As per the Social Media Today’s 2019 State of Marketing Automation Survey, 75 percent of all businesses and companies have marketing automation tools in place. Marketing automation has led to a 14.5 percent increase in sales productivity. Moreover, it has led to a 77 percent boost in terms of conversions.
Because of these figures and the convenience that marketing automation offers, 91 percent of its users have claimed that marketing automation tools are crucial to the success of their online marketing efforts.
The Importance of Marketing Automation
Marketing is one of the key operations of any organization, big or small. It needs to be streamlined and coordinated with all other aspects of a business to ensure that the desired outcomes and results are achieved. Whether it’s email marketing, lead generation, or landing page creation, launching a successful marketing strategy will be difficult without the right tools in place.
For bigger companies, this proves to be more of an issue. Sometimes organizations no longer have the capacity to manage 1:1 connections with their customers because of the volume. This is where automation tools step in. They can streamline and organize operations and cater to customers’ needs.
Today, more and more businesses are integrating and adopting marketing automation tools into their strategies. It is perceived that this trend will continue to rise in the coming years. However, there are still many myths and illusions surrounding the topic, which has led to many misunderstandings about how advantageous marketing automation software really is. Here are the seven most common marketing automation myths and illusions debunked.
The 7 Most Common Marketing Automation Myths
1. Marketing Automation Tools Are Just for Sending Automated Messages and Emails
Many automation tools are designed to send automated messages and emails, but that’s not all that they’re good for. Today’s tools can now measure campaign results, streamline paid advertising efforts, promote videos, and develop other marketing materials. You can find appropriate workflow tools for all of your marketing processes.
2. Marketing Automation Tools Are Impersonal and Robotic
The tone of your marketing materials can be modified and adjusted to be warmer and more welcoming to audiences. This entirely depends on your copy and branding. To avoid sounding impersonal and robotic, personalize your marketing materials in a way that your audience would resonate with.
For example, you can send highly targeted content to your customers. Your customers would then encounter content or material that they’re genuinely interested in, which makes the experience more personalized.
3. Marketing Automation Tools Fix All the Gaps in Your Marketing Processes
While marketing automation tools have many benefits, they are not a cure-all for all of your marketing issues. You and your team need to set aside time to learn how to use your marketing automation tools and see how they can work for your marketing processes. Marketing automation tools are, essentially, meant to make existing processes more convenient and efficient. Like any other tool, you must have a clear view of what you want to accomplish with it because if you don’t, you won’t be able to reap any of its benefits.
4. Once the Marketing Automation Process Is Set, You Can Ignore It
As mentioned, marketing automation tools are not the fix-all solutions to all of your marketing issues. You and your team still need to put in the work for your workflow tools to function as they’re intended to.
This can be seen, for example, in content production. You would still need to ensure that you have a sufficient amount of content ready for publishing or distribution, which means you would need to conceptualize, design, and plan out content using a content calendar. Without anything to post, your marketing automation tool won’t be able to do its job.
5. Automated Marketing Efforts Appear Spammy to Customers
It’s understandable how automated marketing efforts may come off as spammy. However, you and your team can calibrate your automation tools in such a way that you provide your audiences with valuable content. Remember, consistency is key, and you must produce and distribute content steadily.
Spamminess is usually encountered in email marketing, and it could be detrimental to your marketing efforts. Automated marketing efforts require targeting and segmenting your audience and engaging with them meaningfully to help your company grow. Additionally, you would need to create a timeline for your emails so that you’re not peppering your audience with too many of them. This could lead to your emails getting bumped into the spam pile, rendering your marketing efforts ineffective.
6. Marketing Automation Tools Are Very Expensive and Not for Small Businesses
This myth might have been true during the earlier days of marketing automation. In the past, marketing automation tools were primarily geared toward companies with a big budget.
Nowadays, however, there are many tools and solutions available on the market for companies and budgets of all sizes. Less expensive tools offer the same functionality as their pricier counterparts, and some tools are priced at a use-case basis to provide companies with more flexibility.
3. Marketing Automation Tools Are Very Technical, So Most Marketers Can’t Handle Them
Today, vendors provide marketing automation solutions that are simple and user-friendly and can be navigated by those with basic knowledge. Marketing automation solutions can now be seamlessly integrated into your existing processes, and there are those that don’t involve a steep learning curve.
Marketing Automation for All Businesses
Marketing automation tools have a wide variety of benefits for all organizations. They help organize the way that you work, and they make your marketing processes more efficient. To get optimal results, learn as much as you can about your workflow tools, consistently monitor your efforts, and align them with the marketing goals you’re trying to achieve.
