How to accelerate business growth using the power of marketing automation

You wouldn’t try to win grand prix in a horse and cart. It’s simply not the right tool for the job. If you’re trying to grow your customer base rapidly and at scale you need the right tool for the job; that tool is an automated marketing platform. Without it, you might well find your business trotting behind your competitors as they disappear into the horizon.

In this blog, we’ll tell you what marketing automation is, what benefits it offers, how to use it effectively and why you won’t be able to scale your business rapidly (or perhaps at all) without it.

What is marketing automation?

It’s been defined as “any solution, platform, or tool that allows companies to streamline, automate, and measure marketing tasks and workflows, so they can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster.” (marketo.com)

It automates repeatable tasks and enables you to engage with a high volume of prospects simultaneously. That volume play is crucial. The more prospects you reach, the more sales you can secure. It’s the only scalable way to engage with high numbers of potential customers and drive them through your sales funnel to convert them to customers.

What are the 7 key benefits of an automated marketing platform?

1. It makes your marketing more efficient, saving time and money and freeing up your sales and marketing team to do higher level work.
2. It can engage a high-volume pipeline of quality leads, working 24/7 every day of the year.
3. It can nurture leads to systematically produce hot leads for sales to close.
4. It provides the means to personalise your buyer’s journey and improves customer engagement by delivering the right message, to the right person at the right time, at scale.
5. It aligns your sales and marketing efforts.
6. It enables you to clearly see how well your marketing campaigns are doing by tracking and scoring how prospects are engaging with your outreach. That helps you refine and optimise your marketing campaigns.
7. It gives you the reach and power you need to scale your sales and marketing without increasing the size of your team. 

Marketing automation is no longer a tool reserved for big corporations. Small businesses have reported an 800% growth in revenue, $100k in additional revenue, and even growing revenue to over $1 million annually after adopting automation software. (Keap)

How to get started with marketing automation

By harnessing the power of marketing automation, you can achieve big company marketing impact without a big team (or a big company budget). You’ll significantly extend your reach and vastly improve your customers’ digital experience of your brand.

But let’s be clear, this is digital transformation in the sales and marketing world. It represents a significant departure from traditional sales and marketing processes and requires a change in mindset. You need to be ready and willing to climb down from your horse and cart and get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car. Modern entrepreneurs cannot afford to overlook the game-changing power of automation. It’s a must-have tool for 21st-century businesses.

In this digital world, there are over 9,000 marketing automation platforms; you need to choose the right one for your business. That’s a daunting task, made simpler by asking for advice from people, like Grand Scale, who understand the needs of scaling businesses and can provide intelligence around the best fit for organisations to enable them to embrace the power of automation.

Before you start considering which marketing automation platform best suits your needs, make sure you nail down your specific requirements, business goals and take a realistic look at your resources.

Tips to consider when evaluating marketing automation software:

• Pricing - upfront and subscription costs: make sure to check whether the upfront cost includes training as well as setup. And check the small print for steps in the pricing that might lead to higher costs if you add more users and/or more email contacts.
• Features and integrations: it’s important to know what features you need and ensure that the software will deliver. If you plan on integrating existing technologies used in your business, check compatibility.
• Ease of use: the best software in the world is no use to your business if it’s too complicated to use. Look at the interfaces, navigation, number of clicks needed to perform a task, and the user manual. A trial subscription is a great way to really find out if it’s a good fit with your business and staff.
• Customer support: find out what kind of support is available and how quickly you can get an answer to a query. This will be vital, especially in the early days.
• Fit with your business: different platforms suit different size companies. What you need depends on your size, marketing goals and existing technology. Check out the reviews of a number of platforms to see if any are particularly suited to your business type or sector.

How to use marketing automation effectively

Going back to our grand prix analogy (last time honest), it’s one thing having a powerful F1 car but if it’s not being driven properly, it won’t take you where you want to go. 

Lots of companies have bought automation platforms, plugged them in and waited (in vain) for hot leads to come out the other end. Maybe you’re one of them?

But it doesn’t work like that. You need a marketing strategy wrapped around it to make it work. It’s about knowing your ideal customer intimately, fuelling their buyer journey with high quality content, and harnessing the power of automation to make it a volume play.

To find out more about Grand Scale download The ultimate guide for B2B companies to rapidly scale their customer base.