Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation definition:

Marketing automation describes a piece of software which runs marketing actions without the need for human interaction. Many marketing departments run similar campaigns on a regular schedule, so this kind of marketing has become increasingly popular as it has the ability to save time and money if used correctly.

With active leads across multiple channels, it can take time to maintain the more routine campaigns, which can be better allocated to tasks that need a bit more attention if you choose to employ specialised software for the task. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Advantages of Marketing Automation:

If your marketing strategy includes repetitive tasks including sending emails, social media campaigns and certain website actions, automated marketing can be a great way to take them off your hands. You'll be able to free up your time for more specific tasks like closing sales and finding new potential customers.

Automation can also be a great way to keep your online presence up to date with useful content like your blog posts or articles. By providing a reliable stream of valuable and interesting information, you can build and maintain trust between your customers and your brand.

Disadvantages of Marketing Automation:

By handing over control of your marketing to automated software, you run the risk of losing agility. This means you won’t have as much control over the campaigns once they start running, so it’s harder to tailor the campaign if your goals change part-way through.

On top of this, many types of marketing automation are weighted towards the middle part of the funnel, so are useful for keeping leads warm and generating awareness but fall short when it comes to generating new leads and ultimately nurturing them towards conversion.

In short, marketing automation can be extremely useful and time-saving for the more predictable and repetitive marketing tasks you have set out — but it’s inadvisable to rely on it entirely.

If you’d like to learn more, here’s our blog on keeping your marketing automation personal.