Tag: Automation

Marketing Automation: What is it, Examples & Tools [2022]

guide to marketing automation 2021

Marketing is important to your business.

Just call me Captain Obvious.

However, as customers evolve, so does the unpredictable marketing landscape.

This means you’re likely spending more and more time trying to keep up with the latest marketing tips and trends.

That’s wasting your precious time that you could use for other tasks.

What if there was a way to simplify? Or even automate those tasks altogether?

No, I’m not just talking about emails.

Keeping up with what you should be measuring or targeting can be exhausting, difficult, and time-consuming.

But marketing automation tools make your job a little more painless, so you and your team can focus your time and attention on other efforts that drive revenue.

Luckily for you, I’ve compiled a list of the best marketing automation tools with countless features and automated workflows that will make marketing less of a headache.

Here are 20+ tools (in no particular order) that you should try out if you’re looking for new, easy ways to streamline marketing functions.

What is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation is the act of using software and technology to create and implement applications to automate repetitive tasks, such as (yes) email marketing, ad campaigns, tracking, and much more.

For example, brands could create an automatic lead generation funnel that gathers an email address, sends a recorded demo, then invites the prospect to schedule a live demo.

Marketing automation is not a nice-to-have strategy you can ignore — the industry is expected to be worth more than 25 billion dollars by 2023.

If you want to compete, you need to be using marketing automation.

The good news? Using marketing automation can save you time, money, and improve your marketing efficiency. Here are a few ways to add it to your strategy.

1. Let Constant Contact Deliver Powerful Emails Simply and Easily

Constant Contact is an extremely useful email marketing automation tool that has powerful automation capabilities to take your marketing beyond just the basics.

marketing automation guide constant contact

Its autoresponder is wonderfully adaptable. You can build welcome sequences, drip campaigns, and any other sort of automated email campaign with fine-tuned customization.

That applies to everything: timing, volume, subject matter, targeting, triggering, and even the content in your emails.

Plus, Constant Contact allows you to quickly embed custom forms on your landing pages. So, you not only get names and email addresses, but any other information you want to ask for.

Thus, you can send one welcome sequence to new senior VP-level subscribers, another one for sales folks, another one for regular Joes, and on and on. And that’s just on the basis of job title. You could thin slice on anything from where they live to their favorite kind of beer.

Make it as granular and intricate as you’d like. Set long-tail, automated campaigns for each track and let Constant Contact do the hard work for you over weeks or months. All you have to do is look at the reports and keep a finger on the pulse.

You’ll need Constant Contact’s Plus plan to really reap the benefits of the platform’s email automation. That starts at $45/month for up to 500 contacts in your list, scaling upward at increments of $25-$30 for each additional 2,500 contacts you need to accommodate.

2. Gain Opportunities on Abandoned Carts and After Purchase with Sendinblue

Marketing automation is a massive tool for ecommerce. With Sendinblue, you can close the gaps that allow sales opportunities to slip through your grasp.

And it’s a piece of cake to set up. Sendinblue comes with powerful automation capabilities out of the box. You can build your own automation workflows, but the platform comes with eight helpful, prebuilt options for ecommerce.

The two I love best are triggered by either a completed purchase on your web store or an abandoned cart.

In either case, Sendinblue sets up the first and last actions in a three-step automation: the trigger event (either completed checkout or a visitor leaves with items in their cart) and the action (send them a message).

You’ll determine the delay between the trigger event and when you want the email to be sent out and build out the message in those follow-up emails. The latter can entail offering a promo code to complete their purchase or for their next one, personalized reminders about the product they’re interested in, or a satisfaction survey, to name a few examples.

In minutes, you can have automations set up to generate sales from situations you may not have been able to capitalize on before.

Sendinblue offers automations on every plan, including their free forever package, but the tiers below Premium will limit you to targeting up to 2,000 contacts.

Try out Sendinblue’s free plan and see how easy it is to gain ecommerce opportunities through automation.

3. Automatically Engage and Grow Your Following on Instagram with MobileMonkey

MobileMonkey is a powerful Instagram automation tool that lets you automate everything from replying to comments, stories, and even direct messaging.

This is a huge advantage for busy marketers looking to get back more time in their day through automation.

And don’t forget the power of automation to grow your audience, your brand affinity, and your conversions from hot engagement channels like Instagram.

MobileMonkey Instagram marketing tools let you automate:

  • Replies to DMs
  • DM replies to Story Mentions
  • DM replies to post comments

And if you really want to juice the Instagram marketing funnel, set up drip campaigns to send timed follow-up messages to anyone who starts a messaging convo with you.

The Instagram follow-ups feature, which is included in InstaChamp as well as the multi-channel MobileMonkey messaging automation suite (along with messaging tools for Facebook Messenger, SMS, and web chat) is a convenient way to send offers and promotions to anyone who DMs your Instagram.

Best of all, these Instagram DM automations are 100% Instagram-approved because MobileMonkey is one of the only official partners for Facebook and Instagram marketing automation.

4. Generate Leads, Close Seals, and Manage Your Pipeline on Auto-Pilot With HubSpot

marketing automation hubspot

HubSpot is an inbound marketing tool with the goal of turning outbound leads into inbound ones.

It’s perfect for content marketing.

Their Starter package is $45 a month for all the free tools plus simple automation, conversation routing, task queues, and email support.

Their Professional Plan starts at $450 per month, which provides everything in the Starter package, plus marketing automation, goal-based nurturing, and custom workflows.

You also get Salesforce integration, smart content, attribution reporting, user roles, A/B testing for CTAs, and A/B testing for emails.

Enterprise pricing is $1,200 and includes revenue reporting, custom-event reporting, custom-event automation triggers, predictive-lead scoring, contacts and company reporting, and event-based segmentation are included.

5. Use Customer.io to Automate Timely Emails

Customer.io lets you send targeted messages to your customers that you can craft based on how they interact with your business.

marketing automation guide customer.io graph

The best part about this tool is that it integrates with your mobile app or website so you can see data in real-time and triggers actions by adding in predefined rules.

Basically, it makes personalized messages simple.

Other features include A/B testing, conversion tracking, customer profiles, and in-context conversations.

Pricing starts at $150 per month for unlimited emails, SMS, tracking, and technical support. Their Premium plan costs $995 a month and includes all the basic features plus dedicated customer service rep, onboarding, HIPPPA compliance, and premium tech support.

6. Supercharge Your Marketing Analytics Automatically With Pardot

marketing automation perdot

Pardot, a Salesforce company, is a marketing automation suite perfect for boosting your revenue.

Amp up your engagement with CRM integration, email marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring, and ROI reporting.

This tool is perfect for helping sales teams shorten sales cycles.

Their Growth plan pricing is $1,250 per month, and features include email marketing, in-depth prospect tracking, lead nurturing, and lead scoring and grading.

