Moving from SEO to Marketing Automation
If everyone is doing SEO, how does one gain an edge over the competition to begin with? The truth is, it’s hard to rank high in the search result pages, let alone grab the first spot. Companies may spend thousands of dollars on optimizing their websites, but they often don’t get the results they want. Mind you, some SEO agencies can optimize the heck out of every website, offering great results. Alas, that’s easier said than done.
Google keeps updating its ranking algorithms. Old school tactics won’t work anymore. Much like natural selection, it’s either adapt or perish. Keyword stuffing is now a thing of the past. Marketers and SEO professionals know that optimizing for search engines solely won’t produce the desired outcome- that is, ranking as high as possible in the search results. Hence, they are primarily focused on optimizing for readers first. Here’s the catch; if you provide original, unique and valuable content to the users, is there any need to over-optimize for the search engines? Instead of getting bogged down in the details of the latest updates made by Google, you could use that time to produce original and high-quality content. It might sound like a cliché, but it’s true.
Some will say that creating original and unique content will work in the long run, but you need immediate results. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work. Building a physical, actual business takes a lot of time and effort. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Similarly, you can’t build an empire overnight. The old adage ‘publish or perish’ holds true to this very day. If you keep producing high-quality, original and valuable content, people will notice. Sure, it might take some time, but eventually you will reap the benefits. Seeing this trend, an increasing number of companies are moving from SEO to marketing automation. You keep producing fresh and original content, thereby increasing user engagement. The next step is to turn your readers into leads- and eventually, into satisfied customers. How do you go about implementing the right marketing automation tools and strategies?
For one, you need to understand the core tenets of your business. Clarity is power. Before even looking for a marketing automation provider, you need first answer questions such as: “Who is my target audience? What do they really want? How can I provide the best service? “Better still, “How can I identify some of the hidden wants, desires and preference of my target audience?”. Understanding their needs and preferences is crucial. Implementing marketing strategies without a deep understanding of your target audience- and without setting clear goals is like navigating in the open sea without a compass; you might make it to the shore, but you also run the risk of sinking. Once you have clear goals, you can choose the marketing automation solution that best fits your needs.
Social media marketing can get you good results, but it won’t prove enough. Email marketing is an effective tool, but it can be time-consuming. Content marketing is great, but you also need call of actions (CTA). What if you could align social media, email marketing and content marketing into a single platform? That’s exactly what marketing automation does. It allows you to track visitors, nurture leads through the whole sales cycle, thus gaining immense insight into customer behavior and preferences. After all, every company strives to spot patterns into customer behavior. By implementing the right marketing automation solution for your business, you automate repetitive tasks, align efforts of your marketing and sales department, thereby boosting your return on investment (ROI).
Contrary to popular belief, marketing automation is highly personal and custom-tailored. You can send fresh, personal and original content to your leads, in a way that is not neither aggressive, nor annoying. Marketing automation provides you with tools to effectively launch marketing campaigns. Be it a white paper, a demo, a newsletter, a landing page and other forms; these are all tools that actually help you establish a personalized relationship with leads and customers alike. You give them the freedom of choice. You foster trust. After all, people want to buy from companies they like and trust. There’s no getting around it.
The last thing you want is waste time on cumbersome tasks. Traditional marketing campaigns can be time-consuming. By automating all repetitive processes, you free up space for your sales and marketing teams. At the end of the day, each team needs to focus on what they do best; the sales team wants to get on with selling- and the marketing team with launching innovative marketing campaigns. Since marketing automation platforms offer an integrated toolkit including lead management, website visitor tracking, email and analytics, you can track visitors that visited your website, offer them personalized content, send them personalized offers and much more. For example, whenever users visit your website, open your email, read your blog or fill out a form, you can automatically send them personalized content. Any time you launch a marketing campaign, you have access to huge amount of data generated in the process. Analytics lets you check your progress, see what’s working and what’s not working, tweaking your campaigns accordingly.
The transition from SEO to marketing automation is a natural process
Creating high-quality, original and relevant content is the secret formula of ranking high in the search results. It’s simple as that. If content is what keeps users coming back to your website, marketing automation is what turns them into delighted customers. Keep your content unique and relevant. Implement the marketing automation platform that best fits your company. The rest will fall into place.