If you're reading this, you're probably familiar with the term “Marketing Automation” or, as we like to call it at the agency, “the art of putting your marketing on autopilot (but with a lot of brain behind it)”.
Imagine having a tireless assistant who works 24/7, sending the perfect message to the right person at the right time, nurturing leads, retrieving abandoned carts and following up, all while you're drinking coffee. Sounds good, right? Well, that, broadly speaking, is marketing automation.
So what exactly is it and what does it consist of?
El Marketing Automation consists of using specialized software to automate repetitive marketing tasks. Think about it: sending welcome emails, segmenting your audience, posting on social networks, following leads based on their behavior... These are crucial tasks, but they consume brutal time.
Automation software allows you to create “workflows”. These are like intelligent decision diagrams: “If a user downloads this ebook, send them this sequence of emails”, “If a customer doesn't buy after adding to the cart, remind them with this offer”, “If a lead visits the pricing page 3 times, let the sales team know”.
Why does Marketing Automation help you attract customers?
Automating for the sake of automating is useless; it can even be counterproductive if you bombard people with irrelevant messages. But properly used, marketing automation is a machine for generating opportunities:
- Customization at scale: You can send super specific messages based on each person's interests and actions, without having to write a thousand emails by hand. This makes your leads feel understood, not just another number.
- Constant lead nourishment (Lead Nurturing): Not everyone who cares about you is ready to buy now. Automation allows you to accompany them in their process, sending them useful and relevant content until they are ready to take the plunge.
- Brutal efficiency: Free your team from repetitive tasks so they can focus on what's important: strategy, creativity, closing complex sales.
- Dynamic Segmentation: The software automatically classifies your contacts based on their behavior, interests or demographics. That way, you always send the right offer to the right audience.
- Measurement and optimization: Everything is recorded. You know what works, what doesn't, and you can adjust your flows to constantly improve.
5 marketing automation strategies that (done right) will help you make money
Here are some practical examples that with the right knowledge you can implement in a matter of days:
- Welcome and onboarding sequence: When someone subscribes to your newsletter or signs up, don't leave them silent. Send them a series of automated emails introducing them to your brand, offering valuable content and guiding them to the next steps. Top first impression!
- Recovering abandoned carts: An e-commerce classic. If someone leaves products in the cart, an automatic reminder email (perhaps with a small discount) can recover a sale that you were missing.
- Lead Scoring: Assign points to your leads based on their actions (opening emails, visiting key pages, downloading guides). When a lead reaches a certain score, automatically pass it on to the sales team! This way they focus on the “hottest” ones.
- Reactivation campaigns: Do you have contacts that have been inactive for months? Create an automatic flow to try to “wake them up” with a special offer or irresistible content. Maybe they just needed one last final push.
- Dynamic web customization: Some tools allow you to show different content on your website depending on who visits it (returning customer, new visitor, lead interested in X service). It's like having a store that adapts to each customer that comes in.
Some Marketing Automation tools to start playing
The market is full of options, from the simplest to true technological monsters. Some of the most popular ones are:
- HubSpot: An all-in-one classic (CRM, marketing, sales, customer support). Powerful, but requires a certain learning curve.
- ActiveCampaign: Very popular for its balance between power and ease of use, especially strong in email marketing and automation.
- Mailchimp: It started out as an email marketing tool, but it has added a lot of automation features, ideal for beginners or small businesses.
- Brief (formerly Sendinblue): Another robust option with good value for money, covering email, SMS, chat and CRM.
- Market (Adobe): For the big leagues. Very powerful, very complete, but also more complex and expensive.
The choice will depend on your budget, business size and specific needs.
Are you feeling overwhelmed?
Marketing automation is incredibly powerful, but let's face it: configuring it well, creating the right strategies and analyzing the results requires time, knowledge and experience.
If the idea of putting your marketing on autopilot excites you, but you don't know where to start or you prefer to leave it in the hands of a marketing automation agency in Barcelona.
We take care of everything: from choosing the right tool to designing and implementing the strategies that will really help you attract more customers and grow your business.
