Marketing Automation Buyer's Guide

The 9 Most Common Marketing Automation Myths

The 9 Most Common Marketing Automation Myths

The 9 Most Common Marketing Automation Myths

Marketing automation software provides a streamlined way for teams to launch marketing campaigns, as well as automate repetitive tasks. Picking the correct solution depends almost entirely on the individual needs of your organization. Company size, industry, environment, and existing business practices will all have an effect on how useful marketing automation can be. Nevertheless, marketing automation is sometimes misunderstood as a spammy, email-focused tool. Some believe that it’s too expensive, or that it will only benefit a marketing team. Businesses of all shapes and sizes use marketing automation, but there are still several myths surrounding this useful software solution. In this article, we will debunk nine of some of the most common myths about marketing automation.

It’s Only Used for Email Marketing

This is one of the most widespread myths about marketing automation, possibly the most popular myth. Depending on your chosen solution, marketing automation provides great tools for managing and automating aspects of your email campaigns. This includes segmentation, automation, newsletter creation, and more. But marketing automation is about so much more than email. It lets you create scenarios and automation workflows that respond to various actions customers take when they interact with your business. It affects the content your websites show, where they’re directed after a form submission, the advertisements they see on social media, and much more.

It Fixes All Your Marketing Problems

Marketing automation provides a variety of benefits and tools, but simply getting a new tool doesn’t mean all your problems will be fixed. Your team will need to take the time to learn how to use this new technology, and you’ll have to continue staying on top of your work. Without established processes and a constant stream of content ready to be implemented, marketing automation will simply exist as a useless tool. It needs to be handled well by skilled professionals.

It’s Too Complex or Complicated

This myth is rooted in the past. When marketing automation was first being used, it was much more complicated than it is today. It took time to learn how to use it, and it could be a pain. But today, marketing automation vendors are focused on developed user-friendly interfaces that are designed to simplify the marketing automation process. Good marketing automation solutions will be easy to use, and will seamlessly integrate with other enterprise technology solutions your business is using.

It Won’t Help My Other Teams

Understandably, the term “marketing automation” leads most people to assume that it only affects marketing. But it’s important to recognize that this solution affects multiple aspects of your business, particularly your sales team. Marketing automation can help qualify leads and identify key opportunities, giving your sales team more time to follow up on interested parties and potential deals. Marketing automation also lets the sales team see the activity and content areas that prospects have engaged with. When your teams are all on the same page, it’s easier to have conversations and boost productivity.

It’s Too Expensive, Especially for Small Businesses

Enterprise technology is available at a wide range of prices, for all sorts of businesses and organizations. As long as you make a budget and identify what features are important for your business, you’ll be able to find something that addresses those needs. There are hundreds of marketing automation applications on the market, many of them available for free. Remember, you don’t need to purchase the most complex or feature-rich tool you can find. As long as it accomplishes what you need it to do, your marketing automation will have value.

It Creates Spammy Marketing

This is boiling a set of tools down into one potential negative result. Spam is simply overbearing, uninteresting, and irrelevant content. As long as you ensure that your campaigns are segmented and targeted, you’ll avoid being marked as spam. If you steadily trickle your content and engage with your audience in a meaningful manner, your audience will grow. Of course, you also need to make sure that you’re not sending messages out too often. It’s possible to make too much of a good thing, so don’t inundate your audience with emails.

You Can Set It and Forget It

Your marketing automation software needs to be consistently monitored. It’s a supplement to your marketing strategy, not a button that you press and suddenly your business is better than it was before. Marketers should test the various aspects of their automation, and take note of what content is performing well. As your audience changes or interacts with your business, change your automation to reflect your evolving relationship. Trends come and go, and customers can be fickle. It’s important to stay vigilant and aware of what’s going on in your industry or vertical.

It’s Cold and Impersonal

Cold and impersonal marketing is the result of irresponsible marketers, not the software they use. Automation will sound automated if you don’t bother to put in the effort to make it sound personal, sincere, and human. Today’s consumers are barraged with advertisements everywhere they go. They’re savvy enough that they’ll recognize low-effort advertising. As mentioned before, marketing automation is a tool used to help marketers do their job. If marketers don’t learn how to use the tool effectively and don’t have the necessary marketing skills, they won’t succeed.

It’s Lazy Marketing

Being able to schedule or automate certain aspects of your content doesn’t make the rest of your job easy. It takes time and effort to schedule and execute and solid marketing strategy. It’s important to always be seeking ways to improve your strategy and tactics, and pay attention to metrics and statistics that are important to your company.

If you’re looking for more marketing tips, check out our Five Strategies for Reducing and Avoiding Email List Churn.

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