While many businesses have suspended their marketing efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, other businesses have been looking for ways in which their employees could perform their marketing activities remotely.
Technological innovations have made it easier than ever for marketers to work from home and contribute towards marketing activities remotely. Many companies have also begun using marketing automation tools to keep marketing activities up and running while employees are away from the office.
There are plenty of marketing automation tools available during the current situation, and each one offers some distinct advantages for completing marketing activities. Here are five of the advantages of using marketing automation for remote working.
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1. Keeping up with customer outreach
One of the pitfalls of working remotely is that employees rarely have access to all the data and collaborative tools they would normally use at the office. One of the activities these marketers perform regularly with these resources is customer outreach.
Customer outreach often entails the creation and delivery of personalized emails to draw in customers or nurture leads. This activity generally requires the use of customer data, such as their name or zip code in order to create these personalized details.
If marketers are working remotely, they may not have complete access to the customer database, and could have difficulty engaging in personalized customer outreach activities.
If these outreach activities could be automated, these marketers could divert their attention towards other marketing tasks such as strategy planning and analysis.
The automation tools used for this purpose would need to be integrated with the customer database that includes name, location, and demographic data. This data can then be used to create and deliver personalized content to contacts without requiring assistance from actual personnel. A marketing data management platform could be useful for this purpose.
Keeping contacts up-to-date and informed on the brand’s activities is important for keeping them engaged and converting leads to sales. Automating this activity can boost sales for the company without requiring the help of staff who are working remotely.
2. Taking care of customer service
Businesses that normally use employees for customer service roles could also benefit from automation. These employees could have difficulty performing their duties, such as taking customer calls or answering customers queries in real-time when they are working from home.
These activities could be automated with the use of intelligent chat bots on the company’s website, or automated attendants that answer customer calls and provide information.
In the past, these automation tools were incredibly basic and would provide customers with a limited set of information. Most modern chatbots and automated attendants offer customers with a wider variety of options than before in order to help satisfy their requests.
This automation process may not completely eliminate the need for human operators, but it can significantly reduce the amount of staff required for customer service. The few customers that are unable to have their queries answered by the advanced automated customer service tools can be redirected to the one or two essential customer service representatives that are still present at the company.
This arrangement allows the business to save money on hiring customer service staff, and also ensures that the customer service needs of their clients are still largely met.
3. Providing services 24/7
Automation also allows businesses with remote employees to keep up with marketing activities 24/7. This could be useful because many customers browse the internet and make online purchases outside of work hours.
Without the use of automation, these businesses would have to rely on their remote employees to send new buyers promotional emails or confirmation messages every time they make a purchase. These employees would have to be available outside of work hours if the business wishes to promote to their clients during off-hours.
With automation, these clients can be sent promotional and confirmation messages without the help of staff. This is important because businesses with faster response times are more likely to convert their leads, which can lead to boosts in the sales.
4. Ease of scaling
When enough marketing functions have been automated, it can make scaling up marketing activities easier.
Most scaling up activities are a collaborative process that require the involvement of multiple employees. However, if enough marketing activities have been automated, the scale of the campaign can be expanded without the need for additional staff.
The few remote employees that are still involved can review the rollout and results of the scaling up process before giving marketers the green-signal to continue with their plan.
5. Improving workflow
Marketers that rely on real-time information from other employees to perform their marketing activities could benefit from having customer data transmitted to them automatically through automation tools.
This could be especially useful in remote working situations where marketers have difficulty receiving real-time updates from their co-workers. This data could also be time sensitive, so having access to real-time data is a necessity for many marketers.
Having faster access to data can also speed up the workflow for employees, as they will no longer have to rely on other employees that are difficult to get a hold of to complete their duties.
The aforementioned benefits are just a few of the many advantages that automation provides to marketers that are working remotely. Automation tools are becoming more and more advanced everyday, and soon they will be able to perform complex tasks that completely eliminate the need for human supervision.
There is no doubt that marketing automation will play a larger role in the planning of marketing strategies in the future. Businesses should remain up to date with these innovations if they wish to reap the benefits of marketing automation. Companies should also consider using marketing automation services to get better acquainted with the implementation and use of marketing automation in their activities.
