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The marketing prowess Instagram brings to the table for brands and businesses (of all kinds) can no longer be ignored! With more than a billion active monthly users who use the platform at least once or twice a day, it has quickly become the most preferred marketing channel for a lot of brands. 70% to be exact in the US alone. Add small to medium businesses to the mix and the number of advertisers present on the platform increases to more than 2 million worldwide. There’s a reason brands are choosing Instagram as their go-to marketing tool over other social media giants like Twitter and Facebook. Do you know what that reason is? It’s the highly engaged audience the platform boasts of. More than 80% of the personal accounts present on the platform follow at least 1 brand they like, and that is the bare minimum. There are people on Instagram who follow, interact with and actively purchase from thousands of brands out there. So, can dental practices around the globe make good use of this amazing social media platform to stand out from the noise and make a name for themselves? Absolutely! Being a renowned digital marketing agency with a strong background in providing exceptional dental marketing services ourselves, we get this query from a lot of dentists and we say YES! to every single one of them. It was about time we settled this question once and for all! Before I begin preaching you about how you can make use of your hidden marketing talent on the platform to bring in more foot-traffic for your dental practice, you need to understand the nature of this unique platform and what makes its user tick. Instagram is a highly visual platform and is the happiest social media platform out there which is mostly used by millennials. And Millennials love brands that are real. You don’t have to be the best out there, just be real and you’ll have their trust. For this, you would need to be fully transparent about who you are and what you do regularly. That can include showcasing your personal life, the people that help you run your practice, all the inside stories and what not. Showing the human side and being totally real about yourself really works at Instagram, whereas self-promotional content has no place on the platform (unless you are a well-established brand with millions of followers), you’ll only get frowns and ignorance that way! You’ll have to engage your audience with your posts and make them trust your practice first. Hard selling on the platform with your first post right away will put your practice in a bad light, so I would advise you to stay away from that entirely on the platform. Keeping that in mind, here are a few ways you can start marketing your dental practice on the platform and build a ton of following - Create a business profile and give all the information you can in the bio While there is no problem in marketing your dental practice from your personal account, business profiles on Instagram come studded with deep analytics for every post and audience intelligence features that will help you understand your audience better. Moreover, by having a business profile, you’d enable prospective patients to give you a call or contact you right from the Instagram app, which is a great way of fostering conversions. Source Use this opportunity and mention every detail about your dental practice as you can in the 200 words bio section on Instagram. That includes your contact information, the area your practice serves, the top services you provide, your business website, the time your business is available and every other information that can help prospective patients in choosing your dental service over others. Make sure you don't forget to add URL of your website as that's the only place where you can add a link for users to go to your landing page. Optimizing your profile bio is vital and should be your top-most priority before you begin with any of your dental marketing efforts on the platform. Making use of influencers is a no-brainer Influencer marketing has consistently been one of the top marketing trend for the past few years and Instagram has been the go-to platform for a lot of influencers to advertise their collaborations with a brand in the most personal and non-branded way possible. According to a study by Zine and eMarketer, nearly 80% of influencers prefer Instagram as their platform of choice for brand collaborations. And more than 68% of marketers are using Influencers within various industries to give a boost to their brands. Dental practices should not be any different. If you are looking to quickly get in front of a broader audience and gain exponential exposure, influencer marketing is the way to go. You could reach out to influential people in the health and fitness industry or anyone with a big audience on Instagram and offer your dental services to them for free (in some cases), in return you or they can post an insta pic and/or a story at your dental service The influencer gets free dental services and you get to leverage their huge audience in the most genuine way possible, a win-win situation. As an example, Dr. Kevin Sands from Beverly Hills, USA, does this a lot with Instagram’s biggest influencers such as Kylie Jenner, Drake, Kim Kardashian and a lot more (not that they need dental services for free). While you can also make use of influencers in a lot of other creative ways, I think this example gets the point across. Imagine the people following these influencers getting connected with you and looking for your services. Once they follow you, make sure you keep them engaged as they would not remember your services when they are scrolling their feed regularly. Don’t shy away from showcasing your unique personality With so many businesses on the platform, showcasing your unique personality in every post can really set you apart. So make sure you engage with your existing audience and attract more users and make them stick. It doesn’t always have to be about before-and-after images of your dental patients. While posting these kinds of posts may be great for marketing on other social media platforms, do it too much on Instagram and users will simply start getting bored of your stuff! To engage your audience, keeping a healthy mix of creative posts that bring