![\"Zapier](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zapier-automation-tools.png\")
<\/a>Image source Zapier<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n Before you jump into marketing automation, you need to carefully consider the processes that you can and should automate.<\/p>\n To get you started, here\u2019s a list of marketing-related processes you can automate:<\/p>\n This list is not complete, but it does feature the most important and most commonly automated marketing tasks.<\/p>\n With that in mind, try to figure out which of these tasks takes up the largest portion of your time, and start from there. If you only ever spend an hour or so a week on social media, maybe you don\u2019t need to automate that process. Maybe you would be better off if you tried automating your lead nurturing tasks?<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to make the mistake of trying to automate everything all at once \u2013 take your processes one by one, analyze them, and come up with a viable automation schedule. This way, you won\u2019t get overwhelmed, and you will have plenty of time to tackle each segment appropriately.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at another example. Ultimate Meal Plans<\/a> is a meal planning app, and as such, they have all kinds of ways to market their product and generate more leads. They have some articles explaining the basics of Paleo and how it compares to other diets, they have compelling copy on their homepage, and they have a thriving online community.\u00a0<\/p>\n What they don\u2019t have is a powerful social media presence, as their social media channels are not as active. In their case, automating social media marketing would be the wrong choice. They would fare much better with automating a task such as email marketing, or lead generation and lead nurturing.<\/p>\n Image source Ultimatemealplans<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n Think carefully before you choose a marketing automation tactic \u2013 and don\u2019t jump for the flashiest automation tool if it won\u2019t help your ongoing marketing processes.\u00a0<\/p>\n This might not seem to be a marketing automation pitfall per se, but it is actually one of the biggest mistakes you can make when automating any marketing task.<\/p>\n Marketing automation relies on the fact that you do indeed know what you\u2019re doing, and that you are able to allow a piece of software to take on some of the work for you. If you\u2019ve made a mistake somewhere when mapping out your marketing strategy, automation won\u2019t do you much good.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s illustrate this point with an example. Transparent Labs<\/a> sells sports supplements \u2013 so we can safely assume that most of their audience will consist of gym-goers and fitness enthusiasts.<\/p>\n Image source Transparentlabs<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n Their blog content is geared towards this kind of audience, and they talk about their products at a certain knowledge and experience level \u2013 one that might not be fitting for a complete supplement newbie.<\/p>\n They know their audience and know how to speak to them. Whatever they automate will work because they have done their homework, researched their audience, and know how to market to it.<\/p>\n If they, on the other hand, tried to market their products to fitness noobs using the landing pages and content they have going on now \u2013 well, you get the idea.<\/p>\n Sales and marketing are often at each other\u2019s throats, even without adding marketing automation fuel to the fire. However, it has been discovered<\/a> that businesses that don\u2019t align these two teams experience reduced ROI.<\/p>\n Before you begin automation, make sure that both sales and marketing agree on what qualifies as a lead, what kinds of leads you are targeting, what the value of a lead is, and which automated channels you will be tapping into to reach them.<\/p>\n Determine when a lead is handed off to sales, and how involved marketing is going to be in the lead\u2019s life cycle.<\/p>\n Ensure that marketing is getting the right feedback from sales \u2013 after all, it is sales that will be closing the deal, so they are the ones who also need to determine if the marketing campaigns you have automated are actually working.<\/p>\n Audience segmentation is a very important part of marketing automation. Without it, you would just be running the one campaign, and you wouldn\u2019t actually be personalizing or tailoring your touch points to different members of your audience.<\/p>\n Here is another example to get this point across.<\/p>\n Bay Alarm Medical<\/a> sells medical alarms. This means that their natural target audience consists of the elderly who want to feel safer in their homes, and the children of these elderly people, who want to ensure their parents\u2019 safety. However, this particular brand also sells an in-the-car alert system that can be and is used by a demographic other than the elderly.<\/p>\n Image source Orbitmedia<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n If Bay Alarm Medical decided to skip segmenting their audience and send out all of their marketing emails targeting the elderly, they would miss out on a very significant portion of their potential lead pool.<\/p>\n This is why you should always consider different audience segments and write out different marketing copy for all of them. That way, you\u2019ll avoid the pitfall of spending time and resources on emails that are a complete miss.<\/p>\n All the efforts that we put into marketing and all the resources we put into marketing automation can fall weak if the website is not optimized effectively. One of the most critical aspects is website content that we cannot ignore if we want to realize the maximum results from the marketing efforts. The content needs to be appropriately thought-through and beautifully organized while maintaining its relevancy at all times.<\/p>\n For example, Escape rooms<\/a>\u00a0is doing phenomenal work when it comes to website content optimization. They have brilliantly created the most comprehensive online directory of all the escape room brands in the US. They know how to keep the audience engaged with the help of exciting and relevant blog posts as well as interesting puzzles. Their articles talk about everything, from the basic concepts and history of escape rooms to the popular escape room brands in various prominent locations with curated and well-researched information. They have a neatly designed website page creatively crafted with the pop of bright colors. The user-friendly interface makes it possible for individuals across all age groups to easily comprehend their content.