The Marketing Automation Playbook for Small Businesses

Feeling stretched thin? We don’t blame you. Between managing operations, handling customer inquiries, and doing all you can to stay competitive, there’s little time left to focus on marketing tasks. But what if you could automate these tasks, freeing you up to focus on growing your business? Enter marketing automation for small businesses—your secret weapon for efficiency and growth.

In this blog, we’ll give you the down-low on what marketing automation is, why it works, and how you can leverage it today to speed things up tomorrow. If this sounds like music to your ears, keep reading.

What is Marketing Automation?

Think of marketing automation as a trusty sidekick—handling the boring and time-consuming tasks that eat up your day so you can focus on the bigger picture. In essence, it’s software that automates marketing activities so your life can be a bit less hectic. 

Marketing automation for small businesses can look like a lot of things, like: 

• Personalized email campaigns
• Scheduling social media posts
• Lead nurturing

And that’s just a start!

Here’s how it works: You set up triggers—like a customer subscribing to your newsletter—and tell the program to perform a desired action based on that trigger. The automation software takes it from there. 

It could send a welcome email, schedule a follow-up, and even score the lead based on their engagement. All this happens behind the scenes while you’re focused on running your business.

Let’s put things into perspective. Let’s pretend you own a small bakery. Sales have been down this month, so you use marketing automation to connect the dots between a customer’s birthday and the calendar date to automatically send a “Happy Birthday” email to your customers born this month with a special discount code. This can encourage them to visit your store—and you don’t even have to remember their birthday!

A study conducted by Forbes found that businesses use AI for a lot of things, including: 

• 35% for content production.
• 56% for customer service.
• 46% for Customer relationship management (CRM).
• 33% for product recommendations.
• 24% for audience segmentation.

And that is just a fraction of the interesting stats we found. However, it’s clear this isn’t just a trend—it’s quickly becoming an essential component for businesses of all sizes to stay competitive out there.

Obviously, if businesses weren’t seeing a benefit from marketing automation, they wouldn’t be using it, right? In the next section, we will outline the perks of marketing automation, and why you should care about it.

Benefits of Marketing Automation for Small Businesses

Let’s dive deeper into why marketing automation for small businesses is something you should have on your radar.

1. Time and Resource Savings

Time is money, especially for small businesses. Marketing automation lets you reclaim your time by taking over repetitive tasks. No more manually sending out emails or posting on social media at the crack of dawn. Instead, automation handles these tasks, allowing you to focus on what truly matters—growing your business.

Example: Imagine you run a local coffee shop. Every time someone signs up for your loyalty program, they automatically receive a series of welcome emails, introducing them to your brand, highlighting your best-selling products, and offering a discount on their next purchase. You set it up once, and it runs on autopilot, engaging customers while you brew that perfect cup of coffee.

2. Improved Lead Quality and Nurturing

Nurturing leads can be a delicate dance, but marketing automation ensures you never miss a step. By delivering the right content at the right time, you guide potential customers through their journey, increasing the likelihood they’ll convert into paying customers over time. And the best part? It’s all automated, so you don’t have to do anything.

Example: A small law firm could use automation to send out educational content to potential clients based on their interests—whether they’re looking for advice on estate planning or need help with a business contract. By the time they’re ready to hire a lawyer, your firm is top of mind, thanks to consistent, helpful communication.

3. Enhanced Customer Experience and Personalization

With automation raising the bar for the rest of us, customers today expect more than generic marketing messages. They want to feel seen and valued. Marketing automation lets you create these personalized experiences without the elbow grease. 

By segmenting your audience based on their behavior and preferences, you can tailor your messages to speak directly to their biggest needs.

Example: Picture a small online boutique for a second. With marketing automation, they can send personalized recommendations based on a customer’s past browsing history. If they’ve been eyeing a particular dress, an email highlighting a matching accessory could be just the nudge they need to make a purchase.

Pro Tip: Keep your customers informed and engaged without spending countless hours on manual tasks. Automated text messages are a powerful tool for maintaining communication, especially for sending reminders, updates, or promotional offers. Learn how to effectively implement this strategy with our guide on how to send automated text messages, and see how it can improve customer satisfaction and retention.

4. Better Data Collection and Analysis

It’s about time you stop navigating your strategies in the dark. There are so many ways to gather meaningful data these days, in fact, marketing automation tools for small businesses can even provide valuable insights into how your campaigns are performing. 