out your personality in the best light possible is vital. As they would recognize and would look forward to your unique self. The above video is the courtesy of Dr. Daniel Rubinshtein, who is a renowned dentist in New York City with a 198k following. He constantly posts funny stuff related to his dental practice along with the proven before-and-after treatment posts that have amassed such a massive following for his practice. You can have a look at his profile page to see for yourself how his creative and funny posts will make you like him in an instant. Actively engage with your followers and share the love Your followers are there with you for a reason. They actively comment, like and share your posts for a reason. While getting all this love from people may feel nice, you should work upon making your audience feel nice once in a while as well. Reply to their comments, showcase and reshare their posts about you with your entire audience, actively engage in giveaways or run some contests, giving your audience back some love always puts your brand in good light and attracts more fans. While it might mean a little to you, it can mean a world for your entire audience. If you do this for your practice, you’ll look like a practice that doesn’t only care about making money but cares about their audience as well. Best example of a dental practice doing this on Instagram is Apa Aesthetic. Founded by the award-winning dentist, Dr. Michael Apa, he actively engages with his audience on Instagram in every way possible and shares the usual before-and-after treatment posts mixed with posts about his personal life. The result - 229k huge following on Instagram. You can check his Instagram account to witness all of the giving-back for yourself. Don’t forget to use #Hashtags Talking about Instagram, how could we forget #hashtags? Using hashtags is a great way to get your posts seen on Instagram. As every hashtag becomes a categorized link where all the posts with the same hashtag are displayed, use a hashtag that gets searched by a lot of people and you get instant exposure for your posts on the platform. But there’s a trick to it. On Instagram, you can use general hashtags like #dentistry, or you can use specific hashtags like #KidsDentistry. You can even use local hashtags like #NewYorkDentistry. Or you can create your own hashtag like #(your dental practice name)dentistry to add branding to it. The world of hashtags is so vast on Instagram that choosing the exact hashtag that would bring you the best kind of exposure can be a bit of a daunting task, to be honest. While Instagram provides you an option to place up to #30 hashtags in your post, overdoing them can look like spam. So, you’ll have to carefully select each of them and use them sparingly. This is where ideally you could use 3 where one is specific to your brand and word (unique) and the other could be general which would show up on specific hashtag searches for images on Instagram. Keeping a mix of them all works best as they’ll bring targeted people to your posts and also build your brand at the same time. So, work on creating a unique hashtag of your own. Dr. Sam Saleh, based in Beverly Hills and currently with 251k followers, uses #branded hashtags perfectly on most of his posts. His own hashtag, like he has used in the image above, is #drsalehsmile and if a user clicks on this hashtag, it displays each of his post where he has used the exact same hashtag categorized by top-posts, most recent and other hashtags he has used in the same individual posts. A prospective patient, if he clicks on it, will then be able to see all his work at a glance to make the final decision which can work wonders in making conversions because it’s all his own glorious work on a single page for everyone to see (obviously, why would any other dental practitioner use #drsalehsmile). On top of that, patients who have taken his treatment and are boasting his work on the platform using the same hashtag would also be visible on the same page. It really can make a difference if you think about it. Some other Instagram features While hashtags can be a great way to gain some extra exposure on the platform, Instagram is studded with some other features as well which you can make use of to stand out and get creative with your posts. Instagram Stories Instagram Stories was first introduced in August 2016 and lets users post disappearing photos and videos to their profiles. The feature is great as stories don't add to the clutter of news feeds but are displayed at the top of it in the form of colorful circles. This Instagram feature can be used as a great way to get in front of your audience. Instagram Boomerang Boomerang is Instagram's own app which lets users create a mini-video by capturing a burst of photos, stitches them all together and plays it forward and backwards creating a never-ending loop. It lets you break away from posting your usual photos and videos on the platform and can add a little spice to your profile. Instagram Live Video To get in front of your audience, along with uploading stories on your profile, you can also start a live video on the platform and gain a lot of engagement from your audience. All your followers automatically get notified when you start a live video, so Instagram does most of the legwork for you in this case. You can start a live video of you operating on one of your patients to give all your followers a sneak peek into your dental practice and how you operate. The best part? Your followers can interact with you in real-time and ask whatever their heart desires, which is great for building a relationship with your audience. So, there you go! Marketing your dental practice on Instagram is not as hard as it seems. While it can be difficult for every business to get influencers regularly, it's always good to start at someplace and lookout for opportunities. Being powerful on Instagram requires your unique self and most importantly consistency throughout. For especially dental practices, it's important for people to visually see what you do and who you are on the platform to build a loyal following from the ground up. There's no doubt that Instagram has immense potential to grow your dental practice exponentially. Contact Us Today and let us help your practice get more customers. ...

