The Future of Automation in Marketing

How agencies can better utilize human capital by reducing manual processes

By Liane Sanson    August 14, 2018    

PARTNER CONTENT

The dynamic of the current world dictates an eventual adoption of automated processes for just about everything. Marketing is no different with new technologies gaining more influence in the industry. While technology may seem like the antagonist of human creativity, automation of manual processes can actually spur growth.

The largest expense a creative agency has is human capital. Over time, various disciplines within marketing and advertising have advanced to automated processes that have significantly improved efficiency and cost-saving for that capital. Automating certain agency processes eliminates the need for employees to perform mundane tasks and allows them to redirect their efforts into valuable areas of the business where human discernment is necessary, such as business development, creative strategy, and partner relationships. An agency's ability to concentrate on creativity and relationships gives it a competitive advantage that ultimately provides greater value for its clients.

Programmatic media buying, for example, is an area that has dramatically changed the landscape of digital advertising by utilizing software and technology to automate and optimize the ad-buying process. Since programmatic buying's introduction, the media-buying process has become more efficient, freeing people of tedious tasks and allowing them to focus on the strategic and creative elements of their jobs. It has also enabled better data analysis since customer interactions are tracked and consolidated in a single dashboard. Agencies actually have the time and resources to utilize the data and develop meaningful strategies to engage with audiences based on their findings. Due to the reduction in the amount of human labor required in ad buying, overall agency operating margins have greatly improved.

The initial success of programmatic media buying isn't the only area where technology is having a huge impact. Accounts payable (AP) teams deal with many of the same pain points related to manual processing, including human error, exorbitant reconciliation times, and the costs associated with payments fraud. Technology that supports AP automation in media is also about creating accuracy and efficiency that ultimately improves the agency's operating margins.

Traditionally, AP activities have been centralized around paper checks and the time consuming and often costly manual execution of processing payments. Paper checks can cost businesses millions of dollars each year and AP managers spend countless manual hours going through each line item on statements in an effort to correctly identify and reconcile charges.

AP automation technology tailored to marketing and the media procurement process can, in fact, also elevate the value of human capital by eliminating the need for manual reconciliations and line-by-line credit card statement review that has become standard when buying digital media campaigns for clients. Rather than having a dedicated person printing checks or doing manual credit card reconciliations each week, an employee's time can be redirected to higher level projects and strategic planning efforts. Vendors are also eager to accept electronic forms of payment and become increasingly satisfied with automated arrangements as soon as they realize the speed and accuracy with which they will be paid, ultimately increasing their business cash flow as well.

Ghost cards in particular have become an incredible tool for advertising agencies, especially when it comes to managing digital and social media campaigns for their clients. Ghost cards allow an agency to create a single credit card for each client or campaign. That card goes on file with the social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Google, among others), and all charges on that card automatically correspond back to the correct client or campaign. This one-to-one billing approach takes the heavy lifting off accounting teams, allowing them to execute manual reconciliation in as little as 30 min, with some agencies reporting a reduction of weeks or even months.

Making the transition to an automated AP platform is relatively seamless, and additional IT resources are not required, which is often one of the myths associated with integration of electronic payment platforms. Implementation typically requires a few brief phone calls and a single file upload into existing workflow software.

As the world continues to automate, the expectation to do more with less is becoming standard. Marketing agencies are expected to be forward-thinking organizations, especially when it comes to embracing new technology and investing in tools that maximize efficiency. Human capital is a company's most valuable resource. Why not embrace the technologies that can help use that resource in the most profitable way possible?

 

Liane Sanson is the SVP of global sales at Corporate Spending Innovations.