At first glance, you may think I’ve gone mad. How could a marketing automation system, a tool that’s designed to help marketers show ROI, be anything like the soft, fleecy Snuggie sensation that’s sweeping the nation? I argue that not only does marketing automation have a lot in common with the Snuggie, in some ways it is even better. Yes, better. Let’s examine the facts:
The Snuggie frees up your hands for important tasks, like changing the channel. Marketing automation frees up your marketing resources so you can spend time on other important tasks.
Marketing automation systems come equipped with the tools you need to create logic statements to automate previously manual tasks. Need to assign you sales leads by geographic region? Easy. How about pre-qualifying those leads using customized scoring and grading before they even make it to the sales reps? Just a few more clicks and your new system will be applied to all of your incoming leads, while you move on to the next task on your ever-growing to-do list. You can also set up personalized, triggered emails to nurture leads through the sales pipeline, allowing you to stay in touch with prospects without lifting a finger.
The Snuggie is buy-one-get-one-free, a great value. With marketing automation, you can manage all of your online marketing efforts with a single, low-cost program – also a great value!
While you can find marketing automation solutions in a variety of price ranges, many programs are available that offer multiple easy-to-use marketing solutions for one low cost. Using just one program, you can create and send emails, build landing pages and forms, track a prospect’s exact movements across your website, identify anonymous visitors and add a search box on your site. Not only can you create all these great marketing components, but you’ll be getting meaningful reports on each of these modules and you can integrate with your CRM platform, Google AdWords and more for easy sharing of information. In fact, some small companies may even find that marketing automation eliminates the need for an additional lead management system like a CRM. Whew! How’s that for value-packed?
And now (drum-roll, please), I will prove that marketing automation is indeed a step ahead of the Snuggie…
The Snuggie is one size fits all. Marketing automation can be tailored to your needs.
Your marketing campaigns are unique, why shouldn’t your marketing automation tool match your needs? Look for a flexible system that offers a variety of pricing plans, allows you to integrate with tools you love like Jigsaw, Google Analytics or your existing CRM and has an open API so you can customize it even further.
Warning: Marketing automation is not machine washable.
