Top 10 Features to Have in Marketing Automation Platforms

Published on: 05 December 2018 Last Updated on: 19 July 2019
Marketing Automation Platforms

When you start a business, you have something bigger plan in your mind and to execute it you go all possible means. But, depending entirely on the human-empowered workforce can slow down your ambition. But, we have something new and extraordinary kinds of stuff to tell you about. Yes, guessed it right. We are talking about marketing automation platforms. When you leave the crucial tasks on software such as managing marketing campaigning, email marketing, and others, it ensures success to your business while keeping your staffs free from all these complicated tasks so that they focus on other important things to increase sales.

In this article, we will be talking about the top 10 important things that your marketing automation platforms integrated with CRM system software.

Email Marketing:

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a crucial part of any business to customer engagement. CRM system helps you send mass emails on a scheduled time and you can make things possible in just setting up the system to complete the task. More than that, the marketing automation system offers professional grade email format that could be sent after a little modification.

Contact Management:

Accumulating a list of subscribers, filtering them out based on category and listing them, is a complicated task and finishing this always like winning the half of the battle. Your sales team get complete data of subscribers and even set up to the automation system to take follow-ups calls and emails.

Social Media Automation:

Social Media Automation

Sales representatives may have to spend an extra hour to keep a constant eye on social media activities while marketing automation software easily does this and also saves the information in CRM records.

Community Engagement Simplified:

Marketing automation platform easily identifies the engaging post and successfully sends a reply to automatically to the visitors who come seeking information.

Customer Journey:

Managing customers is an essential element for driving success. Automation system integrating with CRM system can easily handle the customer journey, right from sending emails and to show products and services.

Landing Pages:

You need a fine, engaging, eye-catching, simple, comprehensive and conversion optimised landing page where your customer would visit and take further course of action.

Customizable & All-in-one Dashboard:

When you automate your business process with full stack system, you get fully customised dashboard which lets you do all your marketing and management activities do without creating any complexities.

White Label Options:

This feature makes your brand presence felt everywhere by putting the brand logo on various platform. Mastering in marketing will lead to you complex procedure to follow and reach your target audience while the CRM system integrated with marketing automation can do this in no time that too without involving and human resource.

Conclusion:

Features are not limited to the mentioned level, rather there can end a number of features depending on the types of marketing automation you have integrated with your business process. You can explore more options there and get the maximum benefit as you can.

Read Also:

