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We are often asked by clients whether or not automation would benefit them. If you are wondering, this post will give you all the answers. In case you are sitting on the fence about a funnel, though, you can always check out our Funnel Readiness Quiz for more accurate answers. When you automate your digital marketing, you miss out on the joy of feeling busy and overwhelmed.
Whether or not you should automate your digital marketing depends on whether you want more money and an easy life or less money and manual labour. If you want the first option, the answer is yes.
There are, however, a couple of reasons why you should not automate your digital marketing and lead generation. They will be detailed just below.
Reason 1: Enjoy the Thrill of Manual Labour. If You Automate Your Digital Marketing You Will Run Out of Tasks!
If you love working hard, showing off that you have thousands of business cards and can speak to dozens of prospects every day while still delivering your services, you should not automate your digital marketing. You should stick to the old Outlook on your desktop, phone books, and appointment books. You might even want to send out hand written letters to remind people about their consultation. There’s no guarantee that they will get it in time, but hey-ho! You are keen on manual labour!
Who Needs Efficiency and Time-Saving With Digital Marketing Automation When You Can Spend Hours Doing Repetitive Tasks?
Some people say don’t fix it if it ain’t broke! Plus, Jane at admin needs something to do to earn her wages, too. You are just a nice person. You might even take on a few apprentices to stuff envelopes and keep your database clean. Technology is scary and makes people lose their jobs. You ain’t gonna be the bad guy to contribute to the trend!
Reason 2: Embrace Chaos and Inconsistency
You don’t want to live by the rules…. You want freedom to choose what you go for. You are an individualist. If that means messy desk, scribbled post it notes you can not read any more lying around the office, let’s be it! After all, we are not robots! A bit of inconsistency will make you look more human.
Chaos is a sign of a genius, and you embrace it. When you need business in, you will dig through the old enquiries and pick up the phone (if you can find it under the paperwork, that is). You don’t want to bombard your leads with marketing messages, either. You will be in touch when you want them as clients.
Consistency is overrated! Embrace the excitement of unpredictable results.
Business would just be too boring if you knew where your next clients are coming from, wouldn’t it? And consistency is boring, too. So, why bother? So do things on the impulse and live on the edge! We all need an adrenaline rush sometime!
So, what if you promised a client to call them back about their next 6 month plan? If they were that keen, they would have been in touch. There will be others. And what if you don’t send the reports because you are too busy? At least they know that you have better things to do!
Reason 3: Love the Feeling of Being Overwhelmed
One of the pieces of advice I was given by a business coach was all about a kettle. He asked me: so, to make a brew, you will need to put on the kettle and put the lid on. When the pressure gets too much, you will want to remove the lid, but then you will never get the water to boil and never get a brew.
So, keep the lid on, build up the pressure, and you will eventually get the brew. You can build up the pressure by overcommitting, taking on a big marketing campaign alone without agency help, or sending out emails manually. It’s a great way to burn out as an entrepreneur.
Why have a streamlined process of digital marketing automation when you can drown in a sea of tasks?
You really don’t want to make life simple. People would say that you are sitting around doing nothing all day and your life is easy. You cannot let it happen. You want everyone to see how hard you work. And if that means that you need to add 100+ things on your weekly calendar, so be it! If you automate your digital marketing, life will be so easy you might even get bored!
Reason 4: Cherish Wasting Resources – It’s Just Time and Effort After All!
There’s always more time and there’s always more money. You probably couldn’t handle the stress of implementing a system. You heard from other entrepreneurs that when you automate your digital marketing you will have to do a lot of testing and tweaking. It’s just not your cup of tea. You go with the flow. If it doesn’t work one way, you try another.
And who cares about not getting the results and not knowing where your business is coming from? It makes it more fun, and doing everything can surely get you more results. The 80/20 principle is overrated.
Because who needs efficiency and cost-effectiveness when you can throw resources down the drain?
You like managing your budget on the go. If you can afford boosting a post, you will. If not, that’s fine, too. If you can send out a mail shot, you will get clients. If you don’t have the money you don’t bother. But surely, they’ve been saying for a long time that that stuff works, so why change it? You don’t have the head space to work out the return on investment on your campaigns. Too busy!
