Top 10 Features to Have in Marketing Automation Platforms

Published on: 05 December 2018 Last Updated on: 19 July 2019

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 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:

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.

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7 Proven Marketing Tactics to Increase your ROI in 2018

The digital marketing landscape has become more diversified than ever in 2018 because consumers are generating their own content and marketers are searching for more ways to create product awareness and interest. Since the digital space is highly competitive, marketers are ready to do whatever they can for gaining a competitive advantage. However, instead of dipping your hand in all the pies, it is best if you use marketing strategies that are bound to increase your ROI in the form of more leads, higher traffic, increased conversion, and sales. In a nutshell, you want to use tactics that add something to your bottom line. Listed below are 7 of those marketing tactics that do exactly that and can be used to boost profits in 2018: Tactic 1: Instagram Ads After Facebook, Instagram has become the newest force in social media. Just like Facebook Sponsored Posts and Twitter’s Promoted Tweets have given results, Instagram Ads can also be immensely powerful. They are like digital chameleons because they are able to blend in with the audience’s feed for increasing awareness and driving traffic to your website. While the demographics of the social network is similar to that of Facebook, Instagram has distinguished itself with a greater level of engagement and creativity and gives you exposure to the right audience. Tactic 2: Reviews The online reputation of a business can be hugely influenced by customer reviews. Businesses with no reviews, no recent reviews or with negative ones are at a significant disadvantage as opposed to their competition. As a matter of fact, more than 80% of people have stated that their buying decisions are influenced by negative customer reviews. Thus, it is essential for every business to get positive customer reviews and should also respond to them in a timely manner. Positive reviews can be showcased on the website and on social media and negative reviews can be addressed before they go viral. Improving the customer review score boosts SEO ranking and improves online reputation. The best way to get reviews from your customers is by contacting them directly. By using a tool called GMass, you can email all of your customers at one time asking them to write a review of their experience. They would be more likely to write a review if they are already online checking their emails than having to remember to write one after they got home from their shopping trip. Tactic 3: Evergreen Content This is content that stays relevant and interesting for a long time, regardless of any cultural change. This can include industry resources, tutorials, tips, and product reviews. While this usually refers to white papers and blog content, evergreen content can also be used for video content, infographics, and email marketing. Tactic 4: Crowdsourced Content Yes, the statement ‘content is king’ might be getting old, but it remains true still. Content remains very powerful in today’s competitive market and can turn the tide for a business. The problem is that turning out heaps of creative and useful content requires lots of resources and time. Therefore, it is not surprising to see a new trend emerge; businesses have begun to collaborate and crowdsource because this allows them to get access to meaningful and relevant content. By soliciting ideas from others, a business is able to get the best quality content and save a ton of its valuable time without making any compromises on quality. With crowdsourcing, you leave the idea and word generation to someone else, mostly in your industry. This enables a business to get insights it may not have come up on its own. Also, using this content allows you to reach a greater audience because the ones who created the content will also share it out. Read also: Improve Your Local SEO Via Content Marketing Tactic 5: Retargeting Ads You just checked out an amazing new camera on Amazon and now when you visit Facebook, YouTube or any other website, you can see ads about cameras. This is a feature of Google Adwords and ad serving networks of other search engines, which is called retargeting or remarketing. When you check a business’s website, they can serve you with relevant and interesting ads wherever you go. Marketers are thrilled with this tactic whereas customers feel a bit creeped out. The best part? Your business already knows what the customer is looking for and targeting them with similar products will actually bring them back to you. Tactic 6: Video Content Marketing Traditionally, video marketing for dispersing content was termed unfeasible and getting an ROI from the video was quite difficult. However, this is the era of smartphones that have spectacular cameras and video streaming services that show you videos in just a few taps. This means that now the benefits of video content marketing can go beyond its cost. Every business needs to use video for product launches, Vlogs, tutorials, and tips because they provide value to the viewers. Videos allow a business to use humor, appeal to emotion and aid apprehension for relating to your customers in a better way. The same cannot be achieved with a written blog. Tactic 7: Custom Landing Pages Simply put, landing pages are webpages describing a piece of content, which require users to enter their information to unlock the said content. It is regarded as a lead capture tool because you want to be able to convert the readers into leads and customers when they go over your content. Otherwise, it is only a waste of time and resources. Landing pages linked from an email or blog should be connected to digital marketing content. Also, the featured content can be an eBook, white paper or anything else, but it has to be valuable enough for people to give their contact info. Using these 7 proven marketing tactics will help a business in increasing its ROI in 2018 effectively. Read also: Building a Brand for Your Small Business Avoid these 5 Mistakes before Starting an SEO Influence Marketing Tool to Move from Local to Global Market How to Write and Design an Article that Attracts New Customers to Your Business

