The benefits of marketing automation

Here are the benefits of marketing automation:

• Regular processing and monitoring of sales leads,
• Improved sales efficiency through better identification of “hot” leads,
• Increased ROI of marketing actions thanks to a better lead-to-sales-opportunity conversion rate,
• A shorter sales cycle thanks to systematic monitoring (scoring or nurturing) of leads,
• Increased efficiency of marketing teams thanks to better use of their budget

Hard not to talk about business development…!

The Inbound Marketing-Marketing Automation combination

Reading discussions among professionals in the United States, it is clear that marketing automation is very clearly associated with inbound marketing, the strategy that consists of being found by customers rather than finding them (outbound marketing). Inbound marketing has been growing in importance since the rise of social media, for two main reasons:

1. A very favorable cost/result ratio: according to Hubspot, a sales lead generated by an inbound action costs 62% less than one generated by an outbound action.
2. The cornerstone role the Web has come to play in purchasing decisions: according to a Google/TechTarget study carried out this year, 97% of purchasing decisions in the ICT sector begin with a search for information on the Web. According to a study conducted by an MIT student in 2010, 86% of companies using Hubspot (inbound marketing management software) saw the number of their sales leads increase. Hubspot conducted a similar study indicating that inbound marketing’s share now exceeds that of outbound marketing by 15% in the budget allocated to sales lead generation.

 

More effective and less expensive, inbound marketing actions are becoming a pillar of lead generation  (via the Web). Hence the central link with marketing automation platforms. These platforms are also seen offering automatic creation of web forms (very inbound marketing)  to support email campaigns.