Bob Afsari is the CEO and Founder of Campaign Creators, a digital marketing agency that specializes in marketing automation and lead generation. The agency has transcended into Elite HubSpot partner status thanks in large part to their specialized focus on building inbound funnels that convert for their clients.
Afsari contributes to marketing publications and is a marketing thought-leader in his own right. As such, he was the perfect person to ask about marketing automation strategies and how they can be used to impact company growth.
“We’re no longer living in a world of siloed data,” explains Afsari. “Instead, businesses can leverage CRM information to create hyper-segmented, personalized experiences for their prospects and customers.”
The result? Increased leads, conversions, and ROI across the board.
“It’s not just about marketing anymore,” says Afsari. “It’s about marketing and sales working together to create a cohesive customer experience that will ultimately lead to more business.”
Of course, a large part of leveraging this data at scale is marketing automation (and marketing automation tools).
“The right marketing automation tool will help you take all of that data and turn it into actionable insights,” says Afsari.
When asked about his favorite marketing automation tool, Afsari doesn’t hesitate to name HubSpot. “We’re a HubSpot agency, so we obviously believe in their platform,” he says. “But it’s not just about using the tool – it’s about knowing how to use it correctly. And that’s where we come in.”
In this article, Bob Afsari explores how automating marketing strategies, and using marketing automation software tools, can improve company growth.
The evolution of marketing automation software
In the early days of CRM software, the benefits were largely operational. CRM software helped reduce the time it took to process customer data. But as CRM software has become more sophisticated, Bob Afsari says that it has begun to take on a larger role in company growth.
Now, siloed CRM systems are no longer the norm. “We live in a world where marketing automation software platforms are commonplace, and data can flow freely between them.” says Afsari. This has opened up a world of possibilities for marketing and sales teams to create cohesive customer experiences that lead to more business.
What is the most common use of marketing automation?
“The most common use of marketing automation is strategic communication with prospects and customers,” says Afsari. “That can take many forms, but the goal is always the same: to create a more personalized experience that will lead to more business. We always talk about wanting to send the right piece of information to the right person and the right time and with a platform like HubSpot, we can do just that!”
The benefits of marketing automation
“There are a lot of benefits to marketing automation,” says Afsari. “But I think the biggest one is empowering marketing and sales teams to work together within one centralized source of truth from a data perspective.”
In the past, marketing and sales teams often worked in silos. The sales team was in the CRM. The marketing team worked elsewhere. Marketing would generate leads and then hand them off to sales. But there was often little communication between the two teams and this resulted in a stunted, often disjointed experience for the customer.
“In reality, modern day CRM tools like HubSpot have put the customer at the heart of your business,” says Afsari. “And frankly, that’s where they should have been all along.”
Now, with marketing automation software, marketing and sales can work together more closely. Marketing can use data from the CRM to create segmented lists for targeted marketing campaigns and to create a marketing strategy. Sales can use marketing automation tactics to nurture leads until they’re ready to buy. And both teams can have visibility into the customer journey so that they can provide a more seamless experience.
“It’s all about creating a better customer experience,” says Afsari. “And when you do that, you’ll see business growth.”
How to get started with marketing automation
If you’re new to marketing automation, where should you start?
“I would recommend starting with your customer data,” says Afsari. “Think about who your ideal customer is and what kind of journey they take. What are their pain points? How can you help them? And most importantly, how can you use marketing automation to create a more personalized experience for them?”
From there, you can begin to think about which marketing automation software platform will best fit your needs. There are a lot of options out there, but Afsari says that HubSpot is the best choice for most businesses.
“HubSpot is a comprehensive marketing and sales platform that offers everything you need to get started with marketing automation,” he says. “It’s easy to use, it’s scalable, and it integrates with all of the other software platforms that your business is likely using.”
10 marketing automation strategies to grow your business
Once you have marketing automation software in place, it’s time to start thinking about marketing automation strategies that will help you grow your business.
Here are 6 of Afsari’s favorites.
1. Get visibility into the customer journey
Ever wondered exactly how your customer found you and why they chose your tool over your competitors? Well, with a single source of truth like the right CRM tool, you won’t need to wonder anymore.
You’ll have visibility into every touchpoint along the customer journey. In turn, you’ll be able to see which prospects are converting (and whether there are patterns there), and you can identify exactly where in the journey most people are experiencing friction. In turn, you can optimize your marketing efforts to reduce friction and increase conversions.
2. Use marketing automation to score leads
Not all leads are created equal. Some are further along in the buyer’s journey than others. Use marketing automation software to score your leads so you know which ones are ready to buy and which ones need more nurturing. Tools like HubSpot allow you to do lead scoring efficiently and effectively.
“At Campaign Creators, we have a very thorough process for lead scoring that leverages HubSpot,” explains Afsari. “We assign a score to different actions that a prospect may take, and as the score increases, we can automate personalized marketing campaigns for our client’s to better reach and convert these prospects into customers.”
3. Create targeted marketing campaigns
This is a no-brainer for any customer-focused business. “The spray-and-pray method of marketing has long gone out of style,” says Afsari. “For example, if I get an email that seems like the business doesn’t already know everything about me—and every single action I’ve taken on their website—I instantly unsubscribe.”
Customers expect personalized marketing. And that’s only possible by using data in your CRM to create segmented journeys for targeted marketing campaigns. This will allow you in your marketing efforts to create messaging that is relevant to your audience and more likely to lead to conversions.
4. Use marketing automation to generate leads
One of the most common use cases for marketing automation is lead generation. “With marketing automation, you can create marketing content that will generate leads from your ideal customers,” says Afsari.
This is done by using marketing tactics like gated content, webinars, and forms. You can also use marketing automation to score your leads, so you can prioritize the ones that are most likely to convert.
5. Use marketing automation to nurture your leads
“The goal of lead nurturing is to turn a cold lead into a hot one,” says Afsari. “And marketing automation is the perfect tool for the job.”
As mentioned, modern CRM tools create more synergies between the marketing and sales teams. Using these tools, marketing teams can build nurture campaigns that are triggered by certain actions (or inaction) taken by the lead. For example, if a lead doesn’t open your first email, you can send them a second email with different content. Or if they visit your pricing page but don’t sign up for a free trial, you can reach out to them with a special offer.
6. Use marketing automation to close more deals
“Marketing automation doesn’t just hand off leads to sales,” says Afsari. “It can also be used to help close more deals.”
For example, if you’re an eCommerce company, you can use marketing automation to create a sense of urgency by sending time-sensitive offers or by highlighting how many other people are interested in the same product. Or, if you’re B2B, your sales team can create more sales-focused content—like one-pagers, and recorded product demos—to move the prospect toward the sale.
The Bottom Line
Marketing automation is a powerful tool that can help you improve your company’s growth. By using marketing automation strategies, you can create targeted marketing campaigns, nurture your leads, and close more deals. And as an Elite HubSpot partner agency owner, Bob Afsari is an expert in using marketing automation to help businesses grow.
“Our clients trust us as their marketing automation partner because we deliver results again and again,” says Afsari. “That’s because we show them how to leverage data through marketing automation so that they may grow their business.”
