‘Jab theory’, in boxing, means it takes a flurry of smaller jabs to build up to a knock-out punch. Translated to marketing it means that prospective consumers need to receive a number of messages before an actual buying decision is made. When that prospect becomes a customer, the company must continue a steady stream of useful information to build top-of-mind awareness.
A company can enhance lifetime value by implementing customer engagement marketing programs through each customer lifecycle stage, from awareness through engagement to sale. Consumers, however, are exposed to thousands of marketing messages every day through internet, social media and traditional advertising channels. Marketers in this environment find it difficult to create and optimize a significant number of individualized marketing messages which resonate across multiple channels.
As a solution, savvy marketers turn to the power of marketing automation to build awareness. They are implementing automated, ongoing programs which foster continued personalized customer relationships. Automation programs allow them to assimilate customer behaviors in real-time and respond with personalized content that increases responses while building engagement.
The benefits of using marketing automation to build awareness include higher response and conversion rates, more relevant and timely interactions, improved customer loyalty and increased brand differentiation. Effects of an automated marketing system include:
- Create Cross-Channel Experiences: As soon as a prospective consumer prospect is identified, the company should embark on a series of multi-channel marketing messages. This includes creating direct mail and email campaigns, dynamic landing pages, mobile marketing and social media experiences to engage with the prospect at every turn.
- Build Awareness: Marketers never know exactly when prospective customers will decide to make a purchase. The challenge is to maintain top-of-mind awareness so that the desired brand springs to mind. It is logistically impossible to be everywhere at all times, but marketing automation increases the ability to educate and motivate potential customers more easily and cost-efficiently. Being in the right place at the right time results from: database marketing; search, display, and target marketing; and ongoing social marketing as well.
- Foster Long-Term Engagement: The work is just beginning once an initial sale is made. Marketing automation in the form of automated, ongoing personalized messaging, engages customers at every stage of the customer lifecycle. At its best this involves little to no human intervention, including minimal IT involvement, to utilize accumulated information, market-to-buyer personas, and create one-to-one conversations.
- Measure and Optimize: Once a marketing automation program is in place, the most important role for the humans involved is to review the provided reports and measure the overall effectiveness of the various marketing strategies. The reporting program should help in analyzing audience measurement and trends, provide a unified customer view for detailed analysis, and allow for integrated testing and optimization.
Experiture’s Customer Engagement Marketing Platform allows marketers to gain a complete view of marketing performance across customer lifecycles and communication channels. Over 30 built-in reports are available, as well as each individual customer record of resulting interactions. Visit the Experiture website and Facebook page, or call 888-950-0700 today to learn more about using marketing automation to build awareness.
