If you’re an online marketer, you know that we live in an age where computers can do virtually anything for us. But you probably don’t know just how much help automated programs can be.
Automation is absolutely essential to online marketers for one simple reason – it saves you time and energy. When you get routine tasks “off your desk” through automation, this frees you up to handle more important things such as planning, problem-solving, and building relationships with clients and customers.
There is a vast array of options when it comes to automation, but this month I’ll be giving you a taste of just how much you can do through marketing automation.
Today’s episode is How to Automate Your Online Marketing – Part 1.
I am Lisa Wells, your Virtual Assistant Trainer.
If you’re an online marketer, you know that we live in an age where computers can do virtually anything for us. But you probably don’t know just how much help automated programs can be.
Automation is absolutely essential to online marketers for one simple reason – it saves you time and energy. When you get routine tasks “off your desk” through automation, this frees you up to handle more important things such as planning, problem-solving, and building relationships with customers.
There is a vast array of options when it comes to automation, but this month I’ll be giving you a taste of just how much you can do through marketing automation.
Here we go with Part 1.
1. Schedule Your Posts and Tweets
For any social media marketing to be successful, you have to stick to a regular schedule of posting. This can easily get shoved to the side when you’re busy, or become an unnecessary drain on your time. Automated programs allow you to load up your posts and tweets ahead of time, and then they post to your social media according to a schedule that you set.
Although you can and should automate your posting schedule, there are times when you should do it manually. Sometimes, there’ll be a time-sensitive post, such as sharing or commenting on a news story in real-time.
Also, although you can automate posting, you have to respond to comments personally. Set up notifications so that you know when you’ve got a comment and take the time (or delegate someone in your organization) to respond to all comments and other social media activity personally.
A couple of popular programs are MeetEdgar and Hootsuite. I’ll add all of the resources in the resources area below.
2. Visitor Tracking
Analytics are important in telling you whether your online marketing efforts are working or not. An important part of analytics is visitor tracking.
Automated programs can analyze the behavior of visitors to your website. They can tell you who is visiting your site, what pages they’re viewing, and what content they’re engaging with.
You can use this data to better understand website visitors. You can also use it to make changes to your website. If a page is viewed briefly and then the visitor clicks away, you know this is a page that needs improvement.
The most popular and free program is Google Analytics.
3. Up-Sell Opportunities
Part of your follow-up with customers is offering relevant deals to them based on their behavior. It’s an opportunity to up-sell or cross-sell different products or services. Although this is a very personal aspect of your business, it’s something you can automate.
A good way to do this is through email marketing. Create an email list and ask customers if they’d like to sign up to receive offers at the point of sale. You can then use the list to follow up and further market to them.
Autoresponder email programs allow you to load up messages which are then sent out automatically at intervals of time chosen by you. Through this email service, you can send relevant offers that your customers may be interested in.
Two programs that are pretty good and, best of all, affordable are Aweber and MailChimp.
If you enjoyed this episode and want more automation tips and strategies, check out my How to Automate Your Online Marketing training system.
I will show you how to:
- Identify exactly where in your business you can benefit most from automation
- Create a social media automation plan that cuts down on the amount of time you spend on social media while increasing engagement
- Develop an email marketing automation strategy that builds your list of leads and customers while getting more sales from the subscribers you already have.. And more!
Includes a comprehensive training guide, workbook with course worksheets, and a bonus social media scheduler template in Excel.
You can find the product below or head over to my VA Business Builder Boutique by clicking on Shop by Type in the menu bar and you’ll see a link for all of my Ebooks and Training Guides.
Join me next week as we go over more tips on how to automate your online marketing!
See you then!
Catch up on other “How to Automate Your Online Marketing” episodes + resources mentioned in the video:
Did you enjoy this episode and want to put it into action? Check out this training system!
How to Automate Your Online Marketing
$25.00
Whether you’re a one-person show or you have a small team to work with, I doubt your marketing budget is limitless. But it’s not just a matter of time and money, the more marketing tactics you’re juggling, the more likely it is that a ball will be dropped somewhere.
You might forget to send a customer a thank-you note. Or forget to post to your Facebook Group for days. Or maybe you’re just not bothering to send emails to your leads or create new content for your blog, Because you just don’t have the time to do it all!
