We often think of marketing automation as the process of lead nurturing, designing a campaign that automatically follows up with leads to convert sales. While that can be a critical part of marketing automation, the process shouldn’t stop there. Marketing is key to the entire customer experience. Marketing influences how customers feel about you, what they think of your business, how much they love the product they purchased, what they’ll say to others about you, and how often they’ll return.
Envision the perfect series of communications to your customers - the way your best employee would do it every time. Now set that up and put it on cruise control. This is marketing automation. Marketing automation software helps automate repetitive tasks such as emails. It makes sure these tasks are fulfilled every time for every customer, so you can guarantee a consistent experience.
Many marketing automation tools are difficult to completely integrate into your sales software, or require a team of developers to make them work properly. Given that this is beyond the reach of most small businesses, many companies end up with half-baked marketing automation software that follows up with leads, but doesn’t turn off when a sale is made, or a system that follows up after a sale for a future service, but sends the wrong message after the service is complete.
Because the marketing automation tools in RESMARK are built directly into the sales system, every data point is interconnected. Every action the customer takes is tracked. With that knowledge, the system can respond with targeted messages that will be timely, relevant, and effective. This increases sales, creates passionate advocates for your brand, and makes life easier for you and your staff.
Educate your customers about your location, help them understand things to do in your area, ensure that they are fully prepared for the tour they booked, get them fully engaged with your brand. Send the right message at the right time and you’ll create an army of customers who are your passionate advocates. This type of marketing automation, done properly, will generate significant new revenue and an impressive return on investment.
Imagine a world where nobody spoke to one another, and no advertising existed. Every single customer that ever walked through your door would be just as “green” as the last one. You would have to “sell” yourself, your company or your product, from scratch every single time. Now think about the reality. Aren’t there times when someone walks up to you and says, “Hey, my friend told me about you and your product, and said it was great. I think I’d like to try that too.” How nice would it be if every single guest you ever had (or hope to have), went out and became that person that totally captured the attention of virtually every single person they ever met and told them how great you and your tours are. While that’s a bit optimistic, you can get at least part of the way they're using RESMARK’s Marketing Automation tools.
Marketing should be happening along every step of the customer cycle, and all points in between. Every single interaction that a potential customer or booked guest has with your company is a unique opportunity for you to share your ethos, exceed their expectations, and ultimately push your brand. Some of these interactions will happen through one-on-one connections such as phone calls or face to face meetings. Other times, it will be happening when you’re not even aware like when a guest re-visits your website or a customer looks over their confirmation as they prepare for a trip. The best way to achieve success is to create a company wide culture that breeds consistency, and to take advantage of the marketing automation tools that CruiseControl provides.
Although every technology touchpoint becomes a critical part of the guest experience, we recognize that the human interaction you have with each guest shouldn’t completely be replaced with technology. There are key moments when you need to reach out to a guest personally. For this, RESMARK has crafted a set of robust task management tools so that you can set up reminders and notes that allow you to do just that.