<\/p>\n While we are on the subject of emails, let\u2019s get one more thing out of the way.<\/p>\n How to Produce Effective Email Marketing Content?<\/a><\/p>\n In order for your email marketing automation software<\/a> to make any headway, your emails need to be not only tailored to your actual audience segment, but they also need to be interesting<\/a>, engaging, and something someone would actually want to at least open, if not read from top to bottom.<\/p>\n Here are some of the things you can do:<\/p>\n Write click-worthy subjects<\/strong> \u2013 Make sure what you are promising in the email is clear from the subject (beauty brands like Juvia\u2019s Place and Beauty Bay do this really well).<\/p>\n Make the first few lines pop<\/strong> \u2013 These will show up in the email preview, so if you use powerful words here, your open rates will improve.<\/p>\n Add plenty of visual<\/strong>s \u2013 Even if your brand is a bit on the boring side (for example, you are a lawyer or an accountant \u2013 apologies to all the lawyers and accountants out there), you should still try to add something visual to the email, so it\u2019s not just a whole lot of text no one will want to read.<\/p>\n When people sign up for your services or your newsletter, or when they become leads in any other way, you want to make them feel welcome.<\/p>\n Many companies who choose to automate their marketing do so with their emails, but then fail to set up a welcome email sequence. This is, by far, one of the more important ones.<\/p>\n It is there to help your new lead get acquainted with your brand and the services or products you offer. You don\u2019t want them to sign up and then get an email two weeks later telling them about a deal you have or asking them something you want to know about them.<\/p>\n Ahrefs<\/a> does this kind of email really well, so you can check theirs out below. It\u2019s informative, yet not too long, it tells you everything you may need to know, and it helps you get started in an unobtrusive kind of way.<\/p>\n Image source Ahrefs<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n People don\u2019t like to part with more personal information than is necessary, especially if they\u2019ve come across your brand for the first time. If you ask too many personal questions and insist on getting to know your new lead as much as possible from the very start, you might scare some potentials away quite fast.<\/p>\n Pace yourself, and ask all the more personal questions you feel you need to ask at a later date. For now, only focus on the information you actually really need to know in order to get a relationship started.<\/p>\n Here is a good example from Moz<\/a>, which only asks some basic questions when you look to sign up for their free trial. They will certainly want to know what you do exactly, why you need their services, how you found out about them, and why you chose their tool over a competitor, but what they ask to get you started is minimal and non-invasive.<\/p>\n Another thing that often happens with email CTAs (or CTAs in general) is that they are just not enticing enough.<\/p>\n Call to Action: Is It Still Working and How to Really Have Your Message Heard<\/a><\/p>\n CTAs should be able to inspire someone to click<\/a>, and to want to click as soon as possible.<\/p>\n Time-sensitive and limited-offer types of CTAs work really well here, but even if you don\u2019t have a limited offer on your hands, you should still make the CTA pop.<\/p>\n Use powerful verbs and power words, be very clear about what someone is going to get when they click, keep them short, and provide an instant feeling of gratification \u2013 i.e., don\u2019t make someone jump through hoops to get to what you\u2019ve just promised them.<\/p>\n Here are some good CTA examples to get you going:<\/p>\n Image source Bedbathandbeyond<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n Image source Backlinko<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n As you can already tell, quality plays a very important role in marketing automation \u2013 without it, your automated processes won\u2019t be worth that much, and while they may save you time, they won\u2019t amount to much in terms of leads, conversions, and revenue.<\/p>\n One of the biggest mistakes in the quality department you can make is not having quality content you can actually promote. Yes, you may have plenty of content, but it may be a bit on the mediocre side, or it might have been rehashed a million times; it may not provide anything original, or it might be very reminiscent of the content of your competitors.<\/p>\n If any of this is the case, your marketing campaigns (automated or not) will not be successful.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at a website like Savvy Sleeper<\/a>. They do mattress reviews and also publish plenty of articles on sleep research and sleep health.<\/p>\nAutomating the wrong processes<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Ultimate](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ultimate-meal-plans-satisfaction.png\")
<\/a>Not understanding your audience<\/h2>\n
![\"Transparent](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/transparent-labs-example.png\")
<\/a>Not aligning sales with marketing<\/h2>\n
Not segmenting your audience<\/h2>\n
![\"Bay](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Bay-Alarm-Medical-example.png\")
<\/a>Ignoring Website Content & Optimization<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/escaperoom-automation-example.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWriting boring emails<\/h2>\n
![\"Juvia\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Juvia\u2019s-Place-and-Beauty-Bay-example.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSending too few emails<\/h2>\n
![\"ahrefs](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ahrefs-example.png\")
<\/a>Asking too many questions<\/h2>\n
Writing generic CTAs\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Here is a Bed Bath & Beyond CTA from last Christmas<\/h3>\n
![\"Bed](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Bed-Bath-Beyond-CTA-from-last-Christmas-example.png\")
<\/a>One from Suntrust example<\/h3>\n
![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/One-from-Suntrust-example.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAnd one from Brian Dean<\/h3>\n
![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Brian-Dean-example.png\")
<\/a>Not actually having good content to promote<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Savvy-Sleeper-example.png\")
<\/a>
![\"marketing](\"https:\/\/www.capsulink.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/marketing-automation-scheme.jpg\")
<\/a>