Everyone loves a method that helps them save time. And, if it allows their marketing methods to be more personal and geared toward specific prospects, so much the better. But, successfully implementing marketing automation into your construction company's efforts online takes some time and understanding of your market. A few tips for effective automation in the construction industry:

1. Take Time to Learn About Your Projects

Take the time to learn about your customers.

Who has been your most lucrative customers in the past? What customer groups would you like to see more business from? What sort of customer has, historically, picked your competitors over you? Learn about your prospects using your own company's CRM data, as well as information from marketing surveys and studies of your industry.

Then, use this information to create marketing personas. These are representations of each type of ideal customer. Once you know who these people are, you can more easily personalize marketing to appeal to their specific desires.

2. Beware of Spammy or Irrelevant Messages

Buying a list of contacts is, often, an ineffective way to market and results in a really low return on your marketing investment. Take time to build up a list of genuinely interested prospects and then treat them and their time with respect. Common mistakes include sending overly promotional messages too soon or only communicating through promotional messages. Every relationship takes effort, and the ones you are building with prospective clients are no exception.

3. Use Multiple Channels

Don't just send email. There are a wide array of automation tools out there that can help make your efforts more effective. For instance, use a CRM to capture information about prospects and have your sales team use that information to make every interaction more personal. Reach out to prospects on social media as well as through email. Use customized landing pages for returning visitors.

4. Segment Your Lists

It's not enough to collect emails and occasionally blast out promotions. Instead, you should have a wide range of tools that are geared toward the needs of your prospects. For instance, don't just make one newsletter that's a one size fits all. Create separate lists for residential, commercial and niche markets like green construction or remodeling. If you can do this you will most certainly see email marketing improve your businesses bottomline.

5. Pay Attention to Analytics

Pay attention to website and data analytics.

It's not enough to queue up some automated campaigns and let them run. Look often to see how effective your efforts are. Do the opens on your drip campaign fall off after the third or fourth email? You may be alienating recipients earlier on. Do some A/B testing to see whether different subject lines and content are more effective.

6. Always Remember The Person on The Other End

When working with automation, always do your best to make what you offer personal. An action as simple as addressing an email to a person by name can be highly effective. In one study, personalized promotions were 29% more likely to be opened and had click through rates that were 41% higher than those with generic greetings.

Additionally, ask yourself whether you would be happy to receive an email if it arrived in your box. Is the content inside interesting, informative and useful to the recipient? If not, your chances of having a warm reception are low.

Marketing automation can give you incredible power to scale your business. It can make it easier for your sales and marketing teams to connect with prospects and can increase your chances of closing a sale. But, to get these sorts of results, your automation has to be implemented in a way that is most effective for your industry. Do your research carefully and be ready to commit to a long and intense effort before you see results. By being patient and seeing it through, you will see your customer acquisition costs drop and your relationships with your customers last longer and yield higher profits.

PS - See how Wallboard Supply Company leveraged inbound marketing and marketing automation to increase their website traffic 283%! Click here, or the button below, to download the case study today!

Website Traffic Case Study

Sources: hubspot.com | customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com | marketingland.com | marketingland.com