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Marketing in its entirety tends to be very wide and ambiguous sometimes, but merchantable marketers have the answers. Despite the diverse views of Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing, I still believe these both are the same even so, they might come in from different perspectives. Can you differentiate between a presently ripe mango and a consumed mango? The answer is YES, both mangos are ripe but one has been consumed while the other is still awaiting consumption. The same case defines the slight dissimilarity between Inbound Marketing and Content Marketing. Let’s Take A Succinct Look At Inbound Marketing Here is what the Popular Hubspot marketing automation gurus have to say about inbound marketing… Rather than the old outbound marketing strategies for purchasing advertisements, purchasing email records, and appealing to God for leads, inbound marketing concentrates on making quality content that pulls individuals toward your organization and products, where they without doubts need to be. By naturally adjusting the contents you distribute with your to your customer’s benefit, you actually draw in inbound traffic that you can further convert, close, and profit from on the long run." Let’s also take a look at HubSpot's definition of content marketing "Content marketing is a promotion strategy of making and disseminating pertinent and significant contents to pull in, obtain, and connect with a plainly characterized and comprehended target gathering of people – with the goal of driving gainful client activity." There are clearly some distinctive expressions and phrasing in every definition, additionally some key similarities, for example, the reference of "value contents" (the backbone for each)”. Quite understandable, let's dig deeper to unravel more secrets... Do you know that the word Inbound marketing was derived from the integration of Content Marketing and some other strategical practices? Content marketing is obviously the “big fish” in inbound marketing; on the other hand, techniques such as email marketing, lead nurturing, search engine optimization, social media optimization, and other valuable practices are referred to as integrated Marketing Machines. Content Marketing adequately moves the business owners' products and brand to the desired customers, to increase sales, notice-ability, and conversion. Inbound as the name indicates effectively uses content to attract a customer. The good dissimilarity here is you don't have to do any physical job in inbound marketing. Your creative and persuasive contents do the Job for you; all you needed is sit, watch and welcome your customers while they’re been driven. Some key benefits of Inbound marketing via super-conceived content includes the following; Cost-Effective (Save More) Whenever business promotion comes into the scene, the first thing that is often thought about is cost. Here is where you can deploy Inbound Marketing if you’re swift enough to remember it. Inbound marketing can generate leads and conversions to your business (regardless of size) very consistently than outbound marketing. Inbound Marketing Is Long Lasting Did you by chance recollect that the goal of inbound marketing is to build connections with customers? This strategically means that it’s not a once-off relationship, but something that will last long. When you have the right content in place on your business websites and other promotional platforms, interested and hungry customers would always come for them. And the more you maintain the quality and consistency in distribution, the chances are there that readers will get stuck and come back for more. ...

