Are You Killing Creativity With Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation makes it possible to automate mundane tasks like sending emails, so that we reach a larger audience with greater efficiency. Marketers can quickly distribute information, content, and respond to customers more efficiently than ever before.

Marketing automation is killing creativity with all the tools that are available to marketers. What does creativity in marketing actually mean? It's difficult to find creative ways to stand out among all the marketing trends, tactics and data available.

Automated systems allow for the sending of pre-written messages at a large scale. Marketers run the risk that generic messages are used on a large scale without personalizing them.

Marketing automation tools that aren't used properly can not only kill creativity but can also lead to ineffective and mediocre marketing campaigns.

You can gain tons of valuable information if they are implemented well. You'll find new leads by adding creativity to the mix!

Image Source : Science Soft

Let's explore what creativity means in marketing and how automation tools can help us apply it effectively.

The key takeaways from

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  Market creatively by not losing sight of your audience and brand.
  
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  Automate your messaging by personalizing it. Don't rely on the templates offered by most platforms. These templates can be made yours!
  
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  Test, test, test! If you don't test them, there's no way of knowing which creative avenue will work best for your company.
  

How to keep things creative in marketing

Let's first establish some ground rules before we get into the topic of creativity in automation. Marketing is very different from high school art classes. Creating a simple image for your email header won't help you get anywhere. These are some tips to help you succeed.

Know your brand

Now you are ready to brainstorm. It is important to remember your brand's values, goals, and purpose. You can create a catchy slogan or CTA but they won't communicate the purpose of your company.

MIG is a content marketing agency. We don't claim to be the miracle company that will make your life last. It's a huge leap! (Even though we may believe it a bit.

Instead, we come up with creative ways to communicate what we do. Each subject line of our email nurture series is different and addresses a different pain point. Sometimes, the subject uses emojis and sometimes it uses a pun. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as it is related to the company's purpose. Here are some examples:

• Are you tired of writing content? You can save time and Advil in 2022
• Create a team of champions
• Create content that converts. Exclusive offer
• 18x ROI starting at 0.1% of your marketing budget

These are just a few words that convey what we do. There are no tricks or click bait that makes empty promises.

Know your audience

Personalization and connection are two of the most important aspects of marketing after the pandemic. Consumers could be less concerned about companies who don't care in an online environment that is oversaturated. The numbers are the proof.

Image Source: MIG

If your recipients don't like the content, it's pointless to send a creative email. Nearly 85% all email sent each day end up in spam. You don't want yours to be one of them.

Be sure to convey information that is relevant to the customer's needs and perspectives. Take a look at the examples we have given. Our email subject lines emphasize the fact that customers can save money and get results by hiring us. I don't know of any other two things that a business owner would want more than these.

How to apply creativity to automation

This summary from Act will help you brush up on basic marketing automation before we get into creativityin automating.

Personalize your message

WP Engine reports that personalized content performs 42% more than generic content. Marketing automation tools are a great help in this situation. These tools provide the data you need to personalize your messages and allow you to segment your buyers and target audience.

Personalization goes beyond just putting the subscriber's first name in the email headline or body. Personalization is about providing solutions to your individual buying needs and problems.

Marketing Insider Group makes this possible by sending out a newsletter each day that features our most recent blog post. We cover many consumer issues through our content marketing strategy. Our blog includes everything you need to know about content marketing, from the latest industry news to SEO tips for educators to pain point solutions.

Monitor your marketing automation

Marketers sometimes leave the job up to their automation tools. Your automation tool should be your boss and supervisor. You can tell your automation tool what to do and not let it dictate what you should do next. Your automation tool is an employee you must micromanage.

Do not follow the path of least resistance. However, you are free to delegate mundane tasks to the tool so that you can concentrate on creating compelling marketing messages. You must work hard to create campaigns that grab the attention, emotion, or interests of your target audience.

Analyze and test

Automation tools can help you save time and provide valuable data. This data is essential in developing and implementing the best strategies for your industry or niche.

Marketing can be accused of focusing too much on metrics and numbers, rather than the creative force behind a marketing campaign. But testing and analyzing can help you quantify and validate success.

These tools can be used as a resource. You can use your data to get to know your audience. But don't forget about listening to what they have to say. Your content's performance can be measured by the comments and responses to your blog posts and social media. Listen to your customers and past clients for suggestions and advice. As a reference point for future communications, use the unique information of a prospect.

Marketing automation platforms are just one example of data. Keep in mind that all this data is just the tip of the iceberg.

Next, test your content to find out which strategies work and which don’t. You can then conduct A/B testing and closely monitor the results. But don't let your emotions get in the way. This data will allow you to constantly reinvent your strategies, and ultimately find the one that is most effective for your brand.

Your communications should be always relevant. Do not fall for the trap of only creating messages once and then never updating them. Habits change. Interests change. People change. Make sure your automation tools are up-to-date so that you always deliver the right message.

Templates built into Tweak

Email marketing platforms, which include automation tools, offer templates you can use for optimizing your email design. Templates are a key component for some marketers.

These templates can be used if you are short on time. These tools are designed to save you time. That is why we all value time.

However, it is important to adapt templates to your brand's personality and target audience. These templates are easy to modify. These templates can be used to save time and effort. However, you should always incorporate your design and context in every marketing campaign that you launch.

Bottom line

Marketing tools are not designed to think for us. They shouldn't be a hindrance to creativity. They are there to give us data that we can use to inform our strategies.

Automation tools often allow you to use personalization tokens to modify the content so that it is more relevant to specific individuals. This helps to avoid making us sound robotic. Let's get rid of all emails that begin with "Hi there", (cringe). You can even use the data automation tools to test as many versions as you like of your marketing. This is how you can achieve your maximum creativity.

If I had to give you one piece of advice about marketing automation, it would be to keep it "human". Remind prospects that they are talking to someone real. Let people reply directly to you, and remove the "no response" sign. It's okay to inject some personality into your message, provided you do it professionally and remain true to the purpose of your company.

Because no automation tool can replace human creativity, marketing will always require creative minds. To ensure that automation is not causing harm to your company, analyze your processes.

Looking for creative content ideas to add to your automation strategy? Look no further! To learn more, check out our SEO blog writing services. Or schedule a consultation to find out how we can help.