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Translation Business

Creative Marketing Strategies to Put Your Small Translation Business

As the owner of a translation business, you know firsthand just how much a good marketing strategy can make or break you. However, your current advertising strategy often makes you feel like your company is getting, well, lost in translation. You need to make a change as soon as possible. But you're just not sure where you should start when it comes to updating your marketing plan. In this post, we're sharing both print and digital advertising tips that you can't afford to miss out on. When you're ready to dominate your target market and outrank your competition in the search engine results, keep on reading. Start with Your Website Especially when you're running an international business, you need advertising tips that can reach everyone on the globe -- at the same time. In short, while a strong website is important for every company, it becomes even more essential for brands who need to reach people in different time zones and across different languages. In other words? Even though you're running a translation business, it doesn't change the fact that nearly 3/4 of consumers say they prefer to read content in their first language. Start by looking for the right tools and plugins that will automatically change your site's language to the language of the user. But don't stop there. Having an intuitive and branded web design are also key digital marketing tips. This matters because people will stay on a site they find easy to use for much longer than average. Pop-ups, autoplay features, or just sites that take forever to load won't cause them to click away after three seconds. This helps you rise in search engine rankings. First of all, ensure your site loads quickly and completely on desktop and mobile devices. Use menu options at the top of your page to help users find exactly what they're looking for as fast as possible. If you're blogging (more on that in a minute) make sure you've taken the time to properly categorize your past posts. Above all, keep your homepage engaging and organized, like on this website. Finally, don't forget to include your company's contact information on not just the homepage, but every page of your internal website. Remember that consumers won't always come to the homepage first. Don't make them hunt around on your site to find out how to get answers to their questions or sign up for your services. Blogging and Guest Posting Now that we've covered how your website will drive more customers to your translation business, let's talk about how blogging can increase your site visitors by around 300%. We understand that blogging is a lot of work -- and, if you have to hire professional content services to write your posts for you, it can also be expensive. So, why is it worth it? First of all, it helps to increase your authority and brand recognition within your target market. By providing information-based (as opposed to sales-driven) blog posts, you strengthen consumer trust in your brand. Plus, blogging also tells Google and other search engines that you update your entire website more often than companies who just have a static site. This means that you'll be able to outrank your competitors in the search engine results. Plus, you'll also have more indexed pages (AKA, pages that have been read and categorized by Google.) This also helps you get higher up in the search engine result pages. Blogging also gives you an amazing opportunity to connect with your target market and shorten your overall sales cycle through the use of keywords. By naturally including keywords (what people type into search engines when they need a translation business) in your content, your website will show up in front of people who are ready to buy exactly what you're selling. But blogging alone isn't enough. You also need to get into guest posting. This is one of the best online advertising tips because it gives you the chance to broaden your market and increase your brand awareness at the same time. Write articles and blog posts for popular online journals, websites, and even forums that are relevant to the translation industry. Other Key Digital Advertising Ideas Of course, your digital marketing strategy shouldn't begin and end with site design, blogging, and guest posting alone. There are a few other digital marketing tips you should take into consideration, too. Make sure that you claim your third-party listings on platforms like Google My Business, and fill out your profiles as completely as is possible. This is especially helpful when it comes to connecting you to your target market. Those third-party listings are also important because they allow your customers the chance to leave online reviews for your business. While having a testimonials section on your website is a good idea, most consumers feel that third-party site reviews are less biased. Make sure you frequently read and respond to these reviews -- yes, even the bad ones. You want to prove to potential and current clients that you take their input seriously. Social media is also essential in the online marketing world. However, especially since you're a smaller business, we suggest that you conduct some market research to find out which platform your customers spend most of their time on. Focus your efforts there first, and then expand to other platforms. If possible, aim to post three times a day: morning, noon, and night. Finally, never underestimate the power of an e-newsletter. Not only will this allow you to let your leads and current customers know about new product offerings and flash sales. E-newsletters can also help to build up a personal connection between you and your market. You can feature employees of the month, tell customer stories, and even ask for feedback in survey form. Offline Advertising Tips for Your Translation Business Yes, having a strong digital marketing strategy is incredibly important for your translation business. However, it doesn't mean that you can completely ignore print marketing or offline marketing in general. Now, let's take a look at some seriously effective marketing ideas that don't require an Internet connection. Host an Event One of the best ways to get your name out there is by hosting an event in your local market. You don't have to spend a lot of money in order to increase your brand recognition -- you just have to focus on inviting the right people. Invite other local businesses to a dinner at an international restaurant in your area, or host a "language night" at a local school. Focus on event spaces that have a global feel -- even having a "movie night" where you show a popular international film could work. We suggest handing out promotional products at these events. This way, even if attendees don't need translations services now, they'll know who to call when they do in the future. Don't Underestimate Mailings Relying on the cousin of the e-newsletter, paper mailings, to get the word out about your business is still an effective marketing idea. People love getting "snail mail," especially as it becomes rarer and rarer. Whenever possible, hand-address your envelopes to increase their open rate. When you send out mailings, think outside the holiday card or business pamphlet alone. Instead, consider including things like a magnetic calendar, so that customers can have your company in their heads all year long. You could also include a paper card with a discount code. The same goes for simply including a physical coupon offering them a percentage off of your services. Also, slip in a few of your business cards, and handwrite a note on the back of them. You may also want to create a branded letterhead or stationary, in order to increase your brand recognition. It's all about building a personal connection between you and your leads. Grow Your Translation Business with These Tips We hope that this post has helped you to better understand how to market your translation business both on and offline. Remember that conducting thorough market research -- and knowing when to ask for the help of a professional marketing team -- will take you a long way. Looking for additional advice about how to build your brand? Want to ensure you're creating evergreen content that your market will love sharing on social media? Want to understand how good web design increases your conversions and grow your traffic? Our blog can help you to learn all of that and more, so keep coming back to us for more advertising advice. Read Also: What To Look For In A Transcription Service Provider

READ MOREDetails
Integrated marketing communication

What Is Integrated Marketing Communication in 2020 [Full Guide]

