We spend the majority of our time on the web. The business scenario is now transitioning from offline to online work methods. There are some amazing technologies that the companies are incorporating for easier workflow. These include artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT), etc. But, a buzzword among all the businesses is marketing automation software.
Earlier, only the B2B companies used it. But, nowadays, even the B2C companies are integrating it into their workflow. But, what exactly is marketing automation?
What is Marketing Automation?
In simple terms, marketing automation delivers value through technology. It is the simplification of marketing processes through the integration of technology. No, it’s not about big companies using this. Rather, quite a lot of small-scale companies are using marketing automation software.
Automation software allows marketers to streamline and automate the workflow process. It offers several benefits including increased efficiency, generating better revenue, and others.
Components of Marketing Automation
With the increasing channels, marketers have to manage several components. Companies are using digital marketing software and automation software. For complete marketing, the various components included are:
- Central marketing database: It is like a system that contains all the records. It helps in segmenting and further targeting the right audience. It is the one-stop place for all the marketing data for your company.
- Engagement marketing engine: It involves all the processes carried out across various platforms. These include the creation, automation, and management of processes that take place through the customer’s journey.
- Analytics engine: Once you put in place the strategies, you need to know whether it worked or not. The analytics engine tracks, analyses and optimizes the various factors. These include ROI, impact on revenue, success rates, etc.
Benefits of Marketing Automation
Once you are through with all the components and what marketing automation, it is important to know why companies are using it and what are the benefits of marketing automation.
- Reduction in staffing costs: With automation, you do not need a team of 50 people dedicated to one task. It reduces labour efforts through automatic marketing campaigns. Once set, it sends the emails.
- Increase ROI: You can increase customer lifetime will cross-sell, up-sell, and others. Automation helps in increasing lead generation, customer retention leading to successful ROI.
- Improved accountability: With the tracking and analytics tools, the automation software helps you know where the bottlenecks of the company are. With this, you can have a defined marketing process. This helps in improved lead nurturing, further better accountability of software.
Tips to choose the right marketing automation software
Do you have a small business? Are you planning to get started with the automation software? Here are some of the tips to follow to get the best results on your investments:
- Create a roadmap for business workflow: Understand your business plan well. Set goals. Know what will work at what level of the marketing funnel. The simpler and streamlined your strategy is. The easier will be the implementation of marketing automation software.
- Take recommendations: Do not rely on one choice or decision. Conduct thorough research. See what has worked well and for which companies. Take recommendations from other people in the same field. It allows you to have better and varied options.
- Check the budget: Marketing automation software is expensive. Manage your finances, and have a fixed budget. Check the tools according to the same for effective results.
- Analyse the feedback: Take reviews from the customer or the audience. Understand and analyse their choices. Optimize the website, content, and services. Fulfill customer satisfaction at best levels.
- Take trials of software: Sometimes you can’t understand the features until you use them. The more research you do, the better. You don’t want to regret later and end up changing platforms.
Best marketing automation software for small business
There is no ‘best’ platform. It all varies depending on your requirements. Choose the platform according to the features and functionality. While some need digital marketing software, the other company needs one-for-all automation software. These platforms can save a lot of time and energy. Some of the best marketing automation platforms for your small business include:
PeppyBiz
It is the all-in-one marketplace. At PeppyBiz, you can automate all processes all throughout the sales funnel. It helps you in visualizing the customer journey. The features offered at PeppyBiz include:
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- Omnichannel marketing helps you connect with customers across all platforms
- Get started quickly with the easy setup
- Visualise the customer journey through automation
- Track customer’s actions
- Send personalized content to the customers
- Turn the leads into positive sales
OptinMonster
It is quite a popular software for lead generation. If you are running a business website and want to increase the growth, this is the perfect fit. With flexible features, OptinMonster campaigns help in converting leads. These are converted into resourceful subscribers and customers. Some features of this software include:
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- You can design and optimize your campaign
- Sending across automated messages to the audience
- Integration with other tools
- Actionable insights
- A/B testing
- Automation of real-time behaviour
Constant Contact
It is an email automation tool. It eliminates the need for manual work of sending out emails. Even though emails are like an age-old method, about 70% of marketers still use it. It is because of its successful conversion rates. Constant Contact helps you grow the email list. Further, it offers high-conversion email campaigns and marketing solutions. To send emails, they also offer customized email templates. With it, you can send behaviour-triggered emails. It is flexible with all sorts of websites. With powerful integration, you can also track real-time results. Do you want to focus on emails? Constant Contact is the perfect choice for email automation software. Plus, they offer a free trial month as well.
Sendinblue
It helps you plan your marketing campaign with digital marketing software. With its toolbox, you can communicate with your users. Further, it helps in the engagement of the audience and lead generation. It offers an all-in-one solution to deal with consumers through various means. These include texts, emails, live, chats, etc. The various features offered by Sendingblue include:
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- Landing pages for various campaigns
- Track customer details through CRM
- Growing your email list with customer sign-ups
- Retargeting through Facebook which helps in boosting audience
- Email heatmap
- Time algorithm
- Integration of the platform with various tools
Drip
It is quite popular and suitable automation marketing software for e-commerce websites. It helps in the automation of every step of the customer journey. It allows you to track customer actions. Further, it also offers email customization based on customer activity. You can integrate this digital marketing software with other tools as well. The features of Drip are:
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- Revenue optimization
- Split testing for improvisation of campaign results
- Personalization based on customer behaviour
- Reaching out to the audience
Hubspot
A known name among the marketing tools. It is an inbound marketing software. It works well for small businesses and is the right choice. With Hubspot, you can plan your marketing campaigns. You can automate the marketing strategy with the powerful resources it offers. Hubspot provides you with robust options for marketing automation, which include:
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- Email marketing tools for free
- Personalization of content for customers along with regular follow-ups
- Effective features for customer support
- Conversational bots for solving live queries
- Automation of lead scoring and generation
- Analysis of marketing campaigns
Infusionsoft
This marketing automation software works well for small businesses. Even freelancers can use it. It helps you in automating the processes throughout the sales funnel. You can integrate with over 220 platforms. Some of these include BigCommerce, Gmail, Outlook, etc. They also offer a 14-day free trial. The various features that Infusionsoft offers include:
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- Building landing pages
- Designing marketing campaigns
- Generation of business reports
Mailchimp
It is a very popular software because of its user-interface. It also offers a seamless user experience. Mailchimp helps you in building a strong customer base. This boosts loyalty and customer engagement. One of the major reasons that small businesses are comfortable with this software is because of its pricing plans. You can integrate several features which include WordPress, Facebook, Shopify, etc.
Marketo
It is an industry leader. Several companies across various sectors including media, healthcare, manufacturing, etc. opt for this. Marketo is a robust automation platform that helps you achieve your business goals. You can customize the package as per your requirements. For advanced functionality with growth in business, you can even upgrade your plan.
Conclusion
In brief, all the automation tools are to the rescue for small businesses. All one needs to check is that they do not end up splurging beyond their budget.
You can choose a suitable tool from the above-mentioned marketing automation software.
You should consider the future perspective and growth while opting your automation software. So, what are you waiting for? Get started with these tools. The list does not sum up here. There are ample other options you choose to get the best results.
