Marketing automation software automatically manages and streamlines processes within digital marketing campaigns. These can include email marketing, social marketing, live chat, website monitoring, and lead scoring. Automation helps marketing teams do more with less and provides various business benefits, including improved return on investment (ROI) and lead quality. Here, several experts weigh in on marketing automation trends for 2022 and beyond.

When more capabilities are automated, marketing automation becomes more effective

One thing’s for sure—as automation technology evolves, so do marketers’ capabilities and expectations. Jonathan Bonghi, the marketing strategist with digital transformation solution-provider Apex IT, sees the future of marketing automation like this: “With the assistance of AI, marketers will be able to automate their omnichannel marketing and predictive analytics. Marketing automation will become the foundation of the new digital transformation revolution. Organizations that have a well-defined strategy and make investments into robust data management will be the big winners.”

Marketers can create authentic insight-driven engagements through marketing automation

Knowing how and when to use customer insights to your advantage is critical. Jonathan McClure, director of analytic and strategic services at Oracle Marketing Consulting, understands the value marketing automation delivers through insight-driven customer engagements.

“Marketers are at the point where it’s easy to surface insights via machine learning and AI, then act quickly through a fully automated and seamlessly orchestrated cross-channel experience. Tools like Oracle Infinity IQ and Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation pick up on behaviors and patterns and allow marketing programs to harness that data and use it to send the right message to the right person at the right time in the right channel.”

Marketing automation empowers sophisticated customer acquisition

Marketing automation has changed how brands deliver value to customers and elevated the type of value they can offer. According to Sherene Hilal, SVP of marketing and business operations at Bluecore, a company that helps retail brands convert casual shoppers into long-term customers, “As more industries adopt autonomous technology, there’s increased pressure for AI applications to convert business intelligence into critical business actions. Discounts will become a thing of the past, or at least less of a go-to tactic. Brands will begin replacing blanket discounts that don’t keep shoppers around for long with unique offerings based directly on customer insight, as well as their unique selling points.”

Marketing automation that incorporates AI better determines future behavior

Companies that embrace AI and machine learning will gain a long-term competitive advantage. Konrad Feldman, cofounder and CEO of advertising technology firm Quantcast, agrees. “With AI and machine learning, marketers can gain insights in real-time and at scale, providing them with the ability to understand their audience better, what they need, and where they’re looking for it, empowering marketers to create better online experiences, improve business performance, and build brand trust. If a marketer or advertiser is not using AI-driven solutions to enhance their campaigns, they’re missing out on insights, new audiences, and productivity gains.”

Ready to stay ahead of marketing automation trends with the right tool?

Learn how Oracle Eloqua marketing automation can help you maximize campaign results in the years ahead.

Article written by: Waynette Tubbs, Director of Content Marketing, Oracle Advertising and CX with some insight from Jonathan Bonghi, Marketing Strategist at Apex IT, [email protected]

Unfortunately, most businesses today bypass the disciplined process of strategic planning which can set a clear light on quantifiable benchmarks for stakeholders, partners, and customers. Many times, management plans are just a combination of past business experiences, anecdotal market knowledge, and intuitive decision-making.

However, to succeed, every organization needs to invest in a comprehensive marketing strategy to grow and prosper.

Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all. And strategy is not just performing campaigns. A real strategy begins with auditing current efforts and using the findings to discover what pieces are working, what pieces are missing, and if you’re heading towards success. It then morphs into an approved roadmap that marries channels and tactics to technologies to achieve short and long-term goals.

Process
The first step of any business strategy process is the discovery stage. This is where your team really begins to understand what you’re trying to accomplish, what’s necessary to get you there, and what to look at differently. The next stage is to identify areas to optimize and any new areas that you should focus on. This helps eliminate any potential missed opportunities. Formulating this type of cohesive strategy allows you to then reach your target audiences more effectively on the platforms they prefer. Between the 5,000 ads that the average person sees every day, it’s imperative to stand out. And if you aren’t reaching your customers where they are, another company will.

Marketers

For many, marketing is a necessary but separate activity from the primary work of the business, a task added to the end of the business process to communicate the availability of products or services through advertising. In other words, marketing is a set of tactics that occur after everything else is complete.

But as marketers, it is our obligation to keep an eye on evolving consumer trends and the social, economic, and political factors that drive them. We are expected to be agile, which means that we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. The market is ever on the move, and you ought to move with it by keeping your ears on the ground. Revamping your marketing strategies will ensure that your marketing efforts are ahead of the curve, whether it’s automating communications, exploring new channels, or optimizing through emerging technologies.

Digital

It’s hard to believe that over 47% of marketers have no digital strategy at all, according to SmartInsights.

Yet creating one is a critical component in marketing, since most prospects are constantly connected via their smartphone, laptop, or desktop. A strong digital strategy has many benefits, it can help you leverage automation technologies, utilize predictive analytics, and increase customer lifetime value by understanding your customers way beyond just analytics. Designing a strategy usually begins with a complete Digital Transformation Analysis. So, whether it’s testing out new digital tools, targeting new audiences, or trying a new tactic—without a clear strategy, it won’t be a cohesive experience, and you won’t stand out from the crowd. It doesn’t matter if you have a digital marketing degree or tons of experience, without a clear strategy you will easily underestimate a lot of things.

Benefits

In short, a solid strategy helps outline a clear path to strategic goals and establishes a unified vision that is aligned with every department.

To design one, you need to determine what success looks like and create your strategy around it to help you get there. One of the biggest benefits to a good strategy is the ability to track ROI, ensuring that you can support the operations behind your plans.

For example, you can avoid time and resource wasting, such as different parts of a marketing department purchasing different tools or using different agencies to accomplish similar marketing tasks. You can eliminate such costly duplication with an effective strategy. You can also avoid the risks that come with disintegration, this occurs when marketing is accomplished in silos. If your digital marketer sits in the IT department, it is a disaster just waiting to happen.

Theorem

Not sure what your strategy should look like? Or maybe you don’t have the time or bandwidth? Connect with an Apex IT Theorem Marketing Acceleration Advisor. We’d be happy to discuss a customized ‘next level’ strategy with you and show you where you stand on our proprietary Capability Maturity Model (CMM).

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