Low manpower and high growth, this is what practical automated marketing looks like!

As the traffic dividend disappears, refined operations become more important. We need to make different operation strategies for different users. How to achieve high growth with low manpower? This article reveals the growth application of automated marketing systems from the perspective of business practice, hoping to be helpful to you.

As the traffic dividend disappears, refined operations become increasingly important. Nowadays, the cost of acquiring new users for Internet products of various companies is getting higher and higher. This not only requires us to spend our budget and manpower wisely, but also requires us to work hard on user life cycle management, which directly tests the level and capabilities of the middle platform, products, and operations.

The use of an automated marketing system may be able to solve this problem: be goal-oriented, use different tools to reach and guide users for different users and different scenarios, and achieve the purpose of efficiently attracting new users, activating, recalling, and closing deals.

Today, we will reveal the growth application of automated marketing systems from the perspective of business practice: Why is it necessary? How to build it? How to use it well?

Whether you are an entrepreneur, product manager or marketer, you can get valuable information.

Without further ado, let's go straight to the main text. Enjoy:

01 Why do we need an automated marketing system?

Marketing Automation refers to a cloud-based system based on big data that is used to execute, manage, and automate marketing tasks and processes.

1. Disadvantages of traditional human marketing

Traditional human marketing has a long history, especially in the subdivision of various domestic operation roles (activity operation, new media operation, private domain operation, product operation...), but it has gradually revealed its disadvantages in today's business environment:

• High labor costs, long time consumption, and low efficiency: Traditional marketing usually requires a large amount of human resources, including manual data processing, production and research demand development, testing, online acceptance, etc. At the same time, it takes a lot of time to perform various tasks, such as manually sending emails, processing orders, and managing user relationships, which limits the company's ability to achieve more marketing and operational activities within a limited time.
• Limited personalization capabilities: Due to the lack of in-depth understanding and analysis of user data, it is difficult for companies to achieve targeted marketing and meet the personalized needs of different users, which is not conducive to improving user experience and strengthening brand image.
• Difficulty in data analysis and cross-channel integration: Lack of powerful data analysis tools and technologies makes it difficult for companies to understand user behavior and market trends in a timely manner. At the same time, it is difficult to achieve integrated management and integration across channels. The scattered activities and data of companies on different channels make it difficult to obtain a comprehensive user perspective and a consistent user experience.

2. Advantages of automated marketing

It is not difficult to understand that automated marketing is the exact opposite of traditional manual marketing, making it an important tool for modern companies to gain competitive advantage and achieve business growth.

• Improve efficiency and save time: Automated marketing platforms can automatically perform repetitive tasks and processes, thereby reducing the burden on manpower and improving work efficiency. For example, automatic email sending, automatic follow-up of potential customers, and automatic contact processes can greatly save time and human resources.
• Personalized and customized marketing: Automated marketing platforms can achieve personalized marketing and customized services by collecting and analyzing user data. Based on user interests, preferences and behaviors, the platform can automatically push relevant content, product recommendations and personalized coupons, thereby increasing user engagement and conversion rates.
• Data-driven decision-making: Automated marketing platforms provide powerful data analysis tools and technologies to help companies gain in-depth insights into user behavior, market trends, and the effectiveness of marketing activities. Through data-driven decision-making, companies can optimize marketing strategies, accurately evaluate return on investment (ROI), and make more informed decisions.
• Cross-channel integrated marketing: Automated marketing platforms can integrate data and activities from different channels to achieve cross-channel integrated marketing strategies. In this way, companies can better understand user behaviors and preferences on different channels and provide a consistent brand experience.

(Image source: Introduction to Volcano Engine's automated marketing function)

02 How to quickly build an automated marketing system?

Foreign automated marketing products are mature, such as Hubspot and Oracle Eloqua, which have many customers. They empower enterprises to acquire customers through precision marketing, increasing repurchase rates and optimizing marketing strategies, thereby reducing the cost of acquiring and retaining customers.

In the booming "big middle platform" wave in China in the past few years, the automated marketing system was more like the patent of large enterprises. For example, Alibaba, JD.com, and Xiaomi all invested in middle platform manpower to build it independently.

Startups will also purchase data analysis + marketing systems from Sensors, Fanruan, and Volcano Engine due to their small data volumes and low outsourcing costs.

Medium-sized companies are stuck in an awkward situation. It takes a lot of effort and time to develop a large and medium-sized platform, but operations say it is not practical? The cost of accessing the existing data/channels/platforms of the externally procured system is high, and the secondary development cost is high, and operations say the data does not match?

How to solve it? Practice makes perfect: Starting from the business scenario, flexibly integrate the company's platform resources and build an efficient automated marketing system. Next, we will show you how to solve it step by step:

1. Clarify goals and track data

A good automated marketing system is not big and comprehensive, but small and precise. It is not about fancy functions and large expansion space, but about being able to effectively solve operational problems in business scenarios. In summary, it is to focus on business goals and organizational goals, so that each process and data can be traced.

