Wat is marketing automation?
What is marketing automation?
Marketing automation is a word that is often used in digital strategies, but what does it exactly mean? Since 2014, marketing automation has made big steps forward, and because of this, the definition of the term has multiple meanings. Nowadays it could almost be defined as "buzzword", but that is certainly not the case! I will tell you why.
More than just e-mail marketing
When speaking of marketing automation, people often only think about e-mail marketing. But it's so much more than that. Cause of this misconception is all the software packages that define themselves as marketing automation software. E-mailmarkeitng is actually only a small part of marketing automation. Marketing automation is also lead generation, online forms, push notifications, dynamic and personalized content and so on. In my view, e-mail marketing is a digital marketing tool for guiding the customer through online messages. E-mail is, as the word says, the core and only online option of communication towards the customer. The options towards personalization is marketing automation.
Marketing automation is a forward-thinking offline and online strategy for achieving marketing goals. It's a route in which the customer is guided automatically. The goal is to enter into a connection with the customer and to improve it in order to guide the customer in a personalized way through his or her customer journey.
Aimée van der Heijde - Digital Marketeer at TRIMM
Possibilities of marketing automation
Marketing automation has a lot of options. It's used in digital marketing campaigns, you can think of lead generation, e-mail marketing, retargeting, gated downloads or webinars. In addition, marketing automation is a good way to connect analog and digital.
To give an example: a company in the B2B branch attends a trade fair. Prior to this fair, an e-mail can be sent that is linked to a registration form. During the event, white papers, gated downloads and/or QR codes can be used to connect to the database so that the analog contacts are actually included in the digital database. After the fair, the contacts can be analyzed, but also how much the scholarship has delivered, and any (new) contacts can be thanked for participating in the fair.
The future of marketing automation
Marketing automation has grown rapidly in recent years and will become increasingly more relevant. A number of exciting issues such as connection with AI and machine learning will certainly join the stage. The added value of marketing automation can also no longer be denied, because personal content at the right time is key. It is therefore essential to establish a valuable connection between your digital strategy and marketing automation.