How can I take a holiday and still stay in the news? Here is how I am using batch processing and marketing automation tools.

I've got good news, and I've got bad news. The good news is that I'm going on holiday. The bad news is that I've got to get everything done before I go away so that whilst I'm away, the business doesn't take a holiday, too. Does this sound like a familiar problem? If you're a business owner, you know that taking a vacation is actually one of the most stressful times in the year. Everybody wants to relax. My wife, my children, and my beagle, Binky, are expecting undivided attention. Meanwhile, part of my mind is on what's happening with the company. How do I keep all of the news, these podcasts, my tweets, my participation in social media alive whilst I'm on holiday getting revived? How do I keep the messaging that I've been Now, I'm working on getting all the content loaded into our working so hard to share on a daily basis continue in my systems, so that this podcast will still be heard even when absence? The answer lies in automation, batch processing, and campaign and marketing orchestration. This is for you I'm away. Computer batch processing is defined as running if you're a business owner and you're wondering how to manage jobs that can run without the end user, but can be scheduled that problem. to run as resources permit. In practice, what it means is that we need to get work done in advance in one session and to schedule the release of that information over time using technology platforms. I was giving a lecture the other day about the SPEAK|pr program, which is the Storify, Personalize, Engage, Amplify and to Know, and this really falls under the Amplification part of our five-stage methodology. Jason Kort, an editor at the Marketing Automation Times, said, "You would not build a house without a blueprint, and Batch processing means that I'm creating a number of different podcasts in one recording session, uploading those to Buz yet many companies rush into marketing automation without a sprout, then scheduling them in advance to go out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. T at part seems to be fairly st aightforward. The challenge i finding a platform that wi l amplify my content that's b en batch uploaded and distribut plan. Marketing automation is a tool that requires careful d while I'm away. When I norma y post a podcast, I then twee , and post on Facebook and Linke In manually on that same day. Stage one is to get the conten onto these different platform planning for it to be successful." Sage words indeed , like Buzzsprout, then I nee to do the amplification, prom tion, and distribution of that ontent. With the help of Buzzs rout, I've automatically et it up to be fed out to podc sts on iTunes, Google, Spotify and 25 other platforms from Mr. Kort, and I have to say that I'm on the journey of ut there. I'm now working wit Repurpose, so when the conte t goes from my Buzzsprout, i will automatically go into my Repurpose and be made in o audiograms (or videos of learning about marketing automation, and the first part he audio), and those will then go to my Facebook group and my ouTube channel. That part is aut mated. of that journey does seem to be batch processing. The part I need to work on is to automate the distribution to my other social channels, or, for example, the short links to advise people this podcast is there, so I'm using Zoho for that. With Zoho, I need to upload the link to the individual episodes and to, again, put into the diary those different episodes and tweet when they're up and ready. I can also automate the distribution to Facebook, Twitter, Google My Business, and Instagram, and I can automate that quite easily by using Zoho. I do have to do that manually, though. There are other platforms like HubSpot, for example, which enable us to do that as well. At the moment, all that automation, which comes off the back of my batch production of content, is audio, as in the case of my podcast, but it could also be videos or articles. It's got me thinking that this is still quite a manual process where I'm putting the content in and scheduling it. I'm not really automating my campaign. I've been looking at some software for what I'm reading about as what they're calling orchestration. Campaign orchestration seems to be where we move from worrying about automation to campaign management. This is the sort of work that people at Virgin do where they are scheduling notices and notifications into systems that are there because of what the audience are doing. Currently, my automation is really very simple. I'm creating a lot of content that I'm batch processing and loading, but what I'm interested in as well is what happens when people do things, such as interact with my podcast or my website when I'm not there. How do I start to automate that? Now, I've done that to some degree on my website using a chat, and I commissioned a technology consultant in the Ukraine to schedule the Zoho bot, so that when people come to my website and they ask questions, they're given automatic replies. For example, if someone comes to our website and they ask where our offices are, if my staff are not able to answer that, the bot has a number of different questions and answers already loaded, so it can give a response to a low-level query. This is quite common in many services, such as banks, internet service providers, and the like. When customers get to a certain level, then we ask them to fill out a form if they wish to inquire about our services. I was looking at a French company called Batch that focuses on specialized push notifications. This is very interesting, because they're working on the mobile and the web, and I think this is public relations for the reason that when I'm creating