This is marketing automation and how your company benefits from it

Marketing automation is often seen as just a software solution. However, marketing automation is much more than just a new tool decision. Get started with marketing automation now!

Definition of marketing automation

This is marketing automation: it combines technology with content and data. So that you can derive and develop successful and individualized marketing strategies specifically for your target group. Marketing automation provides you with the tools to understand the needs of your target group and address them at the right moment. With marketing automation, you can observe and interpret the interactions of your target group and create further personalized interactions.

“Marketing automation is the IT-supported execution of recurring marketing tasks with the aim of increasing the efficiency of marketing processes and the effectiveness of marketing decisions.”

Hanning, 2016

What are the advantages of marketing automation?

How exactly does marketing automation help you achieve your business goals? On the one hand, marketing automation gives your company the opportunity to inform your target group in line with their needs. Your customers receive the right message at the right time. Repetitive and time-consuming tasks are automated.

On the other hand, marketing automation allows you to combine communication via different channels such as emails, banner ads and landing pages. You acquire target customers with needs-based information at the right time for the product or service. You can find out more about the practical implementation of how your website can automatically acquire customers with Aivie in our customer case with Falcone.

Reduce costs, acquire customers, improve sales

The Marketing Benchmark Report conducted by MarketingSherpa looks at the challenges companies are facing today. They find that the challenges are primarily related to reducing customer acquisition costs and continuously improving sales activities.

According to the study by Swieczak (2013), a well-designed lead nurturing program can help you tackle precisely these challenges. With this approach, you can increase lead conversion rates by up to 50 % and reduce lead acquisition costs by up to 70 %.

Find out now how you can achieve these values and how you can set up your company to successfully implement marketing automation. Benefits that translate into greatly improved sales efficiency – that’s marketing automation.

First steps with marketing automation

There is no denying that marketing automation has a certain complexity. It is important to consider the following steps:

The perspective is crucial

Marketing automation is based on the agile marketing mindset. This means working and thinking from the perspective of the target group. Agility means constant testing, measuring and learning. This requires a corporate culture that embraces targeted experimentation and a culture of error.

All that counts is content

In order to successfully establish marketing automation in your company, you need the necessary knowledge of content marketing. After all, content is the oil that feeds the (search) engines. Experience in interpreting and analyzing data is important. It makes it easier for you to develop new opportunities and strategies from the data collected by marketing automation.

To create the right content, you need to put yourself in your target group’s shoes. Think about the challenges and needs of your customers. Because this is also marketing automation – developing sensitivity for the end customer.

The focus is on the customer journey

The end customer is at the center of the process. It is relevant to deal with the interests of the target customers in order to obtain suitable content. Personas are created to further develop your company’s target groups. Different customer journeys and purchasing decision processes are defined to match the personas. The greater the internet affinity of the personas, the more automated marketing can collect the necessary data. This is also marketing automation – the collection and interpretation of stored customer data.

Budget, resources and targets

Setting up and operating an automated marketing solution requires resources and budget funds. As marketing automation encompasses all market-oriented areas of the company, it is essential that marketing and sales define common goals.

One key to this is coordinating processes and key performance indicators (KPIs). The challenges are defined together and solutions are developed. Once again, the interplay between different areas is the key to success. That too is marketing automation.

Last but not least – the marketing automation tool

The integration of marketing automation into your existing infrastructure is simplified if the following requirements are met: Good networking of your existing systems (CRM/ERP) in the company that efficiently exchange data and work together, as well as the use of cloud solutions. The more cloud solutions you use, the smoother the integration of marketing automation.

Step by step

You can find out the best way to start implementing marketing automation for your company step by step in the article by Chris Beyeler, Aivie Partner and agency owner of BEYONDER.

Summary: This is marketing automation

Marketing automation gives your company an enormous competitive advantage. Marketing automation is not just a question of software, but also a question of approach. Marketing automation allows you to view data in real time, continuously optimize it and adapt it to the changing requirements of your target group. This agility gives you the decisive edge over your competitors.

Aivie offers you the opportunity to get started with marketing automation step by step. Your various channels are connected in one tool. Your customers are addressed with the right message at the right time.