Intro
Together with my very appreciated teammate Philipp Güttl, we created and published an article on the subject of marketing and content automation for our Premedia magazine. In my blog I am allowed to present you the English translated version.
Marketing as a driver for growth
Digitization and the implementation of marketing technologies are currently at top of the agenda of many companies. Why? Because optimizing marketing spend and processes is more important now than ever. This is due to the fact that budgets are currently being cut more and more and at the same time the complexity of the communication channels with customers is constantly increasing.
The following three trends in particular have a significant impact on marketing:
- Customer migration to digital channels
- The increasing demands of customers on the relevance of communication
- The increasing expectation of a consistent and cross-channel customer experience
Study: Full focus on digitization
The European Marketing Agenda 2021 of the German Marketing Association clearly shows how the focus of marketing has accelerated towards digitization:
At 50%, digitization and the implementation of marketing technologies is the most important topic in marketing – followed by marketing operations – i.e. improving the website, e-commerce, CRM systems, data analysis – at almost 45%. In addition, the focus is on KPIs and measured values (38%), while at the same time budgets are reduced (32%). As a result, efficiency and ROMI (Return on Marketing Invest) are becoming more and more important.
In summary, the most important topics for 2021 were digital marketing, CRM databases and management and optimizing marketing spend.
Technology and automation as enablers
This gives marketing a more central role than it has in the past and becomes the initiator and driver of growth. But what does that mean when we turn to technology? In order to achieve scalability without compromise, two dimensions must be considered:
Marketing effectiveness = doing the right things
This is about personalization (1:1 communication) in an omnichannel approach. Delivering the right message in the right context to customers at the right time, in the right place.
Increasing the efficiency of marketing activities = doing things right
The goal is that effective marketing activities also become scalable. Without technological support, effective marketing activities are usually neither manageable nor scalable.
Like an iceberg, the dimensions can be broken down into what is “visible” to the customer – and what’s happening below the surface of the water.
A successful digital transformation and thus the corresponding growth can only succeed with a holistic view.
Do Marketing effectively
According to the definition, marketing automation systems are “software-supported methods for automating marketing and sales processes.” In fact, marketing automation can do much more than automate communication that occurs frequently.
After all, customers today use a large number of different channels. They change them “seamlessly” and expect the best possible service despite or precisely because of their flexibility – no matter what phase of the life cycle (lead, prospect or long-standing customer) they are in.
Marketing automation enables companies to meet these demands through the following intelligent features:
Personalization
Marketing automation is therefore very well suited for lead generation, as it can contribute to the identification of website visitors on the one hand and to lead scoring on the other hand, thus increasing the success of acquiring new customers.
The longer customers are recorded by the marketing automation software, the more data is available. If this amount of data is managed automatically and used in a targeted manner, this enables communication very close to the target group over the entire customer life cycle.
Real-time & trigger-based communication
Time-based communication (real-time or time-delayed): Content (e.g. on the website) can be dynamically adapted to user behavior in real time. In this way, communication is aligned to the specific interests of the customer at all times and via every connected channel.
And if customers do not react to the given message or react differently?
This is also a characteristic of marketing automation: multi-stage customer journeys to take into account different triggers or customer behavior and thus map different branches in a journey.
Data management
No data, no automation. That is why data is also the core of any marketing automation. Static or even “stupid” automation of communication means that messages lead to nothing or, in the worst case, are classified as annoying or spam. The brand would lose credibility and relevance very quickly.
So it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about lead management or CRM, marketing automation must also be understood as a data platform in order to pick up the (potential) customer exactly where he is at the moment – mentally and spatially.
Run marketing efficiently
The faster and more effective marketing execution becomes, the more content needs to be created. If this is not achieved, only very limited benefits can be drawn from the solutions used. Then a company acts effectively, but cannot take advantage of any scaling effects. We are talking about the so-called marketing operational gap.
Due to constant growth with more and more content produced and channels that can be used, it is no longer possible to keep up with the resources and solutions that were originally available.
In order to close the “marketing operational gap”, intelligent automation and process support are also required in marketing.
Content as a challenge
In jeder Phase des Marketing Operations Lifecycle – von der Planung über die Produktion und Verwaltung bis hin Distribution und Analyse – liegt enormes Automatisierungs-Potenzial unterhalb der Wasseroberfläche brach. Die größten Hebel für eine Content Automation liegen demnach …
- in der Planung und Steuerung von Content Projekten,
- in der Produktion und Verwaltung von Content
- sowie in der Bereitstellung von Content.
Content Automation Lösungen verfügen neben intelligenten Features und Funktionen auch über ein sehr ausgereiftes Workflow Management. Dadurch können all diese Prozesse standardisiert und manuelle Schritte durch Algorithmen, eingebundene Third-Party Plug-Ins oder selbstlernende KI Tools automatisiert werden. Dadurch wird die Erstellung und Bereitstellung von Content stark vereinfacht und so wesentlich beschleunigt.
Automated content solutions
Technology solutions such as Marketing Resource Management (MRM) or so-called Marketing Content Hubs are the foundation for a high degree of automation. They serve as a central content database and combine partial solutions such as Digital Asset Management (DAM), Product Information Management (PIM) and Headless Content Management (HCMS).
Growth through automation
Digitization that meets today’s customer requirements goes far beyond IT. It is important to take a holistic view of all dimensions in a company. Because: Digital transformation is doomed to fail if technologies are implemented as isolated solutions or if only one department deals with the topic. In addition, all topics should always be viewed in the field of tension between strategy, organization, technology and as a whole.
The role of marketing in digital transformation projects is that of initiator and driver. In order to be successful at this, it is both important to do the right things (effectiveness) and to do things right (efficiency). Technologies such as marketing automation and content automation solutions are an essential tool for this.
