The digital marketing landscape is in a constant state of evolution. On average, consumers are spending more time online than they ever have before. They are chasing after a more personalized experience on the web. Authenticity and big data are now driving the success of everyday businesses, with automation at the core of most modern processes. But, what does all of this mean to marketers?
There are many ways that automation is being implemented to help businesses work more effectively. From speeding up manual processes that used to be riddled with redundancy (and human error) to enabling businesses to use data in ways previously impossible, the use of automation is raising operational standards across the board.
Ultimately, businesses seek to use automation to remove redundancy from their everyday processes, make things work faster, and offer a better experience to their customers. In fact, nearly 60% of businesses say they are planning to adopt automation technology, and there are many ways they’re going about it.
Behavioural Marketing
One trend that marketers certainly need to be aware of is the current shift from persona-based marketing to behavioural marketing.
Behavioural marketing reacts to demographic markers and works to encompass indicators like mood, location, and online behaviour in order to deliver the most engaging content. This is all about performance marketing.
While only about 20% of marketers say they are currently using behavioral triggers in their email marketing strategy, statistics show that emails which do use behavioral marketing elements have an average open rate of 50%. In other words, it’s time for more marketers to get on board.
Semantic SEO
Combining automation with data enables businesses to improve their website traffic. Semantic SEO is about using meaningful metadata and grouping site content by topic rather than with keywords. This has created a deeply connected, relevant network of content that is better for search engines.
This is just one of many examples of marketing automation at work. Automation in marketing can also cover social media and employ artificial intelligence to reach customers better (like through chatbots).
Integrated Email Workflows
One of automation’s earliest gigs was with Gmail, the world’s largest email provider, where it was utilized to help keep spam out of inboxes. This purpose is even more widespread today as automation is being implemented into just about every inbox in the world to reduce spam communications.
At the same time, automation is being used by businesses to make emails (and the ads/sales they contain) more individualized, working towards achieving the personalized experience that consumers are after.
Augmented Reality
While AR was initially conceived as a revolutionary way to game, being used in popular apps like Pokemon Go, it also has many applications in the world of business.
Augmented Reality is being used to make certain interactions trigger the appearance of branded content (like walking by a storefront). Businesses can use AR to set themselves apart from competitors and create a unique experience for their customers.
What’s Ahead?
Automation is being implemented at full force, and it’s set to make everyone’s life a whole lot easier. However, there are many concerned with its ability to completely negate the need for human employees in many different processes.
While it’s unknown just how far automation can be taken, and how that will affect the job market, one thing that is for sure is that marketers of today need to keep up by learning how to empower their clients’ businesses with the addition of automated processes.
In many cases, marketers will find that they aren’t replacing human work, but optimizing it.
References
https://www.emailmonday.com/marketing-automation-statistics-overview/