Automation vs De-automation
It all began back in 1992. But it wasn't until the middle of the 2000s that the marketing automation industry started taking shape. So how did the automation in the go-to-market revolutionize the status quo?
Up until the advent of Marketing Automation Platforms (or MAPs) the way to engage with customers or prospects was still the old school one. Traditional mailing or phone was predominant until the rise of the digital era.
In the beginning, automation could scale the outreach and empower companies with a mass scale tool to deliver a message. The result was above expectations and many organizations started to adopt more and more such approaches. All this has led to what we know now as overwhelming for our buyers. While in the beginning the message could have been perceived as personal with a few tricks in the personalization tokens, nowadays almost everyone can spot when we are a target of a “mass spam” email.
So does this mean that we should all scrap this approach and get rid of these sophisticated tools? Absolutely not, as content is still important and engagement is crucial.
What form of delivering a message is the best? You may have heard it over and over that multi-channel is the way to go but in practice, there is no one size fits all approach as it pretty much depends on the industry you’re in or the geography we’re targeting. Many sectors require different channels we engage with the prospects and this is the case especially outside of the “western world”
How can we incorporate human “1-1” personalization into the outreach?
- Research: spend time connecting to their human side and prove how you can help or discuss topics close to his/her heart.
- NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming): crafting the messages by using certain words can trigger a mechanism that leads to an increased (positive) response rate.
- New channels: these are in constant update. Social selling is not just about prospecting on LinkedIn or in general spamming your prospects but rather inviting them to join your webinars or meet in person at an event. Video outreach has become very popular but only a few of us are taking the time to do all the above preparation and execution. Thought leadership or getting a social presence through podcast participation or peer-to-peer event relationships are probably the best way to stand out from the crowd and get seen as an expert in the field.