It is just a simple concept of making all kinds of communication and messages linked together. This is just to ensure that there is no lack of information. This lack of information can have a negative result on the work. Do you know what is integrated marketing communication? At the basic level of IMC i.e., Integrated Marketing Communication, all the promoting tools are linked together for smooth communication. You surely must have heard of the marketing mix. Yes, that 4Ps of the marketing mix. This promotion is one of that marketing mixes To make all the tools work smoothly, all the tools must work together in harmony. This can be advanced when regular communication is integrated into several levels, such as Horizontal, Vertical, Internal, External, and Data integration. Let’s go through various components of IMC: 1. The Foundation: In this, a detailed analysis of the product and the target market is required. For the marketers it is essential to understand the nature of the brand, what are its USP (unique selling proposition) and the requirements of the end-user. It is important to have a close eye on your competitor’s behaviors. Every need of the customers is of the utmost importance. 2. The corporate culture: There must need to be relevant in the product and the producing company. Every organization has its own vision, so while planning marketers need that to keep in mind. For example, there is an organization whose vision is to train teenagers in the field of their interest. If they start training the middle-aged man they are deviating from the vision. 3. Brand focus: Every organization is known by the brand they are producing or facilitating. So, it’s important to have plans which are always focused on the brand. Making their brand the center of attention. 4. Consumer experiences: You must not forget about the consumer and how they feel about the product. Nowadays customers are more attracted to the product which looks good, has good packing, and of course, the product itself needs to be one of the best. 5. Communication tools: It is a way via which the brand communicates with the customers. The ways can be direct selling, advertising, social media, advertisements, etc. 6. Integration tools: Selling the product is one part of communication but also getting feedback from the customer is also part communication. Plans for Integrated marketing communication It integrates all aspects of the marketing mix to promote the products and services to the customers at the right place and at the right time. It is a proven fact that if you use different IMC tools at the same time it can improve the customer experience of the product. If done correctly. IMC can improve the visibility of the brand. Whenever a customer goes to the market for shopping, they will be reminded of your brand. The impact of integrated marketing communication increases if the end-user sees the brand simultaneously multiple numbers of times. A marketer should be well versed in time management. Because doing many things like budgeting, allocating the right resources at the right for the promotion of the product is of utmost importance. Gathering information about your company and its product and the audience who buy this product is very important for planning. While planning some points are needed to keep in mind: A detailed summary needs to be made on the brand is going to reach its targeted audience. Everything about the organization needs to be crystal clear. Good knowledge of the product is required. Choosing the right market is very important, and hoe you are going to promote it into the market needs to be mentioned clearly. Competitors’ analysis is very important. And how the competitors are active in the target market. Knowing your brand weakness as well as your strong points can be a good start to promote your brands. Implementing integrated marketing communication Integrated marketing communication is a way of promoting the brand through various methods like advertising, social media awareness, direct selling, public relation, etc. It focuses on using all the available ideas together to get the most desired result. Instead of using one integrated tool at a time, it brings all the possible tool under one umbrella and uses any viable option which is used in an effective way. The success of integrating marketing communication relies totally on understanding the customers, their needs and expectations. Just remember one thing the customer will be loyal towards you only when you outperform their expectations. And to do so you need to be well versed in the marketing mix and need to apply that knowledge in the fields. Just promoting your product once or twice does not make you gainer. You need to keep doing that. So that whenever they think of buying a product, your brand needs to be the first to come in their mind. This can be done only after promoting the same product several times a day to the same audience. This makes their subconscious mind active and your product makes space in their second mind. Let’s take Colgate for example, no matter where you are, whenever you think about a toothpaste product the first name that comes into mind is “Colgate”. Why? Because it was their integrated marketing communication skills that have made you think this way. This what an integrated marketing communication does if done correctly. What are the components of successful integrated marketing communication? It is essential for organizations to have a well-integrated marketing communication team, who can work hard for the organization. And make the customer satisfied so that the customer can invest in the product. This can only happen if the brand can provide services that can make the customer loyal to the brand. This can be done only by using the components effectively: Customer focus No matter how good your product is, no matter how good is your service is, until and unless you make a customer happy all is worthless. Do you believe in God? No, then start believing in the god named “Customers”. If you are a marketer then you need to have faith in this god. Only this god has the power to make your brand, organization what you hope for. So, if you think ignoring their needs and doing and coming up with the best plan will work for you then you need to go back a little bit and have a fresh start. Everything about the customer is very important. Their appraisal, as well as their, complains both hold the same value. But for me complain matters the most. That shows where we are lacking and where we need to improve ourselves. Make sure whatever you are planning customer needs to be at the center of that. Co operation Cooperation among the marketing team is important, but it is essential that every member of the organization work as a whole, to promote the product. Other members who are outside of the department are needed to be allowed to give their thoughts on the matter. This can help in