Reason 5: Delight in Missing Out on Potential Leads
It’s very satisfying to let people down. You cannot work with everyone. You don’t want to increase your capacity. So some leads will never be followed up, and that’s great. You can show them that you are not desperate for business. Even if you could increase your business revenue, you would just be creating more work. And you hate giving out proposals. You just want ready buyers. So, if they need convincing, they can just come back when they make up their mind. No matter how much they are worth.
Why bother capturing leads when you can let them slip through your fingers?
You don’t want to be chasing after people. It looks desperate. You have a great service, they should just come to you after all! There’s a satisfaction of letting other businesses have a share of the market, too. Half of the people will be a nightmare client, anyway. So let your competitors deal with them!
Reason 6: Revel in Falling Behind Your Competitors
If the race was too easy, it would be boring. You are too good to give it all you’ve got. So, falling behind and giving clients an alternative of old school and inefficient service is a great option. At least you have space to grow and areas to improve.
If you only had 5-star reviews across the board, you would be too popular, and the taxman wouldn’t be happy, either. Also, if you don’t have bad reviews or have too many 5-star reviews, people will think that you bought them!
You enjoy the race because it’s not easy. So, lagging behind and following the footsteps of the big guys is your strategy. You can watch them succeed or fail, and take risks. You will not be the first one to try new systems. If it works, you will think about it for about 5 years then maybe implement it if it is still appropriate (or you are still in business).
Stay in the slow lane and watch your competitors zoom past you.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint! If you want to survive business, you will sometimes have to slow down. Let your competitors burn their rubber while you put yourself in cruise mode and enjoy the scenery. They are more likely to crash at a higher speed, too.
Reason 7: Enjoy the Tediousness of Manual Reporting: Don’t Automate Your Digital Marketing
There’s a real thrill about having to look through all the phone calls, notebooks, and post-it notes to find out how much new business you had in the quarter and how much new business is predicted for the next one. It is good to take time off the business to work on your reports and create the charts yourself. It’s a challenge. And it looks good. It doesn’t matter that the data might not be accurate, or you are the only person who understands what’s going on. Box ticked.
Why automate reporting when you can spend hours crunching numbers?
Numbers have always fascinated you, and the calculator is your best friend. You’ve been using it for decades to work out maths problems, and you will be using it on the day you retire.
You don’t want to answer your business coach the questions straight away; he would think that you don’t need him any more! You want to go away and think about it, double and triple check everything, and then send the report. Plus, your accountant is used to you, so they can understand your reports.
Have We Convinced You Not to Automate Your Digital Marketing and Lead Generation?
Let’s face it: digital marketing automation is not for everyone. It takes time to set systems up, and you will have to think about it long and hard. You might want to look busy, give your competitors a chance, and waste money. If that’s the case, you should absolutely avoid automating your digital marketing.
There are, however, some crazy people who want more time, freedom, transparency, and scalability. And they care about the return on investment. They are lazy enough to utilise the latest sales funnel methods, streamline their business, and improve their profitability. They don’t care about Amanda at admin, who needs a steady job, or the fact that everyone else does things the traditional way.
They are the people who demand a mixer tap in the bathroom when they go on holiday. Those who use Ring Doorbells and Alexa Home. Real crazy and very lazy, indeed.
But guess what? They have a better lifestyle, more free time to spend with their loved ones, and a more profitable business.
So, if we haven’t managed to convince you not to automate your digital marketing and lead generation, let’s have a chat about funnels. We have turned around other businesses in less than 6 months from making a loss for 5 years to making a decent profit. We can do the same for you.
Resources:
https://www.growth-hackers.net/pros-and-cons-automation-in-digital-marketing-ai-automate/
https://www.ppchero.com/six-dangers-of-automation-in-marketing/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-marketing-automated-ajith-chandan-ravichandran-l-i-o-n-/
For more information on 7 Reasons Not to Automate Your Digital Marketing talk to LMNts Marketing