A first look at Marketing Automation (for us, anyways)

Marketing Automation is software that helps to truly align marketing and sales. Mac Macintosh defines it as "The use of technology to generate, nurture, score and qualify leads, and drive sales, using customized, multi-touch marketing communications tailored for each contact's profile, level of interest, behavior or place in the buying process". Though it sounds complicated, it's really not.  Essentially, marketers use real-time information gleaned from a CRM to automate campaigns and generate leads for sales.

Marketing automation software can be bought as standalone software - say to help segment your customer database and execute email campaigns. However, the real beauty is marrying the software with your CRM. The folks over at Software Advice have posted a good primer on the importance of CRM integration in Marketing Automation.

I would emphasis their key point even further: CRM integration with Marketing Automation isn't important, it's imperative. The beauty of this evolving concept is sending out the right message to the right prospect at the right time using technology instead of luck. Marketers can't do this well without knowing deep information about a prospect. And what better place is there to get that data than a CRM system full of demographic, behavioral and purchasing information about a prospect? Sure, Marketing Automation can work without the CRM component, but not nearly to the level as when you harmonize marketing prowess with ongoing sales insight.

Marketing Automation is a topic we haven't covered a ton yet on this blog - but it's an area we intend to explore much more this year. In fact, we launched an integrated Marketing Automation solution at BuyerZone just over a year ago - so we'll be sharing a lot more of what we've learned so far.

Is Marketing Automation a totally new concept for you? Or, are you an experienced pro? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!