The benefits of marketing automation

This blog post covers the benefits you can expect to have from implementing marketing automation into your organization. Marketing automation is used to execute recurring actions. More or less complex technological tools are used, depending on the strategy you want to speed up, for example, email marketing or paid campaigns.

When a company is automating its marketing, it's often a response to the need to carry out its digital strategies effectively and agilely. New communication channels, such as social networks, require instant, personal and direct action with users. The so-called "marketing automation" aims to meet this objective in the shortest possible time.

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What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation is usually referred to as a process where technology is used to automate repetitive tasks undertaken regularly. Marketing automation processes are based on software that monitors and adjusts its digital efforts; for example, it could handle target audience segmentation, email campaigns, or lead scoring. These systematic processes dealt with by the software improve the conversion rates by allowing the ability to follow up with customers in an unobtrusive way, saving costs while having better efficiency.

Keep in mind that the use of marketing automation software is of little use on its own. To achieve a successful implementation of "marketing automation," there must be a strategy behind, that is, a structured plan on which actions to take and their respective target.

An essential factor for marketing automation to gain results is the definition of the best buyer personas or clients. Once we know the profiles of those customers, it is necessary to identify your sales funnel to guide you towards conversion with those profiles in mind.

Automating these processes makes it possible to act on many users without neglecting the personal and close relationship they require. Automating should never be confused with depersonalizing.

• Recommended reading: A brief overview of what marketing automation is, by Stellan.

What actions can be automated?

Used well, automation is a powerful tool with which it is possible to carry out many actions that would be impossible to carry out manually.

Let's look at some examples:

• Segment the target audience
  A primary functionality in marketing automation tools is the possibility to quickly and efficiently segment your database of leads. Forget about manual handling using Excel and other slow and labour-intensive methods. A standard way of segmenting contacts is from their sales funnel phase. This will better guide them to conversion by reaching out with relevant and timely communication.
  
  
• Personalize communication
  Through automation, you can easily segment potential customers into groups based on their interests and preferences. The knowledge about the contacts is continuously gathered by the marketing automation software when they receive marketing emails, visit your website, or click on your social media posts. The data could then be transformed, enriched, and used in other customer touchpoints like personalized marketing emails, website visits, or retargeting campaigns.
  
  
• Schedule posts
  With the ability to schedule campaigns, social media content, and marketing emails using your marketing automation tool, you can plan and create your content and publications beforehand, which will save you a lot of time. The campaigns and the posted content will also reach the receiver at the optimal time.
  
  
• Monitor actions
  Implementing "marketing automation" in your digital strategy allows you to monitor all the marketing efforts per segment of contacts. Using reports and dashboards, you can easily follow the performance of your campaigns, social posts, and email campaigns. Many marketing automation tools also allow you to monitor your website traffic, giving you an excellent overview of how your marketing actions are interacting with each other.
  
  
• Boost your brand on multiple channels
  With some marketing automation tools, you can organize and control campaigns in all communication channels, such as social networks where you are present. In this way, it will be much easier to gain visibility and reach more potential customers.

Recommended readings on the topic:

• Marketing automation examples - Doug Bolton lists a few standard automation flows that you can set up quickly which can keep your contacts satisfied, engaged, and simplify your day at work.
• An overview of marketing automation examples - More real-world examples of when marketing automation can take care of time-consuming tasks.

The top 5 benefits of using marketing automation

Endless amounts of reports and articles explain the benefits of marketing automation. Some show wildly successful numbers, and one can question whether the author shows positive figures. Still, we know from having deployed such tactics for a decade that they work, and we have learned which benefits to expect after a successful implementation of marketing automation.

1. Time optimization
   Automating actions saves a tremendous amount of work. Manually managing large databases is slow and not without errors. Thus, efficiency is one of the significant benefits of marketing automation.
2. Higher productivity
   Companies that use "marketing automation" improve the efficiency of marketing actions and the productivity of their work teams.
3. Channel integration
   Many marketing automation tools allow several communication channels to be integrated into the same platform. Thanks to this, consistency is gained in contact with users.
4. Smart digital strategy
   The digital strategy benefits from marketing automation by offering personalized content to users according to their interactions with the brand in the different communication channels. Thus, the effectiveness of the marketing strategy is enhanced.
5. Automation of inbound marketing
   The inbound marketing strategy can be supported by automation to increase traffic to the website, generate leads and create actions to convert them into customers. Thanks to marketing automation, the right actions are put in place at the right time to guide potential customers.

If you're interested in learning more about marketing automation, make sure to take a look at our in-depth automation guide. A more detailed version of the guide is also available to download below.

If you want to know how effective marketing automation is? Or which industry uses marketing automation the most? Check out our article Marketing automation statistics: What you need to know