You also get ROI reporting, forms and landing pages, and standard CRM integration.

Their Plus plan is $2,500 per month and includes all standard features plus advanced email analytics, email-rendering preview, and spam analysis.

Email and landing page A/B testing, advanced dynamic content, and Google AdWords integration are all included.

You also get API access, multiple scoring categories, an integrated marketing calendar, and social profiles.

Advanced pricing is $4,000 per month and includes pro features as well as customer-user roles, custom-object integration, and API access for up to 100,000 calls per day.

It also includes a dedicated IP address and phone support.

7. Use AdRoll to Automate Ad Campaigns

automation guide adroll

AdRoll is helpful for retargeting customers through re-engagement on Facebook, Twitter, and the web.

With cross-device and cross-platform retargeting capabilities as well as flexible segmentation, you can provide customized experiences that dramatically improve marketing efficiency.

Key features include retargeting across devices and platforms, dynamic LiquidAds, flexible segmentation, transparent analytics, and expert optimization and conversion reporting.

AdRoll offers a free plan with limited features, or you can get their Growth plan for $19 a month.

9. Automatically Nurture Leads With Marketo

Marketing automation guide marketo

This marketing software lets you drive revenue with lead management, mobile marketing, and more.

Marketo, an Adobe company, is a cloud-based tool for companies large and small that not only helps build customer relationships but helps you sustain them.

There are no set-up fees, and the tool comes with a free trial, so you don’t have to commit until you’re sure it’s right for you.

Their first product was “Lead Management” in 2006, but the company has grown tremendously since then and now offers a larger variety of features.

9. Automate Inbound Call Analytics with Dialog Tech (Invoca)

marketing automation guide dialog tech

Dialog Tech (now called Invoca) is great for voice-based marketing automation so you can boost ROI with call automation and analytics.

You can optimize voice interactions with Dialog Tech’s tools by measuring your success and adjusting accordingly.

Features include keyword call-tracking, phone surveys, caller-profile data, reverse lookup, conversation analytics, in-call scoring, geolocation routing, voice broadcasts, SMS, and more.

Keyword call tracking is a game-changer for voice interactions.

Otherwise, you really have no way of tracking that kind of data over the phone yourself unless you’re manually recording calls and playing them back later.

Even then, you’d have to manually track how those customers reacted after hearing certain keywords.

Unfortunately, they don’t publish their pricing. So you’ll have to get in touch with them to get a quote.

10. Deliver Personalized Campaigns Across Multiple Channels With Oracle Eloqua

marketing automation guide oracle example

Oracle’s B2B cross-channel marketing solution Oracle Eloqua lets marketers plan automated campaigns while simultaneously personalizing them.

The company was launched in 1999 with the goal of boosting lead generation.

Now, the tool has grown into an effective personalization device across various channels like email, video, and mobile.

Oracle Eloqua will give you all of the lead-management tools you need and segment your audience in specific ways to get them to buy.

Plus, you can track reports and insights into a buyer’s journey with just a few clicks.

They no longer list their pricing online, but previous plans started around $2,000 a month.

11. Track Marketing Interactions Across All Channels With Bizible

marketing automation guide bizable example

Bizible closes the gap between sales and marketing.

You can maximize AdWords ROI and use multichannel tracking to get a full picture of both sales and marketing metrics.

Big features include keyword-level metrics for AdWords as well as metrics for campaigns and ad content, UTM parameters, detailed lead history, custom reports, and integrations.

Bizable was purchased by Adobe, and now exists as a product under Marketo. You’ll need to reach out for a quote and more information.

12. Let Act-On Seamlessly Nurture Inbound and Outbound Leads

marketing automation act-on

Act-On’s cloud-based platform lets you connect inbound and outbound leads to manage your nurturing programs. There are tons of other helpful features too, like landing page design.

With this tool, you can take your revenue to the next level.

The company was founded in 2008 and first sold software through Cisco exclusively.

The professional package starts out at $900 per month for 2,500 active contacts, 3 marketing users, and 50 users in sales. You’ll get 30,000 API calls-per-day.

Enterprise pricing is $2,000 per month for 2,500 active contacts, 6 marketing users, and 100 sales users. You’ll also get 30,000 API calls-per-day with this feature.

13. Automate the Customer Journey With LeadSquared

pasted image 0 1071

LeadSquared, founded in 2012, helps small and medium companies align their marketing and sales efforts.

Capture leads from inbound email, online campaigns, phone calls, your website, chat, and more with this tool.

LeadSquared offers a free trial, and pricing for automation plans starts out at $400 for the basic package (10,000 contacts).

The cost is $1200 for the standard one (20,000 contacts) and $2500 for the enterprise package (200,000 contacts).

14. Get CRM, Sales, and Marketing Tools Automated Together with Keap

marketing automation guide keap

Keap (formerly Infusion Soft) is for you if you want to get organized, increase sales, and save time.

Don’t we all?

If you’re a small business owner or blogger, this tool is perfect for you.

Keap makes it simple to create a new sales or marketing strategy and execute it so that you can capture and close sales more quickly.

Save time by automating repetitive tasks like follow-ups, billing, contact management, and payments.

Pricing starts at $79 for Lite plan, $159 for their Pro plan, and $199 for their Max plan. Each package covers 500 contacts, with additional costs for additional contacts or users.

15. Grow, Engage, and Acquire Customers with Genoo‘s WPMktgEngine

marketing automation guide kpmktg engine

WPMktgEngine is a WordPress plugin designed to help small businesses implement marketing automation.

Capture lead forms, profile customers, and create new landing pages to drive results fast.

Key features include a centralized lead database with unlimited leads, landing page design, CMS, lead activity tracking, SEO analysis, and more.

Their Conversion Pro package starts at $166 per month for up to 15,000 leads. The Engage Pro package starts at $83/month for 5,00 leads, and their Inbound Pro packages starts at $44 per month for up to 2,500 leads

16. Attract, Capture, and Streamline Leads With Sugar Market

marketing automatoin guide salesfusion

Salesfusion (now called Sugar Market) is another tool that helps B2B companies link sales and marketing more closely together.

The truth is, 70 percent of the buying cycle is complete before the customer ever contacts sales.

Sugar Market helps businesses build revenue funnels by creating custom digital conversations that marketing and sales representatives can use to convert customers.

The tools help your team say the right thing to the right leads at the right time and includes all the CRM features you could ever need.

Pricing depends on the number of contacts you want but begins at $1,000 per month for 10,000 contacts.

17. Segment and Automate Customer Experiences Using iContact

icontact marketing automation tool

iContact provides marketing-automation software, email marketing services, and more so that your team can drive successful results every time.

Integrate landing pages, email marketing, social media management, and analytics together to outsmart your competition and reach more contacts.

