Unlock Marketing Power: 8 Essential Automation Strategies
Marketing automation streamlines repetitive tasks, freeing marketers for creative work. It operates on a four-step framework: a *trigger* initiates the process, followed by one or more *actions*, leading to an *output*, and concluding with a *loop* or *exit point*. Despite its potential, only 28% of marketers report high success, often finding it overwhelming or only “somewhat successful.” A key risk is spending more time building automation than performing the task manually, or if the task still heavily requires human intervention.
However, when implemented effectively, automation offers significant benefits, including smoother workflows, reduced manual effort, improved targeting, better team coordination, and enhanced engagement. The article outlines eight practical workflows across content, email, PR, and social media.
For content creation, examples include automating basic brief builders that pull SEO data into Google Docs and create project management tasks, or using project management tools like Asana to automate content workflow handoffs based on status changes or subtask completion. In email marketing, behavior-based nurtures trigger personalized sequences based on page visits or cart abandonment, while webinar lifecycle automation handles registrations, reminders, and segmented post-event follow-ups.
PR strategies benefit from an automated “PR Radar” that monitors brand mentions into a searchable log, and a “Media Request Matchmaker” that routes #journorequest tweets to relevant internal experts. Social media efficiency is boosted by a “Video Clip Automator” that turns long-form videos into social-ready clips with AI, and a “Comment & Community Nudge” that tracks brand mentions for engagement, with advanced systems like Webflow's processing hundreds of mentions to flag only high-priority ones.
Before automating, evaluate if the task is repetitive, consumes significant time, and can be integrated with existing tools, ensuring it truly adds value rather than complexity.
(Source: https://backlinko.com/automate-marketing)
