The ongoing trend shows that Marketing Automation does not need any backing for its case. In a study from 2013 titled “Lead Generation Marketing Effectiveness Report”, The Lenskold Group found that 63 percent of the companies that overwhelmed their competition use Marketing Automation. At the same time 78 percent of successful marketers felt that MA systems are the main reason behind expanding revenues.
That being said, there are many who will love the idea of Marketing Automation but they can never execute it successfully for their business. Misconceptions and unknown facts still shade the benefits of this radical paradigm shift. What are the ten things you probably didn’t know about Marketing Automation?
‘Automation’ does not necessarily mean that your marketing is on an auto-pilot mode. You can automate your e-mails but you will still need to monitor its success and adjust your campaigns regularly. Moreover, you have to understand your sales process first and create campaigns around how sales will nurture your leads.
• Most of the Marketing Automation tools are able to help you segment prospects in a list and track their individual activities. Consumer behaviour studies can help you understand when to pass the sales=ready leads to the Always Be Closing Sales folks; this will minimize your sales overheads.
• In many cases, Marketing Automation eliminates the need for a separate CRM. In fact, marketing automation will take you beyond CRM. You cannot only communicate with your customer with ease; you can also tailor the communication based on their actions & interests. Most marketing automation tools come with ready made integrations with leading CRMs.
• One of the many reasons Marketing Automation was developed was to operate as an alternative to ‘spam’, where all your leads were equal until you received a response. And yet most companies employing the program use it as method to deliver spam to a mailing list. This is almost always ineffective if your business is small or you have a picky niche. One of the advantages of Marketing Automation is that it’s personal. Use it the right way!
• Marketing Automation is great for sending e-mails but it’s not only used for online marketing. It can track your calls and even snail-mail campaigns. Basically, it integrates your marketing strategy at all levels and suggests action accordingly.
• Small and mid-sized businesses are adapting to Marketing Automation more quickly than you anticipate. Some might think that these features are only going to do good for companies with big marketing budgets. Although they are not the right fit for every business, Marketing Automation tools are now more accessible than ever.
• Marketing Automation is not a standard marketing software you should just pick. Because so many people know so little about it, they almost never ask the right questions when buying. There are so many different Marketing Automation programs with different features; it is best to research and list the ones you need. Some companies will even offer analysis of your business and customize these programs for you.
• It’s not just about e-mail marketing. Of course if your business has grown anytime in the past you would have considered having paid social media campaigns and it is most likely that you already do. Most of your customers and leads will ‘unfollow’ the company if you send out 20 tweets a day without engaging anybody. A good Marketing Automation rool will evaluate your online presence, the effectiveness of your posts and will suggest what works best for you.
• According to Nucleus Research, MA programs propel a 14.5% increase in sales efficiency while reducing marketing overheads by 12.2%. If you still think Marketing Automation is expensive, think again!
• The most disastrous thought about Marketing Automation today is that ‘it generates all the leads for you’. It is inbound marketing that will generate the leads and Marketing Automation is a tool to nurture those leads. Acquiring leads is costly and if you use Marketing Automation effectively, it ensures your leads don’t fade away as quickly as they do.
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