Intro to Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is one the fastest growing software-as-a-service markets. The idea behind marketing automation is to consolidate many of the traditionally disparate marketing tools into a single web-based product. Here are some of the marketing tools found in a marketing automation platform:

• Email marketing – support for broadcast emails like newsletters and one-off campaigns
• Landing pages – web pages that are optimized for converting visitors into prospects via a form
• Forms – fields used to capture input from visitors often in exchange for items like white papers, free trials, webinar sign-ups, etc
• CRM integration – bi-directional connection to common customer relationship management systems like salesforce.com, SugarCRM, NetSuite, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Lead scoring and grading – automatic scoring of prospects based on activities they perform as well as grading based on explicit data points about the prospect relative to the ideal customer profile
• Drip programs – periodic emails and activities triggered by events and time (e.g. send email A right away, if prospect clicks a link in the email notify the sales rep and remove from the drip program, if not, send email B 10 days later, and so on and so forth)
• Automation rules – powerful logic-driven conditionals to change scores, send emails, move prospects between lists, notify sales reps, and more based on a variety of criteria
• Anonymous visitor ID – identify the visitor’s company based on their IP address so that a sales rep can follow up as well as know that someone at the company is potentially interested
• Prospect tracking – individual lead tracking of all activities like web pages viewed including length of page view time, forms completed, email opens, email clicks, file clicks, and more
• Closed loop ROI reporting – track money spent to generate leads all the way through deals closed so that marketers can understand the success of campaigns even where there’s a long sales cycle

Other common functionality like file hosting, lists, segmentation wizards, site search, and paid search integration is often included as well. Again, the general goal is one single system that replaces legacy systems like email markting tools and forms manager while adding significant new functionality like one-to-one tracking. In the end, sales and marketing teams are much more effective with marketing automation. My recommendation is for B2B companies with a sales and marketing team to seriously consider a marketing automation platform.