Best Automation Strategies for Agencies and Technology Companies
According to Entrepreneur magazine, 78% of marketers say automation increases revenue. This is not surprising, as investments in automation bring stable returns. Most are profitable in just one year. This is true regardless of which part of the business is being automated.
When it comes to sales, automation typically reduces errors, improves scalability, and saves time. In fact, one case study published in the Harvard Business Review used automation to reduce marketing campaign launch time from four weeks to five days. One-time process? lead generation.
Automated lead generation offers incredible revenue potential.
At many companies, lead generation takes up most of the sales team's time. Automating lead generation tasks will save you time! Sales teams can then apply their skills to more human-centric tasks. How to automatically generate leads (overview)
Sales technology automation increases efficiency. With optimal technical efficiency, marketing teams can generate more leads in less time.
Lead generation is a six-step process. Each phase involves several processes. All processes are geared towards turning strangers into customers. This guide outlines automated lead generation strategies for each of these steps.
Automated Lead Generation: Tools and Strategies
Automation can simplify every step of lead generation. In this guide, learn about automation strategies.
You can't automate everything. Certain aspects of sales (particularly phone calls) require human intervention. Fortunately, automation can offload mundane and repetitive tasks at every stage of lead generation.
Compare Software Tools
Many competing software applications attempt to automate these tasks. We can't tell you exactly which tool is right for your team.
All we can do is point you to legit resources for comparison. Catalogs like Capterra, G2, Gartner, and TrustRadius are respected in the tech industry. For a comparison of tools that automate your least favorite lead generation tasks, check out these sites: Marketing research automation
Market Research integrates and validates important data. This may include claims testing, pricing, and information about market competitors. Automation makes it easier to collect, analyze and report on using AI.
Automated Data Collection
Key data collection methods for market researchers include:
AI programs can design survey and interview questions. Each element is optimized to get the information you need. They can also facilitate the recruitment of focus group participants.
Some AI software tools automatically collect data from paper documents. The data is then digitized and analyzed for the needs of market researchers.
Automatic Analysis
Many automated data analysis tools use Python. These programs can instantly analyze a lot of data to identify patterns and trends. You can also highlight anomalies.
Some Python-based analysis tools are machine learning programs. These programs can continuously learn from new inputs to improve their pattern recognition skills. This provides researchers with insights that would not have occurred in humans.
AI-powered analytics also reduce the risk of anhedonia, the human tendency to see “patterns” in unrelated data points. When your team starts generating leads faster and more accurately, you won't waste time looking for red herrings.
Visualization, Reporting Automation
Researchers must accumulate data, analyze it, and then report it. Automated data visualization tools enable designers to present information in an accurate and easy-to-read format.
These programs automatically select the best presentation for each data set. It also instantly combines multiple visualization options (maps, scatterplots or charts). Automated reporting reduces the risk of human error at the input stage. This allows sales professionals to use accurate information when planning next steps.
Automated Lead Generation: SEO Research
Before you start developing your content, you should do your search engine optimization research. The information you get from your SEO research will make your content and ads attractive to search engines. Ideally, your optimized content will appear on the first page of results when potential customers type your keywords into the search bar. Automatic default keyword generation
Creating basic keywords is the first step in your SEO research. Automated tools allow you to generate key search terms related to your topic. It can also tell you how competitive your keywords are and how much you can bid for each term in your PPC campaign.
Autoscaling, Filtering, Selection
The process of expansion, filtering and selection creates all potential search terms. Then narrow down the list to search terms that best suit your brand.
Automated lead generation tools focused on SEO research examine search trends they glean from big data sources. They also consider traits in the profile of your ideal customer. Then, they winnow down the list of terms to the best keywords for your sales team`s pursuits.
Automated Keyword Clustering, Mapping
Keyword clustering and mapping overlap with filtering and selection. To generate keyword clusters, an AI will:
Then, the AI generates the key terms and topics to build content around. Many of these programs determine which keywords to apply to different potential leads.
Automate Content Creation, Repeat
Developing and iterating on content can be the most time-consuming part of lead generation. However, it is important for both inbound marketing strategies and digital marketing strategies. If you're wondering how to get more leads, "Content Creation Automated" is the answer.
Automating content creation makes it easy to create large amounts of high-quality content, increasing your chances of reaching your ideal audience. In practice, content automation strategies vary by environment and platform. Digital Advertising (Paid Media, Contextual Advertising)
It's hard to avoid incorporating paid advertising into your lead generation strategy. Digital marketing generates leads through paid search results, banner and mobile ads, and video ads. Agencies can automate many digital marketing tasks, such as:
Some ad design software automatically resizes ad files to fit multiple formats. Templates reduce boring ad design elements, allowing marketers to focus on creativity. Automated bidding and targeting ensures your ads reach the right number of people in your desired demographic without the risk of going over budget.
