The marketing landscape evolves at lightning speed. Each year new technologies and strategies emerge for savvy businesses to leverage. 2023 will be no different. Marketing automation will continue driving growth for companies adapting to this digital age.
Implementing marketing automation may seem daunting. But it doesn’t have to be! With some strategic planning and the right tools, your company can utilize automation to nurture leads, engage customers, and boost conversions. The payoff can be huge.
This article will explore 10 tips to maximize marketing automation and expand your business in 2023. You’ll learn proven techniques to capture attention, spark interest, create desire, and drive action.
Whether you’re new to automated marketing or looking to get more from your current efforts, you’ll discover valuable insights to implement now. Read on to enhance lead generation, improve campaign ROI, and surpass your growth goals this year!
TLDR; Marketing Automation to Grow Your Business
- Set up lead scoring rules to focus on hot prospects
- Use behavioral triggers to send targeted, timely messages
- Segment contacts into groups with shared interests
- Automate workflows to nurture leads over time
- Integrate your CRM and marketing platforms
- Continually analyze performance and optimize efforts
- Consider outsourcing to an industry-specific marketing agency
- Optimize for mobile experiences
- Automate social media sharing and follow-up
10 Marketing Automation Tips to Grow Your Business in 2023
1. Set Up Lead Scoring Rules
Lead scoring allows you to quantify and categorize leads based on engagement, profile fit, and behaviors. It’s a crucial step in marketing automation. Assign points for actions like email opens, content downloads, and site visits. Also score for profile details like title, company size, and intent signals.
Use your CRM or marketing automation platform to set rules for different scores. For example, set 50 points for a gated content download, 30 for an email open, and 10 for a page visit. The platform will automatically apply scores as leads take actions. You can even track over time to see engagement trends.
Categorize leads based on score thresholds, like hot (100+), warm (50-99) and cold (0-49). Focus energy on hot leads since they’ve shown interest. Nurture warm leads to move them along the buyer’s journey. Cold leads may not be ready yet, so score rules help identify ones to prioritize over others.
2. Use Behavioral Triggers
Behavioral triggers automatically send emails or initiate actions based on what contacts do (or don’t do) on your site. Use these to deliver targeted, timely messages.
For example, set up a flow to send an abandoned shopping cart email to users who add items but don’t check out. Or trigger a nurture email if a lead visits a pricing page but hasn’t downloaded a brochure yet.
Triggers help guide users down the preferred conversion path. They reduce manual efforts by activating automated outreach based on behaviors. Just be sure to avoid overly promotional language in trigger campaigns. The goal is to be helpful and lead them to the next logical step.
With your automation platform, set up a wide range of triggers related to email actions, form fills, content downloads, pages visited, time on site and more. Get creative with different scenarios. Test different messages and timing too. Refine based on performance data.
3. Outsource to an MSP Marketing Agency
Consider partnering with an MSP marketing agency specializing in the MSP industry. They offer knowledge of the IT services space and can create high-converting campaigns tailored to this audience.
Outsourcing lifts the workload off your internal team. And you gain access to experts focused solely on driving marketing and sales for managed service providers.
Look for an agency that takes time to understand your specific solutions, customers, and challenges. With the right partner, you can scale your marketing automation efforts and accelerate growth.
4. Use Behavioral Triggers
Triggers automatically initiate actions based on site behaviors. Use them to guide visitors with timely, relevant messages. For example, trigger an abandoned cart email if items are added but not purchased.
Or send a nurture email if a lead visits pricing but hasn’t downloaded a brochure. Be creative in mapping out desired journeys. Triggers help make that happen automatically based on behaviors. Refine over time for optimal performance.
5. Segment Your Contacts
Divide your contacts into groups that share common traits and interests. This allows sending more tailored messages. Segment by demographics like company size or location.
Behavioral factors like past purchases work too. You can also segment by lead score, time frame, email engagement and more.
The key is aligning groups with the content and offers that will interest them most. Don’t blast every contact with the same message, you can use an ai content generator to automate this as well. Segmenting enables personalized communication that better resonates.
6. Automate Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing uses customized email sequences to develop prospects over time. First determine where leads are in the buyer’s journey.
Then map out a path to progress them along. For example, awareness stage leads may get educational content first. Further down funnel leads receive product info and offers.
Set up automated workflows triggered by lead actions (or inaction). Make sure emails provide value and build relationships, not just sales pitches. Nurturing helps keep your brand top of mind and primes leads for conversion once ready.
7. Integrate With CRM
Integrate your marketing automation platform with your CRM system. This allows seamlessly transferring contacts and syncing data between the two. It creates a unified view of all prospect interactions across email, web, social, and sales channels.
You’ll gain visibility into your prospects’ entire journey. See email engagement data alongside info entered into sales forms. Track behaviors on your site and how they correlate to pipeline progress. And automatically import new leads from web forms into the CRM for follow up.
Integration provides a powerful consolidated view and helps unite sales and marketing teams around the same data.
8. Track Campaign Performance
Marketing analytics allow you to see what strategies are working and where optimization is needed. Review metrics like email open and click rates, landing page visits, and pipeline influenced by campaigns.
Tools like A/B testing help compare different versions of emails, offers, subject lines, etc. Double down on what drives the highest engagement and conversions. Identify lower performing areas and make adjustments.
Consistent analysis and refinement is key to improving results over time. Don’t just set it and forget it. Monitoring performance at both macro and micro levels ensures your automation continues hitting the mark.
9. Optimize for Mobile
With mobile usage continuing to rise, it’s essential to optimize for mobile experiences. Ensure your landing pages, forms, and other assets render and function well on mobile devices. Use responsive design to dynamically adapt to different screen sizes.
You can also engage visitors with SMS messaging and mobile push notifications. Integrate these channels into your automation flows where appropriate. Location-based triggers come in handy here too.
Test and confirm the mobile experience aligns with your responsive design goals. Fix any issues like slow load times or unclear CTAs. It’s key that mobile prospects can readily consume content and convert.
10. Integrate With Social Media
Integrating social media expands your automation capabilities. Share blog posts and gated offers out to social channels automatically when published.
Build customized audiences for social ads based on actions site visitors take. Retarget them on social when they’re farther down the funnel to keep your brand top of mind.
You can even automate social follow-up for contacts when they fill out forms or complete key actions. This helps you continue nurturing them in new channels.
Wrapping It Up: Marketing Automation to Grow Your Business
Marketing automation holds tremendous potential to amplify your growth. But only if you use it strategically. Don’t just set it and forget it.
Follow the tips outlined here to capture attention and spark interest. Tailor your campaigns and offers to create desire. Then motivate your prospects to take action.
Consistent monitoring, testing, and optimizing will ensure your automation continues converting. Don’t become overwhelmed. Start small if needed, focusing on quality over quantity of campaigns. With the right approach, you can nurture more prospects into happy customers.
Growth awaits in 2023! Now go captivate your audience, move them along their journey, and exceed your business goals through smart marketing automation. The foundation for success is now in your hands. Time to make it happen.
