3 ways marketing automation can impact your agency

Engaging customers effectively to successfully convert them from a lead to a sale requires an in-depth understanding their behaviour and customer journey, which can only be achieved through the strategic use of all available data. However, I’ve seen many businesses struggle with customer engagement because they’re trying to manage data across multiple systems.

According the ‘Marketing Technology Strategy Survey’ the most challenging obstacle to marketing success is the complexity of integrating technologies, which half the respondents cited. And the result of that complexity, is that only a quarter of companies have extensively integrated their disparate marketing technology systems, while 22% haven’t integrated their tools at all.

How do you make marketing system integration simple?

According to Gleanster, marketing automation is the answer, with 79% of the top-performing companies using the technology for more than two years. By integrating sites and adapting to the customer journey, marketing automation builds bridges across your marketing campaigns, encouraging system integration, consistent messaging and personalised content.

Marketing automation can have a huge impact on your agency:

1) Enables faster response times

By automating parts of your sales and marketing process, such as introductory emails or fulfilling requests for information, you capture the lead at exactly the right moment. According to a study by Harvard, you’re 60 times more likely to qualify a lead when they respond to enquiries within an hour, compared to those waiting 24 hours or longer.

2) Increases revenue and average deal size

According to Gleanster, CMOs at top-performing companies indicate that the most compelling reason for implementing marketing automation is to increase revenue (79%). By helping you to achieve better cross-sells, up-sells, and customer follow-ups, you’ll likely notice an increase in the number, and value, of transactions, as well as better customer lifetime value.

3) Gain a competitive edge

Agencies that have adopted marketing automation display notable advantages, such as better aligned sales and marketing departments, which means you can trigger the right marketing, with the right message at the right time. Research from The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups shows that 63% of companies that are outgrowing their competitors use marketing automation.

Introducing IBM Marketing

IBM Marketing enables you to build and deliver compelling, socially-aware, omni-channel digital experiences for your customers, partners and employees on the devices of their choice, quicker and at lower cost.

Use IBM Marketing to:

Easily create emails that are relevant and engaging.

Deliver personalised content across all digital channels.

Engage mobile app users at the right time and place.

Collaborate across the team to design and continually improve customer experiences.

Interact with customers in a meaningful way through social channels.

Understand the paths that customers take across channels and touch points.

Discover how IBM Marketing enables you to quickly design and automate consistent digital customer experiences…