You can track everything from email open rates to social media engagement, allowing you to refine your strategies and improve your return on investment (ROI).

Broadly’s reporting and analytics features on Social Media Manager and Campaigns, for example, let you dive deep into customer behavior. Are your customers more responsive to emails in the morning? Does a certain type of post drive more engagement on social media? With this data, you can optimize your marketing efforts to get the best results.

5. Increased Revenue and ROI

At the end of the day, it’s all about maintaining that bottom line. Listen, we know that you don’t have shareholders to satisfy, you’re just trying to focus on keeping the lights on. That’s why what we’re getting at with marketing automation for small businesses is that it doesn’t just save you time, it can also be used to drive revenue too. 

Think about it, by automating your marketing efforts, you’re more likely to reach the right people at the right time with the right message—leading to higher conversion rates and more money in your pocket.

Example: A small vintage clothing store could use automation to send abandoned cart emails, reminding customers of the items they left behind and offering a discount to entice them to complete their purchase. It’s a simple yet powerful way to recover potentially lost sales.

6. Scalability for Growth

As your business grows, so too do your marketing needs. Automation software for small business scales with you, ensuring that your marketing efforts remain consistent and effective, whether you’re managing a handful of customers or thousands.

With marketing automation, you’re not just managing tasks more efficiently; you’re building a foundation that can handle growth without sacrificing quality or consistency. For instance, as you acquire more leads, automation allows you to scale your email marketing efforts from sending a few personalized emails to managing comprehensive drip campaigns that reach thousands of customers—the best part is Broadly can help with that!

Key Marketing Automation Processes for Small Businesses

Now that we’ve covered the benefits, let’s look at some of the key processes where small business marketing automation tools can make a difference for you.

1. Email Marketing Automation

Email remains a cornerstone of digital marketing, and with automation, it becomes even more powerful. You can set up:

• Drip campaigns: A series of pre-scheduled emails that guide customers through the buying process.
• Welcome sequences: A warm introduction to new subscribers, building a relationship from the start.
• Re-engagement campaigns: Target customers who have gone quiet, bringing them back into the fold.

Not sure where to start? Broadly’s email marketing tools make setting up these campaigns a breeze, helping you stay connected with your audience without all the mind-numbing manual work.

2. Social Media Automation

Social media is where your brand’s personality shines, but managing it can be time-consuming. Social media automation allows you to schedule posts, curate content, and monitor engagement—all from one place. This ensures a consistent presence without trying to remember a billion logins, switching between a dozen tabs, or the daily slog of posting.

Social media platforms like Google Business Profile are also a great place to build your reputation through reviews. With marketing automation tools like Broadly, you can automate Google review acquisition by setting up triggers to ask satisfied customers for their feedback via text or email, like this:

Pro Tip: Save time and ensure consistent communication by automating your text messaging. This approach not only helps you stay connected with your customers but also reduces the risk of human error in your communications.

3. Lead Nurturing and Scoring

Lead nurturing is about building relationships, and with automation, you can do this at a bigger scale than you would be able to otherwise. Lead scoring helps prioritize leads based on their engagement, ensuring that your sales team focuses on those most likely to convert.

For example, a small IT consultancy could use automation to nurture leads by sending targeted content based on the specific IT challenges the lead is facing, like downtime issues, while using lead scoring to ensure the most engaged leads get priority follow-up.

Did you know? Broadly’s CRM is designed to tackle the sales challenges local businesses commonly face, like losing potential customers due to missed follow-ups or disorganized lead management. With tools that help you manage and nurture leads effectively, you can ensure that no prospect falls through the cracks, turning more of those valuable leads into paying customers.

4. Customer Segmentation and Personalization

The key to effective marketing is first understanding your audience. Customer segmentation allows you to divide your audience into smaller groups based on specific criteria, such as: 

• Common interests
• Purchase history
• Engagement level

This enables more targeted and personalized marketing efforts.

Example: A small fitness studio could segment its audience based on class attendance, sending personalized offers for related classes to those who’ve attended similar sessions.

5. Analytics and Reporting

How are your campaigns really doing? If you are not quite sure, that’s a problem. 

Data is the backbone of any successful marketing campaign. With robust analytics and reporting tools, you can track the performance of your campaigns, understand customer behavior, and make data-driven decisions to improve your future marketing efforts.

