3 Reasons Marketing Automation Is Not Always The Way To Go

Any type of business online or off takes a lot of time and attention to operate smoothly and grow toward increased profits. Many teams turn to marketing automation to handle things like email newsletters, lead capture, content dissemination, and some aspects of customer care. The acquisition of these programs makes for a sound investment in the future of your company.

Imagine the time freed up if you do not have to spend your hours with all the busy work businesses require. Automatic help can also decrease your overhead since you could get by with fewer employees and let your virtual assistant go. On the surface, a more hands-off approach seems beneficial, but there are three very good reasons why marketing automation is not always the way to go.

1 – Failure to Properly Target New and Existing Audiences

When you use an automatic program to capture leads and facilitate email contact with them, targeting individuals becomes difficult. In order to give personalized attention, the system should be set up for different segments of your list. Different demographics, positions in the sales funnel, response rates, and other criteria determine which message each person receives. One-click email blasts fail to deliver the most powerful marketing to people who are ready to hear it.

Segmentation of contact databases or email lists improves results overall but is especially important when emails are handled by software. This makes having a system with multiple options and the ability to change and regulate the parts vital to successful conversion of leads and, ultimately, sales.

This is largely a matter of personalization. Consumers who get emails from you that do not align with their needs or wants will unsubscribe or mark it as spam. Consumers want the personal touch and to feel like they are forging relationships with the companies they choose. “Dear Friend” and a cookie-cutter marketing message they have seen before or that has no bearing on their interests does not offer that.

2 – Complacency and Lack of Dynamic Improvements

Marketers want automation because it provides a simple way to do tasks that would otherwise take time away from other professional pursuits. Unfortunately, this ease of use leads to complacency. If the systems chug along capturing leads or engaging newsletter subscribers, why bother with data collection, analyzation, and tweaking to make it better?

Company owners or individual marketers who take a “good enough” attitude fail to achieve their overall business goals. Each piece of software or programming you choose to handle certain tasks for you must allow for some dynamic adjustments as your focus and needs change. Regular upgrades by the developers help.

Besides user stagnation, the programs themselves may become obsolete without any clear signs. Developers shift gears all the time and may abandon a program but leave it available for use. The same email capturing system you used last year may not use the latest best practices. In order to maximize the benefits, do periodic checks of not only the program you use but also what is available on the market.

3 – No Integration Between Multiple Systems and People

If you are a solo entrepreneur looking at automating your marketing efforts, the only thing you have to worry about is the different systems you use working together efficiently. Any company with employees that touch on these tasks need all the people or teams involved on the same wavelength as well. If your content marketing guy is using one program, the email handler another, and the lead generation team something else, problems can arise.

Different developers’ programs may not mesh readily with each other. Imagine grabbing emails from double opt-in subscribers but those emails fail to get integrated with the email-sending program. The more programs you use, the greater the chance of lost data or glitches.

The same type of disconnect occurs with the employees themselves too. If one team changes something about how they use automation and fails to tell the others, the whole marketing campaign can come crashing down. In the end, people are usually more fallible than programs. Digital communication between various automatic systems makes the entire system work more smoothly.

Many programs exist to help automate various aspects of your marketing efforts. In order for them to be effective and save you time while increasing profitability, you need to avoid the three problems listed above. Every time you connect with a potential or existing customer or client, you need to present the personal touch with the right information or offer that aligns with their current interests. Treating consumers like just another number fails to improve your numbers on the income charts.

Automate, but do not ignore. Keep up to date with the latest programs and systems out there. Maintain excellent lines of communication between employees to keep things running smoothly. As with all marketing methods and techniques, analyzation, directed change, and the personal touch boosts success rates ever higher.

Be sure to contact us today for more information on how we can help bridge the gap to take care of all of your online marketing needs.