With marketing automation to higher sales growth

The field of marketing automation or in German marketing automation is growing rapidly. On average, according to Emailmonday, 51 percent of companies currently use professional marketing automation software. For small and medium-sized companies in particular, it is becoming increasingly important to be up to date with this trend. This is the only way they can keep up with the competition and operate successfully.

In simple terms, marketing automation is a software solution to streamline marketing activities and processes. It's a technology that enables marketing and sales departments to design, implement and automate online marketing campaigns and sales activities that increase sales and maximize business efficiency.

With the help of intelligent and automated workflows, marketing automation software supports companies in creating the optimal conditions for both potential and existing customers to have a positive customer experience.

By automating certain marketing processes and integrating evaluation processes through the implementation of such a platform, lead management is optimized and the profitability of the company is improved. This is also confirmed by the figures from the marketing service provider CMO : Marketing automation increases sales productivity by 14.5 percent and reduces marketing expenses by 12.2 percent.

Marketing automation benefits and goals

Nearly 70 percent of marketers surveyed by software company Liana Technologies believe that improved targeting of key messages is the top benefit of marketing automation, followed by improved customer experience (45.9%), improved lead quality (37.7 %) and a higher number of leads (34.9%). In other words, with marketing automation software, your marketing will get better!

These benefits automatically go hand in hand with the goal of marketing automation. These are listed below:

• Optimizing productivity
• Increase in marketing ROI
• Improve campaign management
• Improving database quality
• Get more customers
• performance measurement
• Align marketing and sales

Overview of the essential features

In contrast to pure e-mail marketing solutions, which often only offer basic or bulk e-mail functions, users with professional marketing automation software have a much broader and more advanced range of functions at their disposal:

• Advanced email marketing: Allows the user to understand complex developments based on the behavior of a prospect or an existing customer and to create connections (also known as "drip marketing").
• Creating a landing page: A landing page is specifically designed to get users to take action, while your home page and other pages on your site don't. With the help of marketing automation tools, you can customize your landing page to the needs of your target group or target groups.
• Lead Generation Forms: In the context of marketing automation, you have the option of using certain forms that allow you to collect customer data. The collected data can then be used to customize future communications.
• Segmentation of your target groups: The creation of dynamic segments based on data on socio-demographic user information and recorded user behavior instead of contact uploads and static distribution lists creates the prerequisite for a more targeted customer approach.
• Lead Scoring: Lead scoring is an essential marketing tool. The lead score is a measure of how likely a prospect is to become an actual customer. This score is calculated based on customer characteristics, defined by information they provide to your business through forms or specific conversations, and their behavior in the form of interactions on your website or via email.
• Triggered emails (auto-responders): Triggered emails are automated marketing messages based on a prospect's behavior. They are extremely effective as they are inherently user relevant and timely. Marketing automation software will help you generate these types of automated emails.
• Dynamic content: If your marketing automation campaign is successfully directing many users to a landing page, it's important to make the content on that page relevant to each person. With the help of dynamic content, the landing page is personalized differently for each user. Dynamic content is based on a function that evaluates a variable that belongs to each user and adapts the offer to personal user preferences based on this variable.
• Personalized content: With marketing automation, personalizing content such as emails, newsletters, website, etc. - according to the individual requirements of your defined personas is very easy. You can use a variety of automation software to personalize mass e-mails, for example by integrating the personal address of the recipient and sending the e-mail at the time when the respective user goes online for the first time in the morning. Integrating such elements will make your emails more personal. When a contact receives an email that looks like it was personalized for them, they are more likely to open it.
• Cross-channel campaigns: It's important that you communicate consistent marketing messages to your target audience. Customers no longer rely on a single channel to learn about products and services. With cross-channel marketing automation, you can direct and holistically target interactions and automated responses and content based on the context of how, when, where and why customers interact with your brand.
• Social media integration: You no longer need to access a tool every morning and schedule your social media posts for the day or send out individual emails. Thanks to modern marketing automation, you can plan everything you need in advance. This gives you more capacity for other marketing activities and you can focus your energy on actual customer communication.
• Make marketing ROI measurable: Professional marketing automation software makes it easier for companies to quantify the success of their marketing measures. When trying to measure the ROI of your campaigns, it is very important that your data is meaningful and complete. Your sales team must therefore use the relevant CRM consistently and enter all relevant data as accurately as possible.

CRM versus marketing automation: the best of both worlds

Marketing automation is not the same as a CRM system. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM software is a tool used to store contact information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, sales figures, as well as user behavior and conversations or interactions that companies have had with customers. In contrast, marketing automation, as the name suggests, is more focused on a company's approach to marketing.

While both systems are extremely efficient and effective tools on their own, the combination of CRM and marketing automation software is even more powerful. When you use a marketing automation tool along with a CRM integration, you can centrally view, measure, and control your customers' sales and marketing activities across departments.

Conclusion: Anyone who knows more about customers, campaigns & Co. has a clear advantage

Can you identify, locate and engage with individual buyers online? Do you have the option of using an overview list of your customers and their data on user and purchasing behavior to prioritize a ranking based on their purchase probability? Can you filter your leads based on engagement and interest? Are you able to measure the contribution to sales of each of your marketing campaigns?

If this is not already the case for your business, then you should definitely consider implementing marketing automation software. Marketing automation is a powerful tool, especially for small and medium-sized companies, which results in more efficient processes and stronger customer loyalty in the long term and sustainably.

Marketing automation helps align marketing and sales across departments. Marketing automation software makes it easier to collect and use customer data and helps companies better understand their potential and existing customers. When used correctly, marketing automation helps increase sales and new business, thereby fueling business growth.