What is marketing automation and why do it

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One of the most important pillars of any strategy inbound marketing of success is, without a doubt, the marketing automation. After all, attracting, nurturing and converting leads requires a constant routine — and doing it manually is like trying to irrigate a crop drop by drop. Exhausting, inefficient and unsustainable.

In this article, you will clearly understand what marketing automation is, why it is essential, how to implement it and which tools can boost your results.

What is marketing automation

Marketing automation is the use of technology to automate repetitive actions with the aim of scaling lead attraction, nurturing and conversion processes.

So, more than just sending automated emails, it’s about creating personalized journeys that guide the lead from the first contact to the moment of purchase — and beyond. In other words, marketing automation is like putting your sales funnel on autopilot, but with intelligence and personalization.

And it's not just any automation. Generating automatic actions in itself does not mean it's marketing automation. Acting in a scalable way and interacting intelligently with visitors who are communicating, understanding their needs lead, delivering information and content relevant to their pain points. Now that’s marketing automation.

Another important aspect of automation is the application of automation models on a large scale. When lead generation becomes constant, it is essential to carry out tests to increase the level. Therefore, scalability is a fundamental factor for the results in lead generation.

“Marketing automation is the use of technology to scale and personalize relationships with leads and customers.”

Why invest in marketing automation?

Generate more qualified leads

By automating your marketing strategy, you can capture more leads without proportionally increasing your workload. After all, automation allows you to create forms, landing pages, campaigns and email flows that work 24/7. In other words, while you sleep, your marketing machine works.

Furthermore, map the purchasing journey Customer feedback is part of automation. Therefore, generating processes and guides that can help you capture leads, using automation tools, can make lead generation much more efficient on a larger scale.

Strategic lead nurturing

One of the fundamental points in marketing automation is the lead nurturing. In this way, it is through this that the lead will advance in the purchasing journey, which constitutes an art that must be studied by any digital marketing professional.

As a result of lead nurturing, we can add value by better preparing visitors who are converting and entering the funnel, even reducing the sales cycle. In this way, generating credibility and authority, keeping your company's name in your customer's mind is one of the main functions of lead nurturing.

Nurturing leads is like watering a plant: if you do it often enough and with the right content, it will flourish.

Reduced sales cycle

Another point directly related to lead nurturing is opportunity generation. So, if you have correctly mapped out the processes and started nurturing them, you will generate more leads as a result.

But, mainly, it will generate more opportunities, as it is creating a dialogue (even if automated) with your persona. After all, you are talking to more people and more assertively.

Another important point is that with more qualified leads reaching your sales department, the time needed to close a sale decreases. The lead already understands your product, trusts your brand and is more likely to say 'yes'.

Reduce Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Reducing the sales cycle combined with reducing the work of the sales team is a mixture that results in lower CAC. The tasks of the sales team, which are aligned with the marketing team, are more focused than ever on attracting more customers, without having to argue and break down barriers over and over again.

The smarketing It is part of marketing automation and results in better investment results.

“With automation, you transform manual tasks into intelligent processes, without losing the human touch.”

What is included in marketing automation?

Social media

Several items are part of marketing automation. Therefore, investing in content and advertising on social media is a good start, but scheduling, tracking and monitoring results and interactions is essential.

Automated email marketing and nurturing flows

This is one of the most classic forms of automation. After all, with it, you send personalized emails based on user actions: whether they clicked, downloaded a material, visited a certain page... anything can generate a trigger.

Therefore, configuring flows, customizing messages, sending newsletters and automatic responses should be part of this package of features.

Additionally, you can create automated email sequences with specific content for each stage of the funnel. It’s like having a digital salesperson trained to handle each type of lead.

Smart segmentation

Behaviors and interests become targeting criteria. This way, you reach the right person, at the right time, with the right message. It’s not magic — it’s well-configured automation.

CRM Integration

By integrating your automation tool with your CRM, you ensure that lead information is automatically transferred to your sales team. The result? Fewer miscommunications and more real opportunities being followed up on.

Lead generation and management

Let’s not forget lead generation and management, with the creation of calls-to-action, forms with personalized fields, landing pages and thank you pages. And you can go further, integrating your marketing automation tool with CRM, so that the delivery of leads from marketing to sales is carried out in an automated and well-understood way between teams.

How to get started with marketing automation?

First of all, it is essential to understand your customer's journey. Who is your audience? What do they need at each stage? With this mapped out, you can structure:

• Attractive content (blog posts, e-books, videos);

• Rich materials with forms to capture leads;

• Nutrition flows based on lead interest;

• Segmentations that increase the relevance of messages;

• Re-engagement campaigns for inactive leads.

Start simple, but start smart.

Marketing Automation Tools

Today, there are several robust platforms that help implement all of these features. The most popular — and recommended — are:

• RD Station: with a strong presence in Brazil, it offers excellent integration between marketing and sales;

• Hubspot: complete and with advanced features for those who want a more internationalized and scalable system;

• Mautic: an open source solution, highly customizable and without licensing costs;

• ActiveCampaign e Mailchimp: lighter, focusing on email marketing and simple automations.

Conclusion: Marketing automation is not a luxury. It is a strategy.

If you want to scale your business, reduce costs, increase sales and improve your customer experience, automating your marketing is a strategic — and urgent — decision. Think of automation as a tireless employee, working for you around the clock with surgical precision.

Now tell me: are you going to continue doing everything manually or are you going to activate your results machine?

Create marketing automations and inbound campaigns for your clients! Talk to a Vero Contents expert!

Marketing Automation Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is marketing automation?

It is the use of tools and technology to automate digital marketing tasks, such as sending emails, nurturing leads and audience segmentation, with a focus on scale and personalization.

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2. What is the main benefit of marketing automation?

Increase the efficiency of the marketing process, generating more qualified leads and reducing manual effort.

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3. How does automation help sales?

It reduces the sales cycle by delivering more prepared leads to the sales team, generating hotter opportunities.

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4. What tools to use for marketing automation?

The best known are RD Station, Hubspot, Mautic, ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp.

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5. Does marketing automation work for small businesses?

Yes! Small businesses can use automation to scale, improve customer communication, and save time and money.

Article originally published on 7/25/2021 and updated on that date.