Somewhere along your marketing journey you’ve probably heard the term “Marketing Automation” bandied about. But if challenged, could you answer the question “what is marketing automation?” Most experienced marketers would lie; they’d say “yes, I can”. But. Truly, defining marketing automation is a bit of a moving target and you’d be hard pressed to reach quorum on the matter. For the purposes of this post we like what HubSpot has to say about it.
From hubspot http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-automation-information
THE IDEAL
At its best, marketing automation is software and tactics that allow companies to buy and sell like Amazon — that is, to nurture prospects with highly personalized, useful content that helps convert prospects to customers and turn customers into delighted customers. This type of marketing automation typically generates significant new revenue for companies, and provides an excellent return on the investment required.
THE REALITY
However, the term “marketing automation” has become a buzz-word, where marketers seek out marketing automation software under the impression that all of the digital marketing tools necessary for growth, including those needed to generate new leads, roll up under the hood of marketing automation. This misconception leaves many marketers with sophisticated tools to automate the middle of their funnel, but no solution to generating new leads to nurture in the first place.
The real reality for you is that creating viable marketing automation solutions takes time. You need to bring leads in from the top of the funnel before you can start nurturing them. And if you’re new to inbound marketing, it can be awhile before your funnel starts filling. So, it’s safe to say if you’re checking out blog posts for ideas about “how to do automated marketing” you’re probably not going to be competing with Amazon anytime soon. But there are some spectacular benefits that come from marketing automation, just make sure the time is right.
- Make your time more valuable. If you can set it and forget it, you’ll have time to focus on accomplishing other things which effectively gives you a new set of hands, and more productive hours every day.
- Let your customers know you’re listening. Providing smart content is a great way to communicate with your prospects. If they’ve taken the time to register on your site you should make sure that you’re serving registered site visitors with new relevant information.
- Keep prospects engaged. A lead nurturing program will keep your audience engaged and better informed when they do sign up with you.
- Sales marketing connection. Marketing automation keeps your sales team aligned with their marketing counterparts. When a lead qualifying threshold has been met during a lead nurturing campaign, a message can be directed to your sales team for immediate contact by sales.
- Be more measurable. Measuring marketing’s ROI is always a bit tricky. By default, your marketing automation program will keep track of conversions, leads, response rates, your website’s most popular content, and sales data. The kind of information marketers are most accountable for.
Hey it’s not sexy, but a marketing automation program can uncover some real profits. The thing is if you’re going to do it, you need to really do it. It won’t get done if it’s not someone’s job. And if it doesn’t get done, you’re not going to see the results you were hoping for. And remember, not every inbound campaign is ready for marketing automation. Acquiring conversions takes time. So consider the time you’ll be spending to implement your program wisely.
