An individual relying on one income stream in the world’s economy is risky. In the unfortunate scenario where that income stream is tampered with, you would be in for a rough time. The same goes for marketing. Regardless of what marketing you have chosen to implement, it would help if you targeted buyers on multiple channels.

Marketers and business owners these days understand this, and it is rare to see companies with single-channel marketing campaigns anymore. This has led to a 287% increase in the sales of omnichannel marketing campaigns.

However, you still have to decide how many channels you want to use. With the advancement of technology and marketing techniques, there are infinite channels from which you can choose. A study, however, stated that 51% of companies use at least eight marketing channels to reach their audience.

Having eight channels or more does come with the challenge of management. How do you manage eight different marketing channels? The answer to that question is simple—marketing Automation. Marketing Automation tools are efficient ways to handle all your media, from content marketing to chat communication and even email marketing.

Let us explore the world of Marketing Automation Tools and how they will be helpful to your marketing campaign.

Marketing Automation

As a marketer, the processes involved in managing every single marketing channel your company utilizes will be tedious. With the aid of Marketing Automation, you can manage all the necessary processes without manually doing so on every single track.

Marketing automation or marketing automation tools are among the numerous software available to marketers to target a large audience through multiple channels. These channels include websites, various social media platforms, SMS, email marketing, and many others.

It can be seen as a form of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and fundamentally, they help marketers by removing repetitive tasks. This relieves some burden from the marketing staff, improves workflow, and increases the overall marketing efficiency.

For instance, when using Marketing Automation tools, you can send messages in bulk to customers on various channels such as SMS or email based on a set of instructions you created. These instructions are called workflows. Marketing Automation can be used in the Lead Generation process through SMS, email marketing, and even chatbots on various social media platforms. This helps expand the reach of the company’s message or marketing campaign.

Best Marketing Automation Tools

Depending on the marketing budget, some marketers can choose the best Marketing Automation tools available. Keep in mind that most of the best marketing tools are paid for. We also have some good free ones. We would discuss the paid ones first, then look at the free and efficient ones.

Marketo

Arguably the most popular marketing automation tool, it is software with lots of features that helps marketers manage email campaigns and provide tools that are useful to the sales team. This tool is ideal for companies seeking to go beyond basic Automation. It is an excellent platform for marketers to get used to the nitty-gritty of Automation, and you can move on to its more advanced features.

Hubspot

The most significant advantage is almost its biggest disadvantage: it does everything. However, it does not do anything to a very high level. Regardless, this tool has a convenient all-in-one approach as Marketers can use it to take care of virtually all marketing tasks. It is best for small businesses because it gives you everything you need as a marketer and is easy to use.

ExactTarget

If you need to target communications through multiple channels, ExactTarget is a brilliant option. This tool lets you target customers via email, app notifications, etc. This tool is best for companies with the resources to take their Marketing Automation to the highest level. The company in charge is forward-thinking, looking for the best ways to connect with customers on different channels.

UserFox

A new Marketing Automation tool. However, they are by no means inefficient. They work majorly with tech-related companies. It comes with a lightweight interface and triggers emails based on specific events on the site. This is contrary to pageviews as designed by other Marketing Automation.

Customer.io

This tool comes with a lot of flexibility. With enough attention to its features, you can customize your experience and get what you want. It is lightweight software, runs quicker, and comes with personalized customer support. It is a good option for businesses that appreciate its lightweight design and companies searching for elaborate functionality. This detailed functionality also comes with flexibility and customization that willing companies can exploit.

Eloqua

You can see this tool as the top of the line regarding Marketing Automation Tools. It comes with various features and options, provides quality service, and has a price tag to match its general quality. They also spend a decent amount of time educating companies on how to get the best out of the software. It also allows integrations with third-party services. If your company has the budget for it and you are concerned about Customer Relationship Management, then Eloqua is the best option. However, you would need a lot of guidance from your software vendor.

Constant Contact

It is the ideal Marketing Automation Tool for small businesses. It provides them with the basic automation features and is easy to use. Non-technical users can make use of the software almost easily. This and its low cost make it the best choice for small businesses. These business owners can get started with this almost instantly, especially with little tasks like getting email marketing processes organized.

Now, let’s look at some of the free ones and what they have to offer.

Free Marketing Automation Tools

Freshmarketer

This tool offers a variety of features that aids the streamlining and accelerating business marketing processes. These features include behavioral segmentation, targeting, and personalized campaigns to help users upgrade their marketing campaigns. Mainly, marketers can use this for their Customer Relationship Management cycle, from the acquisition of customers to the retention of these customers. It can also help create landing pages, hasten lead generation processes and increase the lead conversion rate.

Ortto

Users can build detailed customer profiles and visualize customers’ buying process. This tool offers a wide range of tools that helps improve the business workflow and also help with lead generation and management.   

EngageBay

With this tool, users can manage the different aspects of their marketing operations, such as lead generation. It also provides users with the tools to automate critical processes such as live chats, email marketing, and sales.

MailChimp

When it comes to email automation, it is impossible to look past MailChimp. Different organizations of various sizes employ the services of this Email automation tool. It is easy to use and can analyze, create and execute emails and advertising campaigns.

Drip

This marketing automation tool helps businesses automate and customize email campaigns. It can be used for various forms of email campaigns. Users can send emails targeted to specific prospects and customers. The best part of this tool is its Visual workflow builder.

DailyStory

Ideal for small businesses as it aids in their identification and engagement of top customers. Users get a clear view of their visitors, which is helpful in the business’s planning process. It also helps companies to build lasting and valuable relationships with customers.

OmniSend

They have an extensive list of omnichannel marketing features. With this tool, marketers and business owners can simplify their marketing workflows. SMS’s, social media platforms and emails can be managed using this software.