Choosing the Right Marketing Automation Tools for Your Small Business

When it comes to choosing marketing automation software for your small business, there are a few key things to consider:

• Key features: Ensure the software offers the functionalities you need, such as email automation, CRM integration, and analytics.
• Budget: Choose a tool that fits your budget while providing the best value.
• Scalability: The software should be able to grow with your business.
• Ease of use: Opt for user-friendly tools with a manageable learning curve.

How do you exactly know what you need? We recommend jotting down a list of your biggest needs and goals and ranking them on a scale from 1-10. From there, couple those with features that would solve the problem to determine your top priority items. This is especially helpful if your on a tight budget. 

Broadly’s marketing automation solutions are designed specifically for small businesses, offering all the features you need to streamline your efforts and grow (without breaking the bank).

Implementing Marketing Automation in Your Small Business

Getting started with automation for small business doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here’s a simple roadmap for success:

1. Create a strategy: Identify your goals and the tasks you want to automate.
2. Set up your tools: Choose the right software and configure it to meet your needs.
3. Train your team: Make sure your team understands how to use the tools effectively.
4. Monitor and adjust: Regularly review your strategies to ensure they’re delivering the desired results.

One thing we always recommend to business owners is to look for software that offers ample onboarding and customer support. You would be surprised how many popular platforms out there gatekeep support based on subscription level. Not cool.

Broadly’s 24/7 email and phone support is available to all, and we’re happy to help you get started with marketing automation every step of the way.

How does Broadly stack up to the competition? See how we compare to other popular software like Hubspot, Salesforce, and more in our Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best CRM for Small Business.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

While marketing automation offers many benefits, it’s not without its challenges. Here’s how to overcome some common hurdles you might encounter:

Resource Constraints

Start small and focus on automating the most impactful tasks first. This will save you a lot of headache.

Data Quality Issues

Regularly update and clean your customer data to ensure your automation efforts are effective and accurate. Poor data can lead to missed opportunities and poor-performing campaigns, so it’s important to keep your data up-to-date.

Resistance to Change

While we all hate to admit it, introducing new technology can be met with resistance, especially if your team is used to doing things a certain way. To overcome this, involve your team in the decision-making process, provide adequate training, and highlight the benefits of marketing automation, such as time savings and increased efficiency to win them over.

Over-Automation Risks

While automation is powerful, it’s important not to overdo it. Too much automation can make your interactions feel impersonal, which can alienate your customers. Strike a balance by automating routine tasks while maintaining a personal touch where it counts most in customer communications.

Future Trends in Marketing Automation for Small Businesses

As technology evolves, so too does marketing automation. Here are some trends to keep an eye on:

AI and Machine Learning Integration

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly integrated into marketing automation tools, enabling more sophisticated customer insights, predictive analytics, and personalized experiences. This means small businesses can deliver even more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.

Conversational Marketing

Chatbots and AI-driven messaging platforms are becoming essential tools for engaging customers on their own terms. Heck, we even have an AI-assisted Web Chat of our own that our customers embed on their websites. These tools can automate responses to common inquiries, qualify leads, and even guide customers through the buying process.

Here’s an example of how our web chat responds to business hour inquiries:

Pro Tip: Missed appointments can be costly, but they’re avoidable with the right strategies in place. Automated appointment reminders can significantly reduce no-shows, helping you keep your schedule organized and your business running smoothly. Explore our tips on how automated appointment service reminders can be a lifesaver for managing your appointments and keeping your clients on track.

Omnichannel Automation

Customers interact with brands across multiple channels—email, social media, SMS, and more. Omnichannel automation ensures a seamless and consistent experience across all these touchpoints, allowing you to reach customers wherever they are.

Predictive Analytics

By analyzing past customer behavior, predictive analytics can forecast future actions, helping you tailor your marketing efforts for better results. This is especially valuable for small businesses looking to get the most out of their tight marketing budget.

Market Smarter with Broadly

Marketing automation is no longer something only the big guys can leverage—it’s becoming a necessity for small businesses looking to stay competitive and grow as well. By embracing marketing automation for small businesses, you can save time, improve customer engagement, and drive revenue, all while keeping your focus on what you do best—running your business.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale your efforts, Broadly’s marketing and Local SEO automation tools are designed to help you achieve your goals with ease. Schedule a demo to get started.