Plus, you’ll have access to strategic advisors who can help you “optimize your sending strategy and inbox delivery for maximum conversions.”

This is the tool for you if you’re looking to grow your business and become notable in your industry.

Pricing depends on your number of contacts, but you can easily select your list size.

icontact pricing marketing automation

iContact is a minimum of $15 per month for 1500 contacts for the basic Email Marketing package, and $30 per month for 500 contacts for the Pro package.

The Pro package includes features not available with the basic Email Marketing package, such as:

  • Email, automation, and landing page reporting
  • Unlimited landing page creation
  • Custom API
  • Smart sending
  • Automation followups
  • Welcome, birthday, and event eries
  • Segmentation
  • Behavioral targeting
  • Social monitoring

18. Get BuzzBuilder Pro to Automate Cold Email Campaigns

buzz builder marketing automation guide

BuzzBuilder Pro is useful for entrepreneurs, sales teams, and marketers. Find prospects, generate leads, and nurture them more easily.

Key features include advanced email marketing automation, a website form builder, tracking and analytics, lead nurturing, scoring and ranking, social media marketing, and hot-lead alerts.

You will need to call for detailed pricing information.

19. Create Automated Marketing Workflows With Net-Results

pasted image 0 1075

Net-Results helps to automate almost every kind of marketing task imaginable.

Their goal is to help you save time while allowing you to better uncover and nurture leads so that your revenue will grow quickly.

Features include an email builder, form builder, landing-page builder, campaign builder, and A/B-test builder. Nurture leads, automate workflows, and more.

Pricing ranges start at $800 per month for 2,500 contacts and go up from there.

20. Streamline and Simplify Marketing Automation With GreenRope

pasted image 0 1108

GreenRope is “the ultimate dashboard for your business.”

This tool is useful for completing marketing automation and CRM all in one place.

Manage operations, sales, and marketing all from one dashboard that will help you visualize your performance and make key business decisions.

Features include interaction tracking, event and project management, calendar booking, SMS marketing, surveys, video tracking, and predictive analysis.

You can also trigger automation, lead scoring, analysis, prediction, and engagement.

Pricing starts at $99 per month for 500 contacts and goes up to $799 per month for up to 50,00 contacts.

21. Deliver Automated Email Campaigns Using MailChimp

marketing automation mailchimp screenshot

With intelligent email marketing features, it’s hard not to love MailChimp.

This tool is perfect for contacting prospects or customers who are vital to your success. If you need an effective email tool, this is one you should definitely check out.

Features include email marketing automation, personalized emails, automated welcome emails, behavioral targeting, engagement monitoring, and more.

With this tool, you can trigger emails based on actions like sign-up date and website activity.

The cost is free for up to 2,000 contacts, and upwards of $425 or more per month depending on your total number of subscribers.

22. Automate Marketing Processes with Gliffy

marketing automation tool gliffy

Create organizational charts, high-quality flowcharts, UML diagrams, network diagrams, technical drawings, wireframes, and more with Gliffy.

It works in your web browser to help you visualize workflows and boost marketing productivity.

Key features include workflow organization, an intuitive interface, collaboration with anyone with access to a web browser, and more.

The best part? They have a free trial!

23. Use Inbound Marketing Automation with Jumplead

marketing automation jumpead

Jumplead turns website visitors into leads and then nurtures them until they become paying customers.

Jumplead is a go-to source for everything from lead tracking to CRM, analytics, and automation.

Features include lead tracking, CRM, behavior-triggered actions, email marketing, landing pages, and analytics.

The cost is free for 200 visitors and goes up from there. The pro package is $199 per month for 20,000 visitors.

Bonus: Add fresh data to your marketing campaign with DataForSEO

DataForSEO provides “comprehensive SEO data via API at a predictable price.”.

While they mostly work with SEO providers, you can use their data to juice up your marketing efforts.

Here’s a list of API’s DataForSEO provides:

  • Rank tracking API
  • SERP API
  • Keywords data API
  • Competitor API
  • OnPage API
  • Keyword finder API

Marketing Automation FAQ

What is marketing automation?

A strategy that uses software that creates “rules,” which allows brands to create an efficient, often hands-off marketing process.

What are the benefits of marketing automation?

Automation allows you to get more done in less time, improve effectiveness, and provides access to far more data. For small or streamlined teams, it is ideal.

Are there any free marketing automation tools?

Some tools offer a free trial or free plan, including MailChimp, HubSpot, and Zoho.

What can I do with marketing automation?

A ton! You can automate email campaigns, reporting, lead nurturing, lead scoring, and much more.

Marketing Automation Conclusion

Good marketing has the ability to set you apart from your competition.

However, it can be hard to keep up with what marketing strategies work and which ones don’t.

Even when you do, it’s hard to focus on all of them at once. You don’t always have the time or energy to do it. Neither do I.

Thankfully, marketing automation tools exist to make marketing easier for you and your team.

By automating, you can spend your time and attention focusing on other efforts that will increase your company’s success.

Try out some of these marketing automation tools based on your needs and budget.

Kick back as they streamline your processes for you.

Then, pick your favorites and stick with them.

What marketing automation tools are you using?

How to Choose The Right Marketing Automation Agency

If you visit the websites of Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot other top marketing automation tools, what would you see? 

Lofty promises to grow revenue, get more leads, and make your prospects happier.

I wish it was that simple.

These tools have a ton of power but no one gets that benefit right after they sign up. It takes a ton of work to set up and manage these tools correctly.

Having the right agency to help you wield that power to set up a lead generation machine for your business. 

Choosing the right marketing automation agency partner will save you a ton of time and get you a lot more leads.

That’s exactly what I’ll walk you through in this article.

So how do you know if a marketing automation agency is a good idea?

Know Your Goals & Desired Outcomes

One of the best ways to avoid marketing automation failures is to plan ahead of time. 

What do you want to achieve with marketing automation? 

By setting a good goal, you’ll have a much easier time picking the right agency. And they’ll be more successful.

Let’s explore some examples. 

Example #1: Get the right content to the right people

Imagine for a moment that you visit the pricing page of a software product after clicking through from a content piece sent to you via email. 

Five minutes in, you’re scrolling through the various pricing tiers, not sure what plan to purchase. 

Still confused and undecided, you decide to take your leave. But just when you wanted to exit the page, a pop-up covers the pricing page. 

It has a message that reads: 

“Don’t know which plan to choose? Read our FREE guide on what each plan gets you.” 

You go ahead and open the guide, read it, and finally decide on what plan to choose. However, other events take your time and you forget to complete your purchase at that time. 

The next day, you receive an email notification from that company. It reads: 

“Hey [insert your name], ready to choose a plan now? See how [a competitor in your same industry] used our tool to increase sales by 31%.”

You loved what you read, and go on to finally make that purchase. 