unboxing new ideas, which can really accelerate the promotion. Database communication The sharing of information is one of the important aspects of good planning. This helps in formulating the best course of action. Every employee needed to be filled in on every relevant detail that they need to do their job. Leverage Analyze every channel on which the promotion is done. Calculate their cost estimation. See that if the ROI on that cost is relevant or not. This helps your brand’s promoting efficiency. Profitability At the end of the day, we have to gain revenue. So, making a plan, formulating the strategies are only helpful when they can bring in profits. So, we have to market in such a way that it really brings in the audience to invest in our brand and stay loyal to the brand. This will help to bring in higher revenue. Importance of integrated marketing communication Nobody can deny the fact that integrated marketing communication is an important aspect of the promotion of the brand. Let’s go much deeper: It acts as a messenger between the brand and the audience It recognizes the need of the customers, it gets the data of the competitors, locate an important place for marketing the brand and send this back to the organization for the analysis. Brand awareness at a low cost It is a long-term process where you gain audience trust, and convince them to invest in your brand. Integrated marketing communication is the best way to promote your values. Think like this, if brand A is already communicating with you properly, and delivering its USP on a regular basis. Why would you go for the brand B. you will subconsciously choose brand A Integrating marketing communication over traditional ways IMC is taking over traditional ways because it not only focuses on getting new customers but also tries to retain the older on as well. Gaining a new customer does not mean that you forget about the older customer who has already avail of your services. Gaining new customers is very good but losing the older one is not accepted. Because once the trust is broken, it cannot be restored. The customer will never trust you again. So, doing both is of utmost importance. It reduces the time required for the planning If not for this IMC, strategizing the plan would take lots of time. It is due to the IMC that the time is reduced to none. IMC tools It is essential for organizations to have a well-integrated marketing communication team, who can work hard for the organization. And make the customer satisfied so that the customer can invest in the product. This can only happen if the brand can provide services that can make the customer loyal to the brand. Let us go through the tools which are used in IMC: Advertising It is the best way of promoting the brand. It can reach a huge amount of audience in the shortest time frame. Advertisements on the television, newspaper, radio can reach many audiences in a small frame of time. This also increases the authenticity of the brand. Now it is the marketer’s job to make sure that the right messages are sent to the audience. Self-promotion The promotion which the brands do with the promotional code, discounts, attractive offers, etc. brands itself can pay for advertisements to the newspaper, distribute leaflets for the promotions. Direct selling There are various tools like mailing, text messages, brochures, which the brands use to promote themselves. Personal selling Personal selling here is referred to the selling of the products from their showrooms, via their agents and making sales call. Public relation activities Well, have you seen brands presenting themselves in the community meetup, in fairs, in public events? If yes, then you can understand what public relations mean. It’s all about communication with the public by going in between them. This makes them feel closure to you. This creates a friendship bond with potential customers. Even if they had never thought of investing in your brand, but due to your public appearance. They may think at least once of buying your services. Managing IMC It is essential for organizations to have a well-integrated marketing communication team, who can work hard for the organization. And make the customer satisfied so that the customer can invest in the product. This can only happen if the brand can provide services that can make the customer loyal to the brand. Just making the strategies and implementing those can be said that only half work is done. The rest half is managing and maintain those plans. There are different modes of communication, so it needs to be managed effectively so that all work in the same synchronization to deliver the same message to all the audience. This can be done with the help of proper managing plans. The first step is to identify the right audience Finding the right audience is the best way to make your promotion fruitful. You need to understand who is your audience. what can be done to find the relevant audience for providing services, and who are willing to invest in you. After you find out the answer to these questions, only then you can move on with the second phase of the IMC. The second step is to think of what to communicate The kind of message you send to the customer is very crucial for gaining their trust. You need to have a proper crystal-clear message for audiences. This makes your brand much more authentic. The third step is to plan your message in a way that convinces them Having clear messages will not do, you need to present them in such a way that the audience likes it and get the meaning of it. Make sure that your messages are all properly formatted. The fourth step is to identify the various channel via which you can communicate with them Choosing the best course of action is very helpful in making a promotional platform. It needs to be efficient that it reaches the right person at the right time. The fifth step is to allocate the right source at the right time Investment is needed to be done properly so that ROI gains a profit rather than a loss. So investment needs to be done after analyzing ever aspects of the promotional platforms. Lastly, it’s important to measure the reach of Integrated marketing communication You need to monitor constantly that the promotion is reaching the people or not, doing a blind job is just like walking on the edge of the mountain blindfolded. Conclusion As a whole, integrated marketing communication lays down a bridge between the organization and the audience. Without the IMC informational gap is created which can lead to malfunctioning of the whole organization. There are many strategies that can be implemented to overcome any possible crisis faced by the organization. Each and every detail on integrated marketing communication is given in this article. Image source Read Also: 6 Ways To Increase Real Instagram Followers Without Spending Money! Organic Traffic vs. Paid: Where Should You Focus Your Budget?

