What is marketing automation and how does it work?
The secret of automation in the area of digital marketing lies in devoting only the necessary time to routine processes and fully focusing on where we are able to provide differential value
Marketing automation consists of the use of specific tools to implement digital marketing actions in an automated way. In other words, automating requires an act of planning and configuring all the steps involved in our digital marketing strategy, from content publishing to lead conversion.
The potential of marketing automation lies in the fact that a company can be able to perform complex processes within the marketing strategy. These processes can be developed without a great effort in economic terms and especially of human intervention time once they are configured through automatic execution thanks to software for the case of our choice.
Benefits of marketing automation
The main reason why we may find interesting to implement an automation system in our digital marketing strategy is the constant search for efficiency. In other words, to optimize the time of the workers within the company and manage each of the steps of the conversion funnel instantly and completely customized. Among the advantages of marketing automation:
- It provides a high level of efficiency and therefore reduces the costs and time that staff should devote to routine tasks.
- It allows to plan and execute highly complex digital marketing processes that, otherwise, its implementation would be practically impossible.
- It facilitates having greater control over the actions that are carried out and, in addition, simplifies its own monitoring.
- It allows to design a process of maturation of leads known as lead nurturing by which a greater customization of the contents for each client is achieved.
- Automatically set a lead scoring after detecting records that may be more prepared to receive a commercial offer taking into account their behavior.
What can I automate from my marketing strategy?
If a while ago emailing was basically the only digital marketing tool whose automation was standardized in the market, nowadays each phase of the conversion funnel can be completely automated, something that years ago would have been unthinkable:
- Capture traffic to our website. Automation of content publications on social networks, implementation and monitoring of PPC campaigns (both in Google Ads and social ads) and a personalized emailing strategy.
- Lead capture process. Appearance of pop-up windows based on user behavior as well as a chatbot to offer customer service to enjoy a better experience. Get leads from potential customers through downloadable material from the same website.
- Lead nurturing. Instantly updated information about visitors to know what stage of the conversion funnel they are in and how to continue feeding each particular lead.
- Conversion phase. Modification of every landing page depending on the client and/or the traffic source provided by the visits.
- Up selling and cross selling. While up selling is a technique that suggests the customer products of a higher range than what they are currently showing an interest, cross selling tries to inform about complementary products or services to the main purchase.
Essential tools for marketing automation
While it is true that nowadays there are an infinite number of tools in the market for the automation of concrete actions of digital marketing, some of them have positioned themselves as the standards of this particular market thanks to their marked trajectory and the value they contribute to the clients:
- Hubspot. Undisputed leader in the marketing automation sector, this tool grants a high level of automation and knowledge thanks to its integrated CRM.
- Marketo. Focused on large companies, it is a comprehensive solution to all the needs of both digital marketing and sales and financial management.
- Intercom. Specially aimed at customer loyalty and retention to a website, this tool offers solutions to improve the user experience with specific tools such as chatbots or product tours.
- Eloqua. Following the operation mechanics of others such as Hubspot or Marketo in terms of inbound marketing, this tool is an integral solution for marketing automation.
At BCM Marketing we help you implement a custom marketing automation for B2B industrial companies.
Ask us for a no obligation quote, at BCM Marketing we advise you on everything you need.
