Marketing automation is beginning it’s silent takeover. More companies, as well as agencies, are seeing the benefits and results provided by a strong marketing automation strategy. “On average 49% of companies are currently using marketing automation. With more than half of B2B companies (55%) adopting the technology.” These numbers are only going to grow, which means that all signs point to marketing automation having a big impact on our future.
What exactly is marketing automation?
Hubspot developed a very simple definition for marketing automation. They put it like this:
“In a nutshell, marketing automation refers to software that automates your marketing for you. The software is designed to help you prioritize and execute your marketing tasks in a more streamlined and efficient way.”
That definition explains the core of marketing automation. It is simply there to make your life easier and your marketing more efficient and effective. Always remember, the goal of marketing automation is to make you more effective as a marketer, so make sure you are using the tools correctly.
Why is marketing automation growing so rapidly?
To be honest, marketing automation is growing so quickly because consumers are evolving, and the only way marketers can truly adapt is through marketing automation. The best example is how consumers are wanting more and more of their promotional pieces to be personalized and relevant to them. This used to be an extremely difficult thing for marketers to provide, but with marketing automation it is now accessible to everyone.
When marketing automation is done correctly, it gives marketers the ability to target specific segments(that were also created by marketing automation), at a specific time(whenever is best for each segment), in the right place(could be either physical or digital location). This is extremely powerful and is of value for both marketers and consumers.
Not only does marketing automation help marketers get better results, it also helps them become more efficient. In fact, it’s so efficient that Nucleus Research found that “marketing automation drives a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead.” Those are pretty solid numbers. Marketer also reported that marketers who invest in marketing automation software expect to gain improved efficiency and campaign effectiveness.
Is marketing automation the future?
Marketing automation has proven itself to be effective and be of tremendous value to marketers. Even though marketing automation already has many features, it is going to continue to grow. Here’s the reasons why I believe marketing automation will reign as the king of marketing.
Segmentation
This is one of the main features of any marketing automation tool. Segmentation allows marketers to target a specific group of customers and provide them with a message that pertains to them. Marketing automation not only makes targeting these segments easier, it also helps build these segments. A good marketing automation system will provide you with insights about your customers that will help you build new segments. Segmentation is and will remain as one of the most important features within marketing automation.
Optimization
Marketing automation is the king at optimization. A good marketing automation tool should help you optimize a large majority of your marketing tasks such as email campaign, social media, CRM, as well as campaign analytics. It should even cut down on the time it takes to create a campaign. This will give marketers further insight and it will also allow the marketing automation tool to develop forecasts.
Forecasting
Marketing automation tools also have the ability to forecast what your customers may do based on their previous behavior. This will help marketers make more accurate decisions and provide more value, at a time that it matters to the customer.
Lead generator
Marketing automation can be a huge lead generator. In fact, the #1 benefit of marketing automation according to B2B marketers is the ability to generate more and better quality leads.(Pepper Global, 2014) This of course means that not only does marketing automation generate better leads, it also drives revenue. Typically, tools that drive revenue are here to stay.
“78% of successful marketers say that marketing automation is most responsible for improving revenue contribution. ( The Lenskold Group, 2013).”
Personalization
I mentioned earlier that today’s consumers are wanting more personalized messages and ads. Marketing automation is playing a huge role in the marketer’s ability to deliver these personalized campaigns. What’s amazing is that the marketers who are taking advantage of this ability to personalize are seeing results. A study from eMarketer found that B2C marketers who take advantage of automation including everything from cart abandonment programs to birthday emails, have seen conversion rates as high as 50%.
The ability to market across different mediums
Of course, I saved the best for last. In today’s marketing world, the mediums in which consumers view and interact with marketing messages is constantly changing. It is becoming extremely difficult for businesses and marketers to keep up and understand all the different mediums. Everything from traditional media, internet media, and mobile marketing has to be dealt with and marketing automation makes this possible.
I’m going to use mobile marketing as the example. Today, there are many different ways to connect with a consumer on their mobile device. You can reach them by email, promoting a promotion going on in your store. You can advertise on social media. Or you can even run a mobile wallet campaign. With marketing automation, you can do all of these, with the same campaign, all in one program. One of the most important parts of this is that with marketing automation, no technical experience or knowledge is necessary. Marketing automation allows a sales and marketing team to run every aspect of a mobile marketing campaign through a marketing automation tool. This is why marketing automation is the future.
I believe marketing automation is merely in its adolescence. As marketing automation programs and tools become more powerful and more customizable through open API’s, there won’t be a marketing team in the world that doesn’t have one. So if you’re interested in expanding your marketing, do some research and figure out which marketing automation tool suits your business best.
If you’re interested in mobile marketing and reaching customers on the most used medium in the world, then check out CherryPie.
Having any thoughts or questions? Let me know in the comments below.
