I recently read an article stating that only 53% of Fortune 500 companies use some sort of marketing automation tool. That number is up 112% from one year ago. Marketing automation is the fastest growing CRM-related segment in the past five years, with Google searches on that term up 22% over 2013.

In this fast-growing industry, sometimes we can lose sight of the simple things. What exactly is marketing automation and what can it do for your business? I’ve been in this industry awhile and learned to tailor my answer to whom I’m speaking with. On a personal level, it’s a bit trickier. As a Marketing Automation Consultant (and if you’re in this industry, you know exactly what I’m talking about), the inevitable family dinner conversation or an introduction to a new friend can be exhausting. “So what do you do for work?” Immediately, I think, “Ugh, here we go.” Why can’t I be a nurse or teacher or something easy to explain? “I’m in the marketing consulting business,” I say as I try to keep it as vanilla as possible. I attempt to expand with, “Marketing Automation for Oracle products, to be exact.” I see a smile and a blank stare and think, “Will this suffice for the casual family conversation or do I need to elaborate?” My unsuspecting victim responds, “Oh, that sounds interesting, what exactly does that mean.” Oh, boy. Here we go down the rabbit hole. Would you like the red pill or the blue pill?

Whew!! You chose the blue pill. I can forgo all the awesome details and give you the shiny, happy overview. In its simplest form, marketing automation refers to software platforms designed for marketing departments and organizations to automate repetitive tasks. Users benefit by specifying criteria and outcomes for tasks and processes, which are then interpreted, stored and executed by software, which increases efficiency and reduces human error. A major goal of a marketing platform is to streamline sales and marketing organizations by replacing high-touch, repetitive, manual processes with automated solutions. A marketing platform can automate and measure marketing tasks and workflows so businesses can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster. These tools aim to lower operational costs and align marketing and sales teams, which are two key benefits of automated marketing systems.

Oh, crap. You chose the red pill. Now I’m forced to explain the vast technical details of what I really do for a living and how a marketing automation tool can change your life. Going beyond the simple benefits, it can do some really fascinating stuff:

• Using the Eloqua REST API, you can actually automate content and instructions from other systems into Eloqua. How would you like to be able to grab tables of content from your CMS, post them to a template in Eloqua, then auto create the email/segment/canvas and blast completely hands off to folks who requested to receive this content based on zip code or another data point? We have setup processes like this that run weekly off a server with zero human interaction.

• What about prioritizing leads for sales so the ones most likely to close get worked first? That’s the power of Eloqua Lead Scoring! You can analyze data from previous closed/won opportunities to find trends on target profile and behavior and then create a scoring program that will assign leads a value to serve as a guide to sales.

• Another one of my favorites is a Contact Washing Machine. With this, you can standardize and cleanse key database fields for better segmentation and reporting. Instead of having 10 versions of USA in your country field, standardize to the one your CRM requires. This can be especially important if you use Tableau or have other BI tools that produce C-level reports. You can even write lookup programs to assign country and state by zipcode, etc.

“I’m kind of a marketing geek. I can go on for days about this stuff.” I stare into the abyss of my new friend’s dark glazed-over eyes, and they retort a quick, “That sounds cool.” before making their escape.

Guess I’d better save the marketing automation chats for my clients.

There are so many things a marketing automation tool can do for you, it’s almost limitless. So, whether you’re just testing the waters to find out what’s in it for you, or you’re an expert who’s been using a tool for years, contact us at brenda@bautomated.com to find out how we can bring your marketing strategy and execution to the next level.

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