Marketing automation: what is it, why does it work & is it relevant to the print industry?

It’s a marketing tool that gets talked about a lot, but what actually is marketing automation and how can it help your print business meet its goals?

First off, marketing automation can benefit all businesses, whether small, medium, or large. It is not industry-specific and can be successfully applied to those in the print, paper and packaging world. It is an essential tool to improve the success of marketing campaigns, as marketing automation can quicken decision-making, help you to understand the overall customer journey, generate qualified leads, and even increase sales.

Marketing automation does this by placing every part of a campaign (including print elements) in one place, this streamlines everything and measures marketing tasks and workflows more efficiently. With 75% of companies using at least one automation tool*, it has become a key and trusted solution for many businesses.

Marketing automation personalises the customer journey, customising the user experience based on consumer behaviours, purchase activity, and more – so no, your phone isn’t listening to you, your digital imprint just accurately predicts what you like and want.

Statistics such as Epsilon outline that 80% of customers are more likely to buy from brands that offer customised experiences*. Another survey by Segment said 40% of customers say that personalised interactions made them more likely to buy from a company again*. The statistics are stacking up, it is no secret that personalisation is vital to gain and retain customers!

Sending out personalised messaging to the right audience, at the right time, keeps customers engaged and ultimately creates conversions. When customers remain engaged with the content you are putting out – both digitally and physically, it then helps to generate repeat orders and increase a customer’s lifetime value.

Generating quality leads can be challenging and leaky leads can be frustrating. However, Annuitas Group’s study highlighted that companies using marketing automation to nurture prospects could encounter a 451% increase in qualified leads*. Such a significant increase results from marketing automation nurturing prospects by placing information they would be interested in across multiple channels until they are ready to buy.

Further to this marketing automations can identify and assess whether leads are likely to eventually convert, helping to understand which leads a company should focus more time and effort on.

Last, but far from least, marketing automation allows you to do more on a smaller budget, as it can collect data at scale and put it to work straight away. Also, once one stage of the campaign is finished, it automatically flows to the next, this automation frees up marketeers’ schedules to focus on other tasks.

Even though the evidence is stacked high with statistics supporting the benefits of marketing automation, why have some companies still not taken it up? According to Liana Technologies, over half of the companies who are yet to use automation say it is simply because they lack expertise and don’t know how to use it*. That’s where we come in!

At Nutshell, we are strong believers that an autonomous mix of marketing, including a blend of physical print elements, is the best way to reach any business goals. We work with marketing automation tools that can deliver a full multi-channel campaign with the most cost-effective and strategic approach. So, whether you want to work with us on a purely consultative level, or need a full ‘concept to market’ campaign, we wou2ld love to collaborate with you to achieve your goals.

But hey, let’s take a step back, and start with a simple hello…

hello@nutshellcreative.co.uk

*References:

26 January 2022
"80% of customers are more likely to buy from brands that offer customised experiences."

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