Tending to Your Needs: 5 Key Differences Between Online and Offline Auctions

Auctioning is a popular way of selling and purchasing various items. But, what are the differences between online and offline auctions? In the past, all auctions were conducted offline. The development of the internet has led to the rise of online auctioning platforms. Companies that provide auctioning services have embraced modern methods while still keeping the traditional live auctions. To get an overview of the services provided by such companies, visit equifyauctions.com Curation: In offline auctions, experts examine and curate the items to be auctioned carefully. Customers can also inspect the items and even test them (if applicable) before the bidding process begins. This assists them in making informed decisions about the items placed for auction. On the other hand, it is rarely possible to test an item on online auctioning platforms. Online auctions are also accessible to global audiences, whereas offline auctions are only available to locals and people living nearby. Bidding: To bid in offline auctions, you must be physically present. Conversely, online auctions only require internet access. This means that you can bid from anywhere provided you have access to the internet. In this regard, online auctions have the upper hand over offline auctions because of the wide variety of items available. For instance, you can bid for a car in Britain while living in the US. Bidding online has an advantage in that prices may be cheap if you are first to the auction. On the contrary, it can also be expensive to acquire a product when the bidders are several, given that many people find bidding over the internet to be convenient. Payment: In live auctions, payments are mostly made in cash. Since the buyer is likely to meet the seller one-on-one and you pay for what you see, issues regarding payments are very rare. In online auctions, there are no guarantees overpayments. Issues arising from faulty items, and in severe cases, non-delivery, are likely to occur. However, there are some platforms with a credibility that use secure payment platforms. Such platforms also compensate you if the bought items do not meet the desired standard. Trustworthiness: Offline auctions are renowned for their utmost trust. Online auctions, on the other hand, have some work to do on this front. As mentioned above, the trust issues originate from payment and delivery. Conclusion: Online platforms have been cited by many as the future of auction. This could be the case, mainly because they are convenient and give you a broader audience. However, there are several challenges that need addressing. These include: People will always have reservations about risking their money. This means that online auctions have to implement methods of safeguarding client funds. There is a need for creating a means of verifying the existence of an item, clients should also be able to inspect the condition of the item before committing their funds. That being said, you should thoroughly research a reputable auction house before buying or selling an item. Read Also: Cost Of Living In Seattle Is Property Investment Still A Good Way To Make Money?

