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Do Marketing Automation Better The restaurant can execute the campaign in a variety of ways. They can build the custom landing pages first. It may make sense to have extra content about what makes a romantic and healthy Valentine's Day meal, capturing the company's ethos on the day. Another data-capturing call-to-action is a sign-up for future holiday events and discounts. From there, the restaurant can build a press release, blog post, email campaigns and social network updates to bring people into the site. They can nurture potential reservations through value-added content and sign-ups for discounts, and then of course, take reservations through the site. Their social media manager responds to inquiries online, because in today's complex buying process, people have questions. Because brands who deploy campaigns like this already have KPIs and website tracking in place, they can compare performance of individual tactics and the overall campaign to their larger marketing efforts. This shows how efficien- cies and automation produce better results. Considerations for Marketers The data you need to create a targeted cam- paign must come from your customers. You can acquire it with a variety of tactics, usually involving a form. You can include forms on landing pages, blogs or your website. A good form is tailored to reflect the page content and asks the prospect or cus- tomer for relevant information (such as an email address, phone number or demographic information.) Gathering too little information, such as just an email address, reduces your abili- ty to segment your lists and target your mar- keting. Conversely, asking for too much in- formation can discourage prospects from completing your form. A great marketer understands the balance between the need for information and the need for prospects. Ulti- mately, consider a central marketing automation database to target your prospects with different forms over time, gradually improving your data. - Brendon O'Donovan – Product Marketing Manager, Vocus, Inc. The Role of Content Content plays a huge role in the marketing automation process. First, from a smart press release to the right infographic, content brings people to your site. Next, more advanced content on your site encourages people to qualify them- selves as potential leads. Finally, highly-specific, custom- ized content nurtures leads until they close, and retains existing customers. Many brands only lightly customize their content for perso- nas and scenarios. This is a mistake. With so much relying on content, it pays to be particular about creating specific pieces for the right persona in the right situation. If a marketing software sys- tem were a power drill, using generic content is like using thread-bare screws. Marketers need highly customized con- tent to succeed. Let's go back to our restau- rant example. Perhaps 5 percent of the upscale healthy restaurant's patrons are gay men. The restaurant knows this, thanks to special incentives and targeted campaigns to the gay and lesbian community. But for whatever reason, the restaurant fails provide a customized message to gay and lesbian patrons in its Valentine's Day campaign. Instead, it lumps gay men into the general "men without kids" category, where the creative says, "Take your special lady out on Valentine's Day." Now, the gay men are offended. They feel marginalized. Ten per- cent of them opt out of the list. Several complain online about getting spammed. Imagine the opposite approach, with a persona for the GLBT segment. A similar email is sent, part of the overall campaign, but inviting gay men and lesbians to bring their partner in for a romantic healthy Valentine's Day Dinner. Sales to this constituency double compared to its 2013 fig- ures. Precision pays. #4 " "

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