Marketing Automation

In order to ensure that all the teams perform their individual functions, as well as leads, are generated simultaneously, that is when marketing automation comes into play. Automation of all the small and repetitive process that involves fewer efforts and barely needs a structure to be implemented. A loop is created and then this process getting in sync with the marketing and sales process.

What are the main elements of marketing automation?

Sales, Marketing, providing proper products and services

Initially, you must focus on how good your products and services are. They should be able to attract customers and capture their attention, finally leading them to go for your products and services.

Marketing Automation and CRM Integration

Automation is largely required in this field because it becomes a pain to get it done by a small workforce, which consumes time or a large team which increases your resource consumption.

Customer Relationship Management

Integration is an important component because your interaction with customer decides how well you can tune with them in order to convince them to buy your products.

Lead Generation

This comprises the first step to initiate the number of people interested in your products and services.

Lead Intelligence Gathering

This is the element in which you are supposed to gather all kind of information about your lead, the tastes and likes of your lead, in order to fetch them their desired services.

Lead Segmentation

The differentiation of the leads keeping in mind their likes and tastes is done in this step.

Lead Scoring

It gives you an estimate of whether the leads you have found will become qualifying leads or not, that is, whether they will go for your brand or not.

Lead Nurturing

Once you get to know that your leads will qualify, you have to start working on them in order to allure them and please them to give them the information that your products and services are the best they can ever get.

What are the marketing automation activities?

Social Media Automation activities-

Social marketing automation is another aspect of marketing automation.

• Social marketing involves a major part of an engagement with people, getting to know their requirements and hence converting them to leads.
• Providing the leads with regular updates regarding your products and services may stimulate the sense of want in them.
• Posting regular content on the feed of the users gives them a subtle reminder of your products and services.
• They would then enquire and become your customers too.  

Some salient features of the automation tools used are:

Website Automation activities

• You take up the maximum possible information about the lead, by the procedure of gated content.
• The next activity which the automation does is send the lead, all types of products and services you offer.
• If the lead responds to any particular genre, your automation software can send them only that particular list of things they are looking for.
• Then, it can possibly be customized too, in order to reach out to them.

Email Marketing Automation activities-

• It is the one most important thing to collect the email id of the leads in order to give all your updates to the leads.
• The automation will then send an email blast to all the leads.
• Next comes the process of working on the leads.
• If there is a positive response from the leads they will be nurtured by sending them all the stuff that is relevant to their requirements.
• You have to be very illustrative and persuasive in a way that the leads will like your work and then only send those leads what can be the most alluring deal of your products and services.
• Make sure that they like the service and then you can turn them into warm and subsequently, hot leads.

Marketing Automation tools-

Agora Pulse

• Agora Pulse keeps you updated with your friends and followers all at the same table.
• It helps you keep a schedule of your regular posts.
• It gives you a timely reminder of posts.

Hootsuite

• Hootsuite supports all kind of social media platforms.
• It lets you know the best time to put up your content online with its analyzer.
• It helps you stay updated with regular interaction with users.

Buffer

• It helps you send your posts automatically.
• It lets you prepare different kinds of the campaign for a different user interface which makes it attractive for your leads.

Crowdfire

• It's of better use at Twitter.
• It helps you trace the dormant users and then eliminate them from your account.
• It helps you analyze the twitter following of the users.

 Marketo

• It's one of the cheapest automation tools available in the market.
• It has both kind of features- the basics and advanced utility.
• It's very user-friendly if gone by a bottom-up approach starting from basics to advance.
• It can be handled easily.

Customer.io

• It's quite adaptable.
• Customer.io helps to ease out your task in a smooth way.
• It gives out an attractive feature – customization of content.
• It has a good user interface and is very customer friendly when it comes to support.

MailChimp

• MailChimp gives you the advantage of keeping all the list in one place.
• It provides you with diverse formats to work on.
• It helps you build your social media ads and shows to the list of your leads.

Constant Contact

• It is usually used for small business.
• A key feature is that it can be used by newbies too.
• It is low-end and reasonable in cost.
• Its simplicity makes it user-friendly.

HubSpot

• HubSpot has its pros in the field of automating as much as possible making it easier for you.
• It provides many other facilities too.
• It serves as a multipurpose software.

ExactTarget/Pardot

• One salient feature about this is its multi-platform utility.
• It doesn’t just work for email marketing, it helps in SMS marketing and sending out useful alerts on other platforms too.
• It is mainly for a high-end business that has huge functions to perform.

How is marketing automation useful to your business?

• It helps the teams to focus on their individual activities properly to deliver their best.
• Helps to give more attention to significant work than generating repetitive emails for leads.
• Tracing the developments becomes easier.
• Helps in working on shortcomings.

Here are some facts and figures which will suggest how helpful Marketing Automation has become in digital marketing-

According to the statistics collected by email Monday–

• 67% of Marketing Leaders currently use a Marketing Automation Platform.
• Spending on marketing Automation tools will grow vigorously over the next few years, reaching $25.1 billion annually by 2023 from $11.4 billion in 2017.
• Marketing automation technology is expected to grow at a 14% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years.

This means many businesses have trusted on Marketing automation tools for their development and automation is the future of marketing.

The Dos and Don’ts of Marketing Automation

Dos

• Take the maximum efficiency of the automation tools and engage it into work.
• Make the best syncing of the marketing and sales team to give best results.
• Keep your records handy and well-managed.
• Take regular feedbacks from clients for better performance.
• Keep your brand updated.

Donts

• Investing too much money in unnecessary places won’t bring out the best revenue you have targeted.
• Don’t think that automation will do all the task for you. It will only send the desired content when given the command.
• Don’t be completely unaware of your clients. Always keep an ear listening to them.
• Don’t rely completely on automaton, it is you who has to keep a check on the workforce of your business.

Understanding the importance of marketing automation was a basic thing. What we, at Softtek, help you is what goes beyond marketing automation. Building a good relationship with the consumer is what we do. It is very important to retain your consumers. We help you devise ways of customer satisfaction so that they don’t go anywhere and become your lifetime partners. We do this by giving out some offers, complimentary services, free merchandises, giveaways that attract them and keep your customer count a good one.