When it was first introduced, marketing automation software was designed to send emails. Now it is infinitely more robust and offers a range of marketing automation tools including those for social marketing, data management, and predictive analytics. According to Hubspot, a marketing automation platform makes it easier for companies to schedule their emails, segment their prospects and customers, automate social media posts, manage their marketing content, and track customers over their lifetimes.
For many companies, it’s not a question of if they will invest in marketing automation but when and how. Two current statistics from the marketplace illustrate the importance of adding marketing automation to the marketing tool set:
•   91% of the most successful users agree that marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of marketing across channels.
•   The majority of users say that the ROI on marketing automation is worth the price.
So what are the primary benefits of marketing automation?
The number one benefit to companies is that marketing automation increases the efficiency of their marketing efforts and aligns it more closely to reaching sales goals. This results in the generation of more and better-qualified leads. Better leads result in improved lead conversion, which increases ROI. Marketing automation allows companies to view their prospect and customer behavior across multiple channels. This creates the opportunity to collect a wealth of data that in turn can be developed into targeted and personalized offers for prospects and customers to increase sales and customer satisfaction.
Since marketing automation is rooted in email marketing, automating email campaigns is its most basic outcome. Other aspects of automation include building landing pages and capturing, scoring, and nurturing leads that are collected and managed in a centralized database. This is accompanied by data analysis and reporting tools for website traffic as well as email campaigns.
One benefit of marketing automation to digital marketing can be seen in the close connection between automation and digital advertising. According to a 2016 Marketing Land report, website visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert on the website. Obviously, this can have a major impact on sales and profits.
Where to begin?
Understanding the specifics of what you want to accomplish is the best place to begin the marketing automation journey. Realistic and measurable goals must anchor the marketing strategies and tactics of your campaigns. Once you begin the automation process, you’ll collect a lot of data that will tell you what tactics are and are not working as intended. You can and should test various ideas to see what resonates best with your prospects and customers.
And probably the best piece of advice is to talk to experts in the field, and these include your friends at Agile. We are available to help you create a marketing automation road map that makes sense for your business. Call us today at 866.783.0241.