GreenFig instructors Sue Hay and Jerine Erice recently taught classes in Marketo, Salesforce, and analytics to our lifelong learners in Digital Marketing Science. We share their blog full of insightful tips on using marketing automation tools in order to attract and nurture prospects more effectively. Read and learn! 

In today’s fast-changing marketplace it is important to stay up to speed on potential prospects. Marketing automation makes it possible by pushing out the critical pieces of a marketing campaign – tasks such as email blasts, social media posts, web content, and other marketing touch points – while measuring and providing metrics on the success rate of these marketing tasks. With this data, you can better understand your audience, leads, and customers and in turn drive more targeted content to move prospects down the funnel. The ideal marketing automation plan is divided into three parts:

• Engagement, which captures information about your ideal customer
• Automation, which triggers campaigns using the information from the engagement hub
• Analytics, which provides metrics about the customer journey

It is the ongoing interaction between these three parts that drive results. By streamlining and analyzing marketing campaigns your team will have optimal control over the marketing process across all channels. For brands big or small marketing automation is an essential component to your marketing efforts. With more than 35 marketing automation solutions out there it can seem overwhelming to decide on the best one for your business. Marketo is a well-rounded tool with a one-stop platform that covers all aspects of marketing automation. Below are five key ways to use marketing automation with Marketo effectively. 

1. Web Personalization

Web personalization allows you to deliver personal and relevant content to your visitors. With Marketo’s web personalization you can:

• Convert anonymous visitors. About 98 percent of your web visitors are anonymous. Tap into this potential with custom content, messaging, and calls-to-action.
• Engage current customers. Continue to nurture current customers based on what you know about them.
• Create audience segments. Explore a user’s browsing behavior, location, firmographics, and more in order to create tailored content.
• Build various types of web personalization campaigns. Use customized landing pages to improve your conversion rate.

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing delivers the highest ROI for marketers. This makes it an essential addition to your overall marketing automation strategy. Take advantage of your contact list and create targeted campaigns that deliver results. Marketo offers features necessary for a successful campaign including the ability to:

• Identify your audience. Marketo allows you to segment and automate your email marketing process in order to draw in new customers and maintain current ones.
• Choose a template. Select from a variety of different templates to send to your desired group. Remember the content must be relevant and targeted to that group.
• Track activity. Marketo allows you to track the delivery and analytics of your emails (such as opens and clicks). Through these analytics, you can monitor customer behavior and respond accordingly.

3. Event Marketing 

Events are a great opportunity for customers to familiarize themselves with your brand. It is important, however, to promote them effectively to ensure the right target audience attends. The tools marketers have access to today provide an efficient and streamlined process for promotion. Consider these strategies for incorporating automation into your event marketing strategy:

• Scheduling. Automate event publishing so team members can focus on other tasks while still pushing personalized event content.
• Social media. Successful event promotion should include social media outreach. By automating this and planning in advance your team can focus on real-time responses and next steps.
• Outreach. A happy attendee equals a successful event, which bodes well for your company. Never underestimate the power of good customer service. While it may seem like a daunting task to make everyone happy, automation will get you closer. Take advantage of the latest app technology so attendees can customize their experiences and feel empowered.

4. Nurture Programs 

Customer nurturing helps establish long-term relationships with potential customers throughout their journey. A quality nurture program develops a lead until they are sales ready and ultimately increases ROI. Below are some key steps to building an effective nurturing program:

• Evaluate your customer management process. Where are leads dropping off in the process? What are the ultimate goals of your products and services? Answering these questions will give you a good starting point on what needs to be adjusted.
• Select the right engagement marketing platform. When choosing a platform, keep in mind that it should help you meet your goals and develop long-term relationships with customers. Seek input from both the marketing and sales teams.
• Anticipate changing trends. The needs of your consumers will no doubt change, so it is important to update your nurturing approach accordingly. What is appealing today may not be appealing two months from now. Be sure to keep the language fresh and time-specific in order to address the consumer’s current wants and needs. This will vastly improve your campaigns used in marketing automation and increase ROI.

5. Analytics 

Reviewing analytics offers a way to test, measure, and optimize your ROI. As you analyze the data you can adjust your strategies as needed in order to optimize your budget. Be sure to examine:

• How effective each channel is working
• Which assets are working for you and which are not
• Which channels and assets are more likely to attract MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) that convert
• Baseline conversion rates
• Improved conversion rates

As you grow accustomed to marketing automation and how it works you will notice its positive impact on your marketing strategy. Automation allows you to streamline your campaigns while maintaining full control of your strategy. For more information on GreenFig’s upcoming courses taught by industry leaders like Jerine and Sue, check us out at www.greenfig.com.