Marketing Automation Basics & How Businesses Are Using It

Marketing Automation Basics & How Businesses Are Using It

When it comes to marketing your company, every business owner wants to make sure they connect with current and potential customers as effectively as possible. Today’s buyer has virtually unlimited access to information. They have the power to find products and services at their own pace, and do so mostly online. This means that your website has become your single most important marketing asset – and your best performing sales tool!

Enter: Marketing Automation

If you haven’t heard much about marketing automation, now is the time to listen. The industry is expected to grow by 50% by 2015, and businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.

Wikipedia describes marketing automation as a software platform and technology designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks.

We describe it a little bit differently.

Marketing automation creates a digital framework where both marketing and sales work together to understand and interact with the buyer throughout their entire buying lifecycle — in a well-organized, timely and personalized way. An effective marketing campaign is often the first step in customer acquisition, the renewal process and keeping leads engaged.

Most companies using marketing automation begin by applying it to email marketing, then scale it in different directions, based on need. Want to know what’s right for your business? We’ve got 20 possibilities for you.

20 Ways Marketing Automation Can Refine Your Marketing and Sales Process

1. Create and manage email marketing campaigns with less time and effort.
2. Apply qualification metrics to leads and contacts.
3. Segment the database to support targeted, personalized campaigns.
4. Nurture leads with timed content, to help them progress through the sales funnel.
5. See and understand lead behaviour as leads move along or drop out of the sales funnel.
6. Score leads to indicate sales readiness.
7. Synchronize leads to the CRM system as they qualify.
8. Help sales engage more effectively with buyers by using intelligence gathered at multiple touch points.
9. Reduce costs by consolidating point tools.
10. Reduce costs by saving time.
11. Handle increased workloads without additional staff or specialized technical skills.
12. Improve sales response times through information sharing between marketing and sales.
13. Respond 24/7/365 with no downtime, no overtime, and no need for training or retraining.
14. Create set-it-and-forget-it drip campaigns.
15. Publish to multiple social accounts with one action.
16. Eliminate manual data entry for webinar and event registrations.
17. Manage all communications around webinars and events, from initial promotions to final follow-up.
18. Get comprehensive understanding of each lead and customer by integrating marketing automation and CRM systems.
19. Build complex marketing campaigns that coordinate multiple channels and messages automatically and in accordance with pre-strategized, lead-nurturing timeframes.
20. Demonstrate marketing’s contribution to the company’s number of deals, and revenue.

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No matter which way you choose, marketing automation will help you streamline your marketing and lead generation process and provide structure to how you want your buyer to interact with your product or service. The end result benefits both you and the buyer.

Looking for more information about why your business needs marketing automation? Download our comprehensive eBook below.

SOURCE:http://www.bedigitalgiants.com/marketing-automation-basics-how-businesses-are-using-it/