Imagine an automobile engine for a second. There are thousands of parts that accomplish a single task, and, when they all work together, accomplish a single, overall goal―provide power to the car. If a spark plug isn’t providing spark, gas can’t be ignited and pistons won’t pump; if the timing doesn’t sync the crankshaft and camshaft, engine valves won’t open and close when they’re supposed to (sidebar tip: get your timing chain replaced at manufacturer-recommended intervals; if it goes out, you may have to take on a second mortgage). Marketing Automation is similar to the automobile engine—if used, and used properly, it can mean your marketing efforts will operate at peak performance.
Marketing Automation combines strategies related to campaigns, social media, landing pages, blogs, analytics, paid ads, paid search, et al., and, when they’re synced up and pushing results into your company’s CRM of choice, greatly enhances marketing efforts. It’s basically a set of tools that streamlines and simplifies what, if done without the help of automation, would be insanely time-consuming. So time-consuming, in fact, that most companies will stop well short of what automation delivers.
Here’s what’s so cool about marketing automation—it bridges that decades-old gap that has always existed between sales and marketing organizations. It qualifies lead-gen processes while creating a centralized hub of all marketing activities. Prior to the digital age of marketing, when print and broadcast ads and direct mail were the marketing tactics of the day, tracking the success of those efforts was fairly simple; at least simple when compared to today, when you have an array of mediums that are screaming for your attention.
With marketing automation, you can better identify your audience—which leads to better content creation—and kick off actions based on customer behavior. Campaigns can easily be launched, organic and paid search can be launched and measured with a few keystrokes, social media efforts can be analyzed, the amount of time website visitors spend on your site can be calculated, and prospective customers can be ranked based on their level of interest. If one is opening your emails, following you, and spending a lot of time on your website, those can trigger additional actions, not the least of which is forwarding that information into the CRM the sales department uses every day. Tracking and reporting are easier; key metrics can be generated with a few clicks. It makes marketing departments look like superheroes.
Questions about marketing automation?
Talk to the tenured, highly experienced marketing automation professionals at d2 Designs, Dallas/Ft. Worth’s most innovative digital marketing agency. d2 creates, executes, and manages clients’ marketing automation efforts to ultimately, deliver qualified leads to their sales force. We’re experts at traditional media, social media, campaigns, SEO, ad buys, lead gen with key analytics, e-commerce, and producing experiential events. Check us out at d2.designs, or email us at info@d2.design. And please follow us via social media for more great, informative digital marketing tips and suggestions.