The job of a Marketing Manager or CMO requires juggling different channels, messages and even target groups. Without a degree of automation, it’s difficult to keep track of all of the communications, all of the activities.
Many companies are now venturing into marketing automation – not least because the tools have been in use successfully for a long time and deliver a high ROI.
When properly set up, marketing automation can better align marketing activities, qualify leads and deliver important performance data via the sales funnel.
Reasons for getting started with marketing automation
1. Relevance: When your marketing activities are not working as well as you would like them to
Without a marketing automation solution, it can be difficult to get the data you need to determine exactly how well your marketing activities are working. With marketing automation solutions or reporting tools, you can easily see how successful the activities are. The basis for this is the smooth integration of the marketing automation platform with the website and other digital channels.
2. Top of mind: If your buying journey is too long
The customer journey to the conclusion of the purchase can take a long time and unnecessarily stress sales staff. This happens when colleagues process customers at the wrong time.
Thanks to automated communication and lead scoring, you can help shape the customer’s decision-making process and, in the best case, even shorten it.
By evaluating the leads, only qualified contacts who are ready to buy are forwarded to the sales team. The sales department can then concentrate on the conclusion and has to spend less time on clarification, as this has already been done automatically in the sales funnel process.
3. Many Systems: When you don’t have enough data to segment your leads
Personalized communication is the key to customer interaction. If content is king, then let’s say personalized content is the conqueror. To win over a customer, you have to know them.
With marketing automation software you can segment your contacts according to characteristics and behavior shown and thus assign them to a step in the customer journey. This way you achieve a higher conversion rate across the entire sales funnel.
4. Focus: If you miss good leads
Without automation, it is a challenge to cultivate leads. This is an opportunity for well-positioned competitors. On the other hand, if you actively nurture your leads, both sales and profits can increase.
B2B companies in particular are currently relying on marketing automation and are getting better and better at it. With marketing automation, you deliver relevant content at the right moment and recognize when the lead is ready to buy – then the right offer is already waiting.
5. Too few leads: If the lead list is too small
Working on leads effectively can be a chore. An organization quickly reaches its limits here. At the same time, she needs more leads to keep the company profitable or to grow.
Once you’ve set up marketing automation, you can capture more leads through the website and other digital channels, segment the list, send them targeted messages, and move more contacts through the sales funnel.
This is how you get started with marketing automation
The introduction of marketing automation represents a strategic change and usually has implications for marketing and sales processes. That’s how it should be!
Because we want to benefit from the opportunities that arise and align ourselves more purposefully. Nevertheless, we do not want to act hastily and burn resources and, in the worst case, customers.
A conscious examination of the topic and the challenges for the organization, the processes and the employees is therefore essential.
Getting started with marketing automation
- Find out about the Functions of marketing automation solutions
- Work out a set of guidelines for getting started with marketing automation. For example with the practical Introductory model
- Compare the various open source and cloud providers and find the right marketing automation software for you
