Marketing Automation Software – Customer Segmentation and Campaign Management
Marketing Automation Software provides companies with many advantages. It can help reduce the complexity of marketing activities and lower costs. It does this by focusing on two core tasks.
Customer Segmentation
The first is automated message testing through customer segmentation. Customer segmentation is the process of sub-sectioning your customer database into unique areas based on consumer behavior, preferences or demographics. By focusing on multiple segments, marketers can improve their efficiency. When you provide prospects with a relevant, targeted message, studies show time and time again that consumers are more responsive and likely to take action. Using marketing automation software to properly segment and then test messages to different segments within your database can help companies improve their purchase conversion rates and increase revenue from an existing customer base.
Campaign Management
Secondly, marketing automation software can automate your campaign management and execution. Most systems will allow marketers to design sustained campaigns of content that is delivered to your prospects overtime. Think of an automated campaign in the same way people do an investment account. It is better to continually add small amounts of money overtime. By taking the same approach with your marketing campaigns, you can benefit from multiple consumer touch points, brand building as well as the direct response aspects of digital marketing. An example of a campaign like this would be a multi-week e-mail marketing campaign with a series of marketing messages and content all focused on a single theme.
Most marketing automation software tools focus on e-mail marketing, while more advanced applications are beginning to focus on blogging, social media, SEO and the entire breadth of digital marketing tactics. These new tools will allow marketers to create content once, then share that content across multiple digital channels such as podcasts, presentations, webinars, social media in additional to email. Nearly any digital marketing channel can benefit from automation. Technology constantly changes, however, the process and principles of marketing automation software have been around for decades in the form of direct response systems, direct mail and loyalty programs.
How to get Started
Start using marketing automation software today to increase the value of your existing customers and to distribute unique content and attract new customers. We suggest that you first explore e-mail marketing automation tools such as Constant Contact or Aweber. These software tools are low cost and very user friendly. When dealing in the Social Media sphere, we recommend TweetDeck. TweekDeck provides users with a quick and easy dashboard that shows your messaging from multiple social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and MySpace. A tool like TweetDeck is essential for managing your Social media presence. If you are focusing deeply on Twitter then you should check out HootSuite or Cotweet. If you are not using it already, your choice for automating your web presence should be WordPress, it is user friendly and has lots of premade templates and plugins available.
When used properly and intelligently, marketing automation software will build business, drive more revenue and increase profit.