What is Marketing Automation?
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing automation is a term commonly thrown around in marketing circles, but what exactly is marketing automation?
Simply put, it is the software tool that allows marketing and sales departments to automate online campaigns and sales activities to increase lead generation, revenue and efficiency. Marketing automation is a means of growing leads into paying customers.
According to the popular website HubSpot, “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.”
Using technology, a marketing department is able to streamline some of the most time-consuming repetitive tasks, increasing efficiency in the marketing process. The most effective automated marketing process might look something like this:
- Your brand sends marketing emails to customers and prospects.
- Each messaging campaign has its own unique landing page.
- The send date and time of emails in a campaign are scheduled ahead of time and run automatically from there.
- The marketing department is able to filter leads based on engagement and level of interested and prioritize that list based on likelihood to buy and fit with your brand.
- Finally, revenue contribution of each marketing campaign is tracked and analyzed allowing the marketing department to determine which programs and campaigns result in the highest conversions.
The catch: no automated marketing tool is ultimately successful if your brand isn’t already collecting inbound leads. Sure, you can purchase an email list, and that might give you a place to start, but ultimately, you should be generating inbound leads through your brand’s existing messaging strategy, including your website and social media. Offering your customers valuable information in exchange for their contact info is an important component for generating inbound leads. Download the free Frozen Fire eBook here to learn more about SEO marketing.
Marketing automation is a powerful tool that can be used to generate a substantial number of leads and then nurture those leads into paying customers. But you are throwing money away if your marketing department is automating unsolicited email. Don’t become a spammer. Develop a strategy for generating inbound leads, and let marketing automation take it from there.
If you are looking for a digital business development firm to implement marketing automation for your company, contact Frozen Fire and turn your online presence into a digital sales rep.
Check out this great info graphic (courtesy Entrepreneur.com) to learn more about marketing automation.
Frozen Fire is a Dallas internet marketing and video production company that helps companies harness the most powerful aspect of modern marketing—the internet—to engage customers in memorable and meaningful ways. Ways that ignite sales and business growth. Contact us to learn how we can help your business.