1. What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation is when your company uses software and technology to automate your marketing. Types of technology used are email, social media, webinars, SMS messages, and more. Marketing automation is usually implemented via Software as a Service, also known as SaaS. People use this to decrease the amount of time they put into manually marketing their business. Additionally, businesses can use lead generation software that automatically does everything, and the company just pays a fee, usually as a subscriber to the software as a service on a monthly or annual basis.

2. How does marketing automation work?

Marketing automation works by setting up automated campaigns on various platforms. You can use software to manually upload content to your website in the background, freeing you up to focus on other tasks. Automation can also be achieved through email campaigns, automatically uploading and posting to social media, or sending out text messages. Automation software can also help track and obtain leads, which can expand your customer base. There are many tasks you can automate such as:

  • Analytics and ROI Tracking
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Campaign Segmentation
  • Content Curation and Content Management
  • Email Marketing Automation (sending, receiving, integrating calls, analyze results, etc.)
  • Lead Conversion, Analysis, and Management
  • Multivariate Testing
  • Website Visitor Tracking

3. In what types of businesses does automated marketing work best?

Marketing automation can work for any business, big or small, that is trying to grow its brand and create more advertising in a more automated way. Constantly uploading content to blogs, websites, and social media can be tedious and time-consuming, regardless of the business. Utilizing marketing automation is for businesses that want to engage more with their customers while also growing brand awareness for their company. Large brand names are constantly using marketing automation, but it is not just for them. Small, or niche businesses, can utilize automated software tools to stand out against competitors, all while completing other daily tasks that require more, individualized attention.

4. What is Lead Capturing?

Lead capturing is a popular process used in marketing automation. It works by capturing profile information about those who visit your website (or other digital presence) or have searched similar products or businesses to yours. Lead capturing is useful because it helps you convert potential leads into customers that might be interested in your product or service. This tool gathers information on potential customers and helps you generate leads by using certain sales tools, such as lead forms on your website.

5. What is Lead Nurturing?

Lead nurturing is all about the process of nurturing a relationship with your clients. Paying attention to your clients, answering their questions, and helping them throughout the buying process is all a part of lead nurturing. Communication is especially key to lead nurturing; you must listen and analyze the customer needs and wants. It was found that nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than not nurtured leads.

6. What are the benefits of marketing automation?

Marketing automation has numerous benefits that can help you market your business with ease. Some of the main benefits being:

  • Frees up time: When you are running a business or even just running the marketing department, time is precious. Utilizing automation software can help you focus on developing more creative campaigns rather than doing busywork.
    • More effective and productive campaigns: With more free time, it gives you the opportunity to focus on better marketing campaigns and tactics. Also, you can easily turn dead or unknown leads to new prospects with marketing automation.
    • Increase revenue: Any automation software isn’t exactly cheap. But if used properly can help raise revenues. It was found that 78 percent of high-performing marketers identify marketing automation as a key contributor to improved revenue. Also According to Forrester Research, companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales leads at 33% lower cost.
    • Improves relationship marketing: Relationship marketing is all about customer satisfaction and higher customer retention. Utilizing marketing automation can help your customer have a better experience with your company. With automation technology, you could send out personalized and behavioral triggered emails in order to capture the buyer’s attention. Developing a relationship with your customers will be easy with the help of marketing automation.
    • Helps scheduled and monitor campaigns: One of the biggest benefits of using automation technology is being able to track and schedule all your campaigns. In other words, you can schedule specific campaigns for different times and different platforms all from the same space.

7. What are the keys to successful marketing automation?

There are many key elements to successful marketing automation such as:

  • Contacts: keeping up to date with your contacts and leads is a crucial part of automated marketing. It is important to keep up with leads and contacts and make sure you do not continue to send to an invalid email address, include unknown domains, spam, or invalid phone numbers.
    • Internal Content: It is important to put forth about 20-40% of your own content through your marketing technology. Content that grabs attention using visuals, photos, videos, and specials. Utilizing blogs as well as social media can help you achieve marketing success.
    • External content: External content is also crucial. You should be uploading approximately 60-80% external content from other sources that are relevant to your business. This can include local events, articles, or other social media posts.
    • Segmentation: Channeling segments into your marketing tactics will help your marketing automation run more smoothly. These segments should include demographics, behavioral patterns, geographic location, lifestyle, beliefs, and general interest.

8. Is my company too small for automated marketing software?

Marketing automation software and platforms are for businesses big or small. For one thing, it can and should be utilized by anyone who wants to grow their business and connect with more potential customers. If you are a smaller company, time is precious, and you might not be able to hire multiple employees to take care of the tedious parts of marketing. So, marketing automation could be even more beneficial to a small business compared to a larger business.

9. What is the future of Automated Marketing?

We can expect to see more and more businesses taking advantage of and using marketing automation technology. There are new improvements in artificial intelligence that are being integrated into marketing automation every day. There are new programs and software being developed constantly. Also, the constant evolution of social media utilized in marketing. Since the birth of social media, every few years a new social media platform emerges and takes off amongst all age groups. This is so important for marketers to utilize and is in fact the future of marketing automation.

10. Will Automated Marketing reduce the amount of work for the marketing department?

Overall, no it may not “reduce” the amount of work. Automated marketing can help you organize your marketing, campaigns, and platforms. Additionally, it helps with analytics and converting potential prospects into solid money-making leads. Marketing automation is an improvement tool, not necessarily a replacement for current processes.