5 Marketing Automation Tips for Small Business Owners to Market Your Business on Autopilot

A driving force behind small business success has been marketing automation.

Businesses that aren’t using marketing automation as yet are often worrying about time, cost, and whether it’s a worthwhile investment. But we’re here to let you know that done right, marketing automation can increase your lead generation, drive sales, and deliver the most effective ROI.

We’re going to look at technology and content solutions to put your business marketing on autopilot.

Why marketing automation is important for your business

• It frees up time and mental space

You can’t do all things and be everything to your business if you want it to scale. You need systems and processes in place to give you more time to devote to the high-level stuff that will keep you earning.

Marketing automation is one of those crucial areas that you can streamline and still get positive results. So, free up capacity for you and your team and set certain aspects of your business marketing to operate without you or your teams’ consistent and direct input.

• It’s a lead generation tool

If your business can’t get a consistent stream of leads, you soon won’t be in business. And knowing that most small businesses fail within the first 5 years of operation means that you need to be vigilant about your lead generation.

With automation, you can lock-in leads on autopilot to sustain your business.

• It’s a prospect nurturing system

Acquiring leads is one thing. Nurturing them is another. And if can be a time-consuming process to nurture and qualify individual leads yourself. But this is definitely another area where you can automate the process, even to the point of generating sales.

Marketing automation for your business

Before we get into the ways you can automate, here are a few points to note:

• Automation software should allow you to track and measure their effectiveness
• They should improve operational efficiency
• They shouldn’t require your daily input – they should work on autopilot once you set it.

Now, onto the many ways that you can incorporate automation into your business marketing strategies.

Manage your marketing workflow with a marketing automation software

• Website marketing automation

Yes, your website is the virtual storefront for your business. But when designed and optimized just right, it can generate new leads and sales on autopilot for you.

You won’t need to be tweaking your website pages or content on a regular basis. Instead, you create and occasionally update as necessary.

To understand why your website is critical to this entire process, please read our article on “Why Your Website is Vital During the Pandemic.”

• Email marketing automation

There are many email marketing automation software on the market. But essentially, what you can do with these services is set them to continuously drive new business and engage new leads for you.

A well-written welcome email sequence can last for years. All new subscribers to your business email get taken through the same sequence automatically. And if you’ve optimized the sequence to drive leads or sales, that’s automated profits to your business right there. Popular email marketing automation software you can consider include Convertkit, AWeber, or GetResponse.

You can do the same with your website landing pages with a tool like OptinMonster.

Take advantage of automated ad networks

Of course, we know the power of pay-per-click ads and their vast reach. And most small business owners only think of Google ads when they think of PPC advertising. But Google ads aren’t the only automated marketing you should consider. Microsoft Advertising, for example, offer advertising on both Bing (which has 33% market share in the US) and Yahoo!

You get a wider reach and can then test which avenue gets you the best return for your advertising dollar.

Use automated social media ads

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can help you get in front of your target audience with ease. Create your ads, set publication schedules, spend, and display parameters, and your paid social media marketing is set.

Plus, if you combine social media ad management with certain CRM software, they can even further optimize the sales process with the client. Some software can track clicks, links, and auto-show your ads to people in your database. And once those leads have moved through your sales pipeline, the software automatically stops direct marketing to them.

Maximize your content marketing strategy

Most persons will automatically think email marketing software, and, to a lesser extent, ads, when they’re considering automating their marketing. But your business content also plays a major marketing role.

Your blog is a long-term marketing strategy for driving SEO and bringing in consistent leads. Companies like ActiveCampaign have shown how having a consistent and strategic blogging platform has been able to drive business.

Now, content marketing isn’t only about your blog posts or social media. It’s about how you use those little things that you didn’t think of.

For example, have you considered how much valuable real estate you have in your email signature? Yes, because anything with a URL is a potential space for marketing automation. So, add links to relevant marketing material in your signature.

Finally, repurpose everything. Your blog posts can be repurposed into social media content. Have a tweet that was doing the rounds? Screenshot it and use it in your emails, Facebook, and Instagram posts, even LinkedIn posts.

Start automating your small business marketing

When you’re a small business owner wearing many hats, it isn’t easy to find the time to undertake all the necessary business-building activities. But automation is the small business owners’ stepping-stone to business growth as they streamline their marketing.

When you automate routine tasks, it frees you up to handle all the other important stuff that supports your business goals. But automation isn’t just moving tasks to autopilot. With the right software, you are, in effect, generating leads where you now have the time and business space to engage with them. You’re also scaling your business for growth.

So, sit and map out your target audience, where to find them, and what tools, software, and strategy you need to adopt to get to them on autopilot.