Though only a small percentage of businesses actually use it, marketing automation will help you maximize your growth — and your profit margins.
It’s no secret that the Internet has completely changed the way we do business throughout the world. Not only have we seen hundreds of well-known brands fail for not making the transition online early on, but we continue to see many big players fall behind. So what’s the secret to finding success? It may very well lie in automation.
With the economy in what seems like a never-ending downward spiral and many jobs being replaced by machines, it would only make sense for automation to come into play in online marketing and business. A recent study from Wishpond.com, a company that provides automation services for online marketing and lead generation, reported that “…despite an 11 times growth in companies using marketing automation software, there are still only less than 10 percent of companies using these platforms…”
Automation for Marketing and Advertising
While advancements in automation are taking away jobs from employees every day, it’s also being used to help online marketers and brands take better control over their businesses and marketing tactics, while allowing for further growth and profit. This leads to even more hires and growth within the company.
From 1995-2005, the Internet was more of a one-sided conversation. Today the online experience is all about engagement, social media and creating interactive content. Automation has made all of this possible, as websites and brands would never be able to scale fast enough to handle over three billion users who are currently active online.
I remember having to create websites from scratch back in the late ’90s and early 2000s. It wasn’t until the creation of WordPress that creating a site became a simple push-button process. At the same time, automation has helped our business grow in size year after year, as we’ve mastered the art of creating valuable content for our audience and have mechanisms in place to automate the outreach, follow-up and advertising processes after a user leaves our site. In the past, this would have to be a manual process, but now it can be automated.
Automation for Small Business Growth
It’s also important to note that automation isn’t just for marketers and advertising agencies. It’s also helping individuals and brands of all sizes better manage their social media, customer support, payroll, cost management and more.
SalesForce.com recently came out with an article on how automation is helping small businesses grow in size, while also getting more done while relieving stress, building a one-stop marketing shop, supercharging your sales cycle and giving you the ability to see what’s working for your business and what’s not.
With all of that being said, it’s important to reflect back on the fact that yet less than 10 percent of companies are still actually using it. Now’s the time to take a look at your current business practices and day-to-day operations, while considering how automation can help take you to that next level.
The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
Image credit: CC by UCL Teaching
