PC Magazine once defined Marketing Automation like this...  "Think of marketing automation as the smarter and more powerful older sibling of email marketing. Marketing automation lets marketers plan extended customer interactions without requiring manual intervention.”

Marketing Automation is an impressive technology, and since 2018 it has been integrated into Act!, but to be effective it also requires some planning, not just technical expertise. Here are the top ten nontechnical steps to implement before using marketing automation:

1. Get to know your customers and data: Understand who your customers are, their needs, and their behaviors. In database terms, this is called segmentation, and Act! allows you to divide your contacts into a wide range of different groups based on factors like purchase history, industry sector, status, location, job title, campaign scoring, or any combination of these data sets. The point is the more thought you give to segmentation, the more you can structure your database and the methods for data harvesting to support it. 
   Watch videos on how to better manage groups in Act!

2. Map your customer journey: Identify the different stages your customers will go through in their journey with your brand. This may seem general, but it's important to understand how you will identify and nurture your leads so they can be successfully transitioned to your sales team.

3. Craft a content strategy based on your journey and goals: Create content that aligns with each stage of the customer journey and helps you achieve your goals. Most businesses do not employ a one-step close strategy in their marketing approach, so break the journey into different steps of engagement, and cater the content accordingly.
   These steps don't have to be complicated, but they should be clear to those managing the campaigns. For instance, the first step might be to ascertain interest; the second to introduce more specific product details including videos, PDFs, or other digital assets; the third could include customer success stories; and the fourth a trial experience for them to test drive the product.
   Watch videos on Act! Marketing Automation

4. Build up your email distribution list: Collect email addresses from potential customers to use in your marketing automation campaigns. Obviously, CRM technology is key to this process, but so is good list hygiene habits. Act! CRM includes add-ons like Link2list and Opt-in Manager that can quickly & easily scrub your list in preparation for any marketing campaign. Remember, most Email Service Providers (ESPs) will suspend or cancel an account with a sustained bounce rate higher than 5%.
   Top Five Reasons to scrub your distribution list

5. Monitor and optimize, constantly: Regularly review the performance of your campaigns and make necessary adjustments. Act! Marketing Automation includes many sources of feedback, and these can be reviewed at the template, campaign, or contact level. Reviewing these results can shorten the sales cycle by identifying higher campaign engagement from your prospects.

6. Automate repetitive tasks: This can increase productivity and streamline workflows. Some automation may be "outbound" only that nurtures leads and sends interested prospects additional information. Other automation can be "inbound", which schedules follow-ups, creates sales opportunities, adds contacts to additional campaigns, you name it. Understanding the automation options allows you to select which level of Act! Marketing Automation (AMA) you'll need, and plan your campaigns accordingly.
   Read more about the different tiers of Act! Marketing Automation

7. Automatically score leads and notify sales: This can help prioritize leads and improve sales efficiency. Contacts can be scored based on their interest across all your campaigns, or on an individual one, but whichever you choose, this scoring should be automated and recorded in your CRM. AMA has a great scoring system that helps users identify each contact's level of engagement with your campaigns.

8. Be personalized: Personalization can improve customer relationships and increase conversion rates. There is nothing new about building merge fields into templates, but now these options are available with subject lines, which can add a level of personalization before the message is even read. This can increase open rates and make the recipient more likely to read further. 

9. Start simple and scale up: Begin with basic automation and gradually add more complex elements as you become more comfortable. Walk before you run. Start with simple one-off campaigns, and then advance to drips that spread across a period of time. It won't be long before you're building decision trees into your campaigns, and automated follow-ups, but none of it will happen if you try to master all steps at the beginning.

10. Create quality content: While I am a firm believer in never making perfection the enemy of the good, it is important to produce high-quality content. Respect your audience. Treating them like simpletons or marks is a recipe for a quick and quiet demise. Engage them with compelling content that makes them want to learn more. 
    Read more about our AMA services, including template and campaign design

Remember, marketing automation is not a replacement for you or your skillset. It will simply enhance your existing capabilities. Good luck!

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