Automated Marketing Coming

 

Ramesh A. Lakshmi-Ratan, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Direct Marketing Association
www.the-dma.org/

 

Marketing technology is not new. In 1440, Johann Gutenberg started the ball rolling. And ever since, business owners have been searching for tools to help them reach customers more quickly, efficiently, and directly.

 

Certainly, automation is not a new idea either. If the industrial revolution left any doubt in anyone's mind about what automation is, that was cleared up for good 45 years ago when The Jetsons zoomed into American living rooms with visions of robotic conveniences and automatic everything.

 

However, put the two together and a distinctly new discipline-marketing automation-takes shape. What can a small business owner expect from this emerging field?

 

Marketing automation will eventually put sophisticated new marketing capabilities into the hands of small businesses, including the ability to generate qualified leads instantly and to make decisions based on precise cost/benefit projections. This will result from blending information technology and process management into a single set of integrated tools and protocols.

 

Current examples of this integration include platforms like Google Adwords and Analytics and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which allow any small business with an Internet connection to do what was once only possible for large corporations.

 

Demand for marketing automation is being driven by the complexity of today's multiple communications channels-including the Internet, mobile services, and digital print, audio, and video. The need for greater accountability for marketing spending as well as growing consumer impatience with promotional messages are also factors. 

 

Opportunities for Business Owners
Interviews by DMA with dozens of senior marketing executives and technology developers provide a tantalizing glimpse into what's ahead in marketing automation. 

 

Foremost among the marketing automation trends we identified is the rise of "customer-centric marketing," which requires the manipulation of accurate, timely information through automation.

 

Further, almost all businesses face financial pressure to increase marketing expenditure accountability and to integrate marketing with other business operations. Marketing automation will provide the information to evaluate the effect of marketing campaigns and tie those results directly into other business systems.

 

Early adopters of marketing automation are beginning to report improved performance in terms of both revenue growth and internal productivity. These benefits appear to apply across all types of industries and marketing channels.

 

More and more investment will be made in marketing automation platforms, taking advantage of data availability and the ability to react swiftly to replace costly manual interactions with relevant marketing experiences. Stay tuned!