Marketing automation has become a vital tool for businesses of every size. It can help you gain and sustain a competitive advantage. Speed up sales results. Plus, enable you to engage more contacts with personalized messages sent at the right time. So you can build good relationships.Yet not each marketing automation system is the same. In fact, very few have all the essential tools in one package of services. If so, that can cause you to integrate system parts from third parties that can cost you time and money, especially when things go wrong down the road.That is why it’s vital to first know what a full all-in-one marketing automation system is all about.Marketing automation is a server-based software that integrates different technologies.4 Automation Technologies Most Vital for Marketing CampaignsFirst, it includes a CRM that allows you to collect, store and use information about your contacts. To be able to segment your contacts by custom fields and tags, behavior – such as opening emails and clicking on links, plus purchases.Second, it includes an automated messaging system for emails, text, postcards and tasks. This allows you to send each message to contacts based on when they opted in, a date, behavior, purchase and more.Third, it has eCommerce functionality. It integrates order pages with a form and payment gateway for one-click purchases. Plus it can allow you to integrate with a shopping cart if you prefer. Most of all, it can automate processes based on successful or failed transactions, subscriptions, trial periods, payment plans, coupons and more.Fourth, it must have a campaign builder that enables you to take each contact on a personalized journey with measurable results. This allows you to create multiple campaigns for opt-in, sales, upsell, downsell and retention.A marketing automation system such as one by Ontraport can provide additional features. These include marketing tracking to help you see which ads, landing pages and emails are generating the most cost-effective results. Affiliate marketing and membership site to help you boost the number of customers and sales. Landing page and form builder to enable you to design professional looking sites in minutes. And a lead router and scoring system to help you and your sales team follow up leads and convert them into customers.Three key benefits of a marketing automation system are that you can customize it for your business. You can have multiple marketing campaigns at the same time that operate 24/7. Plus you can automate processes specific to contacts along their journey. But there are also marketing automation mistakes you can make along the way.Marketing Automation Mistake #1: Sending eMails to Contacts Who Did NOT Opt-in
Marketing automation involves permission based emails. That means you send emails to contacts who give you permission to send them information. You can get permission when each contact opt-in to your system. However, importing a list or manually adding contacts to your marketing automation system is a violation of SPAM rules. If you do this you can compromise the delivery of emails even to those whom give you permission.Marketing Automation Mistake #2: Not Maintaining a Database of Active Contacts
Even after you get a contact to opt-in, you must keep them active. That means, you must continually send them emails with relevant content to engage with at least once per week. Otherwise, they may forget you and not open the few emails you send. Over time, they can become less engaged, diminishing email delivery of your entire database. A re-engagement campaign is an effective method to get non-engaged contacts to interact with your emails again. You get these contacts to tell you if they’d like to remain on your list or opt-out. So you can maintain a consistent and clean contact database.Marketing Automation Mistake #3: Focusing on the Wrong Metrics
Marketing automation allows you to measure the results of your campaigns. This includes opt-ins, sales conversion, email open and click link rates, landing page visits, sales, ROI and more.However, focusing on the wrong metrics can cause you to misinterpret the true results. For example, you may have two campaigns where one has much higher open rates and lower click rates. Yet when you calculate click to open rates you can see an entirely different result. Before starting each campaign, it is vital to know the metric you seek to focus on to determine success.Marketing Automation Mistake #4: Not Split Testing Campaigns
All campaigns differ by the type and number of contacts, content and more. Split testing campaigns is the key to finding what works right. But the key to split testing is to test just one variable at a time. Such as a headline, price, offer, design or target audience. The campaign that wins is the new control. Then you can test other campaigns against the control.Marketing Automation Mistake #5: Not Having a Certified Consultant on Your Team
Marketing automation is both an art and a science. It requires a mix of technology know-how with direct response marketing expertise. Plus an objective mindset that is not biased toward the company or product. These are why it is best to have an independent consultant certified in the use of the marketing automation software on your team. To develop the strategy and build a custom automation system for your business. Plus, to train your team on using the system.
Do You Make These 5 Marketing Automation Mistakes?
Searching For the Best Real Estate Agent – Getting Some Latest Tidbits of Information!