That’s an example of marketing automation using great content to pull people down the funnel instead of pushing them.

At each step, the exact right content hits the prospect at the exact right time. And it happens automatically without anyone of your team triggering it.

Setting up campaigns like this can have a dramatic impact on moving prospects down your funnel.

Example #2: Keeping your data clean for consistent follow-up

Let’s say your business keeps growing.

Now you’re getting leads from everywhere. Phone calls, email, demo request forms, social media, events, partners, it goes on and on.

Even worse, leads from the same company start coming in on different places.

Without the right tool and data management, different sales reps will follow up with different people. That’s a recipe for losing a deal unless your team stays coordinated.

The right marketing automation tool with the right setup will help you maintain control. It’s the only way to keep your close rates high.

But even when you know what you’re after, you’ll still find dozens of agencies vying for your business. 

So, what characteristics should you look out for when choosing one?

6 Characteristics That Make a Great Marketing Automation Agency

1. Do they have an area of specialization?

Exceptional marketing automation agencies usually have an area of expertise.

As you saw in the second example above, some only partner with companies to install, implement, or optimize automation on Marketo Cloud, Salesforce, and others. 

Others can hack different tech stacks together for companies on a budget. 

You’ll also find some specializing in training and working closely with in-house marketing teams to achieve set marketing automation goals.  

Who you choose to work with depends on your needs, so an essential characteristic to look out for is whether the agency specializes in that area. 

For instance, at Neil Patel Digital, content marketing drives our automation programs. 

We start by getting the engaging content to the right people at the right time.

2. Do they have in-house, diversified experts?

Marketing automation requires a ton of different skills in order to do right.

At the very least, you’ll need:

  • Deep experience with the tools themselves
  • Lead generation
  • Copywriting
  • Content marketing
  • Specific channel expertise (social, events, paid, SEO, etc)
  • Sales operations knowledge for smooth handoffs
  • Funnel design
  • Lead nurturing 

And that’s just the beginning. Whoever you’re working with, make sure they have strong enough skills in all these areas.

3. Do they offer relevant, related services?

Marketing automation isn’t a growth silver bullet. 

It makes a huge impact when it plugs seamlessly into all your other marketing channels and campaigns.

If you really need serious results from your marketing automation, I’d look at agencies that have deep experience beyond marketing automation itself.

Take my agency, Neil Patel Digital, for instance. 

Although we help clients with marketing automation, we offer related services like programmatic marketing, data analytics, and others. In addition to the core marketing services you’d expect from a top-tier online marketing agency.

Why is this helpful?

Getting your entire funnel and brand to work consistently across every touchpoint has massive leverage.

4. Do they have clients’ portfolio(s)?

This one needs no explanation. 

All experienced marketing automation agencies have a host of past and existing clients in their portfolio. 

Look for similar clients to yourself in order to decide whether the agency is a good fit.

5. Do they have real customer testimonials?

How past clients feel about working with a marketing automation agency is an essential characteristic to look for before you partner with one. 

And you’ll find this in their customer testimonials. 

Just by going through the testimonials and case studies on an agency’s site, you can tell if they’re worth the fee.

6. Do they have a great company culture?

Most companies omit this characteristic when ticking the criteria for choosing an agency of any kind. 

You shouldn’t!

It is important that you work with an agency whose company culture aligns with your business values, as most marketing automation partnerships are usually long-term.

This ensures that the marketing automation systems, funnels, and campaigns will align with the way you do business. Then you won’t have to rip everything out later.

When marketing agency projects truly fail, it’s usually a culture mismatch with the client.

How to work with a Marketing Automation Company 

Let’s look at the steps you can take to ensure a smooth working relationship with any agency you choose. 

1. Filling an inquiry form

Filling an inquiry form is usually the first step towards showing your interest to work with a marketing automation agency. 

It’s usually really easy to find on the agency’s website.

2. Prepare for a discovery call

Expect the discovery call to be much more detailed than calls for other marketing projects.

Marketing automation serves as the backbone to your lead funnel. It touches every campaign, multiple divisions in your company, and isn’t easy to see form the outside.

So any good marketing automation agency will want to spend a lot of time here to understand where you’re currently at.

Only then will they have any chance at helping you get to your future goals.

3. Expect unique, strategic recommendations

Excellent marketing automation companies take what you told them when filling their inquiry form and over the discovery call as the foundation for conducting further research. 

The goal of this research is usually to gain more clarity about your needs and to make strategic marketing automation recommendations unique to your needs. 

Most companies would send these recommendations via email or hop on another call to discuss it over with you. 

4. A proposal or work contract 

Followed by the unique, strategic MA recommendations you should expect in the process of partnering with an agency is a proposal or contract. 

This document outlines and details what your company would get working with them. It also states the cost implications and other requirements for working together. 

5. Official client onboarding

A lot of mutual understanding is needed to ensure you get the most out of a working relationship with a marketing automation agency. 

You may need to invest in tech stacks, re-examine your business and marketing strategy, or retrain your staff. 

To ensure both parties are aligned on the job to be done and the responsibilities each party must perform to ensure everything works out well, prepare your team for an official client onboarding. 

What You Get From a Great Right Marketing Automation Agency

When you choose a marketing automation agency, you’ll:

  • Align your marketing processes with your marketing strategy 
  • Pick the right marketing tech stack 
  • Generate more leads and move leads down your funnel more efficiently
  • Have the data you need to optimize your funnel for better conversions 

The 5 Best Marketing Automation Companies

We reviewed and profiled the top marketing automation companies based on their areas of specialization. 

#1 Neil Patel Digital – Best for Content Marketing Automation

A core goal of marketing automation is to deliver the right content to the right people just when they need it, whether that is on social media or email sequence.

Irrespective of your MA set up, content is the foundation for so many parts of your funnel. At every stage, buyers are looking for helpful content in order to make better decisions.

Not only must you create excellent content, you also need to deliver the right content to the right person at the right time.. 

For my team at Neil Patel Digital, that’s our specialty: 

As you know, I practice what I preach. 

I’ve built and managed enormous content machines for countless businesses over the years. And the majority of them have been automated. My team and I know exactly how to get the most out of every piece of content for every step of a funnel.

AYou can talk to my team about content marketing automation here. 

#2 LeadMD – Best for Tech Stack Integration

For marketing automation to free you and your team from mundane tasks, you must integrate the right tech stack.  

And this is one area LeadMD comes highly recommended due to their expertise of setting up complicated marketing infrastructure and aligning it to your strategy, 

. 

LeadMD is one of the most reputable marketing automation companies. And their integration expertise has earned clients like IBM and eBay.

#3 CS2 Marketing – Best for Marketing Data Operations

Cs2 Marketing earns its place on our top list of marketing automation because of its experience, leveraging the power of data to power essential automated marketing campaigns.

