Every business starts out small – even the ones that are armed with resources. This is due to the fact that unless you are powered with a loyal customer base, you cannot be growth bound or consider yourself as a big business by any means. But luckily, things are changing and there are a number of tools and techniques available to help small businesses tap into larger opportunities that are all around us, all the time, thanks to the digital scheme of things. Marketing automation is one such tool.
Before we talk about marketing automation as such, let us look at what marketing automation for small businesses means. Here is a quick preview:
Reach
Small Business Marketing Automation primarily means that you are spreading your wings to garner higher reach so that you are able to tap into higher potential and even higher revenues. This reach comes about with the help of CRM which is usually also integrated with the marketing automation function or software. Let us look at it this way – the opportunities all over the world are now concentrated on the world wide web where you not only have a way of remaining in touch through social media management and email marketing, but you also have a way to conduct business online and close sales for multiple customers at one time. This makes your reach that much richer and that much more varied, even as it gives you the potential to reach more number of people at one time. This reach is driven by a number of automated efforts that can schedule posts and send across email notifications in order to keep your core customer engaged and happy.
Revenue
With higher reach comes higher revenue. With marketing automation for small businesses, you get to tap into a higher earning potential since your sales team is now automated and equipped to concentrate on heavier and more creative tasks such as core engagement, rather than the monotonous tasks that can suck your bandwidth dry when it comes to time, resources and the sheer number of team members who are at play here. A marketing automation software equips a small business to make big business thanks to the fact that the inbuilt CRM also helps you operate from a cloud based location so that you can tap into customers and a potential audience from all over the globe with minimum employment of resources and people.
Increase Team Work
A small business needs to make the most of its scarce resources so that your business can thrive. The team and the resources are made available for tasks that require more creativity and focus thanks to the fact that the monotonous tasks are now completely automated thanks to marketing automation. Now, instead of replication of efforts and missing out on important tasks in the sales pipeline, teams and their members get to complete one task and get notified about the next task instantly. Not only does this promote efficiency of the process as a whole, but it also helps in lining up all the tasks so that there is better collaboration and everyone in the team knows exactly what they are supposed to do at what time. This also gives the team members the leeway to concentrate on higher tasks that will increase sales potential, rather than handling all those small tasks that can be a waste of time in the long run. Also, the process of scheduling posts and lining them up can save lots of time and bandwidth that is otherwise spent online, on various platforms that require constant manual management in order for your feed and pages to be engaging for your core customer. When the team shifts their focus from these mundane tasks and instead focuses on creating value in terms of actually engaging and interacting with customers to close a lead, sales and even bring in renewed sales from the same customer, there will be more efficacy in the entire process. This happens thanks to the marketing automation software that you use for your core business practices.
Lead and Contact Information Management
With the marketing automation software that you use, you generally also get a CRM system that will take your game head and shoulders higher than most of those who form your competitor group. Therefore, it is crucial to choose the platform that will give you an integration of both these functions, much like EngageBay and others in its category. You will get to generate, manage and even position yourself for leads so that you can successfully nurture them to the conversion stage with great marketing automation values in place. This is done with the sheer power of data management wherein the data is seamlessly stored in CRM systems and pulled up for the right functions by marketing automation for the fulfillment of the sales pipeline. This helps you show up as a more professional entity for your customers who will then be able to pledge brand loyalty based on what they see, even as all your bases like email, social media and SEO are covered in an integrated manner. Hence, investing in a proper CRM system that is also fueled by marketing automation is the key towards making a good choice for higher potential and for true support to your sales and marketing team as well as their overall functioning.
An Investment Worth Every Dime
When you invest in a marketing automation software or platform, you are basically making a very wise choice and this will help you in the long run. This is especially important when your business is still in the growth phase and needs to think before investing even a dime. With the marketing automation software, all your resources and functions are in one place and hence you do not need to buy separate softwares or employ more number of people for repetitive tasks that can be easily automated. Further, many of these platforms will even offer you smaller plans