Avoid 5 Marketing Automation Mistakes to keep strategy on track.

Time is money.

This might seem like an oft-repeated, oft-stated catchphrase, but it makes a lot of sense, especially to businesses trying not just to keep their heads above water but also to those trying to execute the flamboyant butterfly strokes and backflips!

To save time and make more money, automation has been quite the game changer. And when it comes to time/money saving/building tools, you cannot afford to go flounder! You have got to automate the whole marketing process and not just the email part of it. According to the results of Forrester Research, “Companies that excel at automated lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost.”

The best way to get your prospective customers purchase-ready is to invest in setting up automated workflows with a tool that covers all your bespoke needs. In the text that follows, we will discuss rookie errors that you must steer clear of and solutions to those mistakes.

1. Beginning without a clear & well thought-out lead-generation strategy

Diving deeper into marketing automation without having a clear understanding of lead generation channels and the consumer journey would be akin to going straight for the jugular. It might cost your business precious dollars and, of course, lost time.

Most marketers find themselves struggling with realizing solid success through marketing automation solutions simply because of a lack of an effective lead generation strategy in place.

You might be reeling in a lot of new eyeballs. But the question is, are they really interested in investing in your product or service, or are they just lookie-loos?! Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution strategy. You need to keep assessing the needs of an evolving target audience, ways to profitably engage with them, offer solutions to their pain points on the right channels, and gently guide them through the buyer’s journey.

Solution: Quality lead generation is something that can propel your business forward and help realize better ROIs. A coherent lead generation strategy is replete with time-bound, measurable, and specific goals that should be reviewed at the beginning of every business day. This way, you not only multiply growth avenues for your business but also create value for your customers.

2. Making the mistake of confusing email marketing with marketing automation

Email marketing automation is a subset of marketing automation. The latter is also inclusive of a whole spectrum of features like content marketing, CRM, social media marketing, lead management, landing pages, closed-loop reporting, CRM, advanced multi-channel campaigns, etc.

Solution: Whichever automation tool you subscribe to, you should explore every feature of the tool in addition to automating your email marketing campaigns. Study the different features on offer and deploy the ones that best suit your unique marketing requirements.

3. Not working with clean, quality data

In a recent State of B2B Marketing Automation Report, a whopping 58% of B2B professionals believe that the one factor that is most likely to amplify the success of their automation endeavors is quality data.

On the opposite side, we have data that contains erroneous or false information, aka dirty data. Working with dirty data can have a major negative impact on the brand’s coffers and time spent. This can range from data duplicity to incorrect attribution and data inconsistencies. A more relevant example of dirty data is an email list that is in use and still has disengaged subscribers, duplicate addresses, and spam email IDs.

Deploying dirty data and not making the effort to clean out lists puts your business at risk of incurring a damaged IP reputation, high marketing costs, low engagement rates, and a marked loss of leads.

Solution: To match your efforts, you need to ensure that you feed only clean, verified GDPR/CAN-spam-regulated data into your automation tool. Refrain from buying email lists and invest in double opt-ins so that you only have leads who are truly interested in your product/service.

4. Picking out the wrong automation tool

Investing in an automation tool that is not fit for your specific sales and marketing needs can sound the death knell for your business. Many marketers, who don’t deploy automation in their marketing strategies face the biggest challenge in zeroing in on platforms that match their needs.

Almost 59% of B2B professionals feel that they haven’t capitalized on the full potential of their existing marketing automation tools.

So as one can see, marketers are not only facing challenges with picking the right tool but also harnessing the complete potential of the tools they have opted for.

Solution: Here are some top features to check for in marketing automation software:

Integrations with other apps
User-friendly interface
Advanced reporting and analytics
Customer support tools and knowledge base
Scalability

5. Not testing or optimizing enough

While it may be tempting to launch your marketing campaigns straightaway without testing and optimization, it is akin to putting out shots in the dark. This will not only become a strain on your budget and waste precious time but also negatively affect ROIs which no one wants.

Solution: Testing can help you identify what works with your audiences and what does not. A/B testing different elements like CTAs, landing pages, subject lines, copy, etc., helps you test out the options and run the best-performing campaigns.

Summary

In conclusion, there are certain red flags that one needs to avoid to realize a smooth and profitable marketing automation strategy. If you are on the lookout for professionals who know the ins and outs of automation, then Mavlers is your one-stop-shop! We’d love to hear from you!