Once optional, marketing automation software has now become a compulsory element of any modern marketing stack. These applications are not only used to schedule emails and update social media; this is the least they can do. They create holistic customer journeys that are tailored to the individual and are simply impossible to execute in real-time manually.
Marketing automation tools will be useful in expanding and simplifying your processes whether you are a large corporation trying to upgrade your marketing or a smaller venture wanting rapid growth.
In this article, we are going to discuss the best small business marketing automation software.
What Is Marketing Automation Software?
Let’s begin with a definition of marketing automation before going further into our suggestions for small businesses using it.
To automate is to carry out a task in a way that is automatic. By using marketing automation tools and software, you enable a program or tool to automate the routine actions that your marketing staff performs on a daily basis.
Marketing automation software may handle every aspect of data collection and social media management, including sending emails, follow-ups, and other correspondence. This does not imply that you should give a piece of software the keys and expect it to perform all tasks. Automation can undoubtedly fill in the gaps, but regulations must be established. For example, while customizing emails, you can make tags and enter data in fields.
Software or a platform that helps in lead generation, nurtures leads through the sales funnel, and analyses lead behavior and campaign performance is known as marketing automation software. By automating routine tasks like social media postings, emails, and ad campaigns, these technologies free up your organization to concentrate on strategy and audience engagement.
How To Choose The Best Marketing Automation Software?
Each marketing automation software supports a variety of use cases and business types whether it is a small business or a large business. To choose the automation software that best meet your demands and objectives as a business, you’ll need to consider some factors like cost, features, and integrations.
When selecting the best marketing automation software for your company, keep the following things in mind:
Cost
Think about the software’s cost and whether it fits into your budget. A number of programs have levels of pricing that can increase as your company expands, based on features, users, or connections. Consider the possible return on investment and confirm that the expense is reasonable given the potential benefit to your marketing initiatives.
Usability
To increase employee acceptance rates, look for software with an easy-to-use interface and clear navigation.
Features
Determine the specific features required to meet your marketing goals. Look for software with the features that are most relevant to your lead nurturing, social media management, email marketing, and analytics plans.
The Ability to Scale
Select a tool that will expand with your company. It should be able to manage a growing number of campaigns and contacts without experiencing any performance issues. Scalability makes sure that when your company grows, your marketing automation technology can adapt to your changing needs without requiring an expensive platform upgrade.
Integrations
The various software and tools in your company, such as analytics tools, social media platforms, content management systems (CMS), and CRM systems, should all work in coordination with your marketing automation software.
10 Best Small Business Marketing Automation Software
HubSpot
HubSpot is a comprehensive platform for marketing automation that helps companies of all sizes optimize their customer care, sales, and marketing. Its many integrations, clear interface, and user-friendly design all contribute to its popularity.
A wide range of customers benefit from the tool, including marketing experts searching for powerful analytics and automation features and small business owners hoping to expand their online presence.
Marketo
Marketo, currently known as Adobe Marketo Engage, serves small businesses and big companies with complex marketing requirements. With an emphasis on account-based marketing strategies and advanced lead management capabilities, it offers comprehensive tools for B2B marketing.
For businesses aiming to expand their marketing efforts with a platform that provides extensive insights and a high level of customization, Marketo is a great choice.
Salesforce Pardot
Boosting sales and marketing alignment is the goal of Salesforce Pardot (Salesforce Marketing Cloud), a powerful B2B marketing automation platform. Businesses may increase lead generation, speed up sales pipelines, and gain comprehensive insights into marketing effectiveness with its help by utilizing automation.
The fact that it easily connects with Salesforce CRM is crucial since it guarantees that all of your campaigns increase engagement through targeted marketing initiatives and advanced lead management techniques.
SureTriggers
An automation tool called SureTriggers simplifies business processes and improves workflows. This plugin helps you increase productivity on your WordPress website by automating repetitive tasks and minimizing human error.
Several tasks may be easily automated to increase efficiency, and it is simple to integrate with other CRM and marketing applications. With features like custom workflows, automation, and reporting, SureTriggers is a helpful tool for businesses of all sizes looking to maximize their marketing automation efforts.
Zapier
Zapier is an online automation software that allows you to link and automate tasks across over 2,000 apps, including Gmail, Slack, Mailchimp, and many more. Instead of doing much on its own, it enables you to link and automate processes across all of your various software applications.
Using Zapier, you can create processes, or Zaps, to transfer data automatically between your web apps. Zapier, for instance, might connect Google AdWords and Salesforce, importing fresh leads from your advertising campaigns into your CRM for easy tracking and follow-up.
Brevo
Brevo is an all-in-one CRM package made to help businesses manage customer interactions and automate marketing operations by streamlining marketing automation efforts across many channels (email, SMS, and chat). It supports your team in all aspects, including automatic personalized emails and leads scoring and capture.
LeadSquared
LeadSquared offers complete solutions for marketing automation and sales execution. With the help of the platform, you can gather leads from a variety of sources and campaigns, monitor their behavior, and even divide them into demographic groups for more focused marketing. You can communicate with leads through email, WhatsApp, SMS, self-serve portals, and other channels.
The best thing about LeadSquared’s emails and landing pages is that they can be fully customized using a drag-and-drop editor and don’t require any code. You may also create dashboards and comprehensive, real-time reports using LeadSquared to gain insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Mailchimp
Originally designed as an email marketing service, Mailchimp has grown into a full-featured, all-in-one marketing platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Mailchimp makes digital marketing campaign creation, execution, and analysis easier by allowing accessibility and user-friendly design.
Iterable
Iterable is an advanced marketing automation software with a focus on engaging customers across channels. It enables small businesses to send in-app messaging, push alerts, SMS, email campaigns, and other personalized communications at a large volume. For businesses trying to improve their communications through advanced segmentation and dynamic workflows, Iterable is a great automation software to use.
Hootsuite
Social media marketing management is the main emphasis of the marketing automation platform Hootsuite. With the ability to manage all of their social media accounts from a single dashboard (across several platforms), businesses can have constant, engaging interactions with their audience.
Hootsuite is an essential tool for businesses trying to increase their social media presence since it allows you to schedule and automate social media postings, track conversations, and measure campaign results.
Marketing Automation Software Vs CRM
If you have to select between two types of software, you may think why choose marketing automation as a small business owner with limited resources when CRM could also be a great option?
It’s best to employ both marketing automation and CRM solutions while making this decision. Automation may be used to create leads and nurture them, while CRM can be used to manage contacts, keep track of interactions, and direct customers to your sales staff.
Make a budget so you can eventually afford both software types rather than deciding whether or not to purchase marketing automation software. It will benefit your small business more than anything.