Marketing Automation: Definition Of Terms And Benefits

Marketing automation is a software-based platform for more efficient planning and execution of marketing and sales processes. Here you can find out what advantages this has for you and your company in terms of lead generation .

What marketing automation means

First of all: Every company faces the challenge of winning prospects, qualifying them and finally converting them into customers. Processes and routines are used for this that were previously carried out manually and not systematically. However, anything that is not processed systematically or even automatically is easily forgotten in operational business or only processed sporadically.

Marketing automation is therefore a tried and tested way to digitize and automate recurring marketing and sales processes – using a software platform. Companies can thus plan and implement sales and marketing campaigns more efficiently. In addition, the success of marketing measures can be better measured.

What are the advantages of marketing automation for companies?

Companies can focus more on the customer acquisition process and accompany the customer along the so-called customer journey. From the first contact on the Internet to the first purchase.

In detail, companies benefit from marketing automation as follows:

• Routine tasks in sales and marketing are simplified, optimized and automated.
• Customer communication is improved on all channels.
• More and higher-quality leads (contacts) are gained – the sales pipeline is expanded faster.
• Companies can use customer data in a targeted manner for specific, tailor-made marketing campaigns .
• This leads to higher customer satisfaction and a higher closing rate .
• Companies save time and money.
• This relieves the marketing and sales department because routine tasks are automated.
• Marketing campaigns can be better tracked .
• Multichannel marketing and the ability to combine data from different sources.
• The cooperation between marketing and sales is optimized.
• Smaller companies can compete with larger competitors who have much larger marketing and sales departments with targeted marketing automation.

Which processes can be optimized with the help of marketing automation?

As already mentioned, every company faces the challenge of attracting qualified prospects and ultimately converting them into customers. Almost every customer goes through this process. And this very process can be automated.

This can be in detail:

• Lead generation can be largely automated .
• Interested parties are provided with needs-based content immediately after contact via e-mail marketing .
• As a result, they end up more qualified in the sales pipeline .
• Information about customer relationships is continuously collected, analyzed and interpreted. The data obtained is used to continuously optimize the processes. Tasks such as sending the newsletter, making contact or providing content are individualized and automated.
• Customer communication can be automated. Birthday wishes or shopping cart reminders are sent automatically.
• Customer data is stored centrally and in one place and all departments in the company can access this data.

The hurdles for companies

Marketing automation isn’t something companies can pull out of the blue overnight. If no functioning marketing has existed before, marketing automation will not deliver better results overnight. Often enough, there are problems with implementation because there are fundamental challenges to be overcome. These challenges are:

• Digitization progress: In many companies, digitization has not yet progressed as far as it is necessary for software-based automation.
• Specialists: There is a lack of trained specialists who have mastered both marketing and IT.
• Content: There is not enough quality content.
• Resources: There is not always enough budget available or approved.
• Infrastructure: The marketing infrastructure is spread across too many channels and databases.
• Cross-departmental collaboration: Marketing and sales don’t work together enough, making the process of marketing automation more difficult.

Conclusion

Marketing automation is not a one-time thing, but an ongoing optimization process. It’s a proven way for companies to streamline the customer acquisition process. In this way, more and higher-quality leads are obtained. There is no silver bullet how a company starts here. The clear commitment is important: We want to start with marketing automation, seize the opportunities, improve customer loyalty and gain experience. This requires motivation for all employees involved and the right digital mindset.