According to Oracle, marketing automation can increase a business’s lead generation by 80%. If you run a business and want to increase sales, this is a business aspect worth looking into. An increase in lead generation will also impact your sales and revenue generation.

As a business owner or marketer, there’s a lot you should know about marketing automation. It is critical to understand what marketing automation means, how it works, its benefits, and how you can apply it. This article will take an in-depth look at marketing automation.

Here’s everything you should know.

What Is Marketing Automation?

The first step is to know what we mean by marketing automation. Well, according to Hubspot, marketing automation is the use of software to handle monotonous marketing tasks. It can be tiresome to execute the same manual processes daily while software can take them.

There are various repetitive tasks that marketers do. For instance, they market through emails and social media and even set up ad campaigns to influence buyers` decisions. You can consider automating these repetitive tasks if you run a business or work as a marketer.

One of the reasons automation is critical is because it increases efficiency. It works more like automated software testing. In automated testing, developers test the software before releasing it to the market to ensure it’s working optimally. They check for bugs and any issues that might affect UX and correct them.

Automated marketing and testing all aim at boosting business efficiency and productivity. And it would be best if you had software tools to handle both. For automated testing, you may use the Guidewire testing solution to check how your software is performing from the end user’s side.

There is also software meant for market automation. For instance, you can use Buffer, Zapier, Sprout Social, BloomReach, or any other software solution. We will provide the best tips for choosing the right marketing software solution for your business later in this post.

How Marketing Automation Works?

You need to understand how marketing automation works. This will help you build a marketing automation strategy that will help you get the desired results. There are five main steps to follow when launching a marketing automation campaign. They include:

• Understanding Your Needs

Knowing your needs is crucial in rolling out a marketing automation campaign. It is critical to roll out a marketing campaign that aligns with your needs. Otherwise, it can be tricky to get the desired needs.

• Knowing Your Audience

You cannot automate marketing if you don’t understand your audience. Every business has a target market, and one audience will differ from another. When analyzing your audience, you should consider demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic factors.

• Choosing The Right Tools

We already mentioned that there are various tools to consider. Choosing the right tools is critical if you want to automate your marketing. Every tool available in the market has distinct features that will help you achieve specific results. Compare two or more tools before choosing one.

• Implementing and Improving as You Go

The next step should be to implement your automated marketing. The secret to marketing automation is to start small. It would be best if you aimed at implementing it and improving as you go. With time, your business will begin reaping results from marketing automation.

• Monitoring Your Process

You cannot run a marketing automation campaign without evaluating it. Monitoring the process will make it easier to identify your strengths and weaknesses. It will then be easier to build on these strengths and also work on your weaknesses to ensure you improve your performance.

Benefits of Using Marketing Automation Software

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There are various ways that marketing automation can help your business grow. This section will discuss some benefits of using software to market your business. 

Marketing automation software can:

• Increase efficiency – It can help reduce workloads for your team and ensure they focus on tasks that require creativity. Also, automation can reduce your staffing and overall business costs.

• Boost conversion rates – The more leads a business generates, the more conversions it gets. It will be easier to increase leads and conversions if you schedule emails and social media posts.

• Lead nurturing and scoring – It is critical to guide the leads you generate down the sales funnel until they convert. In addition, lead scoring will help you focus on customers who are likely to purchase. Automated marketing can help you nurture and score your leads.

• Personalize marketing – Customers feel more appreciated when you personalize marketing messages. Automated marketing software identifies every customer by name and personalizes their experiences.

How to Choose the Right Marketing Automation Software?

One of the most challenging tasks for business owners and marketers is choosing the right marketing software. But, this won’t be daunting if you have the right insights. Here are some tips for selecting the right marketing software for your business.

• Your Business Goals

The first factor to consider is what you expect to get from the software you choose. Every software comes with unique features. You should select software that can help you achieve your business goals. Read online reviews of different software before picking one.

• The Level of Support You Need

You already have a marketing campaign that’s active and running. Automation only offers you the extra support you need to achieve your business goals. This also depends on the size of your business. Startups require different levels of support from established companies. You should choose the software that comes with the support and customer service your business needs.

• Your Budget

Marketing automation software comes with different features. These features come with costs, and you must consider your budget before deciding. This will ensure you settle on software that will get your business the desired results with the available resources.

Conclusion

You now know everything about marketing automation. Besides driving leads, Oracle further noted that marketing automation could help reduce your overhead costs by 12%. This means you can increase your business’s revenues by automating this critical function.

We have provided the best tips to help you apply marketing automation. Also, you can now choose the best marketing automation software using the insights shared above. In short, you can take your business’s lead and revenue generation to the next level using this information.