The rising popularity of digital technology has ushered a new era in marketing – marketing automation. An increasing number of marketing professionals use automation software and tools to target and schedule emails, social media posts and etc. This practice seems to be not only effective, but it also saves businesses time and, in some cases, resources.
A new report by eMarketer has found that marketing automation has now turned into an entire sector. According to the research, in November 2014, revenues from marketing automation software reached $3.65 billion worldwide. Moreover, the report predicts that by 2019, this number will hit $5.50 billion. The most rapidly developing marketing automation trends are outlined in this article.
Investing in Marketing Technology Becomes Unavoidable
Gone are the days when businesses could afford to stay away from technology. Now, they are not simply forced to use technology to market their products, services and brand. Today, companies are left with little options but to invest in marketing technology. According to the report, more than half of marketers have increased their investment in such tech. Moreover, a staggering 96% of them believe that using marketing technology will have a positive effect on a business. Another 86% think that it can improve the relationship between a company and its customers despite the automated nature of this technology. The research states that businesses that do not adopt automated marketing will not fail. Nevertheless, it adds that they will probably lose their competitive advantage.
Email Marketing Leads Automation
Email marketing is one of the oldest digital marketing practices. Despite that, it still continues to be among the most popular ones. The research notes that most B2B marketers see personalizing email message and integrating channels as the most important aspects of emails marketing. Automation can now cover both in a quite effective way. As a result, the research calls email automation marketing “essential.” Nevertheless, the majority of businesses it seems prefer to use cross-channels automation tools instead of software that focuses only on email automation.
Small Businesses – A Chance to Survive
Many small businesses that deal with ecommerce or retailing in general are in the shadow of large online stores, like Amazon, who offer low prices, easy shopping and huge choice. According to the report, small businesses can improve their chances by adopting marketing automation. That will allow them to offer consumers more personalized data experience.
The Consumer is King
Naturally, most companies want to create loyal consumers. That is why one of marketers’ main tasks is to work to improve the business-client relationship, as well as to meet consumers’ demands. As a result, the most popular type of marketing automation software is the CRM software (consumer relationship management software). About 55% of all marketing professionals that participated in the survey have shared that they find this type of tools to be the most useful. On the other hand, the popularity of marketing analytics software and email marketing software is increasing.
The study also outlines the main advantages of marketing automation. It has found that 7 out of 10 businesses that rely on this marketing practice register improved efficiency and campaign effectiveness. A little over 30% of companies also report a greater quality and volume of opportunities, as well as better accountability and organizational yield.
