Image source blue2purple.comThe marketing automation refers to those technologies designed for organizations and, their marketing staff to plan, coordinate, manage and measure their marketing campaigns through various automation tools.
Perceptions and Realities of marketing automation:
Marketing automation helps to drive marketing strategies more effectively, it also automates repetitive tasks and eliminates the underlying human error. The marketing automation helps to streamline and improve the measurement of advertising campaigns. It increases the potential and effectiveness of the campaign by reaching the exact targeted audience. It helps in increasing the impact of the marketing efforts in sales, by generating more leads and bringing the customers to buy a product or service.
There are many opinions and myths on marketing automation. That is why I have collected the data from various sources to better understand the current state of marketing and the real perceptions around this trend:
1. Realities of marketing automation
The adoption of marketing automation is growing exponentially:
Only in the period between 2011 and 2014, the adoption of automation by B2B organizations increased 11 times according to a study.
Today more than 51{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of companies are already using marketing automation and more than 58{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of B2B organizations planning to adopt these technologies.
The penetration of automation is not the same in all industries. The industries with the highest adoption rates in marketing automation technologies are Software and Internet, Telecommunications, Computing and Electronics, Health and Pharmaceuticals and Business Services.
Companies that adopt marketing automation see tangible results in sales
According to VB Insights, 80{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of marketing automation users reported as an increase in their number of leads, while 77{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} indicated that they had increased conversions with their customers.
Along the same lines, a DemandGen study found that 67{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of B2B marketers say that automation marketing has generated at least a 10{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} increase in sales leads through lead generation and maturation.
According to a study by Nucleus Research, marketing automation can lead up to 14.5{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} increase in sales productivity and a 12.2{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} reduction in the cost of labor associated with marketing activities.
Marketers believe that automation can bring benefits in the development of their work
In general, many marketers use marketing automation tools to reduce the amount of time and effort spent on repetitive tasks. According to a Business Wire study, up to 88{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of marketers think to save time spending on repetitive tasks like preparing reports and analysis.
Where 30{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of mentions on social networks indicate that automation helps them save time, while 25{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} indicate that they contribute to the big data analysis.
In general, most marketers indicate that automation frees them from repetitive activities, giving them more time to focus on strategic planning activities and interacting with customers.
2. Perceptions in marketing automation
Automation is perceived as a tool to help people with their work
According to a study by Adobe Digital Insights, the impact of automation and robots is active in the minds of people. However, most workers perceive automation as a tool to help in their responsibilities. In this sense, the voices of automation on the web have doubled when compared to the previous year.
Automation marketing will worth the investment
According to a VB Insight, 20{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of all marketing automation users think that these technologies are not expensive, 47{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} think they have a “fair” price and 22{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} think that although they are expensive, they are worth it. Overall, these figures reveal that at least 79{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of users consider that marketing automation investment is at least worthwhile, while only 11{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of them think it is costly and 10{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} are unsure about it.
Marketers are attracting to marketing automation and artificial intelligence
Many marketers are getting attracted to automation because of their contribution to the work and the benefits it brings with respect to their price.
94{e7d47c856744df2248f2195fd30fbdddbceff01679799ef4d661e6a47ab6faaa} of marketers expressed their attraction to the benefits of technologies based on artificial intelligence technologies that provide continuous and autonomous optimization across all channels.
Overall, this brief review can help to draw several important conclusions:
- Marketing automation brings positive consequences in terms of lead generation and sales, as well as the benefits they bring in facilitating marketing-related staffing tasks.
- The introduction of inbound marketing tools is likely to find great receptivity among marketers, who do not consider it as a threat to their employment, but a factor that can contribute to their better performance.