Blog Posts and Website Content
Blog posts and website content often include both the first and second stages of the customer journey. Leads find blog content through organic search or social media (where posts are posted by people they follow). Blog content can drive potential customers to your landing page or CTA. An effective call to action can encourage visitors to enter data and get something of value. Things like free ebooks and newsletters direct visitors down the path of potential customers with data that can help them qualify.
In order for a blog post to stand out, it needs something that only humans can provide: accurate and useful information, an engaging voice, an unexpected perspective or a funny story. However, many aspects of blogging can be automated. Contemporary tools let content creators:
Some automated blog and web content tools use sophisticated AI`s. But, most use elaborate if/then trees.
If/then trees are adaptable parameters. They let the software make the choice you would make if you encountered the same information. Thus, automated content-creation programs are frequently useful without being prohibitively expensive.
Marketing Email Automation
Marketing emails should be tailored to the recipient. Leads ought to receive different emails depending on where they are in their customer journey, what problem they`re seeking to solve, and relevant demographic information.
Fortunately, you can use automation to created targeted email messages that feel personal. Many automated email marketing programs let you input CRM data to differentiate messages.
Welcome emails, e-newsletters, lead nurturing emails, and re-engagement messages are appropriate for different stages of lead generation. Marketing email automation can streamline:
Applications that automate email marketing are similar to those that automate content creation. Tools like templates, natural language generators, auditing programs, and topic-brainstorming tools make sending marketing emails easier than ever.
Automated Lead Generation Messaging
Message-sending is an outreach-oriented lead generation task. Without automation, an agent must contact every single potential lead personally with a direct message. The ideal message varies quite a bit depending on the platform, the lead`s profile, and your specific sales goals.
Fortunately, agents can automate many tedious aspects of sending leads direct messages. Popular applications automate:
Many of these programs use templates specific to each social media platform.
For instance, SalesFlow is ideal for agencies that target businesses as leads. This automated program empowers agents to send hundreds of targeted messages to leads on LinkedIn. Then, it automatically gathers data you can use to iterate your messages and improve your response rate.
Social Media Content Creation, Iteration
Content volume is more critical on social media than it is anywhere else. Automating social media content creation empowers marketers to generate more content.
But when you save time by automating routine tasks, you can spend more time on creativity. In this way, marketers support the continuous release of high-quality content by automating:
Here is what the top 4 social media platforms look like.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn content is at the heart of B2B marketing. It is a business-oriented space and built on connections. So, it's the perfect place to find potential business clients.
The best LinkedIn content establishes brand thought leadership. It also fosters a friendly and pleasant voice.
Twitter
Twitter is a very social platform. Twitter users appreciate short posts, memes people can repeat, and heartfelt conversations. Most of the best Twitter posts from brands are voice-based. And brands do better when organically engaging with other users' posts than hosting their own content alone.
Facebook
Visual posts work well on Facebook. Brands often find success when creating video or infographic content for Facebook. One successful strategy is to adapt your blog content to a Facebook-friendly format.
Your Instagram account should be cohesive. Some brands have found the hashtag ladder method to be an effective tactic to help their content go viral. Popular content on Instagram often uses an upbeat tone and an informal or intimate tone.
Lead Qualification
Lead qualification is the second step in lead generation. This process answers two important questions.
What potential customers might buy in the near future? Which leads need more attention? Almost every element of lead validation can be automated. This allows agents to close more leads and deals faster.
Automatic Lead Capture (Data Collection)
An automated data collection program automatically populates CRM data for leads. We extract relevant information from third-party sources. It then organizes the information so that marketers can easily use it for targeting or calling. Automation saves time and reduces manual data entry errors.
Automatic Lead Scoring
An automated lead scoring program evaluates and ranks each lead's potential to convert. The program then briefly reports the rating. Teams can evaluate a variety of variables to align program rankings with marketing goals.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Services
Automate your CRM services without disappointing your customers. But you need to make smart choices about what to automate. CRM automation should strengthen the authentic relationship between customers and sales team members.
Strong relationships create passionate customers. Passionate customers are the foundation of a trusted referral program. The flow continues as the old lead brings in a new lead.
CRM automation best strengthens customer relationships when:
Automating rote CRM tasks frees your specialists to build authentic connections. They can solve complex use problems for customers, which elevates customer satisfaction. And satisfied customers invite other people to the party.