Your Ultimate Guide To Creating SMS Marketing Campaigns

Every marketer would tell you that there are reasons why text marketing continues to become a mainstay in marketing agencies. In fact, both conventional and modern companies highly rely on their efficacy when it comes to reaching out to their target audience. Because when you think about it, every person checks their text message inbox every time they receive a ping. Leveraging communication strategies like an effective SMS marketing campaign allows you to grow your brand more, target more audiences, and even build closer relationships with prospects. There are a lot of things that SMS marketing can help you with in terms of achieving business goals. But before you partake in this marketing tactic, it’s important to understand the concept behind this marketing practice. Use this guide to make successful SMS marketing campaigns. What Is SMS Marketing? It’s crucial to understand first the concept behind this old but gold marketing strategy. SMS marketing refers to a short message service you send to your customers to build relationships with them. It’s important for text marketers to communicate with their target audiences in a respectful and compliant manner. No matter what your business goals are, SMS marketing puts you one step ahead of achieving them. For instance, you can drive more leads, introduce new products, lead them to check your website, and so on. The ideas that you can do with this marketing method are limitless. Compared to email or push notification marketing, SMS marketing has several advantages. For instance, every person who receives an incoming message in their phone inbox will surely take the time to check and read them one by one. While some people might check their emails at least once a day regarding text message inboxes, people often check them as soon as they receive a message. Your message can be concise and clear with SMS marketing. There’s no need for lengthy advertising messages. With brief sentences that can take up less than 160 characters of the SMS limit, you can already deliver what you want to say to your prospects. Choosing The Right SMS Marketing Tool Now, it’s time to understand the tool to use for this marketing strategy. With the advent of technology, there is now text marketing software at your disposal. For one, you can take advantage of Drop Cowboy Ringless Voicemail service and some other brands that offer reliable text messaging as marketing services. Text message delivery depends on the tools and services you choose. Such software comes with pricing plans that fit your marketing budget and goals. Unlike any other conventional marketing promotions like print ads, TV ads, and billboards, this marketing campaign is priced reasonably better. Also, consider partnering with the best SMS marketing service provider to automate your text messages to your target recipients. How To Maximize On SMS Marketing Campaigns As mentioned, a high percentage of people open text messages every time they receive one. By sending promotional messages via SMS, you ensure your customers will read them because they will arrive directly in their inboxes. Check out these ideas in which you can maximize your SMS marketing campaigns. 1. Limited-Time Promotions You can use an SMS marketing strategy to encourage your customers to avail of coupons and discounts or even redeem incentives or gifts. Offering these incentives for a limited time makes them even more effective. Announcing that the campaign only runs on a promo period is an effective call-to-action strategy so your customers won’t miss out on such opportunities. It’s one effective strategy to get your business to high ranks. Considering SMS marketing's high open rate, it’s the most effective way to communicate time-sensitive offers with customers. As a result, you ensure your customers don't pass up a good deal. This yield win-win situations for both the customers and your brand. They get discounted rates, and you could convert your sales funnel more effectively. 2. Reminding Customers One good purpose for SMS marketing is when you could send notifications regarding the recent actions of your customers. For instance, whether they checked your website, changed passwords, or linked different payment modes, an SMS notification will be sent to inform them that the activity is successful. Sending notification messages is essential for many businesses, and they’ve realized how effective it is in retaining customers. By relaying notifications about their recent purchase or online activities, the customers will grow their trust in your brand. It could lead to continuous patronage. Also, they will feel at ease by getting reminders of how your brand is already dealing with their orders or purchases. Receiving reminders is valuable, especially for customers who are always busy with other things and obligations. Make sure your brand is always at the top of your customer's minds. It’s a job that SMS is best suited for. With SMS marketing, you can remind your customers about everything from their most recently liked products to the purchased ones that are going to arrive soon. 3. Order Updates And Confirmation An SMS is also useful for customers to receive updates regarding their orders. Once they make a purchase, a message will be sent regarding the successful transaction. It ensures peace of mind for the customer. Also, the confirmation messages sent via SMS will allow them to use them as proof or evidence regarding their purchase. If products don’t arrive as planned, they can refer to the SMS notification. 4. New Product Release And Launches SMS advertising is also useful for announcing new product releases. It’s the most cost-effective way for marketers to advertise new product launching. Without paying for the expensive talents of celebrities to promote new products, a large number of users will discover your new product offering through the message they can read in their SMS inbox. Using this method will generate buzz and interest, and you could even entice old customers to come back and check out what's new. You can also use SMS campaigns to drive traffic to your website or storefront. Thus, you can simply include a link they can visit to check your new product or any offers. 5. Send Welcome Messages Send your customer a welcome message once they subscribe to your SMS marketing campaign. Companies must start building relationships with their customers. As a result, you will be able to communicate with them right away, as they will know they have been subscribed. It also alerts them to expect a few messages from your end every now and then. There’s no need for lengthy or complex welcome messages. Sometimes short but sweet thank you message about their subscription are already enough for your customers to remember your business. 6. Customer Service Tool SMS is not limited to being a marketing tool; it’s also a customer support tool. In this era where customer service should be at the forefront of any business, SMS strategy can be used to ensure customer satisfaction. It’s imperative that your work processes are as transparent as possible, and you can achieve this by constantly sending them SMS in case necessary. After all, a text message is the easiest way to communicate with pre-sale customers and post-sale tech support. 