Our short and sweet post discusses what marketing automation is and provides 3 handy marketing automation tips for SMBs.

What is marketing automation?

Simply put, marketing automation streamlines everyday tasks to save you time. Post scheduling is one of the simplest forms of marketing automation. You're probably already using it for your email newsletters, social media content, and blog posts.

You'll find a ton of free tools out there that offer social media scheduling and email marketing separately. But wouldn't it be so much easier to manage everything in one place? That's exactly what marketing automation does.

Marketing automation combines analytics with content creation and management to optimize and automate workflows. With marketing automation software, you can track multiple campaigns across various channels, including email, social, blog, and more.

Marketing automation tips

With this basic understanding in mind, it's easy to see how marketing automation boosts productivity and drives conversions and sales. Here are a few tips for SMBs shopping around for software and preparing to create a marketing automation strategy.

Marketing automation tip #1: Determine your needs to choose the right software

You'll find tons of marketing automation software out there, ranging in price from freemium to top-dollar. But you might not need all the bells and whistles some of those platforms have to offer.

For example, some of the top marketing automation software offers the ability to build your own webinar and track contests. But if you don't host webinars or contests, you won't need these features. And you shouldn't have to pay for anything you're not using.

SMBs probably won't need to use the same software as Fortune 500 companies. Take the time to learn about different platforms and compare your options before committing.

Marketing automation tip #2: Take the time to craft your marketing automation strategy

Not even the best marketing automation software can help you if you're just hoping to automate your current strategy and leave it at that. This approach will come back to bite you big time.

Marketing automation is all about delivering personalized content to your audience based on their behavior. Initially, you'll need to invest a lot of time creating and automating your campaigns. That investment will pay for itself and then some — literally. But only as long as you don't get complacent, which leads us to our next marketing automation tip.

Marketing automation tip #3: Experiment, experiment, experiment

One of the major advantages of marketing automation is saving time while personalizing content at scale. But the last thing you want to do is create campaigns and never revisit them.

Think of your marketing automation software like a virtual, artificially intelligent assistant. It's not meant to replace your job, but rather work with you to optimize your campaigns.

Analyze your data regularly to discover what's working and what isn't. Create new content and test it often. And finally, don't forget to engage with your audience. If you post and ghost, you'll lose out on customer loyalty.

Marketing automation: the bottom line

Investing in marketing automation software and letting it run on autopilot will cost you more than money in the long run. Don't neglect the data.

For the best ROI, be sure to choose software that aligns with your needs. Don't splurge on something fancy just for the sake of it.

Ready to discover what else automation can do for your business? Automated chat for business allows your customers to connect with your business using their preferred platform. ZyraTalk integrates with all your systems, including your CRM, Facebook Messenger, and more. Start a chat with us and take our chatbot for a test drive.