And dozens of the top tech brands trust CS2 Marketing for its expertise, using data operations to drive automated marketing processes and business.

CS2 Marketing has generated more than $1 billion in pipeline revenue for its clients.

#4 Bluewolf – Best for Salesforce Automation

Bluewolf is our recommended marketing automation agency for marketing automation on Salesforce:

Marketing automation isn’t just about your MA tool, everything has to work perfectly with your CRM. You’ll need experts that know how to integrate the two. 

Bluewolf’s clients include T-Mobile, IBM, Autodesk, and others.

#5 Perkuto – Best for Marketo Automation

Perkuto is the leading agency for Marketo. If you need to get ultra fancy with your Marketo implementation, reach out to them.

Perkuto’s team of over 50 automation strategists, marketers, and hardcore engineers help companies make the most of their Marketo implementation.

Reach out to specialists like Perkuto if:

  • You have an extremely complicated funnel to implement
  • Internal teams or agencies have botched a previous install that you need to untangle
  • Other agencies have previously failed at wrangling your funnels

What’s most important when choosing a marketing automation agency?

It depends on your needs.

Do you need help implementing or optimizing your marketing automation tech stack?

Choose an agency with experience in working with your tech stack of choice. 

Do you have challenges making sense of your marketing touchpoints?

Then go with a marketing automation agency specializing in data operations.  

Do you want to get the absolute best ROI from every dollar invested into marketing automation?

Then work with an agency that has deep experience across marketing channels, knows how to get the entire marketing funnel working together, and will use marketing automation to accelerate the marketing KPIs for your entire company.

The post How to Choose The Right Marketing Automation Agency appeared first on Neil Patel.

Marketing Automation Consulting

Why aren’t more companies using marketing automation?

A recent survey from Liana Technologies found that 60 percent of respondents said they didn’t know how to use marketing automation. They listed a lack of know-how as the main reason they weren’t adopting marketing automation campaigns.

Half of those surveyed also listed a lack of strategy or personnel as yet another reason they weren’t moving forward with marketing automation. 

As you can see from the research, these companies need marketing automation consulting. 

10 Ways a Marketing Automation Consultant Can Help Grow Your Business

Marketing automation is often viewed as a nice-to-have option, something that could be helpful but really isn’t all that necessary for companies looking to grow. Marketing automation isn’t an extra; it’s a component that’s an essential part of your marketing. 

This isn’t always as clear until you breakdown the benefits that come with marketing automation. 

Here are ten ways a marketing automation consultant can help you grow your business. 

  1. More targeted marketing: Many companies force their customers into the same marketing funnel. They’re not focused on optimizing their funnel based on the buyer’s journey, so most of their prospects fall out of their marketing funnel. A marketing automation consultant helps you segment and target your customers properly. A good consultant will help you identify customers who are ready to buy, leads that need to be nurtured, and leads you can disqualify. 
  2. Improve customer experiences: According to Salesforce, 76 percent of consumers expect you to understand their needs and expectations. Another 84 percent said, “being treated like a person, not a number” is essential to earning their business. Marketing automation helps you achieve this at scale, so you’re able to provide the one-on-one attention and personalization customers expect.   
  3. Increased traffic: Big companies have embraced analytics, but most don’t know how to use their data. Most don’t have a data-driven culture, so it’s difficult for many organizations to have confidence in their marketing decisions. This isn’t just big companies, though; it’s most companies in general. This means it’s harder for companies to identify the traffic sources working well versus those that aren’t. With marketing automation tools like lead scoring and lead nurturing, you can identify your best performing traffic sources.
  4. Higher quality leads: When customers go through the same funnels, without segmentation, lead quality suffers. Your marketing automation consultant should help you outline the buyer’s journey and segment customers based on their place in the funnel. Doing this increases lead quality as customers are pre-qualified before and after they convert. This keeps the quality of the leads sent to sales high. 
  5. More leads: Once you’ve identified the list of marketing automation tools and workflows you need to generate high-quality leads, you can use those same automation tools to scale your lead generation campaigns. Your marketing automation consultant will help you increase lead production, using the lessons learned from your smaller campaigns. You’ll know which traffic sources perform best, how to improve lead quality, 
  6. Increased conversion rates: One of the hidden benefits of marketing automation is that the benefits are cumulative. Your marketing automation consultant will show you how to combine the strategy, tactics, workflows, and tools you’ve put together into a single system. Each component, when optimized, should produce increased conversion rates consistently in your campaigns over time.   
  7. Increased ROI: As your conversion rates increase, your ROI will continue to grow. A great marketing automation consultant will show you how to maintain your ROI as you continue to scale. You should see more revenue with less spend consistently over time.   
  8. Reduced expenses: As metrics like your return on ad spend (ROAS) and your conversion rate improves, you should see a decrease in costs (e.g., cost per lead, cost per action, customer acquisition costs). Your marketing automation consultant should monitor your returns and expenses, ensuring that both are moving in the right direction. 
  9. Data sharing between marketing channels: Your marketing automation stack should provide your team with the right data analysis tools. If you use analysis tools like Cyfe or Power BI, you’ll want to make sure that your team has access to data across marketing channels; your consultant should help you set this up, so your team has need-to-know access to data. Doing this will reduce operational silos, keeping everyone in your team on the same page; no more fights between sales and marketing for control. 
  10. Shorter sales cycles: Let’s say you’ve received two sets of leads. Set A has customers who are ready to buy now. They’ve done their homework, and they’ve decided your company is the best fit. Set B has interested customers; they won’t be ready to decide for another three to six months. Set A has a shorter sales cycle — your consultant helps you find and segment these customers as they come into your funnel.  

These benefits aren’t random one-offs; they’re outcomes your business needs to grow. The problem with growth is scaling. As you grow, it gets harder to manage all of this manually. 

How to Get Started With a Marketing Automation Consultant

Your marketing automation consultant should be a specialist with deep expertise in automation. They should also have experience across a broad range of marketing disciplines and channels, including:

  • Advertising (display, content,
  • Analytics
  • Branding
  • Content
  • Direct response
  • Email
  • Market research
  • Mobile 
  • Sales
  • Search (organic and paid)
  • Websites (e.g., conversion rate optimization, usability, etc.)

If you’re ready to get started with a marketing automation consultant, there are a few things you’ll need to prepare ahead of time. Upfront preparation makes it easier to get started; your consultant doesn’t have to waste a lot of time (and your money) getting you up to speed.

Both of you will be able to jump in right away. 

