Marketing Automation
What exactly is marketing automation
and why do you need it?
It’s pretty simple. Marketers who use marketing automation software tend to outperform marketers that don’t.
So What Exactly is Marketing Automation?
Marketing automation is a software platform that streamlines, automates, and measures marketing tasks and workflows. This allows you to be more efficient, increase revenue and grow into a more powerful marketing team.
That’s the simple definition. But, what workflows are we talking about? Here are some of the things marketing automation allows you to do more effectively:
- Email marketing
- Landing page creation
- Cross-channel marketing campaigns
- Lead generation
- Segmentation
- Lead nurturing and scoring
- Cross-sell and up-sell
- Retention
- Measuring ROI
- Website personalization
These strategies should all be relatively familiar, but without the right equipment, they can be hard to accomplish. When your marketing team is growing, there comes a point at which you can no longer manage 1:1 connections with customers using the manual tools you have available. That’s when automation comes in handy.
When Do You Need Marketing Automation?
Here’s a quick test to give you an idea of what marketing automation can do for you. Answer the following questions honestly about your own organization:
- Can you identify, track and, engage individual buyers online?
- Can you look at a list of customers and prioritize them based on fit and likelihood to buy?
- Are you filtering leads based on the level of engagement and interest?
- Can you measure the revenue contribution of every single one of your marketing campaigns?
- Can you do all of these things without wanting to tear your hair out?
No? If you had marketing automation, you could.
What Marketing Automation Isn’t
Maybe the biggest misconception about marketing automation is that it’s just for your marketing team, or that only the marketing team will benefit from it. Yes, your marketing team will use the software, but it has immense benefits for your sales department as well. Marketing automation makes sales reps’ lives easier by helping you define leads more effectively and lead a smoother transition to sales.
Why Marketing Automation, and Why Now?
In short, marketing automation allows departments to demonstrate the ROI of their campaigns. The ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of campaigns is helping marketing departments move from cost centers to revenue generators.
When marketing teams are able to prove how their campaigns impact the bottom line, they continue to gain more budgeting for marketing programs. With more support for their marketing campaigns, marketers are better able to try things out, get creative, and execute new campaigns that will empower a lead generation.