Many people hear the words "marketing automation" and think of robotic-sounding spammy emails that get their name wrong and offer nothing of value. If you're you're nodding along right now, I have news for you: you're missing out on leads, on sales, and on connecting with your clients throughout the customer lifecycle. Marketing automation is considerably more advanced and when done well, can be a powerful part of building relationships and growing your practice.
Marketing automation enables even small health and wellness businesses to master multi-channel marketing and maintain consistent follow-up, even in the face of limited time and resources. From segmenting messaging based on prospect interest to consistent communication, the right automation platform can simplify the complexities of modern marketing, helping you be more productive, increase revenue and improve client satisfaction!
Why Channel Mastery Is No Longer Enough
The marketing landscape has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. Gone are the days when dominating a channel or platform meant you could reach most of your target audience. Today, consumers engage with brands across a multitude of platforms, from social media and email to websites and mobile apps. To stay relevant and competitive, you must establish your presence on various channels, and have a method of following up with prospects no matter where you initially meet them.
The Power of Automation + Multi-Channel Marketing
Multi-channel marketing is about delivering a consistent message and brand experience across all touchpoints, whether it's through email, social media, SMS, or other communication channels. Research shows that consumers who engage with a brand across multiple channels have a higher lifetime value and are more likely to convert into loyal customers.
So how can you be consistent and continue to engage people across multiple channels without overwhelming your marketing team? This is where customer lifecycle automation gives you the power to stay top of mind.
What Is Customer Lifecycle Automation?
“A lot of times, entrepreneurs suffer from ‘shiny object syndrome,’ and when you don’t have a method for categorizing and organizing all of the shiny objects that you see, you end up just spinning your wheels,” explains Clate Mask, co-founder of the marketing automation and CRM platform Keap. “So, one of the things we’ve learned over the years is that Lifecycle Marketing is very effective to get entrepreneurs into organized and systematic action as opposed to chasing the flavor of the day, or that shiny object, or that some promised thing that is going to change your business.”
Three Phases of Automation
Keap has identified three phases of the lifecycle automation model:
- Collect leads,
- Convert clients,
- Create fans.
Collecting leads is made up of understanding who your ideal client is - the problem they may have and where they go to seek solutions. From there, you must establish trust and authority in the marketplace with high-value content and resources that let your ideal target market know you can help them solve their problem. Finally, collecting leads includes bringing those high-value prospects into your universe with the intention of providing personalized, relevant follow up.
Converting clients involves engaging prospects with educational information that begins to satisfy their curiosity, creating a monopoly in their mind so they immediately think of you when they think about solving their challenges. At that point, it's time to offer your prospect the ability to solve their problem through your solutions. Creating a clear and streamlined process will allow you to close the sale.
Creating fans keeps the cycle going, with referrals and endorsements. Once you deliver the solutions your clients need, you can impress them by going above and beyond after the sale, with additional support and communications. At that point, it's natural for for repeat business, positive reviews and referals to become part of how you multiply and grow.
Segmenting Messages for Personalization
Once you understand and master the three phases of Customer Lifecycle Automation, it's time to get personal. It's no surprise that we all expect an online experience tailored to our unique needs. Think about it: all you have to do is have a conversation about some new shoes you're thinking about buying and suddenly those shoes follow you on every website you visit. One-size-fits-all marketing messages are no longer acceptable in today's highly personalized digital landscape. To truly engage your audience, you must tailor your messages to their interests and needs.
Segmentation is the key to achieving this level of personalization. Keap's segmentation features empower you to craft messaging for different groups based on various criteria, such as demographics, behavior, and engagement level. Custom fields for information specific to your clients and if/then logic based on their responses to your outreach allow further personalization. In the coming years, with so many business relying on AI, your individualized messaging and brand voice are the things that will resonate with your target market, increasing the likelihood of conversions and customer loyalty.
Automating Follow-Up for Better Conversions
And of course, once you've mastered segmentation, consistent follow-up is the next critical component of your successful marketing strategy. It's essential to nurture leads, answer inquiries promptly, and guide prospects through your sales funnel. Even if you are fortunate enough to have a dedicated sales force, this is no place for a manual process!
Keap's automation features give you the power to create automated workflows that send follow-up emails, SMS messages, or even schedule follow-up calls based on prospect behavior and engagement. This saves time and ensures that no lead slips through the cracks, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.
Authenticity and Authority That Grow Your Business: The Human Touch
You're probably wondering what a discussion of a "human touch" is doing in an article about automation, but the truth is, your touch should be evident throughout the customer lifecycle - including in your marketing automation. While marketing automation will undoubtedly streamline many aspects of your client engagement, remember to personalize your messaging. Create genuine interactions, infuse your brand voice and keep your messaging consistent.
Keap understands our need for authenticity in the health and wellness industry. Their tools allow you to use 100 custom fields to track client needs and create deeply personalized automated messages. Across a variety of channels, Keap offers the flexibility to engage with your prospects and clients when it matters most. Whether it's notifying you if someone engages with a crucial message, or providing personalized recommendations based on the actions your client took, or even addressing unique customer needs, Keap empowers you take marketing automation to a level that inspires trust at every step of the customer lifecycle.
Getting Started with Marketing Automation
The Lifecycle Automation model was designed to address three significant areas that many small businesses often neglect. These areas include capturing website visitor information, converting those visitors into clients and and clients into raving fans. True Lifecycle Automation allows you do these three essential things and never leave a customer behind again:
- "Collect leads" - Do you have a consistent and powerful system for collecting leads from interested website visitors?
- "Convert clients" - Do you have an automated system for segmenting leads, and converting those leads into paying clients and customers?
- "Create fans" - Do you have a system for turning those customers into raving fans who are buying more and telling friends about you?
Download our free guide and put Lifecycle Automation to work for your small business!
