Marketing automation is everything a company does to digitize, computerize or operationalize the routines of this sector with machines .
Based on the sales funnel model, the customer is classified into four stages, according to their position in the purchasing journey: visitors , leads, opportunities and sales.
Of these four phases, marketing has control over the first three and will shape actions based on the results, whether they are objective (number of people in each stage) or subjective (conversion rates from one phase to another).
This type of study allows you to understand whether campaigns are having the desired effect and also adjust the strategy and content as necessary.
Now that we’ve seen what marketing automation is, let’s look at the differences between automation and other seemingly similar solutions.
What is marketing automation for?
The main objective of marketing automation is to create personalized strategies for different buying journeys .
With the right approach, you can increase your company’s total sales and optimize your marketing and sales process to lower your customer acquisition costs (CAC).
You can also work on building loyalty with existing customers by offering exclusive discounts and maintaining an ongoing relationship .
We discussed the sales funnel above. Perhaps the biggest advantage of automation is precisely the ease of observing the data as a whole , ensuring that each phase proves effective in its objective of attraction, loyalty and final conversion.
When a person goes through all the stages of the funnel, but at the end of the journey, does not convert into a sale, the alert is activated.
You need to find out where the strategy is going wrong .
It may be an indication that marketing is not delivering a quality lead , that is, a potential customer who is genuinely interested in purchasing the product or service.
If your campaigns are reaching a large number of people, but they don’t continue to engage with your brand , visit your website, or click on your email marketing campaigns, there’s also a problem.
This may indicate flaws in the content offered. These things happen, the problem is when all of this escapes your radar , due to not having a marketing automation solution.
Differences between automation for marketing, email marketing and CRM
Marketing automation is actually the sum of processes , to which certain solutions are incorporated.
These solutions include tools used to send and manage email marketing, as well as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms .
Therefore, automation is the concept that, when implemented, can be operationalized using these two tools .
Is it possible to learn how to do marketing automation without them?
Yes, since automation is a term that refers to any type of solution that reduces dependence on manual labor.
Therefore, the fundamental difference between marketing automation, email marketing and CRM is that the first is conceptual , while the other two designate tools.
Key Benefits of Marketing Automation
As indicated in a publication by Oracle, the number of leads increases by 80% in companies that invest in marketing automation.
This data is already significant enough to realize that this is an investment that not only pays for itself, but can generate exponential profits.
Companies that automate their marketing operations gain in several strategic aspects by streamlining their routines.
They also gain much greater firepower by increasing their ability to use data in their strategies.
Understand below the benefits that this type of solution can generate in the short and long term.
Lead generation and management
Oracle’s research also reveals that companies that invest in marketing automation can improve their lead qualification by up to 451%.
With more qualified leads, the sales process becomes much more predictable and, as a result, management has a clearer vision of its commercial actions .
It no longer depends on chance or seasonality, guiding its decisions by data generated by software and other automation platforms.
Email marketing is perhaps the best example of how this happens, as this solution provides a much greater capacity in terms of attracting and nurturing leads.
Agility in CRM
According to a survey published on the Pipeline website, 54% of sales professionals trust CRM platforms to interact with their leads.
The same publication points out that, for 70% of sales representatives, this type of automation solution helps to close more deals .
Automating customer relationships via CRM is, therefore, the best way to organize the flow of communication , preventing opportunities from being lost.
This is because it increases control over each contact, generating valuable records that can later be used to map purchasing behavior.
Mapping purchasing behavior
Since we’re talking about it, every company that wants to sell more and better needs, at some point, to have a deeper understanding of the purchasing behavior of its customers and leads.
Automation is perfect in this sense, mainly because it allows you to work with large volumes of data.
Once processed by CRM tools or even ERPs, this data can generate highly valuable insights , better directing strategies.
It is a way of entering the era of big data , in which decisions are guided by large volumes of data, processed by CRM, ERP or BI software.
Defining the customer journey
One of the biggest challenges companies face, especially when they are just starting out, is developing a sales process that consistently generates customers .
Because they don’t have a consolidated lead base, they have difficulty understanding what makes people interested in learning about their solutions until they close a deal.
This is the so-called customer journey , that is, everything that happens from the moment a person becomes aware of a product until the moment of sale.
Automation is essential in this regard , since, when working with data, its tools open up a new field of possibilities, by identifying the path that customers take until they make a purchase.
More agile communication
Another challenge that marketing automation helps to overcome is establishing agile communication channels that effectively bring people together.
This applies not only to the relationship between company and customer, but also within organizations themselves.
After all, a company that does not communicate well internally tends to replicate this same difficulty when trying to communicate with the external public .
Furthermore, today’s customer is omnichannel , a behavior characterized by the ability (and desire) to communicate with brands through different channels.
Content optimization
One of the digital strategies for capturing and retaining leads and customers is search engine optimization (SEO) .
To do this, you first need to know which keywords generate the most traffic, thus attracting more leads.
This is a process that demands automation solutions, not only for searching for these words, but also for selecting the most appropriate ones .
Marketing automation is equally important for mapping the competition in a content production strategy.
Keyword research tools can generate customized reports , for example, performing a comparative analysis between websites to detect opportunities and problems.
Increase in conversion rates
A case study conducted by Sales Mangos shows that automation can generate a 500% and even 1000% increase in key email marketing KPIs.
Go -Globe endorses this statistic, revealing that 75% of marketing departments have managed to increase their conversion rates thanks to automation.
Improved decision-making process
Adding marketing automation solutions also brings a benefit that makes all the difference to business: improving the decision-making process .
The company gains in business intelligence , so that, when deciding to make investments or cut costs, it knows exactly why it is doing it and how to do it.