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Marketing automation involves using software to streamline customer communication. This can help organizations save time and maintain brand visibility, even in a competitive market. This is where the Marketing Automation Manager comes into play. This role is essential for connecting technology with marketing strategy to ensure that businesses reach their target audiences in a personalized and scalable manner. Automating your company's marketing is essential for growth. It enables sales reps to concentrate on selling rather than sending follow-up emails and frees up a recruiter's time. Overall, automating marketing efforts can optimize workflows and expand your outreach. What is a Marketing Automation Manager? A Marketing Automation Manager oversees implementing, managing, and optimizing an organization's marketing automation tools and strategies.  Their role revolves around utilizing technology to streamline marketing processes, enhance lead generation and nurturing, and boost overall marketing effectiveness.  Responsibilities typically include designing and executing automated marketing campaigns through marketing automation platforms, developing lead nurturing strategies to guide leads through the sales funnel, and analyzing campaign performance to refine strategy for better outcomes. Collaborating closely with marketing and sales teams is essential to align marketing automation efforts with overarching business objectives by providing the best marketing automation services . Additionally, tasks may involve managing customer segmentation and personalization initiatives, integrating marketing automation systems with other tools like CRM platforms, and upholding data quality within the system. What is the Role of a Marketing Automation Manager? A Marketing Automation Manager coordinates and manages a company’s marketing automation systems. By automating these processes, businesses can ensure that they stay top of mind with their customers, even when numerous other demands are on their attention. Certainly! Let's expand on the responsibilities of a Marketing Automation Manager: Designing and Implementing Automated Marketing Campaigns Creating workflows and automation sequences to engage leads and customers at different customer journey stages. Setting up trigger-based campaigns to deliver personalized content based on user interactions or behaviors. A/B testing different elements of automated campaigns to optimize performance. Developing and Managing Lead Nurturing Strategies Developing lead scoring models to prioritize and qualify leads for sales teams. Implementing drip campaigns to educate, engage, and convert leads into customers. Continuously refining lead nurturing strategies based on data and feedback. Analyzing Campaign Performance Monitoring key performance metrics (e.g., open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates) to assess the effectiveness of campaigns. Using data analytics and reporting tools to track ROI and make data-driven decisions. Conducting A/B testing and experiments to identify what works best for different segments. Collaborating with Marketing and Sales Teams Aligning marketing automation efforts with overall marketing and sales strategies. Working closely with the sales team to ensure smooth lead handoff and alignment on lead qualification criteria. Providing insights and recommendations to improve lead generation and conversion rates. Managing Customer Segmentation and Personalization Segmenting the audience based on demographics, behaviors, and interests to deliver targeted and personalized content. Implementing dynamic content and personalization tactics to enhance the user experience. Using marketing automation tools to automate personalized communications at scale. Integrating Marketing Automation with Other Systems Integrating marketing automation platforms with CRM systems, email service providers, and other tools to streamline data flow and processes. Ensuring data consistency and accuracy across integrated systems. Leveraging APIs and automation features to create seamless workflows between different tools. Monitoring and Maintaining Data Quality Regularly audit and clean up contact lists to ensure data hygiene. Implementing data governance practices to maintain data accuracy and compliance with regulations. Troubleshooting data integration issues and ensuring data integrity within the marketing automation system. Staying Current on Industry Trends and Best Practices Keeping up with the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in marketing automation. Attending industry conferences, webinars, and training sessions to enhance skills and knowledge. Continuously experimenting with new features and strategies to stay ahead of the competition. By effectively fulfilling these responsibilities, a Marketing Automation Manager can drive targeted engagement, nurture leads, optimize conversions, and ultimately contribute to the overall success of an organization's marketing efforts. Want to reduce your CAC to half? Book a strategy call Skills All Marketing Automation Managers Need A Marketing Automation Manager must clearly understand the business’s goals and how automation can help achieve them. Here are some of the key skills that are essential for anyone in this position: Strategic Vision A Marketing Automation Manager must clearly understand the business’s goals and how automation can help achieve them. This requires seeing the big picture and developing strategies that align marketing efforts with overall business objectives. They must also anticipate trends, adapt to market changes, and constantly innovate to stay ahead of the competition. Creativity While much of the work involves technical tasks, creativity is still crucial. Marketing Automation Managers must be creative to create the right messages that appeal to the target markets. They often collaborate with