Have you ever wondered why are there so many real estate agents out there who are busy making transactions on how to sell and buy your house? Well, you got to be extra careful when choosing the right real estate agent of yours. Agents can be deceiving but you can make your own choices as there are a lot of options to choose from and the decision lies in the palm of your hand. Searching for best agent can be a little bit easier and even a little too difficult but if you will bear these helpful tips in mind then surely you will be in a right path towards selling and buying a home successfully.First thing you should know is why are you searching for the best real estate agent? Is this a good move for me? Definitely, the answer would be yes since home and selling needs to have a good sales agent that could maximize marketing and achieving good results in the end.Know your Realtors! As they say, Realtors are real estate agents but not all real estate agents are Realtors. This is due to the fact that agents should follow the Code of Ethics and meet some certain educational criteria and right experience in the field of an expert and valid Realtor. Hire a true and professional real estate agent so that you won’t regret in the end.Ask some ideas from your friends about how you are going to get the right person to work with and deal with process. Considering some referrals is a good way to search for the best agent of yours and don’t hesitate to ask about the background and status of the referred real estate agent.Browse some real estate ads via all forms of media. You can scan through the net or whatever forms of advertisement where you can find good real estate agents with excellent expertise in the field of business. These agents are good persons to work with. In fact, Internet is a good information tool to grab those professional agents and take time to surf the net on how to get these agents instantly.Skilled agent can be grabbed in some Open Houses. Attending such events would open your mind and will give you ideas on how these agents can be the best option to work with in the future. Try to observe their skills on how they promote the materials needed for marketing the house. They can be good sales speakers in terms of introducing house features and the like. Take a quick view on how these agents know the quickest way to sell your house and finding some quicker home buyers in the market rather than making volumes for sale signs.Match those persons for your needs and don’t be in a rush to hire an agent without investigating their backgrounds. Always remember that a quality and reliable agent is the one you can trust in any ways and where you can benefit a lot from them.
Financing Your Used Car
When selecting a lender to finance one’s car, one should conduct or perform some extensive research over the internet. This assists in finding the most suitable lender to obtain a loan. One may use search engines to locate the lenders by keying in their company names. The financing options vary depending on the type of vehicle. The financing options for brand new cars are different from those of used cars. One should acquire value for their money when financing their used vehicles. A car begins to depreciate the moment a person purchases it and commences to drive it. There are three main options that a person has when planning to finance their vehicle.
They include contract plans, used-car loans and hire purchase. Hire purchase is a traditional means, which aids in spreading the costs thus easing the payment process. When selecting hire purchase as a means of financing one’s used car, one should budget accordingly to accommodate the monthly fees that the seller may deduct until the agreed period is over. Hire purchase is the most popular, mainly because the initial deposit is quite low. Compared to contract plans and used-car loans, this means is cheaper in terms of the payable interest. One may also negotiate the interest rates with the seller in order to obtain the best financing deal.
Contract plans require the buyer to deposit some money as a way of securing the car for purchase. After paying the deposits, the seller deducts the agreed monthly installments from the buyers account. After completing the monthly payments, one has the option of maintaining the vehicle while under the sellers care, or one may make a balloon payment. When a buyer makes a balloon payment, it means that they obtain full ownership of the vehicle. Contract plans have lower monthly fees, as compared to the hire purchase method of financing one’s used car. When one fails to meet the monthly payments of both the contract plans and hire purchase means, it means that the seller reserves the right to repossess the vehicle. Therefore, people should organize themselves financially before purchasing a used car.
Alternatively, one may obtain a loan from their bank as a means of financing the used vehicle that one intends to purchase. The benefit of obtaining a car loan is that it secures the vehicle therefore, meaning that the seller cannot repossess the said vehicle. Bank car-loans have competitive rates and this ensures that their customers have various repayment options. They are also easy to manage and organize, in terms of finances and this makes it an efficient means of financing one’s vehicle. Once a person obtains a bank loan, they may fully purchase the car, by making balloon payments. The bank deducts money from their customers account depending on the agreed interest rates. The buyers may sell the car before completing the loan payments and accomplish something else with the money. When looking for a suitable lender to finance a used car, one should compare the rates and benefits before selecting a particular means.