Why does my organisation need Marketing Automation?

Marketing Automation has been a buzzword in marketing circles for quite a while now. Big Data, Marketing automation, Content Marketing… are all now part of the marketing lingo & there has been enough chatter over it on the Internet.

Adding to this chatter & trying to make some sense of it, I would like to de-mystify some things about Marketing Automation.

What is Marketing Automation? 

Marketing Automation is automation of your marketing tasks. So these tasks can include your lead capture management, CRM integration, email & SMS management, reporting, analytics & data integration, lead nurturing systems…Taking a glance at all these tasks tells us that it must be all backed-up by a technology platform.

Marketing Automation is simply that technological platform that performs the entire daily, repetitive marketing functions to help streamline operations to generate higher conversions and allow greater bandwidth for more value generating activities.

It would be easier if we understand each of the functions that are automated.

Lead Capture & Nurturing to CRM Integration –

Marketing Automation allows setting up forms through which all the enquiries can be funneled into different segments automatically. The leads are automatically routed to the CRM. Different segments of leads can be nurtured using customized communication modules as part of the CRM.

Marketers can thus focus on which are the best sources of lead capture & accordingly narrow their attention to nurture the leads likely to convert.

E-mail /SMS Marketing -

Marketers generally gauge the e-mail campaign response through the responses they receive, number of clicks & even open rates. Marketing automation combines all these track-able metrics with the individual lead profile data to understand the lead behavior. It is a part of the lead nurturing programs to push leads down the sales funnel.

Bulk SMS platforms can be integrated as part of the Marketing Automation platforms to send reminders, updates, and offers as part of the lead nurturing programs.

Reporting Module –

Detailed campaign reports can be generated at the click of a button through marketing automation platforms. Real-time snapshots of active campaigns are only possible through this. All campaign data including Google Analytics data can be integrated into the platform to give a detailed analysis of your online campaigns.

With various customization options available, reports directed towards lower management to top management could be automatically scheduled as & when required.

What are the positives of Marketing Automation?

-       Through auto processes of capture, routing to sales & nurturing the leads, marketers can focus on conversion ratios, optimizing campaign & creating strategies.

-       Minimizes the labor costs on tedious marketing related administrative activities.

-       Data integration at a single place / platform. It helps to analyze & compare the performance & get immediate insights in company’s  marketing plans.

-       Due to integration with CRM, a constant feedback from the sales team is possible. It helps in maintaining the transparency between sales & marketing departments.

-       Entire marketing to sales cycle can be visualized to get insights on the lead-to-conversion funnel helping calculate ROI effectively.

-       There is greater efficiency in the entire business cycle due to auto appraisals on every individual / team performance.

Most importantly, the cost of implementing marketing automation is far less compared to the benefits & value that can be extracted out of it. Due to cloud server technologies (SaaS model), it is viable even for small businesses.

With increasing pressure on today’s marketer to take care of a multitude of different channels, marketing automation software not only helps an organization to stay abreast of latest developments but also to remain competitive.

In the next blog, I will talk about how marketing automation can be useful for real estate domain & how Amura’s own marketing automation tool – Sell.do and how it can prove to be a powerful tool in a real estate marketer’s arsenal.

Credits – Atul Jethmalani