READ MOREDetails
Forex Trading Tips

Top 9 Forex Trading Tips for Beginners That Save You Money

Want to make a lot of money off of the world's money? You're a savvy investor looking to diversify your portfolio. You want a market with fewer restrictions and lower transaction costs. A market is open 24 hours a day that covers the entire globe. It sounds like you're looking for forex. The foreign exchange market is the global market of trading currencies. It determines the world's exchange rates. This is a very hands-on market that requires a lot of attention and patience. But, if you're willing to put in the time and effort, you will be rewarded handsomely. Forex can be highly volatile that can change in an instant. You need to educate yourself about this nuanced trading system. If you go into forex blind, you may come out broke. 9 Forex Trading Tips for Beginners That Save You Money: Are you new to the forex scene? Before you start trading, read on to discover the 9 best forex trading tips for beginners that actually work and save money. 1. Go in with a Plan: This goes for all trading markets. Don't start investing without a strategy. What do you want to get out of the forex market? This is not the time for pie in the sky thinking. You want to have realistic goals about how much you can make based on your available capital. If you want to make money, you have to be disciplined. Especially in the forex market. 2. Test the Waters Before You Dive In: Forex is not your father's stock market. There's a lot of new methods and approaches you need to learn. The best way to thrive in this new world is to practice. It might sound silly to trade fake money. But, this is how you can be sure you won't waste real money when you begin. There are many demos out there online. FP Markets allows you to trade for real but also has some great demos for you to practice with. 3. Find the Right Broker for You: You wouldn't climb Everest by yourself without a guide. So don't embark on your forex trading adventure without a broker. Be sure to take the time to find the right broker for you. There's a lot of phonies out there. They're either negligent or worse, malicious. Make sure your broker is fully authorized to trade. You also want to be sure you are on the same page with trading platforms. Do you prefer an over-the-counter market or an exchange-driven market? Whatever your preference, it should be your broker's too. 4. Be Consistent with Your Methodology: Whatever trading methodology you abide by is up to you. But, the important thing to remember is that whatever your mythology is, you need to stick with it. When it comes to the global currency market, there's a lot of information out there. Everyone has their own idea of what the best strategies are to follow. If you try to incorporate everything, you'll be overwhelmed. Do you prefer to keep a close tab on specific economies and wait for the right time to pounce? Or maybe technical analysis is more your speed. Regardless of your approach, make sure to stay consistent. That's the only way to truly understand the market. 5. It Shouldn't be "You vs. the Markets" Some traders like to take an upstream approach to invest. They go against the trends to try and guess what's coming next. Don't try to be a soothsayer. Going against the market on a whim will only bring you stress and failure. Safe, diversified investments in profitable economies are the sure-fire way to go. 6. If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Is: As the forex market heats up, everyone is looking to get rich quick. This is not that type of market. However, that doesn't keep people from trying to take advantage of you. There's robot software available that claims to have mastered the market. They invest your money based on their automated programming. You're just supposed to sit back and watch your money grow. Snake oil products like this don't work. The forex market can't be broken by an algorithm. It needs the complexity and patience of the human brain to understand. 7. Be a News Junkie: Since you can't use a robot to help, you need to turn yourself into one. That means always feeding your brain with current events. The value of the currency is based on many factors. Weather can deplete its value. A popular new leader for the country could raise it considerably. If you can keep up to date on what's going on in the world, you can spot a trend-right before it becomes one. 8. Step Away From Your Computer: Forex is a 24 hour a day market. But, that doesn't mean you should be on it for 24 hours a day. You need to stay sane and keep an objective perspective. Take breaks throughout the day to clear your head. Come back refreshed and ready to pounce. Make sure to get a good night's sleep too. The forex market will still be there in the morning. 9. Don't Be Shy: This article should help you get more comfortable with forex trading. But there's still a lot to learn. Another great resource is to go straight to the source. Try interacting with other forex traders. Maybe you're the type of person who hates asking for directions. Well, have fun being lost! The forex community tends to be open and supportive of new traders. There are no dumb questions, only the dumb people who don't ask questions. Check out some forums online and make some forex buddies ASAP. Use These Forex Trading Tips! Take these forex trading tips and start by planning your strategy today. Forex is a new world of investing for you. So you'll only get better over time. Did you enjoy this article and want to learn more? Then check out this beginner's guide to investing. Read Also: How To Start Trading On The Stock Market And Profit? What You Should Know Before Using ExpertOption

READ MOREDetails