Communication channels in Marketing Automation

Automatic communication – why?

To manage everything that communication includes it is necessary (more and more) to use some kind of automation which will take most of the burden from the marketer’s shoulders. Reaching a wide sphere of new potential clients at the same time, for example, during the launch of a new product without lag, helps to create a version of a message that will include as much as possible from a wide variety of preferences.  Thanks to this, recipients see and feel that the promoted product isn’t exclusive even if the attention of many different groups has been pulled towards it.

Every marketer knows that a product can fulfill the needs of different groups of people, where each of them has different preferences, mindsets and requires a special approach. Automation helps with that. Through specialized marketing tools, it is possible to create an individual message that will be the main part of the communication strategy which in addition will take into consideration various variables.

One of the best examples presenting the situation mentioned above is when someone registers for receiving a newsletter. In many modern mailing programs, there is an option to adjust most of the settings like date, headline, etc. to create message fit (at least as much as possible) for recipients.  E-mails are a standard and most basic way to communicate with customers. In most cases, it is through a newsletter where the relation between company/brand and customer is created, and it is the main point from which the community starts to grow.

Automation and in this case Marketing Automation helps to save the most precious resource that a company has – time. 

If we are at the time, Real-Time Marketing can’t be forgotten. RTM or Real-Time Marketing means to react to situations that are happening now and create a message that will correspond with the company’s product or service.  To send (in many cases) thousands or tens of thousands of individual messages by “hand” to the whole database would take forever. Thanks to Marketing Automation marketers can easily and most importantly fast adjust the form of communication and by few clicks send it through different communication channels to specially selected groups or everyone. Without Marketing Automation tools managing many different campaigns where each one has a different scheme and strategy of communication wouldn’t be possible without engaging more workforce. Thanks to MA, the whole process could be managed even by 1 person.

What are communication channels in Automation?

• ‍SMS – short messages sent to a smartphone are one of the most basic ways to reach large groups of recipients. Most of them are read – sound silly, but it is crucial. Thanks to information chaos in many different channels messages are constantly ignored. SMS makes you wonder, so you check it to get it “off” your head. Even if the product or service won’t be something you like or need, information about the company or brand will still be implemented in your consciousness. When you read SMS (marketing SMS in particular) you know it won’t be long  - it can’t be. Because the message is short there is a higher probability it will be read. Short, simple, easy to digest.‍
• Push notifications – pop-ups in different places of the screen are a solution used more and more often by modern marketers. They give a lot of room for improvement and this elasticity provides many opportunities to create a form that will fit perfectly into preferences of specific groups of clients. Each push has an URL that transfers the user to the company’s website or a special landing page created (regarding purposes – like a gathering of email addresses through newsletter registration). The main advantage of push notifications is their simplicity. They don’t require giving any personal data and filling tiresome forms. Push notifications are a good way to reach potential clients from a different direction and to diversify communication strategy.‍
• Chatbot – not so new, but still useful, and if used correctly can bring a noticeable difference. It allows to “have a conversation” in real-time with a user. In most cases, a chatbot will provide answers to the most common questions from the FAQ section, but thanks to it users don’t have to read it and search for the answer longer than necessary.‍
• E-mails – undoubtedly one of the most important parts of every marketing strategy. Their big advantage is low cost and easy to adjust form which can fit into specific needs of selected groups. It is a very plastic form from which the creation of relations with customers/clients often starts. Through e-mails to other channels of communication. We mention it last so you can remember that e-mails are not dead, they are alive and kicking.
  

Marketing Automation has many faces, all the tools mentioned above are just the tip of the marketing iceberg. New options and features appear constantly. Not everything is necessary, iPresso Marketing Automation System gives you a complex set of MarTech Tools for the creation of (even very advanced) custom, personalized scenarios and unique ways to communicate with people from your database. Thanks to it you can easily react to most of the changes and include them in your communication through various channels.  

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