To state the obvious, marketing automation is here to stay, and it’s looking like 2021 is going to be an even bigger year than usual for MarTech.
With over 68% of CMOs saying that they expect to raise their MarTech budget in the next year, according to Gartner’s latest CMO Spend Survey. And with MarTechAdvisor anticipating revenue from marketing automation to reach $7.63 billion by the end of 2021.
As a retailer, what is left to do but fold to this new-found world-order? And, what else should we expect from now on? Let’s find out!
DEFINING MARKETING AUTOMATION
Marketing Automation is the use of software or technology for the automation of workflows based on specific sets of criteria.
But…What kind of e-retailers actually need marketing automation?
Well, Maropost’s Senior Director, Jacopo Mauri sums this up quite well by describing their own platform with the following questions:
“Do you need to send a lot of emails? Do you need to customize those emails based on audience behavior? Do you need to engage with your audience through multiple channels (like SMS, social media, mobile push notifications, etc.)? Do you want to be able to leverage multiple devices to connect with your target audience?” And saying, “If you answered any of these questions with a YES, then Maropost is there to help.”
Suffice to say, plenty of e-retailers have gotten on board with Maropost—known to be one of the fastest-growing Marketing Automation platforms—and other well-known service providers because, in most cases, it’s always a YES.
THE FUTURE OF MARKETING AUTOMATION
But okay, enough of that. Let’s talk about the real issue here. What should you, as an e-retailer, expect from Marketing Automation in 2021?
Well, presently, the industry is still in the throes of something they call the ‘marketing monster.’ A process that involves taking several pieces of technology to run all their different marketing processes — kind of like creating your very own Frankenstein, but with software!
That’s how things have been for a while, but with the addition of platforms like Maropost, things are changing. This change is represented by unified marketing automation platforms – which propose that you focus only on what works best by providing all the tools required for the simplification and unification of customer engagement across multiple channels in one easy-to-use package.
Through this, they offer the ‘future’ of Marketing Automation — which is the introduction of a solution that erases the need for creating those inconvenient marketing monsters.
ENSURE SUCCESS WITH MARKETING AUTOMATION
Okay, but how do you take advantage of this ‘future.’ And, should you? What if you’re only a small or startup business? Is early investment even worthwhile?
Fortunately, there are a couple of indicators that you can check to figure out whether marketing automation will help your business reach an acceptable ROI. That is, in order to be able to achieve success with marketing automation, you must have:
- An understanding of your business’ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
- The ability to put aside resources and assign marketers that can handle the tuning and upkeep required to truly manage a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.
- A partnership with a reliable and reputable marketing automation service provider that treats you like you treat your own customers — with care and personal attention.
Once you’ve managed to acquire all the necessary criteria laid out above, then you’re already well on your way to ensuring success with marketing automation!
THE BOTTOM LINE
There is no denying the allure of marketing automation. After all, it supports the consolidation of insights drawn from content consumption across multiple channels and easily translates into both quantifiable and non-quantifiable returns.
Maropost’s CEO, Ross Andrew Paquette, puts this more plainly with the following statement:
“At the end of the day, your average marketing strategy will probably nab you a customer at least once. But remember that that’s not the end goal. You need to satisfy and, ultimately, meet almost every single one of your customer’s expectations to get them to come back and buy from you again and again.”In conclusion, if you want to make sure that you aren’t being left behind in the dust of your own competitors, then you’ll need to strive to offer the best possible service you can. And, seeing as everyone is already in on the marketing automation trend, you should be as well!
