JohnAmardeil.com

Back in the beginning of August I told you all about the next big thing for our team – marketing automation. To BAM, marketing automation was all about providing registrants and website visitors personalized content based on online behaviours – what they click online, in eblasts, etc. At the time, if you recall, I mentioned how excited we were about the benefits that this type of relationship building creates for our clients.

Well, as of this week, I’m especially happy to report that we’ve deployed our first set of emails – and if you’re registered with Queensville, one might already be in your inbox. Six versions of our first personalized community eblast were created and deployed to registrants based on survey questions they answered during the registration process. We’ll now be able to gather extensive after-the-click tracking on each email so that we can further craft personalized messaging that will speak to the individual interests of the recipients. This is no different than the customized content that sites like Amazon or eBay generate for their customers.

Our newest team member, Zoë Ong, is quarterbacking this new initiative. Zoë, who previously worked at itracMEDIA, a marketing automation firm, is currently in her second week here at BAM. She has a strong background in the field and, when asked, had this to share on the topic:

“Marketing automation helps you target the right people more effectively. It only makes sense to use a user’s interests and browsing habits to deliver meaningful content they want to see.”

BAM is thrilled to have Zoë on the team, and I’m confident that she will help us take our digital thrust to the next level because the stats speak for themselves – 63% of companies that are outgrowing their competitors use marketing automation software. In the end, the real value added is the relationships this type of marketing creates between our clients and potential homebuyers – and we’re excited to be a part of it.

Gone are the days where marketing plans are made without the consideration of quantity in addition to quality. What am I talking about here? Marketing automation – its kind of a big deal. Lately, it’s getting harder and harder not to notice it. In fact, the marketing automation industry is expected to grow 50% by 2015.

What is Marketing Automation?

 Marketing automation is all about providing your customers with a personalized experience. When a customer returns to your website for the second, third or fourth time, they will be given an experience created specifically for them according to their needs and interests. Sounds great, right? But, what does this accomplish for the marketer? First and foremost, marketing automation reduces some of the repetitiveness we see with the marketing process. It does this through what is called customer segmentation. Automation software will use information such as age, gender or education to classify customers browsing your website. At this point, you’re able to create a target population and measure how effective your content is – this means you can your allocate resources to the right people!

 What Makes Marketing Automation Great?

Currently, this is our biggest initiative at BAM. We are constantly looking for ways to grow in the digital world – and this is the next big thing for our team. In our industry, we want to provide our customers with the right kind of information at the right time. Which means we have to make sure the content is highly personalized to each buyer. The goal is to learn about them – their age, demographic, number of kids and so on. Are they a family of five? Then we will show them exclusively homes that suit those needs. It’s all about nurturing our customers to improve their online experience, which in turn creates more leads.

Team BAM is also thrilled at the opportunity that marketing automation provides to set measurable objectives for each of our campaigns. We can also deliver segmented emails and track how customers react to them – which means we can further personalize future web content and emails for them. As we seek to deliver the right content at the right time, we will be able to determine what’s working and what isn’t. And really, what’s more valuable than that? Another bonus is the inclusion of social media – this means additional platforms for us to engage and interact with our customers and prospective customers.

As we shift from sending out mass, random content to understanding and personalizing each customer’s experience, we close in on a marketing strategy that makes sense. Marketing automation guides the conversation, timing and personalization that we need to make this important shift. What’s your opinion on it? Tweet me, I’d love to hear it.