Are there simply not enough of you? Do you feel not only overwhelmed with the mountain of tasks that lie before you daily, but also more than a bit afraid that something is slipping through the cracks? You’re not the only one. Because of the complexity and the amount of moving parts that go into online marketing in multiple channels nowadays, you definitely have to employ some level of marketing automation, or you may find it difficult to compete. Let’s look at some real time savers.
Tools for marketing automation
While you will find a slew of tools out there, from complete solutions which cover your small business from A to Z (fairly expensive) we’re going to concentrate here on some you can piecemeal together that will assist in a measurable way.
Email autoresponder company – This is most likely the most vital piece to automate, for if you’re not using an autoresponder to manage your email marketing, you may as well not be doing it at all. Loading your autoresponder with personalized content and marketing emails offers your customers and prospects the impression that they are being well taken care of. There are a many great email autoresponder companies out there, today some of the best are AWeber, GetResponse, iContact, and MailChimp.
Social Media – Monitoring and running social media campaigns can be a logistical nightmare if you’re not using some sort of tool. There are plenty of good ones out there that allow you to keep track of and post to your social platforms. Check out HootSuite, TweetDeck and Buffer.
Automate all of the tasks you can! – The advent of tools like IFTTT and Zapier are making many marketers lives easier! These tools, while similar in design, each focus on automating tasks between two or more different services that you presently use. A true virtual assistant!
Be mindful that you’re not automating too many aspects, especially customer service. Specific things require your touch, and this is one of them. Do yourself and your business a favor and check into automating at least some of your online business today!