What is Marketing Automation (MA)?: Benefits & Tools [2022]

Hi, I'm Takeo Fujii.

Getting the contact information of your prospects, it should go without saying, is a "business must".

However, even if you get the contact information of a potential customer, it is notThe first gateway to marketingThis is the only way to do it.

The key to actually making a profit is to go beyond that.

For example, you have obtained the email address of a potential customer. You then build a relationship with the prospect to gain their trust and get them to buy your paid product/service. I can trust you," and get them to buy your paid product/service.

When a purchase is made, a sale is finally made and a profit is generated.

The first thing you need to keep in mind when learning web marketing."Marketing Automation."The following is an easy-to-understand explanation with examples.

What is Marketing Automation (MA)?

Marketing Automation" may sound difficult, but it is actually simple and easy to understand.

I can explain it to you in a way that will make it easier for your brain."When A happens, do B."That's all there is to it.

To give you a more concrete explanation, I'll show you the marketing automation that I use.

A: Someone downloaded my ebook.

When this occurs, then

B: Send the email to the person automatically.

This is a trick. As a result, I will automatically send an email to anyone who downloads the ebook.

It's an incredibly simple and easy to understand mechanism. By setting up marketing automation in this way, you can automate the process of "doing B when A occurs.

If you were to manually send an email to each person who downloaded your e-book, it would be very difficult. However, with marketing automation, you can send emails to them automatically.

Applied Marketing Automation

It is also possible to automate more complex tasks by combining them.

Let's take a look at a real-world example that takes the marketing automation we mentioned above a step further.

A: Someone downloaded my ebook.

B: Send the email to the person automatically.

C: Wait 24 hours.

D: Send another email.

In this example, we have incorporated the tasks C and D. By automating the scheduling of email sending, you can automatically send the next email after waiting for 24 hours.

If you try to send this email manually, you will have to go through the tedious process of measuring 24 hours with a timer and sending the email manually.

However, by using marketing automation, you can automate all of these sequential tasks.

This system of automatically sending emails in sequence is often referred to as "step mail" in Japan. In other countries, it is called drip marketing or, collectively, marketing automation.

Regardless of how you explain it, the basics are the same. The basic idea of marketing automation is to get people to buy your product/service and grow your business.

How to implement marketing automation

Now, let's integrate marketing automation into your own business.

You will need to do this.Marketing toolsIt is.

For example, to automate an email like the one described above, you can use email marketing software. The most popular email marketing software in the world is Mailchimp. You can start using it for free.

Mailchimp has a marketing automation feature that allows you to automatically send emails to recipients according to a set delivery schedule, as well as to personalize prospects and branch emails based on their behavior.

The step-by-step "send email automatically" feature is implemented in almost all email marketing software.

If you want to combine and automate more complex tasks, you will need yet another marketing tool. To give you an example.

• A: Someone downloaded my ebook.
• B: Send the email to the person automatically.
• C: Sell the service
• D: Receive the fee through the payment system
• E: Register customers who buy from you on your membership site.
• F: Send order completion emails and receipts to customers who buy from you.
• G: Save the buyer's payment information.

All of these tasks can actually be automated by using a combination of tools.

Acquire prospects, send emails, store information about buyers of your services, register buyers with membership site access credentials, automatically issue receipts and send them with order completion emails.

All of these tasks, which are normally done manually, can be automated.

My Marketing Automation

Let me give you a practical example. I am offering an online course at GURUCAN. I use Leadcart to receive the course fees.

I have integrated these two tools in Pabbly Connect.

The payment information of the students who paid for the course with Leadcart is stored in theGURUCAN, an online course platformIt will be automated and passed on to the

In other words, students who have paid for the course will be automatically registered as students of the online course, and students will be able to study freely.

At this time, sending order completion emails and receipts is all automated.

When you incorporate marketing automation, your business will become dramatically more efficient. As a result, you can focus on the work you need to do.

Important parts of marketing automation

If you read this far, you might misunderstand that marketing automation = just automation, so I'll tell you the last important fundamental part of marketing automation.

It is."Building Relationships."It is.

Remember that there is a "human" on the other side of the screen.

The other person is human. This means that the more you know about the person on the other side of the screen, the more powerful relationships you can build.

Why do so many people fail to get results from email marketing? It's because it's nothing more than a one-way automated email, and that marketing action is inorganic.

From their point of view, the only thing they will know is that you sent them a sales email, so you will continue to send unreadable emails without building a relationship with your potential customers.

How to build relationships with prospective clients

The easiest and most powerful way to do this is toKnow your potential customers.It is.

What problems do potential customers have? What are they looking for? What are they interested in? By knowing your potential customers, you can create and sell services that are more suitable for them. You can provide them with the products they are looking for.

What exactly should be done?

I'm using it and it's working.The marketing tactic is "lead magnet."It is.

There are a number of ways to explore the potential needs of prospective customers and actually make contact and build a relationship with them, but the easiest and most effective is to use a lead magnet.

By creating some lead magnets, you will be cutting segments.

For example, let's say you've created a lead magnet for "A Beginner's Guide to FB Advertising".

What you're downloading is a newbie who is interested in FB advertising, and also a business owner of some sort.

Now, let's consider a different lead magnet.

What if it was a lead magnet that said, "[For BtoB] A list of powerful lead generation strategies.

The person or department in charge of lead acquisition in BtoB will be interested. This is a different audience than the one that receives the FB Advertising Guidebook for Beginners.

It will be segmented according to the lead magnet to be prepared.

Therefore, you can assume that "the person who downloaded this lead magnet is interested in this subject," and focus on delivering content that is highly relevant.

As a result, you will be able to build relationships and weave trust with your prospective customers. From there, you will lead them to purchase your products and services.

Getting Started with Marketing Automation

In this article, I explained the basics of marketing automation in an easy-to-understand manner.

I hope to be able to explain each step of the marketing automation process in more detail as we go along.

especiallyMarketing automation tends to be too inorganic to be efficient.It's a good idea. Try to build a relationship with the person on the other side of the screen.

While I'm at it, I'm also reflecting on whether my marketing automation is working or not. In fact, I often find myself so focused on verifying the effectiveness of my marketing automation that I neglect the other party.

Marketing automation is not just about automation, it's about building relationships with people. I always keep this in mind when I do business. However, there are still times when I forget to do so, and that is one of my shortcomings.

Let's make sure that this marketing automation is implemented with an awareness of building relationships between humans, not just automation.