stories or, for instance, publishing my podcast, the goal of the podcast is to give you, the listener, a reason to contact me. Maybe you want to talk about the SPEAK|pr program, or you'd like to talk with me about consulting in some way. If you then come to the next touchpoint of my company, which could be my website, then what? For public relations to be profitable, it needs to be part of the entire sales process. Batch claims to have 800 customers from 25 countries. Their platform works with some 50 other applications on the cloud, like Salesforce. They have an interface for customers to create, automate, and analyze push notification campaigns. They enable us to schedule campaigns which can run now or at a later date, create recurring campaigns which could take place at regular intervals, and send those messages dynamically to an updated user segment. In other words, if a potential customer has expressed an interest in a certain part of the website or signed up for a certain service, we can actually send them scheduled messages. In the same way that Binky, my beagle, is registered with a veterinary clinic and I get a scheduled SMS when his medicine is due, we can have a recurring campaign along the lifespan of the customer, and in the same way that Virgin does from the minute people think about a holiday, all the way to them getting off the plane at the other end. Batch also has what they call event-based trigger campaigns, which means that if someone takes a particular action on your website, then that could trigger another level of content to be sent to them. For example, if someone expresses an interest in a white paper on your website, that leaves a clue about what that person is interested in. It tells you where they are. They'll give their email address, so what could we send them that is already online that takes them to the next level of their customer journey? What's caught my eye with Batch is they have a live push. This idea of location-based marketing now is that if people will be going to an area that they don't normally live in, that will create a set of requirements for that person. It can give them directions, for example. Live push means that we can start to optimize proactive communication with target customers, and that's done as a function of the activities that they're taking, the expressions that they're showing to us as a company. Once we get to that area of communication, the PR becomes very interesting because, of course, if someone is moving to a different location, then we're able to start to share information with that potential customer that is context-relevant. From a public relations point of view, if that person is, say, checking out TripAdvisor, because they're going to travel to a new location, we can tell that they might have other services that they are interested in and they'd possibly be looking for that online. It's something that we could then start to share with them. Understanding the customer journey by location is an increasing part of retail, but also, it can be industrial, and other consumer marketing applications as well. Therefore, going back to PR, what people might read about us online, whether those are messages or videos of referrals or testimonials, could be a key part of what we're sending people. My SPEAK|pr podcast currently has listeners from 250 cities all over the world. Imagine if I could send those people information that's relevant to them in their individual city, town, or region about what my public relations services could offer, then I'd be bridging that gap between what that customer might need where they are, and what I'm offering from where I am. So, batch processing, for me, is something I'm working on right now, because I need to create a handful of content to have continuity in my absence. It's very productive, because opening and closing the tools of making audio takes time. In the same way that manufacturing needs a certain volume of articles to be cost-effective, actually, so do public relations activities. If we can think about batch processing and automation, the final part is campaign orchestration. Batch has a free trial, and if you would like to avail of their paid services, they have a Developer package with basic features that costs 245 per month, a Startup package with powerful features for 495 per month, a Business package with advanced features for 795 euro per month, and an Enterprise package which you would need to contact them for to know the price. One of their clients is the Telegraph Media Group from Holland. They use Batch mobile to send breaking news to 7 million monthly readers. As we look at going on holiday and going offline for a while, I share this with you, because as a business owner, when you're like I am, we want to think about our brand not taking a holiday, because when we come back, we want to have inquiries looking at public relations and marketing, keeping the momentum and leads. We want to have work to come back to as a business owner. One of the reasons I have always found holidays stressful going while you're away is not easy, but it is possible. is because whilst people with salaries get paid leave, entrepreneurs don't. I have to do the work now and automate it Marketing automation and campaign orchestration require to run while I'm away, so it's as if the business hasn't missed some content development, some planning, and some a beat. self-discipline, but the technology is available to help us. There are many platforms out there in our technology applications directory on our website. We list over 100 applications, many of which have free trials, because I believe that these could be of service to fellow entrepreneurs who are on their journey to sharing and unlocking the value in their business through effective public relations.