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MarketingAutomationSurvey PDF
MarketingAutomationSurvey PDF
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Introduction
Automation is a dirty word to some marketers. To get a better handle on the broader industry
They see it as impersonal, intrusive and sentiment around automation — and what
interruptive — three things that run counter to processes are acceptable to automate (versus
the strengths of social media communication. those that aren’t) — we put out the call to
But at the same time, most businesses see a our SMT community for their thoughts on
level of automation as being inevitable. With where they see things heading. More than
advances in AI and machine learning enabling 300 marketers responded to our 2019 State
systems to better perform processes than their of Marketing Automation Survey, giving us
human counterparts, it’s going to happen. At a wide range of perspectives and insights. In
some stage, your business will need to consider this report, we examine the current state of
automating certain marketing elements. marketing automation, the biggest concerns
about relying on automated processes, and
But how much of your marketing process where marketers are headed next.
should you automate, and when?
Of course, that lack of connection to your Can automation tools be relied on to ‘speak’
audience makes sense, you need that link with potential customers in an engaging,
to strengthen your audience bonds. It can beneficial way in order to maximize such
be difficult to ensure if you’re not actively opportunities? That seems to be where the
monitoring each step of the process, which then key question currently lies.
WHICH MARKETING TASKS TAKE UP THE MOST TIME/ARE THE MOST CHALLENGING FOR
YOUR BUSINESS?
But interestingly, for many businesses, they impact brand perception, with marketers losing
may not even be at that point yet. Following control over key touchpoints, which could
the question of which elements take up the impede results. But maybe, if businesses
most time, we asked our readers if they’ve understood more about how the technical
researched whether automation tools might processes of such systems work, they would
be able to help with their key challenges. be more willing to rely on automation tools
for a wider purpose. If you knew, for example,
The responses were split down the exactly how Google’s algorithm decided
middle — 52% of marketers indicated that they on search rankings, you’d feel much more
had looked into it, while 48% said they had not. confident in your capability to influence them.
As digital literacy improves more broadly, there Of course, Google’s never going to reveal its
is an opportunity for marketing tool providers to algorithms, but the same principle applies — if
communicate their offerings to marketers who more marketers had a better technical
simply haven’t even got around to investigating understanding of the algorithms at play, they
their options in this regard. might be more willing to adopt automated tools.
This would not only provide them with a better
The results may also relate to how the understanding of exactly what each potential
systems themselves function. As noted in the customer is seeing, but they’d also, theoretically,
previous section, much of the concern around be able to exert more control over each step of
automation tools relates to how they may the process to ensure optimal results.
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