Last updated on December 7th, 2022
Since my career as a digital marketer began, I have always looked for ways to improve my efficiency – both as a business and as a worker. One way I have helped achieve this is by turning to automation.
Most marketers use automation in some way or form, with 72% of successful businesses admitting to using automation and 20% seeing a boost in productivity thanks to automation.
I myself have used automation to help cut down on menial tasks so I can focus on more important areas of my work.
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But there are tons of different automation tools you can use, and many of you have asked me what’s the best one to try. So, here’s my answer: Python.
What Is Python?
Python is an incredibly versatile language in programming.
It was first designed in 1991 and was later developed by the Python Software Foundation.
It was designed with an emphasis placed on code readability and today, is generally seen as one of the easiest to use. This is because it’s very similar to the English language and is an open-source language, meaning that you can use and modify it freely.
Python is also one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. It’s used by huge companies like Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, and so many more.
Even Google is heavily dependent on Python in its programming! However, Python is also used for a lot of independent programming projects and businesses with 79% of developers claiming that Python is their main language.
The reasons why I chose to learn Python as a programming language was mainly because of these reasons – it’s super easy to learn, and it’s incredibly popular.
I started learning basic coding as a website creator and back then, it was really a hobby more than a career.
From there, I later got into SEO and digital marketing but learning python was enjoyable and as a result, made it much easier and quicker for me to learn compared to other programming languages.
This came super handy later on when looking for ways to improve my efficiency. I wanted to do more with less, and I found different ways to use python to help me automate a bunch of menial, repetitive tasks.
How To Use Python For Automation
So, what do I use python to automate?
In summary, a lot of different but menial and repetitive tasks. On average, workers waste 50 days per year doing menial and repetitive tasks and this is time I think would be better spent on larger projects.
According to a report from Time Etc, 90% of workers say that they spend less than a quarter of their day on creative business ideas and leads.
Just think how much more successful businesses would be if their workers spent less time doing menial tasks and focused more on these leads and ideas!
So, here are some menial and repetitive tasks I have managed to automate using Python!
Emails
Statistically, the average worker spends about 3.1 hours per workday on email alone – check them, sorting them, reading, sending, deleting, etc.
Another report found that 28% of work time is spent purely on emails. So, this is easily one of the first things I recommend businesses try automating.
Emails can be automated by using Python through its Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). It’s a communication protocol that can be used by email systems to help automate sending, replying and sort your emails.
The module is already built into Python’s library so you don’t need to waste time installing it – just connect it to your mail server and get started!
As a marketer, I find this particularly useful for automated email marketing.
It’s proven to be an effective marketing strategy with a return on investment of $42 – one of the highest ROI in marketing.
64% of small businesses use email marketing but trying to send all those emails individually can take forever (trust me, I’ve tried it) – so automating email marketing is a must.
Social Media Posts
Social media is important for businesses for many reasons.
55% of consumers find out about new brands through social media, meaning that using social media can help expand your reach to new customers. 73% of marketers agree that social media marketing is either somewhat or very effective for businesses.
Not only that but social media helps provide your website with backlinks to improve its SEO. This also helps improve your website’s visibility by climbing SERP rankings, and more potential customers can find your website and your business.
However, for all this to work, you need to regularly post to your social media platforms.
It’s recommended that businesses have a presence on more than one social media platform, and each platform needs ideally 2-3 posts per week.
Because of this, it’s super easy to forget to post – but Python can automate social media posts so your accounts are up and running in the background while you work on other important tasks.
It’s a huge help and I’ve found it makes a huge impact on projects – so this is one Python automated task I seriously recommend.
Reporting
Creating reports can be long, tedious work – shifting through endless spreadsheets, searching for the right pieces of data, stitching it all together into a presentable report to show your clients.
Unfortunately, these reports are vital for business and marketing analytics and this can help improve efficiency and productivity by 63%.
Myself and other marketers are always looking for ways to speed up this process – and I’ve found Python to be a huge help by automating reporting.
Python can automate gathering information from PDF files, Word, and Excel files, and using that data to fill out forms for you. This can be done using openpyxl, Python-docx and PyPDF2.
Chatbots
61% of customers have said they would switch brands after one bad experience, and as 90% of customers also believe that an immediate response is important in customer service, it’s clear that businesses need to respond as quickly as possible to their customers – or risk damaging their relationship.
Automated chatbots can help achieve this by immediately responding to questions and queries sent by customers on your website.
According to a 2018 report from Drift, 64% of internet users love chatbots for their 24-hour service and 37% of people have used a customer service bot to get quick answers in an emergency.
So, chatbots can help improve your customers’ experiences – and Python can help you automate and set up your chatbots. Here is a great guide on how you can build a chatbot with Python if you are interested.
HTTP Requests
HTTP requests are vital for web developers but sending those requests can take forever – and then you have to receive those responses on top! Luckily, Python can automate all that for you so you can perform actions, send commands, and request information automatically.
This action in particular has saved me hundreds of hours of work!
Obviously, if you’re not into developing your own websites, then this use of Python won’t be of much use to you.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Python may not be the best automation tool for you. Everyone has their own preferences but as I have frequently been asked about it, I thought I would simply share my experiences with Python to help inspire and guide others.
I’d recommend you check Python out and if it’s not for you, then no worries!
