This morning’s blog from one of the Marketing Gurus I respect – Seth Godin, is worth reading.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/06/the-curse-of-frequency.html

This blog is related to a topic that bothered me for a while, until I discovered ‘marketing automation’. Then I also discovered marketing automation is NOT easy.

I had to invest tremendous amount of time designing the ‘processes’ before I could use the ‘tools’, as is always the case isn’t it? But once I figured out all the ‘what if’ scenarios, it was a matter of painstakingly incorporating it – be it online or offline direct marketing.

For example, if I send out 100 messages, and early adopters take some desirable action, they are moved to a separate ‘bucket’ where the next logical desired action takes place.

For people that don’t take action, continue on various kinds of ‘drips’ – primarily feeding them informative / educational content related to their line of business, so that they stay engaged.

There are two kinds of ‘in-actions’.

1.       Those that don’t even read or open emails – in that case, normal drip feed, newsletters continue until they tell me not to.

2.       Those that read, but don’t take ‘action’ – i.e. buy or request more info – continue feeding them, mixed with periodic phone calls. Also, based on what they have ‘liked’, they may be ‘fed’ something more relevant.

Of course, this is a very simplistic view, but my process map got fairly complex. Let me tell you, it was worth it in the end because I not only avoid the ‘curse of frequency’, but I have better engaged potentials and customers.