Marketing automation is overrated, overpriced, and ineffective…
PSYCH!!! Happy April Fool’s Day, marketers!
Marketing automation is the most powerful piece of business technology ever released. It’s effective. It’s efficient. And it allows you and your team to perform far beyond what you ever thought possible.
That said, marketing has changed so fast that misinformation has spread like wildfire, and it’s easy to make assumptions about what marketing automation can and can’t do.
So let’s break down some of the most common marketing automation myths to better understand how you can coordinate and integrate all of your marketing efforts through these dynamic solutions.
Marketing Automation Is a Glorified ESP
Let’s get this one out of the way right off the bat. Email service providers focus on sending bulk emails to a blanket audience without personalization. They’re all about email — and, frankly, many of them still struggle with deliverability.
Marketing automation, on the other hand, provides powerful email marketing capabilities with behavioral segmentation, conditional logic, and dynamic content. In addition to “just” email, though, good marketing automation platforms allow you to coordinate and execute the entire customer journey and extend the customer lifecycle through:
- Website and landing page optimization
- Dynamic web forms
- Lead scoring
- Data collection, reporting, and analysis
- Social media automation
- Account Based Marketing
And seamless MarTech integrations that can further support and accelerate your digital marketing efforts.
Marketing Automation Is Impersonal
Some people assume that scaling up makes for a less personalized experience, but nothing could be further from the truth. Marketing automation platforms allow you to deliver highly personalized messaging and content that speak to the heart of your target audiences’ wants, needs, and pain points. In fact, by using marketing automation to track purchase behaviors, digital interactions, and buyer profiles, good marketers can even anticipate their end-users’ needs before these consumers realize they have the need in the first place.
Once you understand your buyers, you can further personalize the customer lifecycle by grouping them into distinct segments and delivering relevant campaigns through Act-On’s Automated Journey Builder. This unique feature allows you to plan and execute flexible programs that are specifically tailored to each individual through a highly visual and easy-to-use interface.
Marketing Automation Is Only for Enterprise Companies
Because marketing automation has such an efficient return on investment, these platforms are accessible enough for companies of all shapes and sizes. Different organizations will obviously have different needs that require different base solutions, add-ons, and integrations, but even the most basic, out-of-the-box marketing automation platforms have more than enough firepower for small businesses and enterprise corporations alike.
For example, while Act-On partners with some of the largest companies in the world, we’re also helping local mom-and-pop shops scale their companies and grow at their own pace. At this point, regardless of how your company is structured or what your goals might be, you should be considering automated solutions that help you personalize your campaigns, eliminate manual redundancies, and expand your business over the short- and long-term.
Deliver Personalized Customer Journeys at Scale
Marketing Automation Is “Set-It-And-Forget-It” Marketing
Marketing automation minimizes manual labor and increases efficiencies, but good marketers are behind the curtain at every step of the way — building personalized campaigns and delivering effective workflows. After all, someone has to strategize and execute; it’s just that marketing automation makes the process that much easier. It’s not so much about removing the effort as it is about improving efficiencies and freeing up time for more creative marketing.
And since marketing automation allows marketers to gather and analyze actionable data and accurately test their programs at every step of the way, it likewise allows for better insights and more efficient campaign optimization.
Marketing Automation Is Only for Demand Generation
When marketing automation first burst on the scene 15-20 years ago, it was viewed almost exclusively as a tool for demand generation. And while it’s true that these platforms are instrumental in helping marketers drive great leads, the true promise of marketing automation is that it helps secure lucrative opportunities and extend the customer lifecycle beyond the initial purchase or subscription.
By continuing to track consumer behavior past the point of sale, you can deliver tailored customer marketing campaigns that help improve product/service adoption and increase customer advocacy. So not only are you driving more purchases from existing clients, but you’re also creating more satisfied customers who then sing your praises to their friends, family, and colleagues — generating even more sales and revenue!
Bonus! Marketing Automation Is Too Expensive
For many companies, the price tag of marketing automation seems too steep. But when you consider the amount of revenue that good marketers can generate with this degree of automation, the initial investment is hardly a drop in the bucket. Most of our customers experience a positive ROI within a matter of months, and many of them are driving more than 1,000% ROI before the first year of their contracts has elapsed.
And when you work with Act-On, you enjoy our Active Contacts pricing model, which means you only pay for the contacts that you’re actually marketing to. For more information about Act-On’s flexible pricing, you can either click here or book a demo with one of our marketing automation experts.
Contact Act-On to Learn More!
Okay, okay… let’s get serious. We love April Fool’s Day as much as the next marketer, but we’re ready to talk about more than just a few silly marketing automation myths.
Book a Demo today to learn more about our best-in-class platform, or take our Interactive Product Tour to get your own feel for Act-On and chart your marketing automation course.