As technology and society have digitally progressed over the last 20 years, the IoT, big data, and marketing automation has disrupted traditional marketing forms. With the enabling growth of the internet, businesses have grown, markets have expanded, and consumer segments have increased, opening doors for hyperfocused products and tailored solutions. To hold up to competition, marketers have had to take on a new digital edge to reach and communicate with customers, resulting in brands turning to marketing automation.<\/p>\n
Marketing automation software originated with CRM platforms<\/a> in the 2000s, optimizing and integrating sales and marketing. Then, the development of email automation was quick to follow giving marketers the much-needed technology to scale email marketing campaigns and solicit automatic feedback and communication. Fast forward a few decades and CRM and email marketing have remained frontrunners in forms of automation utilized and have become imperative to most businesses. Now marketing automation has seen widespread investment and development and has grown to also incorporate web form automation, social media automation, content automation, and analytics automation. Today, marketing automation has grown<\/a> to a $6 billion industry.<\/p>\n With optimized efficiencies and scaled operations, marketing automation has reshaped marketing strategies helping organizations increase their production, personalize their customer experiences, and optimize their conversion rates ultimately increasing their ROI.<\/p>\n Marketing and advertising practices are a reflection of society, the consumers who are being marketed to. And with the push of the digital transformation sweeping through businesses and marketers, both customer\u2019s expectations and the way brands deliver customer-centered experiences are evolving in an echo to the digital move.<\/p>\n The transition to digital marketing increased the audience reach while narrowing down targets, introduced new advertising formats and channels, and increasing organic, or free, marketing opportunities. While advertising has taken on new mediums over the years, society\u2019s underlying human motivations have not dramatically altered themselves, so many advertising trends that originated in print such as celebrity endorsements or emotional messaging transferred into digital form. But what has changed, is the position of the customer to the marketers.<\/p>\n Before the digital transformation, print advertisers\u2019 main purpose was to sell, and the product was always at the forefront of messaging. But with the multitude of niche products and solutions and channels to connect with consumers brought on by tech adaptation, marketing has experienced a paradigm shift to customer-centric products, advertising, and messaging. Now brands don\u2019t just sell their products, they sell their ability to solve customer\u2019s problems, focusing on trust and understanding built by offering personalized customer experiences.<\/p>\n With the widespread and still growing internet usage, advertisers such as Google and Facebook have billions of data points about consumers and their lifestyles, and brands can use that information to create targeted and personalized ads. Simultaneously, consumers who now mindlessly accept the agreement to give up their privacy to be online, expect highly personalized and relevant content, products, and advertising from marketers. Since the internet has become a vastly competitive marketplace, customer-driven marketing content and personal customer experiences have become required to stand out and convert virtual visitors into paying customers.<\/p>\n The rise of marketing automation has not only altered the way brands communicate with customers but has also enabled success in converting leads into sales. According to a recent study done by Invesp<\/a>, marketing automation drives up to a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing costs. Marketing automation improves conversion rates and revenues by helping businesses engage with customers and leads in smarter ways at an increased speed.<\/p>\n Marketing automation can track leads across channels, measure engagement, and gathers advanced consumer data to improve and expedite the sale conversion cycle. For example, personal information is captured each time someone visits a website, and each visitor can become profiled instantly as a lead. This enables companies to gather fast and large amounts of information on leads and their level or area of engagement, score them, and automatically send them down different lead nurturing paths.<\/p>\n With marketing automation\u2019s scalability in communications, businesses can reach a larger audience at varying touchpoints along the buyer journey. Marketing automation technologies allow brands to effectively connect with customers and speak to them over a period of time regarding their actions or level of engagement. Utilizing trackable data and analytics, automation software can set up response triggers via email marketing, for example, that respond to various inquiries along different engagement paths.<\/p>\nThe Move from Print to Digital<\/h2>\n
Increase in Sales<\/h2>\n