To answer the first question, it is important to note that this term refers to software that enables you to convert leads into customers. This software is made up of a complete set of tactical level tools that help ensure that all the necessary conversion management is not manual but automated.
How can that be achieved through software? While it's not simple, it's definitely c level or decision maker email list not impossible either. Imagine you're trying to grow a plant. To do this, you first need fertile soil, seeds, and finally, enough water and light for it to develop properly.
The marketing automation process is a lot like growing a plant. First you need leads (seeds), quality content (fertile soil), and content and nurturing and conversion processes (light and water) to turn your prospects into customers and delight them into fans. It’s certainly not a simple process.
The reality of automation in the marketing world
Like any software tool, if it isn't supported by processes, no matter how solid it is, it won't help you much if you don't have an organic lead source. Many have made purchased lists their first source of leads, and in doing so have earned themselves a spot on the internet spammers' list.
Others have delegated the entire responsibility of converting leads into customers to software without further management or focusing on a single task, that of email. Obviously, the result has been very poor, and for this reason, many technology implementations in marketing departments have failed.
It is important to evaluate not only the automation software, but also the level of clarity and sophistication of your processes and the level of knowledge you have of your buyer persona . This will undoubtedly help you make an investment with a return and that effectively contributes to the growth of your company.
Why do you need to think about automation for your company?
Software Advice recently conducted a survey on the benefits and reasons why companies acquire automation tools. The results show that there are 3 main reasons why a marketing department needs to make the technological leap:
Companies need technology to be more efficient: 40% of respondents to Software Advice's survey indicated that their main reason for purchasing such software is the need to improve their lead management. This is not unusual since 60% of website visitors are not ready to buy but are simply researching. That means that companies that have a way to capture these people's data and feed it into an automated nurturing and conversion process have a huge competitive advantage over companies that use their digital assets only as window dressing.
The need to demonstrate ROI on marketing investment is growing: According to the survey cited above, 81% of companies are looking for lead nurturing features and 64% for analytics capabilities from such software. The capabilities of native social media analytics tools and Google fall short when it comes to identifying the ROI of each channel, campaign, action and offer a company makes. If your company is looking to understand which medium works best to attract prospects and convert them into customers, you have a powerful reason to start thinking about automation tools.
