Marketing automation.  Though it may bring George Jetson-like images to mind, it's really a bit more down to earth than that.

Wikipedia defines marketing automation as "The use of Information Technology solutions to automate marketing processes such as Marketing Planning and Budgeting, Marketing Resource Management, Campaign Management, Interaction Management, Lead Management, Analytics and reporting, and other functional and vertical aspects of marketing functionality."  The entry goes on to note that the "…use of marketing automation makes routine processes that would otherwise have been performed manually much more efficient, and makes some new processes possible."

So basically, marketing automation is the term that people use to describe a technological initiative that integrates and automates as many functions as possible.  Sounds good—but what are the specific benefits that a company can plan to see as the result of implementing this automation?  Here are a few I can think of off the top of my head:

• Make your campaigns more effective:  How many times have you had to export data from one program into another, and then spend even more time tweaking the data to make sense in the new format?  If information can move seamlessly between programs, you'll have more time to focus on the really important stuff.


• Accurately organize and track customer data: If you've ever been asked for the same information twice, you know how frustrating this can be.  Automating your customer data means that everyone in the organization has access to a prospect's new phone number.


• Optimize customer contacts:  Gone are the days of mass mailing and hoping that something sticks.  When your customer contacts are optimized, you’ll build loyalty and get better results.  Personalize messages based on customers’ behavior and reactions to your marketing, enriching their experience – it’s a win-win situation.


• Measure the results of your entire marketing campaign:  When all of your marketing systems are working together, you can measure results from any point of the campaign, whether it be identifying the impact of your email marketing effort or understanding the affect your latest PPC campaign has had on lead generation activities.

So it all comes down to this:  the old way of doing things—sending all people the same thing and hoping that they respond—just isn't working anymore.  Savvy marketers realize that marketing is shifting.  It used to be about getting the message out to the masses.  Now, it's about segmenting customer groups and automating the parts of the marketing process that take up valuable time without providing very much real value.

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