Implementing an end-to-end marketing machine that runs optimally can be hard work. There are lots of tools/platforms to set up and keep on top of, as well as a high volume of data that’s being generated.
End-to-end marketing is a strategy that that uses various marketing touchpoints like search engine optimization (SEO), paid search engine marketing (SEM), digital advertising, email marketing, social media, websites, etc., to create a seamless customer journey and user experience.
Despite the many tools at your disposal, end-to-end marketing campaigns are still largely made up of time-consuming manual processes.
With the right automation solution, you can make an end to end marketing simpler.
MarTech’s role in end-to-end marketing
Before moving on, we need to address the elephant in the room – MarTech.
Let’s take a closer look at the tools your marketing department is using to put together campaigns and drive leads.
The marketer’s toolkit
Your marketing department must keep on top of a host of important tools to enable their success. These include:
- CRM software
- CMS software
- Social media management tools
- SEO tools
- Team collaboration tools (Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.)
While these are crucial tools, they also create a lot of work for your team. MarTech also requires multiple capabilities from its users. A level of sophistication is needed. From data normalization to list imports, marketing records, lead routing, and campaign assignment, it can often be a long and manual process to get the most from these disparate systems.
Automated processes bring all ends together
Today’s marketers use a variety of tools to help them. But the processes are often managed manually. And if you consider the number of tools used, and the volume of data created, your teams can easily get bogged down in administrative tasks instead of focusing on audience engagement. One of the problems marketers face is that these tools aren’t “talking” to each other. This can lead to information silos and gaps which slows down the pace of projects.
Let’s take an example of end-to-end marketing without automation:
You have emails, social media posts, blogs, and so much more to get out there to your audience. Each one will use a different tool – MailChimp, HootSuite, HubSpot, etc. – and every step, whether it’s segmenting new newsletter signups, sending out initial launch materials, or managing social posts that tie into the launch newsletter, is separate to one another. Too many points along the campaign roadmap are disconnected.
Marketing automation allows you to bring all these MarTech tools together and get them to talk to each other. From there, the gap between tools and their respective actions can complement each other to drive a comprehensive end-to-end marketing campaign.
The benefits of process automation in marketing
Process automation for your marketing campaigns can transform the way you work. Let’s look at some of the benefits:
Reduce tedious administrative work
To be honest, how much do you hate inputting data? By using the right process automation tool, the days of dull Excel spreadsheets and multiple databases can be removed. Automation mitigates the manual effort required from your employees, allowing them to focus on much more valuable work.
Cut costs
Setting up automated processes can lead to lower operational costs across all areas of the business. As paper-based processes, for example, are reduced, you’re also saving on labor costs and process bottlenecks. This again improves efficiency.
Enhance communications across the marketing department and beyond
How many stages are there in your content review/approval process? Streamline the process faster and get your teams talking about the campaigns instead of waiting for delays to be resolved. When everyone has better visibility across a campaign you can act on feedback and develop richer content that engages your audience and impels them to act.
Reduce or remove human error
Mistakes happen — especially when your employees have to manage lots of moving parts in a campaign. Some can be very costly and can lead to damaging reputations; others are less overtly costly but sap time from a project and potentially frustrate your team. Automating processes, like data entry, for example, removes the potential for human error and reduces unnecessary delays.
Go to market faster
Connecting tools together and automating various processes can improve the time it takes to get your product to market. All the hassle synonymous with product or event launches is reduced, allowing your team to focus on making the event or product launch the best version of itself.
Cut your carbon footprint
Automation can help you to achieve your sustainability targets faster. Paper-based tasks will become obsolete, further contributing to the reduction of your direct or indirect emissions in operational processes.
Simplify engaging and processing leads
New leads are the life source of business growth. Get sophisticated with email marketing automation and create a customer journey that will delight your prospects. For example, as soon as a lead comes in you can easily automate the process to add them into the right database, send out the “welcome” email, and enable your sales team to do what they do best.
Accelerate your end-to-end marketing with Nintex
Maximizing end-to-end marketing campaigns through process automation is key to achieving your marketing goals. At Nintex, our process automation tool is designed to reduce the hassle of executing campaigns and creating a more efficient and sustainable template for business growth. Accelerate your marketing automation transformation and reduce the time it takes to set up and manage campaigns from weeks and days to hours and minutes.
We’re ready to help you do more with less. Contact our team to start automating your marketing processes.
