Marketing automation: the smart move in your digital marketing strategy

Demodia is a fast-growing Swiss agency that provides digital marketing strategies and related services to clients around the globe. With a background in website development as well as traditional marketing to start with, Demodia was approached by one of their larger clients to handle the regional implementation of their Eloqua platform. "OpenText, an existing client, came to us for help with their Eloqua rollout," explains Simon Harvey, Managing Director at Demodia. "Initially, we didn't know where to start, but after a few months, as we began to refine our processes and usual approach, we started to see the positive impact and results backed up by numbers. Quite crucial here was that we challenged our usual way of thinking to be able to achieve new results." Marketing automation is nothing new. Over the past few years, however, it has evolved away from simple automation with repetitive activities to a very meaningful catalyst for better integrated marketing.Integrated multi-channel marketing campaignsSegmentation is a fundamental building block of the integrated approach. "I almost always start crying when I see the vast amount of brochures and printed promotional materials we send to the trash every day, " Harvey says. "By making sure we're only providing truly relevant content to our prospects, Demodia helps increase online engagement and avoid unwanted email spam." Their integrated campaign approach is based on well-matched messaging, channels and advertising methods that complement each other. "Outlining engagement opportunities for the customer up front is an essential part of designing a successful campaign, " Harvey says. "The messaging must stringently follow a certain pattern to safely guide the new customer through the buyer journey."No longer just a privilege of the richPreviously, this approach was usually reserved for large companies, but new vendors on the market have made marketing automation accessible to smaller companies as well. As a result of practical experience with their own customers and their marketing automation, Demodia decided to implement their own marketing automation plan in early 2014. Because of its compelling price point and ease of use, they chose SharpSpring as a partner for their in-house platform. Using a mix of clearly defined personas, sensibly constructed customer journeys, and regularly delivered content, Demodia was able to increase its traffic from a few hundred visitors per month to several thousand - an almost unbelievable amount for a small B2B company. In addition to acquiring new customers, Demodia was also able to revitalize its existing customers and contacts. "Before we started using SharpSpring, we usually only saw a handful of existing customers interested in our marketing efforts. Then, when we started sending more targeted content with marketing automation, the percentage from our database jumped to about 20 %," Harvey describes.Take the step to modern marketingMarketing automation doesn't have to be complex, but to be effective it requires integration with your overall digital marketing strategy and every single campaign you run. With marketing constantly evolving, Demodia also strives to keep their approaches to marketing "state of the art" and help their clients with their new and exciting projects. Maybe yours is next?