I think if we’re honest, the combination of these elements is what all modern digital marketers strive towards.
Having said that, all this jargon is just confusing. Even to me!
What do you really mean with that?
What do you mean when you say “marketing automation”? For many, this term is inextricably tied to “inbound marketing”. But I’ve seen pretty hardcore marketing automation implementations that had absolutely nothing to do with the philosophy of “inbound” as evangelized by HubSpot.
Along the same lines, what is “customer flow communication?” really?
At the end of the day, what we all want is to give our customers a seamless, relevant experience when they’re interacting with our companies. We’re increasingly seeing that this is the approach that is going to be taking companies forward for the next couple of years.
Mandatory?
It doesn’t mean that it’s already mandatory to have such a coherent marketing strategy, however. That marketing automation implementation I just mentioned used purchases lists, response-tracking, LinkedIn mining (I know it’s not allowed, but it’s what it did) and automated follow-up.
And guess what?
They had great success with that implementation. Tons of responsive prospects. Even though I considered the whole thing spammy. But I guess these guys had done their homework on who they were targeting and with what.
What works
For me, marketing essentially comes down to what works for your company. Which is why marketing is not a science: you can’t apply the same thing everywhere. It’s an art.
So, to answer the question: have I tried it? Yes. Whenever possible, I try to incorporate as many channels as warranted (based on the customer’s preferences!) into a fully automated, inbound marketing setup.
But if I don’t have to? Then I won’t. It’s that easy.
