Do you know what Marketing Automation tools are?
Every day we learn about the unfortunate closure of a business. This crisis spares no size, industry, or country. Companies that were not fast enough to adapt to rapid shifts in market demands and to extreme current circumstances have disappeared. To make matters worse, there is still no timeframe in which we can be certain of reaching stability. Businesses remain at the mercy of variables beyond their control that constantly force them to change their operating models. However, the companies that have remained operational and captured the market share left behind by shuttered businesses share a common element: they all have operations deeply tied to technology, which has enabled them to build a marketing plan to stay up and running.
As we know, the digitization of mass and direct commercial communications is no longer exclusive to large enterprises, as it does not require a massive financial investment to leverage. On the contrary, technology has proven to be a highly effective tool for leveling the playing field between SMBs and corporate giants. For example, years ago it was impossible to imagine that the corner store or a small home-style diner could have an Inbound strategy or advertise in mass media (TV, radio, magazines). Today, however, social media gives every company the opportunity to communicate its value proposition to a niche market through a smart, optimized strategy.
Based on the above, it is evident that the concept of growth marketing is permeating every industry. Everyone can now access different mechanisms to achieve marketing automation through creativity and market expertise.
So, if accessible communication channels already exist for every type of business, what other tools can support companies in becoming more efficient with their messaging and in qualifying people interested in their products? Marketing Automation tools help centralize all of a company's marketing efforts onto a single platform. In this way, we can standardize, manage, measure, and optimize all go-to-market strategies in one place and automate them to streamline both the time and headcount required to deliver our value proposition to communities and buying-intent segments.
Despite the large number of tools on the market, most offer at least some of the following capabilities:
- Social media campaign management (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) (Facebook Business Manager).
- Database management and customer segmentation for targeted campaigns.
- Social media post scheduling.
- Asset creation for INBOUND strategy execution (landing pages, blogs, CTAs, forms).
- Email marketing.
- Reporting and dashboards.
Tools that offer these capabilities run in the cloud, ensuring that teams can remain operational from anywhere (home, office, coworking space, etc.), in addition to offering mobile app versions of the platform to keep working on the go. As with any process automation, every task is repeatable, measurable, and trackable, enabling our organizations to operate consistently, efficiently, and competitively. A company with a robust technological infrastructure and a solid growth marketing plan not only safeguards business continuity, but also protects its workforce to the greatest extent possible.
Here is a video from our podcast where we discuss key unemployment data from 2020.