Zoho Campaigns

Their free plan automates all marketing processes, including email management. This marketing automation tool can also help customers in their social media campaigns on any social media platform. With this tool, marketers can focus more on the message they want to promote and be less worried about repetitive marketing processes.

Benefits of making use of Marketing Automation Tools

Successful marketers use Marketing Automation tools to get better campaign results, provide quality sales team leads, and deliver improved Return-On-Investment. Other benefits include

– Practical marketing efforts: Marketing Automation tools help reduce the human error factor in specific marketing tasks. Beyond that, it also frees up time for marketers to become more productive by taking charge of things such as chat or emails.

– Delivering Personalized Content: By gathering and analyzing relevant data, Marketing Automation tools help you get your content to the right audience at the right time. Once you have set the proper instructions, you can rest assured that your content will get to those it needs.

– Increased Revenue: Multiple marketing channels already increases your chances of improving revenue. And when the multiple channels are appropriately managed, it leads to increased customer purchases, leading to a revenue increase.

– Improved Customer Experience: When appropriately used, Marketing Automation Tools creates multiple marketing campaigns to reach your target audience. With it, your messages would delight your customers at the right time.

– Scalability: With Marketing Automation Tools handling many essential tasks, the growth of your business will be more manageable. And as the workload increases, these Tools can take up more complicated processes and ensure staff members still have time to be more productive.

– Productivity: With Marketing Automation Tools handling recurring tasks, marketers can spend more time on more productive activities. Such activities include; optimizing campaigns or engaging customers.

 

Types of Marketing Automation Tools

Marketing Automation Tools have different types of cutting all forms of inefficiencies and optimizing operations.

1. Email Marketing Automations: This is typically the first type of Marketing Automation marketers, and business owners encounter. Email marketing entails commercial emails (promotional or conversational) sent to customers. With Email Marketing Automation tools, the task of sending out emails to customers can go from being an all-day-long task filled with repetitive activities to a 10 minutes daily routine.

2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Automation: In some ways, this is similar to email marketing, but it is essential to remember that they are not the same. CRM Tools help marketers in their sales and customer service tasks. With this type of Automation, you can adequately coordinate lead management and customer retention.

CRM automation tools aid in tracking customers and what channels they are using to interact with your brand, as well as helping your content get to its target demographic and predict customers’ behavior based on their previous engagement and interaction with your brand.

3. Workflow Automation: A crucial part of marketing is choosing the ideal workflow for your business. With workflow automation, you can manage and streamline these processes enough to create more time to work on revenue-generating activities.

There are other types of Marketing Automation Tools; it all depends on the activities you have chosen for your business. Different types include; Chat marketing, Facebook advertising Automation, and many others.

Marketing Automation Features

While there are many types of Automation, there are also standard features found in most Automation tools.

These features are there to help you eliminate specific challenges in your marketing process. There are five significant challenges with marketing, and they include

1. Awareness
2. Discovery
3. Evaluation
4. Purchase
5. Sale

With this in mind, we can explore the standard features of Automation, knowing that each part helps solve at least one of these significant challenges.

Lead Conversions: Typically, Marketing Automation tools can take control of converting a prospective customer’s interest into a Lead. Many prospects don’t need a hard sell; they only require a little education on the product or service as they try to make the best decision. Your marketing automation tool should be able to provide the necessary information to the prospect and nurture their interest.

Engaging Prospects: Your Marketing Automation tool can help you differentiate between interested prospects and visitors who haven’t taken any step towards conversion. This can be observed through the Prospects actions on the brand’s website, email clicks, and reaction to adverts on social media.

Data Visibility: Marketing Automation tools provide insights into visits, customer interactions, clicks, and interests. This is another method marketers utilize to find an interested audience and help them make buying decisions.

Marketing and Sales Alignment: Synchronizing marketing processes with sales is one efficient way to successful marketing. Marketing Automation can help with that as it aids in the smooth collaboration of both departments, managing customer relationships, converting and nurturing leads, and maintaining brand loyalty.

Asides from these, many Marketing Automation tools rely on a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help with marketing activities. The AI in question automates the process of delivering messages, gauging customers’ interests, and other essential tasks involved in the Marketing process.

Best Practices for Marketing Automation

While Marketing Automation Tools are helpful and efficient, some practices can ensure you get the best out of them. Such practices include:

Visualize your Prospect’s Journey: You need to think about how the prospect will go through your automated process. With this in mind, you can create an efficient system that works and helps your business achieve its primary objective.

Create a Database for Contacts: You can go through your landing page visitors and capture websites and Facebook adverts to get a database of prospects. Some Marketing Automation tools can help out with this.

Segmentation: Your Automation tool should have instructions to differentiate between new visitors and regular customers. Your Marketing Automation tool can provide visitors and regular customers with the right content.

Lead Scoring: This is when you create a system to grade Leads when they perform specific actions on your website. Depending on their grades, your Marketing Automation can direct them to the right path that would lead to conversion.

Welcome Sequences: Be sure to set up welcome messages as they are typically helpful in the process of starting a creating relationship with prospects.

Target and Personalize: With information from user fields in your Automation tool, target specific prospects with relevant information.

Know when to step in: Your Marketing Automation tool cannot do everything. You must set up notifications to alert you when a prospect has taken specific actions. From then on, you or any marketing team member can handle the rest of the prospects’ journey.

Conclusion

Whichever one of these tools you use, you also need to track its success. That way, you can know when you switch to a different tool depending on its success or failure. Performance indicators such as; Lead Qualification rate, Conversations started, Click-Through-Rate, and Flow Completion Rate can be used to measure the success of your Automation Tool.

For the free tools, feel free to try as many as possible till you find the ones you think suit your company.

RELATED: 15 Best Content Marketing Tools in 2022

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