‘Marketing automation’ is a very misleading term. Yes, it will help to automate your marketing efforts and make them more efficient, but it’s far from being completely automatic. Marketing automation is a very involved process, and you’ll only get out of it whatever you’re willing to put in.
Whether you personally manage your marketing automation or have hired an agency to help, you owe it to yourself and your business to be as informed as possible. After all, automation is a substantial investment — so what’s the point if you’re not using it to its full potential?
Here’s a collection (in no particular order) of 10 marketing automation resources that you’ll definitely want to check out!
Marketing Automation Simplified: The Small Guide to Big Ideas (Eloqua)
What Is It?
An introductory guide to marketing automation.
Who It’s Useful For
Newcomers to the marketing automation world.
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
Don’t let its 24 pages fool you – this guide packs some serious punch! If marketing automation is a buzzword that you don’t know much about and you have no idea where to start learning, Eloqua’s guide is the perfect place.
The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation (Marketo)
What Is It?
An in-depth guide to nearly everything you need to know about marketing automation.
Who It’s Useful For
Newcomers, particularly those who are close to purchasing a solution or have recently adopted one.
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
If you’re serious about being a power user of marketing automation, this guide will teach you nearly all that you’ll need to know and then some. It will bring you up to speed on what marketing automation is and also provides info on more advanced use cases to build up to. Plus, there are even tips on how to sell reluctant stakeholders on the value of marketing automation in case you’re having trouble getting approval.
The VB Marketing Automation Index (VentureBeat)
What Is It?
A report on the top 10 marketing automation systems based on input from over 1,000 marketing professionals.
Who It’s Useful For
Those looking to adopt a marketing automation system or switch to a new one.
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
If you’re looking for an objective and unbiased look at what software is out there and how they rank among their users, there’s really nothing out there that compares to this report in terms of both quality and scope.
B2B Marketing Automation Report 2014 (Pepper)
What Is It?
A report on survey results from over 900 marketing professionals on their use of marketing automation.
Who It’s Useful For
Anyone interested in marketing automation.
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
This report provides great insight into the who, what, where, when, why & how of marketing automation. It’s also a great way for marketers to learn from their peers and see how their own strategies compare.
Going Beyond Email: How to Master Marketing Automation (HubSpot)
What Is It?
A guide to the more advanced components of marketing automation.
Who It’s Useful For
HubSpot users who want to take their processes to the next level.
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
However well you think you’re using marketing automation, there’s always room to refine & improve. This guide explains more about important aspects including workflows, segmenting leads and integrating marketing into sales strategies.
LinkedIn Groups
What Is It?
Communities of marketing automation users.
Who It’s Useful For
Everyone
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
Most marketing automation platforms have a ton of support documents and representatives to help you, but sometimes the best way to learn is from your peers. LinkedIn groups are great for sharing tips, examples, news, trends and even frustrations. To find groups that are relevant to you, just do a search on LinkedIn in the Groups category for the software you are using. To get started, here are links to groups for some of the most popular tools:
Cheat Sheet: How to Design a Marketing Automation Discovery Guide (Marketo)
What Is It?
A checklist with items to include when documenting your marketing automation processes.
Who It’s Useful For
Beginners (though it should be continuously updated whenever changes are made to your marketing automation).
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
Writing a Discovery Guide will serve many purposes. First, it will force you to really think about all of the components of your marketing automation and how you will use them. Next, it will ensure that whatever you do in the future will be done properly. Finally, it will serve to train current and future team members.
Zapier
What Is It?
Software that connects and automates your various web apps.
Who It’s Useful For
Anyone that is using more than one web app for lead generation (so basically every marketer).
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
There are many use cases for Zapier, so it’s worth checking out for a variety of reasons. For marketing automation, it will help make your automation process even more efficient. You can easily customize any trigger to perform an action of your choice. So, maybe you’d like new registrants to your webinar on GoToWebinar to be added to a smart list in HubSpot. Or, a note added by your Sales team in Salesforce triggers an email campaign in Marketo. Once you’ve identified a way to better automate your marketing across platforms, Zapier will help make it happen.
15 Ways Marketing Automation Can Maximize Your Content’s ROI (Content Marketing Institute)
What Is It?
An overview of best practices for how to fully utilize your marketing automation.
Who It’s Useful For
Intermediate & advanced users
Why It’s Worth Checking out
This post gives 15 ways to use your marketing automation tool that you might not have thought of yet. It doesn’t go into much detail on how to actually implement the tactics described, but will help provide guidance on where to focus your efforts next.
Marketing Automation ROI Calculator (Marketo)
What Is It?
A calculator to determine your marketing automation’s ROI as well as what areas to focus on for improvement.
Who It’s Useful For
Everyone
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
If your marketing automation is not providing value for your business then you’ll need to step up your game. This tool lets you input your data in order to calculate how much you should focus on improving the various stages of your sales funnel in order to really maximize your investment.
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About the Author
Michael is a Content Marketer at Tucows.
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