And then there are all the profitable opportunities you might miss because you’re just too busy with what you have on your plate already.
Think about the prospective customers you’re losing because you don’t know which ones to spend time on. Or the follow-up sales you’re missing out on because you’re too busy working with current clients.
All these challenges can be tackled with AUTOMATION!
No, you can’t run your whole business on autopilot. There’s a big personal element that’s always critical.
But when you use the power that technology gives us today, you can free up huge chunks of time to focus on the personal stuff, and….
You’ll be running every single part of your business more effectively, more efficiently, and more PROFITABLY.
However, the huge range of automation possibilities can be overwhelming. Especially if you’re not a ‘techie’ to start with.
That’s why I created this training that will guide you through all the different automation possibilities for your business, and help you pick the right ones for you.
In Online Marketing Automation, I’ll walk you through each of the main areas of marketing automation and the tactics you can apply.
You’ll look at how automation can improve every part of your sales process, so that you can get more leads, more customers, and more sales.
Finally, you’ll put together a plan for where you’ll start implementing automation in your own business and the tasks you need to work on right away.
By the end of this guide, you’ll be able to:
- Identify exactly where in your business you can benefit most from automation
- Create a social media automation plan that cuts down on the amount of time you spend on social media while increasing engagement
- Develop an email marketing automation strategy that builds your list of leads and customers while getting more sales from the subscribers you already have
- Outline tactics for automating your content marketing and using tools to speed up your content creation
- Design customer follow-up approaches that will help build long-lasting relationships while increasing the lifetime value of all your customers.
- Draft an integrated automation plan for your overall online marketing strategy.
I’ve divided up the guide into easy, bite-size sections so you won’t get overwhelmed. And, you’ll have no reason to procrastinate! You’ll even get a Workbook to take notes as you complete the activities.
Want the specifics?
 Here are the topics we’ll cover in each major section of the guide:
Module 1: Introduction – How Automation Helps Your Online Marketing
We’ll start by discussing the meaning of the term ‘marketing automation’ and all the benefits for your business. The biggest benefit is usually time, but you might be surprised at some of the others.
Module 2: What is the Goal of Your Marketing Automation Strategy?
In order to create an automation strategy, you need to understand what you hope to accomplish first. In Module 2, we’ll look at different types of goals you might want to achieve and how they line up with your sales process.
Module 3: Social Media Automation
Social media can be one of your biggest time drains, sometimes with the lowest ROI. In Module 3, we’ll look at how you can cut the time you spend on social sites, automate different aspects, but still keep your social media marketing highly personal.
Module 4: Email Marketing Automation
Email is the heart and soul of many businesses, especially when it comes to developing relationships with both leads and customers. In Module 4, you’ll see how you can automate many aspects of email marketing so that you do a better job of converting leads to customers and retaining the customers you already have.
Module 5: Content Marketing Automation
Content creation is something that’s often pushed to the side because you ‘don’t have enough time’, but content marketing is also a key part of building your credibility online. In Module 5, we’ll be looking at both ways to automate some of the marketing side of content, as well as tools that will speed up your content creation.
Module 6: Customer Follow-Up Automation
Your current customers are your best source of repeat sales and additional revenue, but you’re probably not taking advantage of all the automation available for making this happen. In the last module before we finish up, you’ll learn about some powerful tactics and tools for using automation in your ongoing customer relationship-building.
Conclusion: Create Your Marketing Automation Plan
By this point, you’ve learned about some astounding ways to use automation that will make an enormous impact on your business and your life. In the concluding module, you’ll spend time putting it all together by building your personal automation plan and identifying your next steps.
Once you complete, you’ll be well on your way to:
-  Freeing up huge blocks of time in your day, so that you can focus on the places you add the most value….. or on spending more time with your family and friends!
- Creating a more reliable, quality-driven experience for your leads and customers…. throughout your sales process
- Decreasing your costs, increasing your sales, and ultimately growing your profits dramatically….. both from new and existing customers
….and taking a whole lot of stress out of your life when you know that you don’t have to worry about a big chunk of your marketing!
TDLR; don’t waste hours on marketing tasks that can easily be taken care of by automation.


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