Marketers have many tasks: creating campaigns, setting up emails, generating and processing leads, maintaining databases. Marketing management should be as efficient as possible. Therefore, many companies rely on marketing automation tools. What is Marketing Automation? How does process automation work in marketing? And what is it used for? We answer these and other questions for you in this article.
Anyone responsible for marketing in the company is involved in sales activities. Today, marketers are directly accountable for sales success. The reason: Communication channels are increasingly becoming direct sales channels. This means that they are no longer used exclusively to provide information to customers. Marketers use content to generate new leads for sales. Your challenge is to pick up the customer with the content individually. Mass mailings are not effective. But ensuring this individuality is resource-intensive. This is where the marketing automation approach comes in.
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Marketing Automation Definition
Marketing automation means various software systems with which marketers can prioritize and automate repetitive marketing tasks. The integrated software has a wide range of functions: databases, web controlling, communication tools, CRM synchronization and workflow management are combined in them. The devices can be used, for example, to establish brilliant communication via email, SMS or messenger and social media posts. Marketing automation software also has analytical functions.
How Does Marketing Automation Work? – Areas Of Application
Marketing automation essentially uses big data analytic and CRM data to make the company’s communication bright. The software creates behavioural profiles of website users in real-time. To do this, it records and analyzes their surfing and consumer behaviour. Marketers can then use the user profiles for other marketing activities. Content on websites, newsletters, social media posts, and other channels is tailored to the customer.
With the data obtained, Marketing Automation can use real-time triggers and provide content at the right time via suitable media. The systems work automatically according to defined automation rules. They take over the processes from lead segmentation to innovative marketing campaigns with user-customized content such as personalized banner advertising.
Marketing automation takes the marketing of companies to a new level. And not just about individual communication. Customer care can also be optimized through full CRM integration. Because the marketing automation platforms do not collect emails in a simple list, you save this in a database and enrich it with further information about the customer. The database can also be connected to the company’s CRM via an interface to increase the added value of marketing automation. The extensive customer data becomes the driver for various tasks in marketing, such as lead generation, lead segmentation, lead nurturing and lead scoring.
Generate, Segment And Nurture Leads
Winning customers and maintaining customer relationships is one of the central tasks of marketing automation. Instead of cold calling, the sales department expects at least “warm” leads who are about to make a purchase decision in the customer journey. Such information can be generated much more efficiently using marketing automation systems’ analytics. The tracking data collected via the software help to understand the customer and provide him with precisely tailored content and information. And that along the entire customer journey.
Marketing Automation uses call-to-action (CTA) contact forms and landing pages for lead generation. How they can also use chatbots for lead generation, we have in this post summarized for you. If the leads obtained from this land in the contact database, the software creates lists into which the authorities are automatically sorted. The criteria that come into play can vary and be determined by marketeers. For example, leads can be segmented based on downloaded content, willingness to buy, demographic information, completed workflows or interactions with the content. Based on these lists, content in mailings, websites, and social media channels can be adapted to customers and distributed in a targeted manner.
Marketing automation systems also support lead scoring. For this purpose, leads can be classified automatically via a workflow based on the progress in the purchase process. The scoring system is based, for example, on points or defined purchase phases. If a lead executes an action, it is automatically assigned a score or purchase phase based on this. This enables marketers to qualify their leads for further nurturing without much effort and hand over the charges to sales in an already “warm” phase.
Marketing Automation In Inbound Marketing
Marketing automation makes it possible to optimize inbound marketing. The focus of inbound marketing is buyer personas. The analysis tools in automation marketing help, on the one hand, to identify the buyer personas and their characteristics. On the other hand, with automation, content is delivered to the correct recipient at the right time. Marketing automation accompanies inbound marketing in two ways: creating customer profiles and communicating between customers and companies along the customer journey.
Marketing Automation: No Email Marketing
Emails are a leading media in marketing automation (and email marketing). However, the underlying strategies are entirely different. Email marketing relies on static lists for mailing campaigns, and marketing automation, on the other hand, includes other customer data. In addition, only Marketing Automation can send emails for lead nurturing and automatically adapt their content to the recipient. And only marketing automation can be integrated into websites, import data from different sources and manage multichannel campaigns.
Differentiation Between Marketing Automation, Sales Automation And CRM
Unlike sales automation software and customer relationship management systems (CRM), marketing automation is broadly based. This applies to both the approach and the functions offered. Marketing automation takes on significantly more tasks: from search engine marketing to lead management to measure campaigns’ return on investment (ROI).
Do you have any questions about data protection in lead management? Then read our article on legally compliant email marketing automation and lead management. On the other hand, sales Automation focuses exclusively on the automation of sales and the sales process. Therefore, software for sales automation only offers sales tools that take on functions such as sales funnel management.
Marketing automation platforms are just as different from CRM. Both systems have points of overlap, but the respective data structure is very different. Therefore, marketing automation software cannot replace a full-fledged CRM. Conversely, this cannot provide the range of functions necessary for efficient marketing. A CRM lacks features such as list selections, multi-step campaign sequences, and the broader communication tools of marketing automation platforms.
Advantages Of Marketing Automation
Marketing automation offers companies advantages on many levels. Above all, the possibility of generating more leads and qualifying them more easily speaks in favour of using marketing automation platforms. The simultaneous control of several processes stands out. Marketing automation improves customer approach and website users’ experience through individualized content. The same applies to lead nurturing. Marketing automation also increases the quality of databases, simplifies multichannel marketing and reduces error rates. Last but not least, marketers can better measure the ROI of marketing measures and significantly increase sales – with less resource expenditure.
For Whom Is Marketing Automation Worthwhile?
Both B2B and B2C companies can improve their marketing activities through marketing automation and increase their efficiency and competitiveness. Marketing automation is the tool of choice for those who want to cultivate customer relationships intensively.
Companies with complicated sales processes or demanding buyer personas can benefit from marketing automation. Such devices are also worthwhile if marketers wish to receive more precise key marketing measures. Marketing automation also offers companies more and more efficient options for lead management: Anyone who has a large number of customers or leads or wants to generate and manage them, therefore, relies on marketing automation.
Also Read: Brands Are Spending More And More Money On Influencer Marketing