designers and copywriters to create campaigns that are not only automated but also engaging and personalized. This creative flair ensures marketing efforts stand out in a crowded digital landscape. Technical Proficiency Technical knowledge is important when handling the various tools and platforms used in marketing automation. This includes understanding how to set up and manage automated workflows , integrate different systems (such as CRM and email marketing automation platforms), and analyze data to measure campaign success. A Marketing Automation Manager should be comfortable working with various technologies, from content management systems to analytics platforms. Analytical Skills Other essential skills include analyzing data and deriving actionable insights. Marketing Automation Managers must regularly review campaign performance, identify trends, and adjust strategies accordingly. This requires a deep understanding of conversion rates, customer engagement levels, and ROI. They can make necessary changes that optimize marketing efforts and drive business growth by being data-driven. Collaboration and Communication Given the role's cross-functional nature, Marketing Automation Managers need strong collaboration skills. They work closely with various teams, including sales, IT, and creative departments, to ensure that automation strategies align with broader company goals. Effective communication is key to managing these relationships and ensuring everyone is on the same page. Additional Role Responsibilities and Skills Needed The Marketing Automation Manager role is crucial in assisting companies in acquiring a more profound comprehension of potential clients' behaviors, thoughts, actions, and content interests. Beyond the core skills mentioned above, a Marketing Automation Manager often has additional responsibilities that require a broader skill set. These include: Having business acumen to develop marketing strategies. Understanding consumer psychology and behavior. Possessing strong collaboration skills to work with different departments. Demonstrating project management skills to improve client engagement. Being a digital expert in web, email, social media, smartphones, and other platforms Having exceptional written and verbal communication skills. Being tech-savvy and organized to progress projects without relying solely on technology. Being flexible to adapt to changing consumer behavior. Being analytical and driven by data metrics. The Marketing Automation Manager needs to excel in both technology and interpersonal skills. This role is obvious and may interact with numerous departments, so the individual must be a team player and stay updated on the latest marketing software tools. Want to reduce your CAC to half? Book a strategy call Suggested Software Proficiency for Marketing Automation Specialists To excel in this role, a Marketing Automation Manager must be proficient in various software tools. These include: Marketing Automation Platforms: Tools like Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot, and Eloqua are essential for automating various aspects of marketing campaigns. A Marketing Automation Manager should be well-versed in setting up workflows, segmenting audiences, and measuring campaign performance within these platforms. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: Integration between marketing automation platforms and CRM systems is crucial for managing leads and tracking customer interactions. A Marketing Automation Manager should know how to use these systems to ensure marketing efforts align with sales strategies. Analytics Tools: Understanding how to use analytics tools like Google Analytics, Optimizely, or Mixpanel is essential for measuring the success of marketing campaigns. These tools offer detailed insights into customer behavior, campaign performance, and overall ROI, allowing the Marketing Automation Manager to make data-driven decisions. Social Media Management Tools: Tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Buffer help automate social media posts and track engagement. Proficiency in these tools helps a Marketing Automation Manager maintain a consistent presence across multiple platforms and track the impact of social media campaigns. Email Marketing Software: Managing email campaigns is a key aspect of marketing automation. Tools like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or SendGrid allow Marketing Automation Managers to create and automate email campaigns, segment lists, and track open and click-through rates. However, the role of a Marketing Automation Manager goes beyond simply setting up these tools. They must also develop strategies that leverage automation to achieve broader business goals. This could include increasing lead generation, improving customer retention, and enhancing the overall customer experience. The Marketing Automation Manager uses technology to make marketing efforts more efficient, effective, and measurable. Conclusion A Marketing Automation Manager role is crucial for companies aiming to improve their marketing strategies and achieve better results. These professionals use strategic thinking, innovation, and technology to assist organizations in effectively achieving their objectives. As the marketing world continues to evolve, the demand for skilled Marketing Automation Managers is expected to increase, underlining their importance in today's business environment. As a Marketing Automation Manager, our expertise lies in assisting companies in maximizing the potential of lead management automation. We offer tailored solutions to suit your requirements and seamlessly integrate with your current systems to produce measurable outcomes. To enhance your lead management processes, contact us at Saffron Edge today to arrange a consultation. Let us demonstrate how our services can revolutionize your operations. ...

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