7. Collect Customer Feedback It’s essential for businesses to receive customer feedback to determine what they are doing well and what they need to improve. And it’s something that’s being offered with SMS marketing. You can send out surveys through SMS, and customers can answer them timely and convenient. There are many ways to create survey forms for them to easily fill out. The key is to attach the link to your SMS. Another option is to ask customers to rate you using a ranking system that’s easy for them to use. 8. Announce VIP Programs By offering a VIP program, you can encourage loyalty among your subscribers and customers. If you want to make your VIP customers feel special, offer them VIP-only discounts. This sense of exclusivity allows your customers to treat your brand with more respect and value. Also, use this program for customers to gain early access to sales and other promotions. One way for them to qualify for your VIP list is to encourage them to fill out a signup link. However, since it’s VIP, make it seems more challenging for them to enter this list. The harder it feels to qualify, the more special and valued they would feel. Tips To Apply Effective SMS Marketing Strategies Applying SMS marketing strategies require effective implementations. When done right, they can produce the best outcomes for your business. Here are some tips to apply effective SMS marketing strategies for your brand: 1. Ensure That Your Customers Opted In Your customers probably already provide you with their phone numbers. However, one common courtesy is to get their approval to start receiving SMS from your brand. Mass texting them without their consent is ethically wrong and will only lead to adverse effects on the customer. Ensure to get your customer’s clear opt-in before starting to send out text message campaigns. Your website or other online channels can allow customers to opt-in to receive text messages. However, you should get a text confirmation before you send them anything. There are ways to get their opt-in consent. One is to make them reply Yes or No to your single SMS regarding SMS subscription. Another way is through your website. They can press a CTA button regarding their receiving SMS messages from your brand. When the user clicks the link in the offer, they can fill out the subscription form and enter their number so they can start receiving your SMS campaigns. 2. Take Time To Introduce Yourself A good practice is to take the time to introduce your brand in any of your SMS campaigns. Chances are your customers don’t know where the messages are coming from. Failing to include your company name or brand name on the message will only forfeit its purpose. Hence, it’s important to include your company or brand name in that short message that you’re sending. 3. Make Messages Fun And Short It’s common for people to use SMS messages to communicate with friends and family informally. Texting should remain fun in your SMS campaign in the same way as a fun communication tool between people. Be friendly and personal with customers to build trust. Use local trending words that are popular with your target audience for the time being. It ensures to catch their interest and make them read your text message completely. The maximum number of characters in an SMS message is 160. With an opt-out option and the need to identify yourself, that's not much to work with. Don't waste any characters, and go straight to the point of what you want to say. 4. Don’t Forget To Use Target Keywords To encourage users to connect with you, you should select contextually relevant keywords alongside simple messages and shortcodes. Using such keywords will allow them to easily remember anything about your brand or company. If they want to research you online, they can use the same keywords found on your SMS. 5. Give An Option For Customers To Opt Out All marketing communications should follow these standards and rules. Much like getting their buy-in, you should also give them the option to opt out and unsubscribe from your SMS campaigns. You are more likely to lose customers if you constantly text them when they do not want to hear from you. Your messages should come with the unsubscribe option, so your customers can freely opt out anytime they want. There are some viable reasons for them to do this. But it doesn’t entirely mean that they won’t be good prospects for you in the future. It’s just that not everyone prefers to get this kind of information via text. SMS open rates tend to be much higher than those for email, so you should also expect a higher unsubscribe rate. After a message is sent, unsubscribes may spike and treat it as a normal occurrence. 6. Be More Informative Than Promotional You should be extremely considerate of your buyers' inboxes since promotional SMS messages can easily be turned off. Therefore, staying informative and interactive is best, and not focusing too much on sounding sales or promotional. A good rule of thumb is to focus most of your communication on order, whether a status update or a request for feedback. Schedule your promotional messages and send them at least only twice a week at a minimum. No one wants to keep receiving promotional messages that are obvious that they want to make money from you. Conclusion You can increase engagement with your target audience by using SMS marketing. Keeping your customers' attention is easier if you market to them where they are most active. Therefore, if your target audience is always in their phone’s SMS inbox, it’s worth considering SMS marketing as part of your marketing mix. Use this guide and wait for results to reflect your bottom line soon. Read Also: Calling Out – How Telemarketing Allows You to Reach a Wider Audience How To Move Your Career In Social Media Marketing Up A Gear? Best Marketing Strategies For Lawyers In Houston

Top 10 Features to Have in Marketing Automation Platforms

Email Marketing:

Contact Management:

Social Media Automation:

Community Engagement Simplified:

Customer Journey:

Landing Pages:

Customizable & All-in-one Dashboard:

White Label Options:

Conclusion:

Top 9 Forex Trading Tips for Beginners That Save You Money

Exploring The Different Types Of Digital Marketing Strategies

Content Rally

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.

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Related

7 Proven Marketing Tactics to Increase your ROI in 2018

Tending to Your Needs: 5 Key Differences Between Online and Offline Auctions

Your Ultimate Guide To Creating SMS Marketing Campaigns

Top 10 Features to Have in Marketing Automation Platforms

Email Marketing:

Contact Management:

Social Media Automation:

Community Engagement Simplified:

Customer Journey:

Landing Pages:

Customizable & All-in-one Dashboard:

White Label Options:

Conclusion:

Share this Article

Top 9 Forex Trading Tips for Beginners That Save You Money

Exploring The Different Types Of Digital Marketing Strategies

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.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

Related