Why marketing automation is crucial for businesses in the post-pandemic era

Recently, the Office for National Statistics reported that COVID-19 had caused the UK's GDP to drop by 9.9%, leading the country into a recession. Though this sounds worrisome, the situation is not so bad that we’re moving towards a depression. That phenomenon is described as a significantly longer period of recession. For example, The Great Depression lasted around three years — with GDP decreasing annually. But while the national GDP did take a big blow last year, the government and businesses were quick to adjust and better cater to current market demands, allowing the economy to begin recovery this year.

One way we've done this was with marketing automation, which is increasingly becoming an industry standard. In fact, experts predict that the marketing automation industry will earn over £5.5 billion in 2025. Simply put, marketing automation refers to any technology that streamlines marketing services. And though it has only become popular in the past few years, it's proving to be highly effective now that more businesses are relying on technology to get things done faster.

But how exactly can marketing automation help your business post-COVID?

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You get things done faster

With automation, you can accomplish monotonous tasks faster and with a lower chance of error. There's a multitude of processes you can choose to automate, which can be basic, advanced, or intelligent. Basic tasks, such as sending out weekly e-newsletters, are repetitive and follow a fixed data set. Meanwhile, advanced tasks, like the generation of dynamic content, are also repetitive but follow variable datasets. Finally, intelligent automation tackles highly complex tasks that account for unpredictability.

Fortunately, marketing companies usually only make use of basic and advanced automation. And with the services of Zapier, you can streamline everything from payroll processing to social media management. Zapier can even use chatbots to maximise exposure to your products or services, sso you can address customer concerns even when you're away on weekends, a vacation getaway or holidays.

In short, you'll be free to do other things that require more critical thinking. And by maximising your time, your operations are guaranteed to become even more productive and efficient.

You save and earn more

Long-term savings are another benefit of automation, and it comes hand-in-hand with the efficient use of time. After all, the decreased chance of human error alone means your business is less likely to make costly mistakes in the long run. By assigning more of the available workload to computer programs, you only need to pay people who provide high-value work, significantly cutting down on labour costs. You'll then be free to focus on other areas in your business that need development, which the data analytics services, provided by other technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), can help you with.

You attract more customers — and make them stay longer

Undoubtedly, two of the tasks automation can help you with the most are customer retention and conversion. With machine learning, which is a type of AI, computer programs can collect data from your target demographic and learn from their preferences, allowing you to design custom advertisements on a large scale. Such programs can also identify 'hot leads' for conversion and even target customers across various platforms. This way, you can optimise your presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in a way that is most relevant to your audience.

What are you waiting for?

Digital marketing is one of the fastest-changing fields today, so if you want to stand out from the crowd, seriously consider integrating automation into your day-to-day operations. With a promise to reduce your overhead costs, increase your sales productivity, and boost your customer retention rate, you've got nothing to lose — and everything to gain!

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Need the help of an automation expert? Contact us now.

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This post was written by Jennifer Birch