You’ll want to make sure that you have a list of:

  • Goals, KPIs, and objectives: For example, this could include a list of tools you’d like to integrate in your technology stack, as well as how you’d like these tools to perform. This could also provide your consultant with information on the specific outcomes you’d like to see due to automation (e.g., a 7 percent increase in productivity, shorter sales cycles, less double entry, improved utilization rates, etc.).
  • The tools and resources you’re using: You’ll want to make a list of the tools and resources you’re already using. Collect additional information on the number of users for each software, tool, or subscription. Make note of any API keys and special instructions. Also include a list of the software, tools, and resources you’d like to use.
  • Decision-makers and influencers: If you’re part of a team, you may find that some people aren’t all that excited to share their data. Others are interested in working with your consultant to automate essential marketing tasks. Sharing a list of decision-makers and influencers with your consultant makes their job easier. Right from the beginning, they know where everyone stands and who to talk to if they need help getting everyone on the same page.
  • Obstacles and challenges: You’ll want to outline the list of barriers and challenges that may prevent you from achieving the goals and objectives you’ve listed above. Maybe some of the services you use don’t offer an API or integrate with third-party services like Zapier. Maybe some of the tools in your list are outdated, or they’re unsupported legacy options (i.e., legacy software running on Windows XP).
  • Policies and procedures: If your company has specific policies, procedures, or guidelines for software purchases, you’ll want to share that with your consultant as well. You want to let your consultant know what’s allowed, required, forbidden, and unacceptable. You want to set your consultant up for success by giving them a clear set of guidelines to follow; this helps your company grow. 
  • Strengths and weaknesses: This step is uncomfortable but it’s also important; if your team, division, or company has problems in a specific area, spell that out for your consultant as clearly as possible. Does it take your company a long time to make important decisions? Is your organization good at finding great employees and contractors? Give your consultant a brief overview of your strengths and weaknesses. Getting people on board is easier when you know what you’re working with. 

Sharing this information upfront makes automation smooth and efficient.

If you’ve already answered these questions for your consultant, they’re able to focus their attention on helping you automate your marketing campaigns, projects, and tasks. 

Measuring the ROI of Marketing Automation Consulting Services

In general, consultants aren’t big on measuring ROI, but they should be. It’s reasonable to expect the same from your marketing automation consultant. If you’ve done the upfront work I’ve mentioned already, you should have everything you need to measure the ROI ahead of time. 

Remember the list of goals, KPIs, and objectives you wrote down earlier?

Your consultant should be able to help you refine your goals and objectives. If you haven’t already, you want to add some specificity to these goals. You’ll want to add specific numbers, facts. or figures to these goals. Use these figures as a general guide — you want to discuss these with your consultant making sure they’re realistic and achievable.

Here are a few examples you can use:

  • Increase productivity becomes — Increase our marketing team’s productivity by 16 percent
  • Improve lead quality becomes — Use lead scoring to achieve a 6 percent lift in marketing qualified lead volume
  • Identify top-performing marketing channels becomes — Identify top performing marketing channels by automating URL tagging for all current and future marketing campaigns
  • decrease customer acquisition costs becomes — Reduce customer acquisition costs on Google ads by a minimum of 11 percent

Measuring your ROI is pretty straightforward if you have a clear idea of your campaign goals and objectives. The easier it is for you to list a starting point, the easier it will be for your consultant to help you reach your goals and objectives.

4 Point Checklist For Finding the Right Marketing Automation Consultant

Choosing the right marketing automation consultant is simple if you’ve prepared ahead of time. From there, you can screen consultants the same way you would for any other consultant or professional. First, you outline your process, listing your goals and objectives, your current technology stack, decision-makers, influencers, etc. Second, you filter your providers through your process, ensuring each candidate meets the criteria you’ve set.

Here’s a shortlist of the criteria you can use to evaluate your consultants.

  1. They understand digital marketing. The best marketing automation consultants are marketers themselves. The ideal candidate is a marketing veteran who’s managed marketing campaigns from beginning to end throughout their career. You’re looking for someone who got their start as a marketer.
  2. They understand your business. Your marketing automation consultant should have an in-depth knowledge of your business — how it works, what you need, mistakes to avoid, etc. If you’re managing a retail or ecommerce company, your consultant should have experience managing marketing campaigns for retail or e-commerce companies. You’re looking for someone who has a native understanding of your business.
  3. They’re data-driven. Marketing automation requires a mix of art and science. You’ll need someone who loves to read through data but is skilled enough to explain it to the people on your team who aren’t data-driven. The ideal consultant can tell stories with data and helping your team make important decisions. 
  4. They’re proactive and knowledgeable. When it comes to automation, you shouldn’t be as knowledgeable as your consultant. They should be able to make recommendations and connections you weren’t even thinking of. They should be able to help you automate your campaigns in new ways; to increase your productivity by customizing your marketing stack.  

This checklist is pretty simple. 

A great marketing automation consultant should be able to handle everything we’ve covered so far comfortably. They should be able to break things down for you, showing you how to improve your plan, refine your goals and objectives, and add to your technology stack. 

They should be asking questions. 

If they’re good at what they do, they’ll have some questions and requirements of their own. 

Conclusion

While many organizations are switching to marketing automation, most don’t have a clear plan they can follow. Companies list a lack of know-how, strategy, or personnel as the reasons why they weren’t completely on board with marketing automation. 

That’s changing fast, though. 

More companies are investing in marketing automation. They’re taking the time to implement a strategy for their business. Marketing automation isn’t an extra; it’s a component that’s an essential part of your marketing, especially as your company grows. 

With the right consultant and a clear strategy, you’ll have the people, process, and technology you need to grow your business quickly. 

The post Marketing Automation Consulting appeared first on Neil Patel.

Best Marketing Automation Software

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Marketing campaigns get more complex by the day. 

Which… is great news for the consumer experience but a nightmare for you as a marketing manager handling thousands of moving parts (and countless employees) on a daily basis. 

To put it lightly, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. 

Especially complex technical challenges that most consumers and employees will never see or fully understand. 

But thankfully more and more automation tools are popping up to make your life a bit easier.

However, that means choosing the best marketing automation software for your business and team is harder than its ever been. 

From enterprise-grade solutions to the most affordable options, my team and I have researched, tested, and used just about every software you can imagine. And I can honestly say… that’s not an exaggeration. 

But the good news is that I narrowed it down to my top six recommendations, reviewed them, and developed an all-inclusive list of what to consider when making your final decision. 

The top 6 options for marketing automation software

  1. Freshmarketer – best for small to midsize businesses
  2. Pardot by Salesforce – best for B2B companies
  3. ActiveCampaign – best for email marketing automation
  4. Acoustic – best for enterprise multi-channel marketing automation
  5. HubSpot – best for sales, customer service, and marketing automation
  6. Act-On – best for marketing agencies

How to choose the best marketing automation software for you

I stand behind all of my top recommendations. However, choosing the right one for you isn’t always easy because it depends on various factors. 

So, before we dive in, let’s talk about how to narrow things down and find the best marketing automation software for your business. 

