3 Ways to Have Fun with B2C Marketing Automation

What Is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation is using a specifically designed software platform to assist marketers in defining and automatically delivering marketing processes such as customer segmentation, lead nurturing and campaign management. 

In a nutshell, it takes all the tasks that human marketers want and need to do to move their prospects along the sales funnel and it puts them on one convenient platform to make it possible.

So how can B2C marketers use marketing automation to attract and delight customers?

 1. You can get personally involved. Granted, there are a lot of tools out there to help you engage in social media conversations with your customers. But, what if you had ONE tool that tied in your social media, your blogs, your website, your emails and your product offers? Marketing automation platforms help you engage your customers on a variety of different levels and increase the level of sophistication you have in communicating your messages. Perhaps MORE important, utilizing marketing automation can help you listen to your customers by monitoring social media streams and creating workflows that help you send tailored, specific communication to them about what they are interested in. If you sell clothing, for example, you can send emails to men about slacks and emails to women about dresses. Bingo! Trust me: it gives people the warm fuzzies when they feel like you know them.

2. Capture information. Let's face it: the more you know, the more you grow! You can create landing pages loaded with terrific information that your customers want to know more about. The trick is that they have to tell you a little bit about themselves before you give them the goods. Marketing automation platforms allow you to create "smart" forms that hold onto information customers have already provided and let you dig a little deeper each time the customer visits. The first time you got their name and email address. The next time you get their phone number and their preferred clothing size.

3. Help you convert website traffic into real customers! You may have a website today that looks great. But do you know who is coming to your site? Do they have an opportunity to download useful information? How do you know if they're buying products from you? Marketing automation platforms provide a way to help you create ways to drive your potential customers to take real action.

So what?

Marketing automation platforms are a great tool for small and large businesses alike. B2C businesses have unique marketing needs that can be addressed by the right marketing automation tools and, perhaps, a little help from marketing technology experts.