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Published September 06th, 2016 by

A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Automation Tools

A Beginner's Guide to Marketing Automation Tools 1

Having a marketing automation tool is a must-have in today’s digital world. And why not? It is intended for you to prioritize and carry out your marketing strategies more effectively by making it more efficient and aerodynamic for your sales and marketing needs. It could improve your lead management scores, boosts your nurturing campaigns and organizes your campaign and segmentation management. This article will talk about the basics of marketing automation, starting with a brief description about it.

What Is Marketing Automation Software?

Marketing Automation has a lot of descriptions but according to HubSpot, it is a software that helps achieve marketing automation by automating recurring tasks.

What Are the Common Features of Marketing Automation?

Each email marketing automation software has its own unique feature it offers. Here are some common features that you can find in marketing automation.

  1. Content management. The ability to run your website just the way you want it. You can customize your blogs, add scripts and content, personalize your landing pages and integrate dynamic content such as media files.
  2. Lead scoring. It is a scoring guide to find out if leads are ready to become potential customers for your business. You can find out where your customer stands in your business by using this scoring guide.
  3. Campaign management. Three important campaigns you can focus on are the drip campaigns, the triggered campaigns and the multiple-channel campaigns. Drip campaigns also called nurturing campaigns because it provides relevant content to your customers and keeps them engaged. Triggered campaigns are the next step to drip campaigns. They provide custom actions to your customers’ reactions. Multiple-channel campaigns are used for users that utilize multiple platforms and are great for upselling and renewing existing customers and capturing quality leads.
  4. Web analytics tools. Web analytics can let you find out the demographics of your users data, how they use your website and what content they commonly view.
  5. Content management and tracking. Find out more about your customers data and their preferences.
  6. Email marketing. Email marketing is the main aspect of marketing automation. Just make a quick search and you will see that all the best marketing automation tools that have this feature. It is very important to send customized email campaigns to your users but you can also use other platforms to reach out.
  7. Mobile marketing. Just like email marketing, you should be able to send out personalized marketing content to your users. The only difference is that you use mobile devices in order to convey your messages.
  8. Social media integration. Social media users are expanding every day. It is a great way to connect with your users and close more deals faster.
  9. The ability to import and export your data. Importing and exporting your data fast is a great way to integrate your data with other resources that you have.
  10. Filtering and segmentation. You will be able to categorize your users according to their behavior and spending profiles. You will be able to provide them a personalized experience by giving them opportunities applicable to their category.
  11. Optimization for conversion. Using A/B testing or bucket testing can help you discover your customers’ preferences by using comparison tests.
  12. Remarketing and retargeting. Let your users know that you care about them by sending out quick notifications or updates about your business or their accounts.

These are just some features that marketing automation has to offer. Find out what you need for your business and let the tool guide you in your marketing strategies. BostonInteractive has compiled a great infographic about the features of marketing automation. CrowdReviews.com’s reviews of marketing automation tools can also be a great help for you in choosing the kind of software you need.

Why Do You Use Marketing Automation?

If you are taking into consideration in purchasing a marketing automation software, you need to find out more about its benefits and expectations. To sum it quickly, marketing automation is optimizing your resources in your marketing campaigns and determining what strategies to create in generating leads and make current customers stay in the company. Other benefits include:

  1. Marketing automation saves time. How? There are different ways it can save time. Not only it lessens the time it takes to create marketing campaigns, it also reduces the time to manage them, most especially social media campaigns, nurturing lead campaigns and lead generation campaigns. By managing your campaign data into one dashboard, it is easier to keep track of your leads and your campaign’s progress. It also cuts down the time for your lead conversions because your sales methods are faster and more efficient.
  2. You also save time by staying organized and plan your posting agendas and campaigns beforehand. Not only you can schedule your messages on time, you can make them personalized depending your customers’ needs. The more time you have by having repetitive tasks automated, the more creativity your employees can think of.
  3. It saves you money. It can help you effectively manage your finances by generating quality leads and getting more sales. It also can reduce your staffing needs. It collects you data using the user profiles you have and use it for future campaigns.
  4. It provides you accurate analysis reports. It is all about the accuracy. Accurate reports can assist you determining what needs to be improved in your campaigns and what needs to be eliminated.
  5. It helps you provide consistency and reliability. Providing regular content with your users can establish reliability. You can also show consistency with them by giving them regular updates and notifications about what’s new with the company.
  6. It promotes your brands awareness. By focusing on other tasks aside from marketing automation, your sales and marketing team can promote your brand presence on various channels like Facebook, email, text messages and many more. This can help future customers recognize your company and associate with you.
  7. It helps you improve your marketing and sales campaigns. It facilitates and guides your customers all throughout the experience in your company, from being a stranger to a loyal customer. They actively participate in lead generation campaigns, support in nurturing campaigns and make sure your existing customers are happy with your company.

Choosing a marketing automation tool can be very tiresome because it has a lot of features to choose from and it might not be the right software for your business. SimplyCast’s has an article about the benefits of marketing automation if you wish to learn more.

Who Uses Marketing Automation?

Before, only the large companies use marketing automation but nowadays even small businesses can benefit from it as long as they have the following:

  • Lead management
  • Lead generation campaigns
  • Email marketing
  • Social media marketing
  • Reporting and analytics

If you have one or more of this in your business and would like to improve on it, you can use marketing automation. You can find out if this software is right for you by checking out the best marketing automation tools in the market today.

What Are the Things to Consider in Marketing Automation?

There are five things to consider if you are looking for a marketing automation strategy. These are:

  1. Functionality and features. With the many features this software has to offer, you need to look for one with features that you can use. It must be scalable even for future use. Find out if they offer customer support or training opportunities if needed.
  2. Pricing and costs. This is very crucial in why you need to get this software. If you are using this software but it is depleting your revenue, stop and evaluate your choices. Choose the software that is within your budget and include costs such as set up fees. You can consider getting add-ons instead of upgrading.
  3. The use of the software can integrate to the other tools you already have. Most often than not, the ability to integrate it with a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool is a sought after feature in marketing automation.
  4. Product positioning. The software should have a great reputation and has made innovations about their product. They also should have resources that you can use for offline support.
  5. Reviews and feedback from others who used the software. What better way to find out client testimonies and feedbacks from the software by reading CrowdReviews.com’s reviews of marketing automation tools?

You can find more about this information by reading PR2020’s article. If you’re still unsure if you need marketing automation for your business, you can read Marketo’s slideshow presentation or watch their video. Reading the top marketing automation tools can also help you decide on what software to purchase.

Marketing automation can help you prioritize your marketing strategies and improve your customer experiences. Providing the right content to the right person using the right tools and platforms can increase your business’ overall growth and return of investment. Why not take a look at CrowdReviews.com’s marketing automation software reviews and find out what software’s best for you?

Keith Moore

Keith Moore has worked with several leading Android development agencies to build customized mobile apps enabling businesses to extend the use of their services to smart phones and mobile devices.

Our rankings are completely independent, transparent, and community driven; they are based on user reviews and client sentiment. These marketing automation software companies had to earn their way up and didn't just pay their way up.

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