Type of business

B2B businesses have different marketing needs than D2C companies. 

Furthermore, marketing agencies present a new set of marketing automation challenges. Because of that, specialized software may be necessary to meet your specific needs at a reasonable price point. 

The size of your business matters too. Large companies run complex, massive-scale campaigns and have bigger pockets. So, small business tools aren’t a good match.

However, smaller companies will probably find enterprise-grade features confusing and wildly out of budget, which is why those small business tools exist in the first place. 

So, pay attention to who the software is built for when making your final decision. 

Number of contacts

Most pricing plans depend on the number of contacts or leads you have. The larger your list, the more you need to pay to maintain it and stay in touch with them. 

If you have tens or hundreds of thousands of contacts, enterprise-grade solutions are probably more cost-effective. However, that’s not the case if you have a few hundred or even a few thousand leads on your list. 

Just be sure to keep this in mind and remember that specific plans may limit the maximum number of contacts you can have. 

And if you hit those limits, you’ll need to upgrade to a higher plan or pay an extra fee.

Your marketing channels

Different marketing automation software supports various marketing channels. 

And there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. 

From SMS and email marketing to social media and push notifications, it’s crucial to choose a software that handles everything you need.

Smaller businesses with simple campaigns may not utilize a wide range of channels and can get away using a more affordable tool. 

However, large businesses with complex campaigns spanning numerous channels need something more robust to manage all the moving parts. 

Furthermore, some software includes varying channels in different pricing tiers. So, you may start on one level and need to move up to gain access to more marketing channels. Or you may need to move to (or integrate) a new tool altogether. 

It may help to map out your upcoming campaigns and decide which channels you plan to use.

Automation features

Automation is at the heart of every tool on this list. But some offer more advanced automation features than others. 

Do you need to score leads and prospects? Maybe you want to combine SMS, email marketing, and Facebook ads in the same customer journey. Or perhaps you need the ability to send hyper-targeted emails on autopilot. 

Regardless of the complexity of your campaigns, don’t forget to consider:

  • Split A/B testing
  • Automated email campaigns
  • Event and website tracking
  • Contact management
  • Visual customer journey mapping
  • Automated segmentation and personalization
  • Prospect and lead scoring
  • Dynamic content
  • Transactional emails
  • AI-powered recommendations
  • Action and logic-based triggers
  • Reporting and analytics

You may not need all of them, and some tools don’t include them. So it’s critical to understand what you need (and don’t need) before making your decision.

Additional features

It’s not uncommon for marketing automation software to include a handful of features typically found in a CRM tool, like live chat or customer support capabilities. 

Before making a final decision, it’s essential to understand which additional features you need to fill the gap between marketing and sales or customer service. 

You may already have these systems in place. So, you won’t need these additional features. But if you don’t, you might be able to save money, hassle, and time by choosing a software that includes everything you’re missing under one roof. 

Hubspot is an excellent example of this. 

It includes customer service, sales, and marketing automation tools in a centralized location to streamline data movement and foster automation across your entire business. 

The different types of marketing automation software

Marketing comes in all shapes, sizes, and complexities. 

From physical mailers and print campaigns to social media and email marketing, the best marketing automation software helps you build, automate, and optimize all types of marketing campaigns. 

Marketing automation software is often confused with customer relationship management (CRM). However, the two aren’t the same or interchangeable. 

CRM software focuses on sales activities, while marketing automation software focuses on marketing tasks. Going further, marketing automation software is for generating, nurturing, and qualifying leads. 

On the other hand, CRM software is to close the sale and foster communications or relationships after the sale. 

In a perfect world, the two systems play well together and create a seamless flow of data from your marketing team to your sales team.

Taking things further, there are numerous subsets of marketing automation software, including:

  • Email marketing
  • Social media marketing
  • Advertising management
  • SMS marketing
  • Live chat

Each different tool is powerful on its own. But true marketing automation software lets you create and optimize customer journeys across marketing platforms for varying complexity campaigns. 

#1 – Freshmarketer Review — The best marketing automation software for small to midsize businesses

Around here, we’re big fans of Freshworks (if you couldn’t tell). 

Freshmarketer is their intelligent marketing automation platform built to help small to midsize businesses save time, attract the right people, nurture their audiences, and make more money. 

It’s my #1 recommendation for most users—and for a good reason.

From awareness to retention, you get all the automation features you need to gain more leads, turn those leads into customers, and keep those customers around for life. All while doing less work with better results. 

Plus, you don’t need any technical skills or a dedicated support team to get started. And it takes about a minute to get up and running. 

You also get access to incredible features like:

  • Email campaigns and contact management
  • Visual drag and drop customer journey builder
  • Website, form, and offline event tracking
  • Conversion rate optimization tools
  • A/B and split testing
  • Advanced personalization
  • Dynamic heat maps
  • Audience segmentation
  • Real-time funnel analytics

Furthermore, the software seamlessly integrates with Freshworks’ other tools, so it’s an excellent choice if you currently use or plan to use any of their business software. 

You can try Freshmarketer on their limited free forever plan or a 21-day free trial of their paid plans, which are incredibly affordable and accessible for businesses of all sizes. However, they depend on the number of contacts you have, so keep that in mind. 

Their plans include:

  • Sprout — Free for up to 500 contacts with limited features
  • Garden — $49 per month for 1,000 contacts (ideal for growing teams)
  • Estate — $99 per month for 1,000 contacts (best for large teams)

Just remember the cost for each plan goes up after you max out your 1,000 contacts. 

#2 – Pardot by Salesforce Review — The best marketing automation software for B2B businesses

As a B2B business, you market to other companies, which presents a unique set of marketing challenges. As such, you need a marketing automation tool built for the job. 

Pardot exists to help B2B companies build relationships and turn those relationships into revenue. Plus, it’s a fantastic marketing automation software built around the world’s #1 CRM. 

So, you know you’re in good hands. 

From lead generation to sales alignment, the software offers a wide range of features, including:

  • Dynamic content and data-based personalization
  • Lead-nurturing email automations
  • Prospect and lead scoring
  • Visual multi-part automation creator
  • Advanced segmentation
  • Landing page builder
  • Smart forms + drag and drop builder
  • Social media scheduling, profiling, and analytics
  • Lead activity tracking
  • Campaign performance reporting
  • Lifecycle and funnel reporting
  • Pardot Einstein for lead and behavior scoring

Furthermore, over 2.8+ million worldwide users rely on Pardot for their marketing automation needs, making it one of the most popular platforms on this list. 

But it is a bit expensive, so it’s best suited for larger businesses. Their paid plans include:

  • Growth — $1,250/month for up to 10,000 contacts and basic features
  • Plus — $2,500/month for up to 10,000 contacts with deeper automation + analytics
  • Advanced — $4,000/month for up to 10,000 contacts with AI and all features
  • Premium — $15,000/month for up to 75,000 contacts with supercharge features

They also offer a few add-ons that come free in the Premium plan. Those add-ons include Salesforce Engage ($50/user per month), Analytics Plus ($3,000/month), and Engagement History ($300/year). 

