Considering the current circumstances that have spilled over from the previous year, we all know that many companies are focused solely on survival. The pandemic has pushed many businesses to change how they operate, move to remote collaboration, and reduce their overall output. Not to mention just how much marketing has changed. Brands can no longer advertise in the same manner, organize live events, or create the same marketing campaigns, completely ignoring the ongoing health crisis. However, once we see some semblance of normal settling again, we can expect those same companies, your own included, to go back to the drawing board. Coming up with effective ideas that empower growth in 2021 will be a challenge. With the right mindset, strategies, and digital tools, you can leverage both marketing and business process automation to spur growth in your business. Whether you need to restore old client bonds, earn more customers, develop brand visibility, or partner up with new businesses in your niche, you need to tackle these and other growth-centric goals with a careful strategy. Here, we’ll suggest some of the most promising ideas you should incorporate in 2021, and let them become the driving forces of your business growth in the months to come.

Use chatbots to boost customer support

Taking a customer-centric approach is certainly one of the most vital components of any marketing strategy moving forward. However, even with top support agents handling customer queries, some level of automation can improve your business performance and your marketing success. For example, you can start utilizing chatbots on your website and social media to help alleviate some of the support team’s workload, and to provide data-based suggestions for new customers and existing clientele. Chatbots will take over the vast majority of your customer-facing interactions since they often come with the same questions and issues. As for the more complex ones, your agents can take over and ensure that these problems are resolved quickly, which will only be possible with chatbot automation in the first place.

Empower various tool integration

Automating one process at a time can only get you so far. If you, however, take some time to look into unifying ERP platforms to integrate all of your different marketing, sales, and communication tools, you’ll find that it will help you keep your processes streamlined. In case you have an ecommerce business on your hands, and you’re competing against so many in your industry, then you need a comprehensive solution to handle all your resources, including your inventory, your employees’ time, and nurturing your sales leads. If you want to combine your manufacturing processes, inventory management, all the way to sales and marketing, you can implement mrp software and encourage cross-department collaboration. Your sales teams will be able to know how to adjust their offers based on your inventory data, and your marketers will know which products to push and offer more. Add to that, you’ll have a clear overview of all business processes, and you’ll be able to automate tedious tasks such as invoicing, booking, and email notifications.

Automate social media posting

Certain aspects of your marketing should and need to be automated. For instance, social marketing already takes up so much of your time. It calls for ongoing research and creativity to find and cover the most recent topics and trends, and to interact with customers who comment and share your posts. Fortunately, you can use various social scheduling tools to automate the posting process and thus free up your managers’ time to focus on creativity, instead. Then, you should integrate analytics tools and make sure to automate data collection and filtering, so that you can save time on creating social media-related reports.

Use a Prebuilt Script for Sales Calls

If a business is making sales calls, then coming up with a prebuilt script can go a long way with being efficient. A script will allow sales members to be more effective when speaking with customers and will be able to land sales much easier. You can create scripts for both inbound and outbound call centers so there is a specific standard operating procedure for each center. The difference between inbound and outbound call centers is simply how many calls stream into the business versus going out.

Create industry-relevant content

Much like in the previous years, content remains the supreme overlord of all things related to marketing. There can be no SEO, no engagement, no visibility without the right content. In 2021, however, you’ll need to make sure that your content output reflects the latest trends in your industry and the world. Thanks to the pandemic and other emerging trends, keywords have likely changed, so you will need to cover topics that correspond to your customers’ interests. Make sure that you take the time to engage with your site visitors. The comment section is not there just as a decoration. Respond to questions, start discussions, and above all, join online communities where your content can actually make a difference.

• Focus on delivering diverse content formats: videos, infographics, case studies, live streams, etc.
• Focus on customer-made content such as reviews and testimonials, but also videos, photos, and even blog posts.
• Collaborate with relevant influencers to create social media content and keep your brand alive.
• Create compelling copy for your advertising campaigns in order to attract more people. Use appropriate filters and automate targeting to make sure you reach relevant demographics.
• Make sure your visuals are consistent with your voice! Even with automated review responses or email notifications, your brand needs to stand out and set a clear example at every turn.

Personalization through the roof

If you still think that addressing your customers by their first name in an email is the pinnacle of personalization, we’re sorry to inform you that you’re behind. Digital solutions, machine learning, and automated analytics, and data collection have all contributed to the increasing development of personalization in marketing. What’s more, using automated reports and data collection will save so much of your time. Then, you will be able to use data insights and industry-relevant research, as well as customer-specific information to tailor-make each experience to their liking. Large companies such as Amazon have created specialized algorithms that allow for personalized shopping suggestions, cross-sells and up-sells, but also help customers make smarter shopping decisions. Then there’s Coca Cola, famous for their marketing campaigns that allow people to customize their product. Let’s not forget Starbucks, whose gamified coffee selection has helped them understand customer behavior and personalize their experience in new and exciting ways. The 2021 playing field will be brimming with challenges, but when you create a powerful marketing strategy and allow automation to take over more menial work and free up your time – you’ll set the stage for success. The listed ideas are far from the only relevant ones that will define the upcoming months, but they are certainly there to help simplify your marketing efforts and make sure that you have a better chance to thrive.