There might be over 6000+ marketing technologies (MarTech) in use by businesses today. And if you’re using some of them, I’m sure you feel like a juggler in a Vegas circus act. There are days when you shout out proudly “I’m a great Juggler!”  And, then those other times where you’re confused, weighed down, and out of breath, and dropping balls.

As marketing channels grow in size and complexity, the task of synthesizing messaging, lead conversion, and customer engagement is becoming unwieldy.  What SMBs have wished for is software that brings marketing activities under one umbrella. The good news is these solutions exist today, and they’re called Marketing Automation Platforms.

A fast growing number of marketing automation adopters are reporting excellent results. The wonderful thing about these platforms is that it’s not only making the job of the digital marketer easier, it’s improving overall campaign success.  Better orchestration of campaigns is a strong desire, yet they’re seeing many other benefits.

91% of the most successful users say marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their marketing programs – Marketo/Ascend2’s report titled Marketing Automation Strategies for Sustaining Success

What is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments to integrate multiple channels online for improved communications and customer engagement. The are referred to as the “centre” of the marketing campaign because they enable multi-channel tracking, scoring, and automated flows based on visitor behaviour – something that marketers have had to previously do manually.

Marketing Automation Software Taming the Clutter

To manage the mass of diverse media channels and communications being used, software developers have built amazing marketing automation software solutions. These allow marketers to synchronize campaigns involving social media, email, paid advertising, and more. Since activity is coordinated under one program, performance analytics is more accurate and reliable. Better decisions on budgeting, media, and messaging are what results.

The graphic above really attest to the value of marketing automation in everything from cross channel campaign results to overall revenue growth, to the return on marketing investment. Now the CFO, CMO, and CEO have reliable information on what is working and what might not be.

Now let’s look at some of the most valuable features of a marketing automation platform.

The Top Features of Marketing Automation

You’d think that automating lead nurturing would destroy the subtle process of moving prospects closer to a sale. In fact, the automation actually improves prospect engagement, and delivers timely, personalized messaging to more customers. It makes the massive job of emailing, advertising, and social posting a breeze. And it lets marketers interact and respond personally when needed.

Analytics and reporting are much improved since the execution of campaigns is trackable and provides more detailed feedback about reach, responses, activity, engagement, and revenue sources.

Customers often don’t get enough of the right information to stay engaged and come to a purchase decision. Automation provides better timing of campaigns to maximize reach and impact, and discover what information is missing. In fact, marketing automation has open the door to many other innovative ways to engage your customers – something that was just not possible manually.

So while marketing automation eases your marketing workload, it also gives you better performance, and orchestrates your marketing assets. Even the best jugglers in the world can’t do that everyday!

Want to learn more? Contact Us about how Marketing Automation might save you money and help generate better marketing and sales results.

Goose Digital provides Managed Marketing Automation Services to help businesses accelerate their success with these technologies. We are a Act-On Enterprise Agency Partner and have implementations under Act-On, HubSpot, and Marketo.