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Did you know that 92% of marketing agencies use automation for their businesses? (HubSpot)
Still, there are those who think that marketing automation is something expensive. That is: not for them.
But the truth is, there are many forms of automation. And most of them can be used by small businesses and agencies to speed up their work and processes.
Automation is no longer a big word for big companies. It’s a way to work faster and smarter and achieve better results. That is, if you know what type of marketing automation your agency or business needs and how to use it.
A HubSpot survey found that nearly 68% of businesses use automation in some way.
Marketing automation helps agencies in many ways such as boosting productivity, speeding up ad creation, and cutting down on overhead fees.
Not to mention, marketing automation tools help businesses save tons of time and help teams perform better.
In this article, we’re focusing on marketing automation for agencies, how it benefits them, the different types of automation, and how agencies can choose what to automate.
What is marketing automation?
Marketing automation is the process of using software to automate various marketing processes.
It helps marketers, media buyers, social media managers, business owners, and marketing agencies automate campaigns and other processes across various channels such as social media and Google.
This can include processes for e-commerce businesses, scheduling and social media management, among others.
Further reading: What You Need to Know About the Difference Between ROI and ROAS
Also known as automated marketing, automation helps marketers segment their customers, target them with more relevant ads, and customize their user journey.
A HubSpot survey found that roughly 23% of agencies and businesses were using marketing automation for content delivery.
And if you’re wondering how else marketing automation helps agencies, you’ll be glad to know that automation can boost lead generation and customer acquisition.
A Gartner report forecast that by 2030 Gen Z will be the world’s largest customer base. This will lead to “the use of customer-directed automation technologies to obtain support and value from the organizations they choose to interact with.” (Gartner)
“Time saved on marketing means being able to capture new business and have more time to commit to other vital tasks.” – Chad Ruff, CTO at ACT.
Top 5 types of marketing automation for agencies
There are many types of marketing automation that can be used by agencies, small businesses, and freelance media buyers. In this section, we’re focusing on the 5 main types of marketing automation for agencies.
1. E-commerce automation
This type of automation helps agencies that manage online stores as well as e-commerce businesses by automating several processes. These can include creating personalized experiences and driving customer loyalty.
Data shows that by 2021, 27% of the world’s population will be buying products online. (Oberlo)
It means e-commerce is growing – fast! And businesses have to keep up. To do that, they need to see the best e-commerce automation tools for them.
It’s worth mentioning that using AI-powered e-commerce automation software is among the top e-commerce trends of 2021. Personalized customer experiences top the list.
2. Social media management automation software
This is probably the most common form of marketing automation used by agencies, online businesses, and companies alike.
Additional read: Facebook Ad Frequency: The Complete Guide for 2021
These software automation tools help companies schedule their social media posts, keep track of engagement, and compare data.
Examples of social media management software include HubSpot, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, among others.
3. Email automation
Email automation is using software to automation email marketing campaigns, onboarding sequences, and sales emails (among others).
This form of email marketing has been gaining major traction in the past few years owing to the ever-growing number of email users.
In July 2021, Statista reported that the number of email users worldwide in 2020 reached 4.03 billion. It forecast that number would grow to 4.48 billion by 2024.
Moreover, HubSpot reports that roughly 20% of marketers use email marketing automation for their campaigns.
Email automation is a popular marketing automation tool for agencies and businesses because it helps them segment their audience and track KPIs such as e-mail open rates, click-through-rates (CTR), among other metrics.
Read: The Top 24 E-Commerce KPIs Every Business Needs To Know
Software tools for email automation include: ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, HubSpot, Mail Chimp, and Klaviyo.
4. CRM automation
This type of software helps agencies with customer relationship management (CRM). This often comes in the form of automating customer service and sales functions.
Agencies who use CRM automation can “track and manage their engagement efforts with current and prospective customers,” explains Toolbox.io.
CRM automation tools include: HubSpot CRM, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Zoho CRM, and Fresh Sales.
5. Ads automation
Last but certainly not least, ads automation tools help marketing agencies and other businesses automate to process of creating online ads.
Different tools support different social media platforms.
Examples of ads automation tools include Convertedin, which currently supports Facebook ads, Twitter ads, Google ads, and Snapchat ads.
What does your agency want to automate?
As an marketing agency, using marketing automation software and tools comes with a variety of benefits.
But with so many tools out there – and more being created almost every day – it gets a bit fuzzy what agencies should consider using or skip entirely.
As an agency, you’ll need to examine a few things to determine which marketing automation tool is best for you.
You’ll need to:
- Determine which processes take the longest time to complete
- What your budget is
- Which software is best for you
The size of your agency may also be a determining factor in choosing the right marketing automation tool for you.
If you’re not sure which processes you need to automate first, here’s what you can do:
- Create a list of the ones that take up the most time or effort
- Then see which processes require a human factor and which can be left to software tools
- Set up a budget for automation tools
- Automate one or more marketing processes for three months and measure their effectiveness
Did you get a better return on your investment? Are your team members more focused and productive?
It’s worth noting that some agencies, especially those with a small roster of clients, may choose certain automation software and as the agency grows, they shift to larger and more complex software.
Additional read: 45+ E-commerce Vocabulary, Metrics and Biz Terms You Need to Know
At the same time, some agencies operate in certain niches and industries. This may dictate the type of automation software they use.
In addition to the above 5 types of marketing automation tools for agencies, there are others such as pay-per-click (PPC) automation (also provided by Convertedin), chat automation which uses chatbots, automation for workflows, and SMS automation.
Marketing automation for agencies with Convertedin
Running ads on social media platforms is part and parcel of every marketing agency’s duties. It gets a bit tricky in e-commerce, especially those businesses with audiences across multiple platforms.
Using Convertedin’s ads automation software, marketing agencies can easily segment an online store’s customers, upload or create audiences, and target customers based on previous purchases.
As an agency, you can also use Convertedin to grow your clients’ sales and customer base.
Customers get bored when they see ads for products they don’t want or even care about.
However, seeings ads for products they’ve purchased before or products similar to what they normally buy often piques their interest.
With Convertedin, you can target audiences and customers based on their spending habits. Our software allows you to combine user segmentation with personalization during the ads creation process.
Additional read: 9 Ways to Create Effective Ads and Prevent Ad Fatigue
Convertedin also helps agencies and online businesses acquire new customers through ad targeting and lookalike audiences.
Businesses who target customers via Facebook can advertise products from their Facebook product catalog and create dynamic audiences and dynamic ads using Convertedin.
To learn more about how to use Convertedin to automate your ads or your e-commerce client’s ads, visit our Ads Automation Guide.
Wrapping up
Using marketing automation tools, agencies can up their ante and focus their efforts on growing their business and helping their clients.
Looking at marketing automation trends, you’ll find that there’s a constant need for AI-powered tools and software that help businesses save time, connect, drive retention, and build loyalty.
Moreover, businesses are expected to rely on automation more in the coming years.
But it’s important to remember that automation isn’t just about using tools.
It’s about finding ways to save time on processes that take and waste time.
Automation is about finding more opportunities to grow your business and build better relationships with customers.
You can read more about Marketing Automation Trends in eCommerce 2022
If you want to start segmenting customers and driving more traffic to your e-commerce clients, start your free 14-day trial with Convertedin.
