You started a new company. You’re building an online presence. You don’t have many fans or posts on social media. And, you only have three people working under you.
You don’t have enough money for a marketing budget. You advertised your business in print and had some success. However, you’re struggling to maintain the leads that you have.
What can you do?
Small and large businesses should use automation tools that help with your business operations and marketing. This article will show you how to use marketing automation software to your benefit. As an added bonus, many of the tools you can use for free. Read on if you wish to know more.
Drip Email Campaigns
Drip email campaigns allow users to stay in touch with contacts regularly in order to nurture new and current leads. The system automates routine email communications with new leads through a marketing funnel. Also, it will help you re engage old contacts that you may have lost.
A drip email campaign nurtures leads by establishing relationships with potential clientele. You can find many free software platforms that automate customer greetings and organize incoming leads. Some noteworthy email drip campaign services include:
Further, drip campaigns streamline your lead generation endeavors and help you respond to customers efficiently and create closer relationships. Imagine how your customers would feel if they received a note on their birthday or a discount on the anniversary of when they first became your customer. All of these things can be done with automation and not one wasted minute of your time.
Facebook Chat Bots
This free marketing automation service fosters automated messages to customers who visit your Facebook page or website. These auto-messages respond to customer inquiries immediately without any effort from you or your team. You can use this service to better engage customers and answer any questions or concerns without hesitation.
This is especially useful for any business that may be short-staffed in customer service departments.
The following services provide chatbot services:
Best of all, it allows you to capture leads instantly without fear of missing a potential lead or putting customers on hold.
Online Appointment Scheduler
An online appointment scheduler is free marketing automation software that cuts out the back-and-forth communication via phone and email when setting appointments. It’s one of the best tools that will provide direct access to a client.
Services such as You Can Book Me allow customers to schedule time with you. The scheduler will log customer or client bookings into your schedule, which is synced with your Google, Microsoft or Apple calendar. An instant appointment gives you more time to prepare for important conversations or presentations.
Social Media Scheduling and Automation
This is one of the best automation software tools on the market because of its ability to schedule future social media posts. You can plan future posts of any type through social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Some of the most robust social media scheduling tools included features where content will automatically post to your account. For example: Look for a tool that will post new blogs from RSS feeds and your website blog, and utilize a system that allows you to create evergreen posts which will be posted to your account multiple times according to your settings.
Services such as Marketing Magnitude’s Advanced Social Marketing platform, Buffer or Hootsuite offer social media tools that will engage leads with captivating content while saving you time.
Quote ➧ Contract ➧ Invoice ➧ Process Credit Card Software
Signing up a new customer can involve many steps and even more time. Luckily, gone are the days of faxing a quote, followed by a contract, followed by an invoice, that would need to be paid via check in the snail mail. Using automation, this entire process can be cut back to the click of a button.
Tools like 17Hats leave the chaos behind. Although this specific tool has many impressive automation features, we would like to focus on the one we use daily, the signup process for new customers. With 17Hats, one email from you will bring your customer through quote approval, contract signing, invoicing and payment.
First, you can easily create a quote using predetermined products or services that you have created, or you can create items on the fly. With the click of a button, you can add your pre-made contract and/or an invoice. To make things even easier, 17Hats works with Stripe to process the new client’s credit card.
This means you and your client have agreed to the terms, you have been paid, and you are ready to provide your products or services w/out a fax in sight!
How Automation Tools Can Help You
Automation software helps you operate your business in less time. With automation tools, you will save time and money so you can concentrate your efforts elsewhere.
Your customers will be much happier as they benefit from faster communication and speedier customer service. Best of all, it will increase your chances of landing a sale or a new customer.
Interested in reading more? Click here to learn more about how you can better understand your customer’s needs.