All plans and add-ons are billed on an annual basis. 

#3 – ActiveCampaign Review — The best for email marketing automations

Email is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. All the tools on this list include email marketing in one form or another, but ActiveCampaign specializes in it. 

So, it’s an excellent option if you want to hone in and focus on improving your email marketing strategy. It’s also a super affordable tool that includes numerous automation features for leads anywhere in your funnel.

With that said, they also offer omnichannel automation, including instant messaging and SMS, live chat, and Facebook. 

So, you’re not limited to just email marketing automation with ActiveCampaign. 

Their most popular features cover leads at every point in the funnel, including:

  • Engage – Automation maps, site tracking, and subscription forms
  • Nurture – List segmenting, dynamic/predictive content, and event tracking
  • Convert – Contact and lead scoring, split actions, and win probabilities
  • Support – Predictive sending, SMS, A/B split testing, and ecommerce 

You can also set up numerous types of emails like autoresponders, targeted or triggered emails, broadcasts, scheduled emails, and automated funnels. 

And you can design those emails using their intuitive drag and drop designer, or start from one of their 25+ pre-made mobile-responsive design templates. 

Whether you’re just getting started or interested in scaling and optimizing your email marketing strategy, ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice. They offer everything you need to capture, nurture, and close leads at scale. 

ActiveCampaign offers four plans, with the price of each starting at:

  1. Lite — $9 per month with up to three users
  2. Plus — $49 per month with up to 25 users
  3. Professional — $129 per month with up to 50 users
  4. Enterprise — $229 per month with unlimited users

Each tier includes more advanced features, and pricing is based on the size of your list, starting for up to 500 contacts. 

So, keep in mind that you will have to pay more than the prices above as your list grows. 

#4 – Acoustic Review — The best enterprise-grade multi-channel marketing automation software

Acoustic offers an array of marketing automation products for centralized cross-platform multi-channel marketing. From personalization and email campaigns to web content management and experience management, they offer something for everyone. 

Acoustic Campaign is their marketing automation tool, encompassing mobile apps, push notifications, SMS, group chats, social media, ads, email, print campaigns, and more. 

You can also combine this with Acoustic Personalization and Acoustic Analytics for a powerful combination of campaign management, data, and using that data to deliver the right message at the right time. 

With Acoustic Campaign, you get access to powerful features, including:

  • Drag and drop campaign builder
  • Action, logic, and AI-recommended triggers
  • Seamless mobile and digital channel campaigns
  • Lead management and scoring
  • Split A/B testing
  • Customer journey mapping
  • Planning and budgeting
  • One-to-one ads and lookalike audiences
  • Advanced personalization
  • Reporting and analytics

Furthermore, they have a community forum where you can publicly ask questions. They also provide an online academy packed full of educational videos and training so you can get the most of your custom automation package. 

Note: Acoustic is built for moderate to large volume campaigns with countless moving parts. So, it’s perfect for businesses managing complicated campaigns across numerous channels. 

But it’s overkill for a lot of businesses and anyone running single-channel campaigns. 

Pricing isn’t available online, and you have to schedule a consultation to learn more. So, keep in mind that you won’t be able to sign up and get started immediately. 

#5 – Hubspot Review — The best sales, customer service, and marketing automation software

If you’re looking for an easy way to automate your sales, customer service, and marketing processes, Hubspot Growth Suite is an excellent and affordable solution. 

And the best part? Hubspot goes beyond automating your business processes. It also helps integrate and optimize different departments in one centralized location, thus streamlining your entire business’s workflow. 

This means teams don’t have to jump from software to software to get the information they need, and you can automate the data transfer process from one team to the next. 

However, their marketing automation capabilities are powerful on their own, with features like:

  • Blog post and SEO planning
  • Ad tracking and management
  • Social media management
  • AI-powered live chat
  • Email marketing
  • Forms and landing pages
  • Revenue attribution reporting
  • Visual workflow builder
  • Account-based marketing
  • A/B split testing
  • Predictive lead scoring

Hubspot offers basic features, like emails, landing pages, forms, and live chat capabilities for unlimited users absolutely free. So, you can try it out without spending a penny. 

Alternatively, you can sign up for a free demo to see all of their advanced features in action. 

The Growth Suite (sales, marketing, CRM, and customer service) starts at $50 per month for two users and up to 1,000 contacts, making it extremely affordable for most businesses. 

But they also have advanced plans for larger and more complex campaigns, including:

  1. Professional — $1,275 per month for advanced features
  2. Enterprise — $4,200 per month for all features

Each 1,000 contacts after your initial 1,000 cost $16.67 per month. And you can add more users to your sales and service hubs for $8.33 per user/month. 

Plus, if you’re a current member or alumni of Hubspot’s approved incubator, accelerator, or Venture Capital partners with a round of Series A funding under your belt, you can get up to 90% off your first year. 

#6 – Act-On Review — The best marketing automation software for marketing agencies

As a marketing agency, you handle marketing campaigns for several clients (if not hundreds of them) at any given time. As such, you need marketing automation software with the ability to manage everything, including your own marketing campaigns, in one place. 

And Act-On offers the perfect solution. 

Their scalable software features unique child and parent campaign capabilities, meaning you can easily manage and handle all of your client accounts from a single Act-On login. 

Plus, you can completely brand and customize everything to deliver custom reports to clients in just a few clicks. 

With Act-On, you can learn more about your clients’ audiences to personalize and tailor their message to match. Not only does this make their life easier, but it also means your team can work less to produce better results. 

When you sign up, you get access to powerful marketing features, including:

  • Automated engagement programs
  • Website and landing page tracking
  • Customer/prospect scoring
  • Behavior and demographic segmentation
  • Pre-built email, form, and landing page templates
  • Interactive reporting dashboards

Plus, you can build custom real-time analytic dashboards for internal and external use, so you and your clients always know what’s going on. 

Furthermore, you can use this information to improve customer ROI, build better technology stacks, and optimize entire marketing campaigns on behalf of your clients. From lead gathering and nurturing to transferring contact information to sales, you’re in good hands. 

Sign up for a free demo to learn more and get started today!

Wrapping things up

Freshmarketer is my top recommendation for most businesses. It’s built for small to midsize companies interested in automating their marketing processes to grow their businesses and save time. 

Plus, it’s affordable, easy to use, and packed full of powerful automation features. 

However, it’s not the perfect solution for everyone. So, don’t forget to use the criteria we talked about as you sort through finding the best marketing automation software for you and your team. 

What are your favorite marketing automation tools?

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