5 Myths about Marketing Automation Debunked [Infographic]

Marketing automation does have a way of making people think about an automated robot that helps to market products. It conjures images of automated machines bidding their master’s command. But in reality marketing automation is more than just a system that behaves like a machine. 

It is extremely humane, as humane as you want it to be and it is currently changing the way B2B companies are conducting their businesses.

But Marketing automation comes with its baggage of myths, marketing automation myths that need to be dispelled as soon as possible so that marketers can learn the truth about marketing automation and harness its power to unleash its true potential.

Understanding how marketing automation works will transform leads into opportunities and sales will shoot through the roof in no time for your organization!

Myth #1: Marketing Automation is too expensive and is only applicable for big businesses

Truth: When marketing automation first set its foot in the market, it was a bit out of reach for small to medium sized businesses, only the larger ones with a substantial budget could afford it. But ever since then, the marketing automation market has increased in size exponentially and the number of marketing automation options available out there is incredible.

Nowadays, you get marketing automation systems that cater for every type of business and your expenses will depend solely on your needs.

You can easily avail services of platforms that serves your particular needs at reasonable prices or open source (like Mautic). Also, whatever money you invest in a marketing automation system will be negated by the profits you start making in no time.

Myth #2: Sales cycle not suitable for marketing automation

Truth: Any sales cycle requires tender, love and care if you want to engage all your leads. Marketing automation is the perfect solution to engage with maximum number of clients.

Marketing Automation workflows nurture leads till they are qualified and sales-ready. This will save valuable time for the marketing department, time that can be invested to conduct marketing campaigns and maintaining relationships with existing customers.

Myth #3: Once and Done

Truth: Most companies feel that marketing automation will do all the work for them, but the truth is the program itself needs constant monitoring so that it can work better and provide better results.

It compliments your sales strategy but it will never be able to carry out the entire process of marketing all by itself. This is a very common myth and marketers often think that they can sit back and relax while the tool does everything.

Customers too like to engage with brands that engage back and if you don’t respond to your customers then your messages will soon be ignored.

Myth #4: It’s Only for Email

Truth: Even though email marketing is one the strongest channels for marketing automation, it can be synced with social media, landing pages, lead management and segmentation activities as well.

However the reason for such a myth to exist is because most marketers are used to an ineffective form of marketing that makes them compare marketing automation with spam, a point which we will elaborate next.

Marketing automation syncs all your channels for better lead conversions and will save a lot of time and resources in the long run.

Myth #5: Automation systems are impersonal and fail to generate quality leads

Truth: Marketing automation redefines the term personalization in marketing. You can tailor your emails and other messages, use smart content to tap into customer background and use that information to tailor the perfect email for every prospective lead.

Marketing automation is not about spamming people with irrelevant messages, relevance is what it believes in and relevance will be scoring you leads in the long run. By being relevant and using personalized emails, you will be able to nurture your leads better and guide them through the buy cycle without any problem.

Leads will always prefer reading personalized messages than generic ones simply because of the nature of the individualized message. Blasting off generic emails will not only result in nothing but it will also be an act of spamming and your mails will end up in every prospective leads spam box in no time.

Marketing automation helps you conduct drip marketing campaigns and compose personalized marketing content so that they provoke your leads and encourage them to move along the sales funnel.

It's high time smart marketers debunk marketing automation myths and get started with smart marketing automation.