The Top 5 Things to Know About Marketing Automation Platforms

Are you a Marketing Manager who isn’t currently using a marketing automation platform? As a marketer with years of experience in digital, I know that using the best tools yield the best results. Sure, you can puzzle piece together a digital marketing strategy and the tactical work needed to achieve your goals, but you can (and should) choose to invest in a system that helps you do your job better and make smarter decisions for your company’s overall growth plan.

Below are 5 ways in which using a marketing automation system, like HubSpot, can impact your business:

1. They simplify your day-to-day
   
   Any digital marketer knows that a typical day includes working in several different platforms with at least 12 tabs open in an Internet browser. It’s not pretty, and if we’re not very careful, it can lead to mistakes or even worse – missed opportunity. Using a marketing automation platform removes all of the back and forth. With a tool like HubSpot, you can manage your editorial calendar, draft and publish social messages for several social platforms, write your blog content and draft your email campaigns all in one place. Say goodbye to manically switching between numerous programs.

2. They bridge the gap between sales and marketing
   
   One of the benefits of working with a marketing automation platform is connecting this data with your company’s CRM system. This allows you to share data with your sales team to help provide insight on the leads they’re working on and assist with their pipeline management. No longer do you need to exist in separate silos. Your company will see stronger sales revenue because of it.

3. They help prove ROI
   
   I mentioned tying together your sales and marketing teams in the point above, but what if you had a direct trail of your marketing efforts and how/if they resulted in sales for your company? If you’re trying to prove a return on investment for your efforts, all of a sudden asking for more budget to do MORE isn’t crazy – it’s smart. 

4. They help you focus your efforts
   
   Rather than continuing to post to ALL social networks and generate content ALL the time on ALL the topics – marketing automation platforms give you a viewpoint into the ways that your audience is absorbing your content. You can tell what social messages receive the most clicks, and from there you can analyze the topic, the time of the post, and the network you posted on and then use this information to post similar content in the future. All of a sudden you can work smarter, not harder.

5. The best ones offer great marketing training
   
   Not only will you save time and have greater insights to how your audience is absorbing your marketing efforts, but the best automation platforms will educate you often, and for free. If you’re going to sign up to use their tools, make sure you take the time to sit in on their webinars, read their blogs and pay attention to their marketing efforts. These people are really good at what they do, and we can all learn a lot from them.

These are just five small reasons why a marketing automation system makes life as a marketer easier. If you are using marketing automation, I’d love to know what other ways it’s helping your business. Leave me a note in the comments!

For another blog post about marketing automation, check out:
Marketing Automation & CRM: A Match Made in Heaven