Taking the common AARRR model as an example, the business goals will cover attracting new customers, promoting activation, conversion, and fission, and data tracking for each process is equally important.

In the context of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, it is equally important to assist the business side in achieving organizational goals. In addition to the obvious goal of improving efficiency, we can combine it with simplifying workflows to obtain better quantifiable goals.

2. Build underlying logic and functional modules

Build the underlying logic of the automated marketing system: from system module -> configuration layer -> function layer -> application layer.

The system module is divided into 3 parts:

1. CDP - omni-channel data platform: user behavior data tracking, user value scoring, user stratification and grouping. Most companies' existing tracking points and databases meet the basic construction requirements.

(ii) MAM - Marketing Automation Management: connecting different channels/touchpoints, setting user contact rules, and managing contact content. This relies on the backend to integrate various contact point interfaces to achieve efficient management;

(III) ANA - Data Analysis Platform: To evaluate the effectiveness of marketing content, activities, product iterations, etc., this requires the collaborative support and calibration of the BI department and the big data department.

In terms of functions and applications, from the moment a user becomes a potential customer target of an enterprise, his life cycle management process begins. Thousands of users at different stages can be located, analyzed, and cultivated, gradually improving user value and achieving a win-win result with the enterprise.

3. Project dismantling and promotion

The core of a good "automated marketing system" is the ability to segment users and analyze operational effects. It can continuously iterate and optimize operational strategies through operational results, ultimately achieving a positive cycle and producing an automated operational model.

Is the work of building a system complicated and lengthy? We can also break down the goals and iterate step by step, so that the middle office and the business department can achieve a win-win goal in stages.

• Phase I (PMF): Prioritize the launch of existing population tags, and frequently test copywriting strategies (SMS, emails, and in-site messages). Through automated recall, prioritize the configurability of reachable populations, reachable channels, and reachable content.
• Phase II: Realize the configuration of reachable groups, diverse reachable channels, reachable content, and reachable rights, while supporting customized expansion processes/rules to achieve more flexible strategy configuration.

03 How to make good use of the automated marketing system?

After the system is delivered, how can the business department use it to make the system more valuable? We do not engage in empty talk, but only draw the following two conclusions from the experience gained in practice.

1. Online operation of the entire process to verify efficiency improvement results

Bringing the entire AARRR operation process online is an important step in achieving automated marketing. The work that originally piled up a lot of manpower for operating products can be freed up to invest in new ideas as long as good strategies are accumulated.

First, through automated advertising platforms and social media tools, we can target advertisements based on user profiles and interests to attract potential users to visit websites or applications. At the same time, we can use automated marketing tools to collect user information and build a user database to support subsequent operational activities.

Secondly, through automated channel marketing tools, we can send personalized welcome messages and promotion pages to guide users to complete activation. In addition, we can set up automated trigger messages within the product to send relevant push notifications based on user behavior and specific events to stimulate user interest and activity.

In the user retention stage, use automated marketing tools to perform user segmentation and behavior analysis, and send customized content and recommendations based on the characteristics and needs of different user groups. At the same time, set up automated regular reminders and return visits to help users stay active and provide support.

Finally, in the first-time purchase and repeat purchase conversion stage, use automated sales tools and marketing automation systems to track and manage sales leads to automate and optimize the sales process. At the same time, set up automated personalized recommendations and cross-selling to increase users' purchase frequency and order value.

(Image source: Volcano Engine automated marketing background case)

2. Innovate growth experiments and find new leverage points

In addition to optimizing existing operational processes, using automated marketing systems to conduct innovative growth experiments is also an important strategy. By implementing experiments and testing, we can explore new market opportunities and growth strategies to bring more growth potential to the business.

First, use the automated A/B testing function to compare and evaluate different marketing strategies, page designs, promotion channels, etc. By comparing the data of the experimental group and the control group, we can understand which strategy or design is more effective, so as to optimize and improve marketing activities.

Secondly, we use automated data analysis tools to dig deeper into user behavior and needs and provide more accurate and personalized solutions. In addition, we use automated user feedback collection tools to proactively obtain user opinions and suggestions to provide a basis for product improvement and innovation.

In addition, trying new growth strategies and channels is also an effective method. Through automation, you can better track and evaluate the effectiveness of these new strategies and make timely adjustments and optimizations.

(Image source: Volcano Engine automated marketing background case)

04 Conclusion

Low manpower and high growth, a practical system can also work miracles!

When "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" becomes the main theme of the new stage of the Internet, cost reduction can only make the financial reports and profit data look good temporarily, while real efficiency improvement is the key to keeping a company alive and living well.

After bidding farewell to the original labor-intensive growth era, with the development of the AI ​​wave, liberating product, operation and middle-office manpower is a new development opportunity.

The above is all about "Automated Marketing Makes Growth More Efficient". The reference comes from growth work practice & research. If you have different opinions, please leave a message in the comment area below to discuss.

I’d like to talk to you about more growth cases next time, so stay tuned!