For many small and medium sized businesses, building out and managing all aspects of a marketing campaign is a challenging task. To begin, ads must be created, shared, monitored and updated to ensure continued success. Add in nurturing leads and following up on sales activity, and the legwork involved in a campaign can become so daunting, many organizations hesitate to dive in.

However, what if we told you that there was a way in which to automate elements of a marketing campaign to relieve some pressure and free up some of your valuable time?

The answer: Marketing Automation

By definition, marketing automation is the process of using software to automate marketing activities.

A Quick History of Marketing Automation

In recent years, marketing automation has become quite the buzzword within the advertising realm. While its usage among small and medium sized businesses has seen an uptick over the course of the past 5+ years, the first marketing automation tool was developed by Unica in 1992. However, it wasn’t until the mid-2000’s that the industry truly began to take shape.

While early marketing automation systems focused on email marketing, the rise of additional marketing channels and resources (such as social media) revolutionized the industry to better fit the needs of companies. This in turn allowed for new marketing automation companies to enter the scene and lower the cost of this invaluable resource.

While the cost of a marketing automation platform is more reasonable than what it was 15 years ago, the global market as a whole is growing…quickly. According to Statista, the entire global marketing automation market size is expected to reach 25.1 billion dollars by the end of 2023. But while lower cost allows for greater accessibility, the competitive landscape of the market is heating up.

As marketing automation technology continues to improve not only due to increased competition but also as a result of organizations’ need for additional tools to continue seamless integration between marketing and sales, small and medium sized businesses are poised to benefit.

The Times Union Media Group’s Approach to Marketing Automation

Recently, eMarketer asked US Retailers which technologies they planned to increase or decrease their spending on. 48% of respondents planned to increase their investment in marketing automation – the highest ranked marketing technology.

The Times Union Media Group is proud to offer marketing automation services to our clients and partners. We understand the value in how it can align sales and marketing efforts – in turn shortening sales cycles and helping to grow your business.

In partnership with our team at LocalEdge, we are able to help organizations from a range of industries (retail, healthcare, education and more!) convert more of their contacts into customers or clients. Below are a few ways in which our marketing automation solution earns your organization additional market share.

No-Hands Customer List

The Times Union Media Group can kick-start your marketing automation campaign by linking with your email to import existing contacts and continuously add to your customer list. We also develop your website to instantly add consumers who fill out forms or call your business.

Opportunity Knocks

We turn missed opportunities like old clients or customers, review shoppers, one-time buyers, and even missed calls into loyal clients or customers by automatically delivering the right sequence of targeted messages at the right time to your contacts.

The Software That Never Sleeps

From new customer offers and referrals to loyalty promotions, your marketing automation engine is working 24/7 to help you stay connected to your contacts and maximize your return on investment.

Transparent Reporting – It’s All About Your Business!

It is estimated that 44% of marketers see a positive return on their marketing automation investment in just 6 months and 76% of companies generate a return on their investment within the first year.

We feel as though it is extremely important for your organization and team to view results in real-time to see firsthand the ROI on your investment.

As such, we display dozens of useful pieces of information about how your customers interact with your business so you can improve in areas like negative feedback and capitalize on positive trends like popular offers or positive reviews.

In addition, your dashboard reporting includes data on and visual representations of:

• Master contact list
• Contact Activity History
• Customer Reviews
• Successful Referrals
• Claimed Offers
• Email Subscribers
• Text Subscribers
• And much more!

Final Thoughts

The Times Union Media Group’s marketing automation solution affords your organization a single platform on which to view your contacts and their history with your company.

During a time in which lead generation is considered one of, if not the most, important marketing goal (61% of marketers believe this to be true!), implementing a marketing automation strategy and utilizing a platform that can help your organization identify prospects and add them to your sales funnel is crucial.

For small and medium sized businesses, marketing automation software can be an invaluable resource to save time, reach more prospects and grow sales revenue.

Get in touch with us today to learn more!

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