Marketing automation or “automated marketing” allows companies to execute routine and repetitive marketing tasks automatically. Marketing automation was first used for email marketing, but today it is applied to the entire inbound marketing process to make the customer journey better, smoother, and more productive by reducing the probability of human error in the customer engagement and conversion cycle.

Growth of marketing automation

The marketing automation tools market is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 17% through 2027. There are several reasons for this huge growth forecast:

1. The Covid pandemic:
   1. Covid reduced face-to-face interactions with customers, resulting in the massive growth of digital engagement channels.
   2. This prompted many companies to adopt marketing automation to integrate all their digital marketing channels into one easy-to-use and simple function.
2. Need to be updated with the latest technological trends:
   1. This is equally true for small and medium-sized organizations who may not have the budget or resources for a full marketing setup, and for large organizations with complex, multichannel marketing campaigns offering a wide variety of products or services to millions of customers.
3. Growth of digital marketing channels
   1. SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing are just a few of the new marketing tools that marketing managers are using to boost customer engagement and sales.
   2. This complex set of marketing processes requires a technological backbone to be error-free and effective.
   3. This has spurred the growth of marketing automation across industries.
4. Need to improve ROI of marketing budgets
   1. Brands are increasing their spends on social and digital media.
   2. The growth in investment requires organizations to track the ROI and see which marketing efforts give better results.
   3. Marketing automation helps organizations manage their marketing spends and track ROI on a regular and consistent basis.

What are automated marketing tools?

Automated marketing tools or systems are software packages that allow organizations to engage more effectively with their customers on multiple online channels. These channels include social media handles, websites, SMS, and email.

How do I choose marketing automation software?

Your organization may have certain requirements at a particular point in time. However, remember that marketing efforts can scale up rapidly as start-up companies experience growth, and the number of marketing channels and customers increases exponentially.

There are several points to consider when purchasing a marketing automation tool for your company:

1. Free or proprietary?
   1. Firstly, the organization should decide whether it needs to invest in dedicated or branded software or use open-source or free software.
   2. Note that “open-source” software is not necessarily free software, though “free software” could be “open-source” to an extent!
2. Easy setup
   1. A good marketing automation system should be easy to install and use.
   2. It should facilitate the creation of suitable workflows.
   3. It should also be easy to integrate with your organization’s CRM system.
3. Multichannel functionality
   1. Many marketing automation systems are usually email focused.
   2. However, in today’s complex digital world, the system needs to be used across multiple channels.
   3. Your organization’s marketing automation system should function seamlessly across social media, web, SMS, and email.
4. Compliance with data regulations
   1. There are several regulations in place for collecting and using customer data by marketing organizations.
   2. These regulations differ by country and can be complex.
   3. The marketing automation software used should be up-to-date and should have compliance features such as “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” options.
5. Cover all essential features
   1. Finally, the marketing automation software that the organization selects should offer all the following basic features:
      1. User-friendly with a simple interface
      2. Enables social media management
      3. Provides A/B testing possibilities
      4. Facilitates lead development and management
      5. CRM integration
      6. Email marketing
      7. Create landing pages
      8. Provides detailed analytics

Best free marketing automation software for small businesses

Marketing automation is a very important investment that all companies need to explore today. Most small and medium organizations face several challenges in marketing, primarily with respect to budgets and balancing investments with growth in their business. Luckily, there are several automation software options in the market – both proprietary and free – which the organization can explore.

Let us take a look at the main free marketing automation software available in the market:

• HubSpot Marketing: This software unites all marketing efforts through an advanced software design. It has a drag-drop functionality which makes it easy for users to design and modify websites.
• Zoho Campaigns: This is a cloud-based email marketing software tool, offering campaign tracking and reporting and also a wide range of third-party tool integrations.
• Freshworks CRM: This software is powered by AI (artificial intelligence) and unites CRM and marketing automation in one easy-to-use module.
• Mailchimp: This automation tool is best if your marketing campaigns use a lot of newsletters. It can help organizations manage both leads and existing customers and is equipped with pre-made templates that can also be modified.
• MailerLite: Primarily an email marketing platform, Mailer Lite is a feature-packed software with automation integration.
• EngageBay: This is a popular tool that helps companies manage email marketing, sales and live chats. It also provides a strong CRM platform and is one of the most affordable and versatile marketing automation tools in the market today.
• SendPulse: Ideal for bulk marketing campaigns to multiple target markets. This is a cloud-based marketing automation tool that integrates email, web, SMS, Facebook and Viber into one unified interface.
• Mautic: Though this is limited to one user in its free version, Mautic is a feature-rich marketing automation software that integrates multiple digital marketing channels for a seamless customer experience.
• Sendinblue: This is one of the few marketing automation software platforms fully compliant with European GDPR data regulations. Users can create and manage their marketing campaigns from a single location.
• DailyStory: Designed especially for small businesses, this software covers the entire customer journey and provides visibility across the funnel, thus enabling the organization to track, convert, and manage leads and clients.
• Leadsius: This is a web-based marketing automation platform designed for small and medium-sized industries. It uses behavior-based marketing automation functions and offers full control over leads and marketing campaigns management.
• Buffer: This software is designed for creating and managing social media marketing. It allows the user to link the major social media accounts such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, and allows pre-scheduling of posts.
• GetResponse: Projected as the world’s easiest email marketing software platform. Note that it is restricted to email marketing only.
• Jumplead: A powerful and affordable inbound marketing automation solution that automates lead generation, email marketing, website landing page creation, and contact management.
• Moosend: This is a powerful tool for unified marketing automation that can be used by organizations of any size.

These marketing automation software platforms offer free and paid plans that allow organizations to test, evaluate, and implement the solution that works best for them.

How can your organization decide which marketing automation tool is the best option? 

Marketing strategies, plans, campaigns, and tools evolve constantly, and there is no end to the number of digital marketing channels that your organization can use. It is, therefore, difficult to decide which marketing automation solution works best for you, without reviewing your current marketing strategy, future marketing goals, and your current marketing technology software set up. And, of course, the most important factor to consider is the budget.

Most small and medium-sized organizations prefer to start with a free or open-source marketing automation solution which can then be scaled up to match the company’s growth. Finally, there will be a time when the company feels its marketing automation needs are large enough to justify a larger investment in a proprietary marketing automation package.

Should an organization upgrade to paid marketing automation software?

A free marketing automation tool is useful for small and medium organizations for their initial investments in this area. However, these free tools have relatively limited functionalities. As the company grows in size, its customer base, leads, contacts, and marketing operations increase commensurately, giving rise to the need for a larger, more flexible, and robust tool.

Organizations should constantly evaluate their marketing setup and automation needs and take decisions to upgrade to a paid marketing automation software with many more features and flexibility in advance.

Conclusion

Marketing automation is supposed to make the marketing function easier for your organization. By using marketing automation, your team is free to focus on other, more important areas of the marketing effort to boost your company’s ROI and sales.

Start by listing your company’s marketing goals and all the outcomes that you want to obtain through marketing automation. Match the goals and outcomes with the features of the various marketing automation tools that are available in the market. Will the free plan features be sufficient for your organization now and for some time in the future? Or do you need to invest in a proprietary marketing automation tool that can be scaled up over time?

Remember that most free or open-source marketing automation tools are equipped with plenty of robust features, which allow you to manage your immediate requirements without upgrading to paid software.