Dynamics CRM Consulting - Marketing Automation vs Bulk Email

What is Marketing Automation?

What is so special about Marketing Automation vs. continuing to drop bulk emails?
-- Amy
 
Dear Amy,
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If you are concerned about the low click-rates of your bulk emails, or being seen as a spammer, or your messages always only “selling” this week’s special offer, then you might want to look beyond bulk emails and at marketing automation.  

Marketing Automation is based on two concepts; first, that it is better to deliver communications that educate the buyer rather than always selling. In MA you build out a series of drip emails to nurture the relationship instead of always a pushing the “buy how” approach. You are playing a numbers games with a “buy now” approach, and it might work for some buyers who have an immediate need, but most buyers are not yet ready. They may not even be aware of a need for your product.  You should want to be seen as the information source for buyers so when they are ready, they are comfortable with you and will reach out to you.

The second main benefit of a marketing automation tool is providing the marketer that one place to keep track of the buyer’s journey.  A solid MA tool will deliver e-marketing, landing pages, web forms, media library, social media delivery/tracking and web site visitor tracking.  By having all these tools under one system you can easily track what your buyer is doing.  You can score each action that the buyer takes, such as open of an email, clicks on links, or downloads a whitepaper.  When the buyer has taken so many actions or they have taken an important action, you can automatically alert an account rep to call them and follow up.

I have a client where each account manager has a territory of 1,100 prospects, but they are targeting only their top 250.  There is no way an account manager will have the time to reach out those other 850 prospects or take the time to figure out who else might fit into their target group. Marketing can use Marketing Automation to build a segment with the others and deliver targeted, crafted messages positioning these prospects to raise their hands.  When a prospect looks and starts to act like they should be in the targeted 250 group, then the Marketing Automation tool can pass the prospect on to the account rep.

Discover more about Marketing Automation in our blog post: Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM – Be a Smarter Marketer​