{"id":100,"date":"2018-08-14T12:50:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T12:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/?p=100"},"modified":"2019-08-06T18:22:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T18:22:44","slug":"the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Marketing Automation Software"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-112\" src=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ.jpg\" alt=\"The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Marketing Automation Software\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ.jpg 800w, https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ-540x270.jpg 540w, https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ-162x81.jpg 162w, https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ-360x180.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Companies that transition to digital marketing often rely on marketing automation to help them spread their campaigns and to communicate with prospects and customers. They create the campaign and then use their tool of choice to handle delivery and responses, then monitor the results of their campaign using the same tool. But if you\u2019ve only recently discovered marketing automation and want to learn more about it, we\u2019re here to give you a crash course in the basics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Marketing automation is a valuable technology that anyone planning a marketing campaign should consider. It\u2019s not only helpful in spreading your campaigns, but also in seeing which parts of your campaign are working and which aren\u2019t. Read on to learn about marketing automation and the benefits it can provide.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget\"><div class=\"aside-card\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><a class=\"speedbump-1\" href=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/marketing-automation-buyers-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1682\" title=\"Marketing Automation Buyer's Guide\" src=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2019\/02\/marketing-automation-bg-speedbump.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>What marketing automation is \u2013 and what it <em>isn\u2019t<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Marketing automation is software that assists organizations with performing tasks related to their marketing campaigns. These tools can automatically perform repetitive tasks, keep track of multiple marketing channels, and provide feedback on your campaign\u2019s performance. These actions are performed by the tool itself, reducing the number of tasks you and your staff will have to do.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Marketing automation is <strong>NOT <\/strong>a way to create marketing campaigns. These tools are designed to help a business automate the delivery and result-gathering of your marketing. They can help you determine which marketing strategies are most effective, but they can\u2019t market your product for you.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>What marketing automation tools can do<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Common tasks that marketing automation tools perform include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li>Automatically sending e-mails and replies to leads and prospects<\/li>\n<li>Scheduling e-mails<\/li>\n<li>Setting up and posting social media posts at scheduled times<\/li>\n<li>Analyzing leads to gather relevant info<\/li>\n<li>Tailoring content to leads based on that analysis<\/li>\n<li>Providing real-time analytics on marketing campaigns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Why you should use marketing automation<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Nobody wants to send out e-mails to every single one of their leads, but it\u2019s something that has to be done. Having a solution that can not only send those e-mails without you having to worry about them, but can also help you with social media and analytics, is incredibly practical. While most of these tasks are possible without the use of marketing automation, having one product that can perform everything for you just makes it easier for everyone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Plus, since marketing automation solutions can measure the success of your campaigns, you can automatically get results and make a plan to change your marketing even as your current campaign is still going on. You can even modify current marketing campaigns based on initial results if you see that something isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>What you should look for in a marketing automation tool<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Adopting a marketing automation solution might seem like a daunting task at first \u2013 who\u2019s going to set up all the data for the tool to go to work? But adding marketing automation software to your company\u2019s technology portfolio has the ability to change your culture almost overnight. However, there are several things to keep in mind during the research and buying phase to ensure the solution fits best in your environment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Depending on the size of your company, you\u2019ll have to dedicate someone (or a group of people) to running the platform. Ideally, this should be somebody on your marketing team \u2013\u00a0 but it\u2019s probably a good idea for everyone who does marketing to learn the tool. Therefore, keep the accessibility of your tool in mind. If you\u2019re not sure your team can handle the more complicated systems, try one that is rated high for ease-of-use scores.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">When you\u2019re researching which tools will work best for you, consider reviews from users and companies who have used them. Look for common trends in the reviews, both positive and negative. In particular, see if any reviews note the helpfulness of the tool in determining the success of marketing campaigns \u2013 if a marketing automation tool isn\u2019t helping your company learn whether or not your marketing campaigns are successful, then it isn\u2019t doing its job.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Another thing you want to look for is if the tool supports importing\/exporting customer data. This is useful for companies that already have information on leads and want to transfer the data into the tool, or for those who want to share results and information with everybody on your staff. There are common pitfalls that you\u2019ll want to be aware of as well, such as issues with integrating with other software, clunky user-interfaces, and bugs (especially on newer systems).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Most marketing automation tools offer a free trial, so after you look into options and find ones that seem like they would work for your business, give them a try. Get familiar with the interfaces so you can decide which one will work best for you. Do you go with a high-end product with premium features, or a simple solution that just automates tasks you don\u2019t want to deal with? There are countless marketing automation tools in the marketplace right now; knowing what to look for can help you weed out the bad ones and hone in on the goods ones.<\/p>\n<div class=\"hr hr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"widget\"><div class=\"aside-card\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><a class=\"speedbump-3\" href=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/marketing-automation-buyers-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1682\" title=\"Marketing Automation Buyer's Guide\" src=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2019\/02\/marketing-automation-bg-speedbump.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companies that transition to digital marketing often rely on marketing automation to help them spread their campaigns and to communicate with prospects and customers. They create the campaign and then use their tool of choice to handle delivery and responses, then monitor the results of their campaign using the same tool. But if you\u2019ve only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10,11],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Marketing Automation Software<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The beginner&#039;s guide to marketing automation software highlights the key things you should know before selecting a solution for your organization.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/\",\"name\":\"The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Marketing Automation Software\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-14T12:50:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-06T18:22:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/#\/schema\/person\/154e152a275103e373e24ada7f2feb5c\"},\"description\":\"The beginner's guide to marketing automation software highlights the key things you should know before selecting a solution for your organization.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/files\/2018\/07\/oie_FsUoZ6untxiQ.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Marketing Automation Software\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/the-beginners-guide-to-marketing-automation-software\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Marketing Automation Software\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/marketing-automation\/\",\"name\":\"Marketing Automation Platforms | Solutions Review\",\"description\":\"Evaluating Enterprise MarTech, CRM Software, Email Tools &amp; 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