Automation in Marketing: Optimizing for Goals

By the end of 2024, on average, every fifth company was already regularly using artificial intelligence (AI). For large companies with more than 250 employees, the figure was even 48%. AI and other automation processes (such as Machine Learning) affect virtually all aspects of everyday life and don't stop at online marketing.

These technologies sometimes heavily influence the workday, causing some marketers to wonder if their profession still has a future or if it will soon be completely replaced by AI.

But is this concern even justified? Or are there perhaps ways to actively intervene in your marketing strategy, even in times of automation?

How it works is what we explore in our blog series “5 Tips to Keep Your Online Marketing Strategy Relevant in Times of Automation”.

Automation in Marketing - Part 1 | Optimize on Goals
Automation in Marketing - Part 2 | Channel Diversification
Automation in Marketing - Part 3 | Contextual Advertising
Automation in Marketing - Part 4 | Competitive Analysis
Automation in Marketing - Part 5 | Website Optimization for More Conversions

Where Automation in Online Marketing is Already Being Used

Among all industries, marketing worldwide is probably one of the biggest pioneers in the use of AI and automation in the workday. According to a study by Hubspot from the year 2024, 74% of marketers reported already actively using AI in some form in their profession. In 2023, this figure was just 21%. This represents a increase of ~250% compared to the previous year and shows how much AI is specifically shaping online marketing.

The use ranges from data analysis to research work all the way to content creation, such as creating images or texts for blog posts (this one, however, is 100% handcrafted by humans, scout's honor).

Even in tools that marketers have used over the last two decades, more and more AI features are being integrated. This has reached a point where, for example, in Google Ads or Meta Ads, entire campaign types are almost fully automated.

According to Google, Meta, and other advertising platforms, these campaign types (Performance Max, Advantage+, Accelerate Campaigns, etc.) are supposed to help scale accounts faster, easier, and with less effort, generate cheaper relevant traffic through the power of AI, and achieve better results by drastically reducing preliminary work and setup efforts, requiring less ongoing maintenance and enabling a more personalized approach overall.

It's widely known that this doesn't always reflect reality and often becomes apparent when campaign performance suddenly weakens. In such situations, the “dark sides” of automation become evident, since more automation also means

• more black box

• fewer adjustment options, as well as

• a departure from “traditional” optimization measures.

So what should we do when our campaigns fall short of expectations, and we've already exhausted the limited options of the tools? Quite simply, more optimization measures are needed!

In our blog series, we present 5 Tips to Keep Your Online Marketing Strategy Relevant in Times of Automation.

#1 Optimize on Business Goals

When was the last time you defined or adjusted your business goals? If you have to think about it for longer now, it's probably time to urgently revisit them. Because these can change over time due to changes in your own company or other external factors, such as a changing economic situation, increased competitive pressure, or other unforeseen circumstances. But how do you actually choose the right business goals?

There are different approaches for defining your business goals. Particularly widespread and popular is the use of so-called SMART goals. The acronym stands for

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-bound.

In short, this means we should consider which goals we want to achieve exactly and how we can measure success or failure. The goals should always be realistic and thus achievable and have a high relevance for us. Finally, there should be a deadline by when the goals should be achieved, ideally with checkpoints in between to monitor progress and introduce further measures if necessary.

Choosing the right conversions is not easy, because not every possible action on the website is equally important for us. The following four questions can help identify the most relevant conversions.

What Conversions Should Be Triggered?

First, the question arises of which action(s) the ideal users should trigger. Depending on the marketing strategy, this could be the download of a PDF, a contact request, or even a classic purchase. Perhaps we already have a funnel of our own that aids in further qualification.

Can Conversion Values Be Quantified?

The simplest case is certainly the purchase, as the value logically results from the sold product. But what if we offer a service that cannot be uniformly assigned a value? In this case, we can try to estimate the value in another way.

The intention behind assigning values to conversions is two-fold: it makes it easier to calculate ROI, and it provides ad platforms with specific signals about the importance of conversions on which bid strategies (e.g., target ROAS) can optimize.

Are There Differences in Upselling / CLTV?

If we have products that are frequently purchased in combination with other products, this provides an opportunity to increase the average conversion value through cross-/upselling. Therefore, it can also be beneficial to strongly promote such products or services, even if the initial value is lower compared to others. Products that are typically repurchased or lead to further purchases additionally increase the Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV).

Are There Entry Barriers / Typical Problems?

Perhaps the product is too expensive for many users, or they don't immediately find what they're looking for. Maybe they don't yet know that we offer solutions that specifically help them with their problems. We often observe the latter especially in B2B. These factors could also cause certain conversions to occur less frequently or not at all because the initial hurdle is too high. Here, it may be advantageous to focus first on products and services that require less explanation, or are priced lower, to then further qualify these individuals later on.

Especially in Ecommerce, it's particularly worthwhile to optimize not only for pure ROAS in Google Ads & Co but also include profit, as ROAS is not equal to profit! By default, the tools cannot consider margins in the optimization with automation, because the machines simply lack the necessary information. However, if we feed this data back, we can give the algorithm a push in the right direction and overall enhance performance. While ROAS might decrease in the accounts, as long as profits increase, the campaigns will be better aligned with our business goals.

Additionally, we should regularly compare the best-selling products in the backend with those in Google Ads, Meta, and likewise. Significant differences may arise here, giving us the opportunity to promote certain products to different extents on various channels.

Ultimately, the question also arises: Should we focus more on attracting new customers, or should we prioritize the reactivation of existing customers? Both goals are valid, but they entail different approaches to promotion. Acquiring new customers can be up to 5x more expensive than stimulating existing customers to buy again. However, it allows us to expand our customer portfolio more easily. If we need to operate with a strictly limited budget, it may be wiser to focus primarily on (dynamic) remarketing to generate revenue more economically.

Considering all these points, it becomes significantly easier to identify the right business goals, focus on them, and also drive them forward sustainably. Ultimately, the entire company benefits from this.

Thank you for your attention! Hopefully, it was insightful, and you were able to take something away from it! In the second part of our mini-series, we will delve deeper into the topic of channel diversification.

Did we forget something important, or do you still have questions on the topic? Feel free to write them in the comments!

If you want to get in touch with us directly, feel free to visit our contact form. We will help you find the right marketing channels for your company, so you can get the most out of your online marketing strategy - simply and without obligation!