Marketing Automation is Like Dieting – But We Mean ‘Good’ Dieting
Marketing automation is like dieting. We’re not too far out from the New Year, are we? It’s already the end of March, but some of us are taking those New Year’s resolutions pretty seriously. Sticking to a gym regimen, spending more time with family, cutting back on the sweets – many resolutions change the lives of the people who make them. We universally agree that paying better attention to our bodies and caring for our physical health should be of utmost importance. Some folks claim their business is the chief focal point of their lives and the time spent on business matters prevents them from better health or a more rewarding personal life.
If you’ve ever said this, it’s time to think about how the health of your business correlates directly to your own health. Marketing automation for your business could be key.
Marketing Automation is a Resolution You Can Keep
The New York Times ran a great opinion piece last month about how relaxing and enjoying more personal time – including sleep time – can create a better work experience for all of us. One statistic from this piece rings true:
Spending more hours at work often leads to less time for sleep and insufficient sleep takes a substantial toll on performance. In a study of nearly 400 employees, published last year, researchers found that sleeping too little — defined as less than six hours each night — was one of the best predictors of on-the-job burn-out. A recent Harvard study estimated that sleep deprivation costs American companies $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity. [1] – New York Times
We all know that more sleep and more efficient self-care will improve our lives, but many of us miss the fact that streamlining our businesses is required to take that time off. If your back end is a mess, a chain reaction starts – you spend more time managing things at work that could otherwise easily be handled (think marketing automation), which then deprives you of personal or self-care time.
For many business owners, the way with which customers are handled and managed, leads are processed and followed up on and billing is managed can all be part of separate processes and platforms. Marketing automation helps bring those platforms into one centralized place for business owners.
With marketing automation, you know that a lead will be qualified properly and will get the amount of follow-up time deserved. You’ll have an idea where money is wasted on your marketing – on what’s working and what’s not. The more efficiently you spend your money, the more you’ll have in the bank. What does this mean for you?
- More money to hire great people and bring on new clients
- Ability to let things go and not micromanage – you know your tools will tell you what’s working, so you don’t have to poke in on your team as much. The data’s right there.
- Better metrics in place to liaison with your marketing company or team.
Marketing Automation is Like Changing Your Lifestyle
If your leads are coming in and managed in a sloppy way that even you don’t fully understand, you’re missing out on the opportunity to get more life and productivity out of your business. Marketing automation may be a great solution for you. Think of it like going on a diet [2] – before you start, you have to really take stock of your eating habits and make decisions about which ones adversely affect your health. Some people are moving at the speed of light and eating high-calorie lunches at their desks rather than preparing meals at home. Some people crash out by 10 pm after a long day at work, only to skip the exercise and repeat the cycle the next day. Over time, not confronting habits that don’t ultimately serve you negatively impacts your health.
Your business can be in bad health, too. Many slender, in shape people aren’t in great health – and likewise, just because you’re in the green from month to month doesn’t mean your business is in great shape. Try sitting down and making a list of your business bad habits and how they negatively affect your growth and your work flow. How can marketing automation help?
It’s time to sit down and confront bad habits that a good marketing automation program can help you fix. Lead Liaison is the answer for many, and could be for you! Talk to us how we can help your business get into shape today!
