Marketing Automation - What is it and Why Do I Need it?
It’s fairly obvious that marketing is an integral component of every business’ growth strategy. In fact, without a viable marketing strategy, a business could skyrocket straight towards bankruptcy and closure within months.
However, different businesses have different needs and resources. Particularly, many business owners may struggle to allocate the time necessary to formulate and implement a sound marketing strategy.
In the same token, some business owners may not have the funds to pay a marketing agency to delegate their essential promotion tasks.
Having these types of issues can put a business at an important crossroad? Is there a way to automate the entire marketing process? Is there a marketing automation software that can make marketing more efficient and convenient?
Fortunately, marketing automation is the solution for businesses with limited time and resources. In this post, you’ll be able to answer the question “what is marketing automation?” and how it can impact your strategy’s success.
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing automation refers to software and platforms that are designed to help businesses automate their sales and marketing engagement processes in order to optimize ROI, generate more leads, and convert these leads into sales.
Marketing automation is a comprehensive process that allows marketers and business leaders to automate repetitive tasks such as maintaining company social media profiles, sending periodic emails, tracking website leads, etc.
Many marketing automation platforms centralize all of the functions and responsibilities comprise a marketer’s role in an organization into one location.
A quality marketing automation software should effectively integrate with other marketing and sales tools (CRM, CMS, social media, etc) to provide a universal platform to manage and analyze your data.
What Marketing Automation is Not
The definition of marketing automation is straightforward, but there can be some degree of confusion as to what it is and what it’s not. Marketing automation is definitely not:
- Spammy Email Marketing - Marketing automation tools are not designed to send your contacts spam. Not only is sending spam a waste of time, effort, and money, but it can also be detrimental to your marketing efforts overall. Marketing automation works best when you use it to send personalized emails, not spam.
- A Single Function Tool - Marketing automation doesn’t comprise of just email marketing. It encompasses every aspect of online marketing. This includes a suite of tools such as built-in CRM reporting, social media management, and a landing page template builder.
- A Total Hands-off Solution - Marketing automation is an incredible way to nurture leads and increase your ROI, but it should never be interpreted as a “hands-off” solution. Achieving tangible results won’t happen unless the right strategy and effort are put in place. Therefore, you can’t sit back and expect marketing automation to produce results, your success with any marketing automation is totally on you.
How is Marketing Automation Effective?
Marketing automation provides the following benefits to marketers and business leaders.
- Produce More Leads
- Increase Your Conversion Rate
- Optimize Your ROI
There is in-depth evidence that supports that notion that marketing automation is effective. According to a report by VB Insight:
- 80% of marketing automation users saw their lead count improve.
- 77% witnessed their conversion rate increase exponentially.
- 53% saw a revenue growth rate higher than non-users.
On top of all of the evidence that proves that marketing automation is effective, you can take advantage of key features that include:
- Email automation
- Built-in CRM
- Landing page builder
- Blog builder
- Sales notifications
- Campaign optimization
- Reporting & Analytics
- And So Much More!
How is Marketing Automation Not Effective?
What counts as bad marketing automation? Bad marketing automation is when users lose sight of their prospects and customers. Additionally, bad marketing automation entails the sending of spam emails and the failure to use data to create meaningful relationships and conversations with prospects.
In a nutshell, all of the advanced marketing technology in the world can’t work with an ineffective marketing strategy.
How to Maximize Your Marketing Automation Success?
Effective marketing automation happens when you can successfully filter leads through an inbound marketing funnel. There are also several factors that can impact the success of marketing automation, including:
- Strategy - Marketing automation isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. You’ll need the right strategy set in place. If you implement an effective strategy in unison with marketing automize, you can maximize your success.
- Personalization - There’s nothing consumers hate more than robotic messages. According to Evergage, 88% of marketers received substantial conversions due to personalization. Always remember to speak directly to your prospects and address their needs and desires.
- Adapting - One of the greatest benefits of marketing automation is that you can easily track what’s working and what’s not. To achieve greater success, make timely adjustments to focus on marketing tactics that actually work.
When Should You Invest in Marketing Automation?
Are you still wondering if marketing automation is right for you? If so, ask yourself these critical questions:
- Do I have a viable inbound marketing strategy?
- Is my sales/marketing team having difficulty tracking our leads?
- Do the sales and marketing team have difficult working together?
- Is my sales and marketing strategy effective?
- Could I benefit more from another marketing solution?
All of these questions should give you an idea of where you stand with implementing marketing automation software for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If you have any questions about marketing automation, please consult the following questions and answers.
Who can use marketing automation?
Marketing automation is for every business, great and small. For small businesses, marketing automation software can help grow your contacts and manage your email campaigns. For larger and more corporate businesses, marketing automation platforms can integrate with your personal business tools to make marketing more convenient and efficient.
How do I select the correct marketing automation provider for my business?
When you’re choosing a marketing automation software, you’ll need to partner with a provider that best suits your brand. While it’s essential to choose the best platform that has the best functions and features, it’s ideal to select a platform that’s scalable for your growth and affordable in the long-term.
Who is the #1 provider of marketing automation services?
We don’t mean to toot our own horn, but at FireDrum, we offer distinct automation services to help you expand your marketing coverage. Click here to sign up or give us a call at (877) 347-3376 to speak to a member of our sales team today!
