Guide To Marketing Automation Ebook

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section-1
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing Automation Stats 7
Why is marketing automation so popular right now? 12
When to start automating your business 13
Who is marketing automation for? 14
Marketing automation myths holding you back 15
Section-2
Benefits of Marketing Automation
Generate better quality leads 21
Nurturing quality leads 22
Better Revenue and Better Average Deal Size 23
Productivity Improvement 24
Personalizing the Journey for your Customer 25
Better Data Means Smarter Decisions 26
Save time managing social media campaigns 27

Section-3
What is marketing automation used for?
1 - Getting that Lead 31
Email Marketing Campaigns 32
Nurturing Leads 33
Segmentation 34
Lead (or prospect) scoring 35
Trigger Marketing 36
Section-4
Marketing automation examples and workflows
1. Hot-Lead (Marketing-Qualified) Workflow 74
2. Re-Engagement or Cold-Lead Workflow 79
3. Lead-Nurturing Workflow 84
4. New-Subscriber Workflow 84
5. Topic-Based Workflows 84
6. Event Workflow 84
7. Closed-Lost Reason Workflow 84
BONUS: Stuck-in-Sales-Funnel Workflows 84

Introduction
There’s a solution that not only does some of our work for
us but can make the whole marketing activity flow more
effective and efficient, without making the process cold or
unfeeling. Marketing automation.
In this guide, you will learn EVERYTHING you need to know

about marketing automation.
Chapter 1:
What is Marketing
Automation?
Brand-to-customer (or prospect) relationships rely heav-
ily on marketing and sales. Typically, builders and sellers
control the product launch. The former create the product,
and the latter, forge a 1:1 bond with their potential custom-
ers; such is the sales process in its embryonic stages.
If successful, the company begins to grow. At this point, it

won’t be possible to maintain a 1:1 relationship with each
customer, so we hire a marketing director, whose remit
it is to build performance-driven, conversion-centric pro-
grams at scale.
As time goes by, your marketing program will grow to such

an extent, that managing everything via Outlook, Word,
and Excel spreadsheets is no longer a viable way of work-
ing. The standard solution is to hire a team of marketing
specialists. Eventually, this results in money being wasted
on redundant tasks, like sending generic emails to poten-
tial customers and emailing your readers every time you
post blog content, with no idea how well campaigns are
working. Marketing automation resolves these issues by
tracking content across every platform and reporting back
on how your content is performing on all channels.
5 CHAPTER 1
Marketing Automation Stats
6 CHAPTER 1
7 CHAPTER 1
Why is marketing automation so
popular right now?
Numerous companies in today’s B2B and B2C world have

embraced marketing automation to manage their valua-
ble customer relationships in real-time. The Google Ngram
Viewer states that this method of relationship manage-
ment gained traction in the late 90s - the same time as
the dot-com boom. During the mid-2000s, marketing au-
tomation became a popular choice again — today, it’s the
ultimate choice. The reason for this is most likely due to
the following trends:
Trend #1: Changing consumer behavior

forced companies to change marketing
and sales tactics
Consumers used to rely on sales representatives to pro-

vide relevant information to make an informed purchase.
Then came the Internet. This allowed consumers to easily
research online, learning as much as, or more than, their
sales representative.
This brought about a power shift, such that marketers had

to change their approach in the revenue process, taking
the time to bond with multiple self-empowered consum-
ers until they were ready to switch, consumers multiplying
8 CHAPTER 1
fast in number due to speedy transactions over the inter-
net.
In turn, this presented another challenge: the problem of

scale. As Lucille Ball famously revealed, to try to implement
these substantial processes without the right systems in
place quickly creates a huge mess and many lost oppor-
tunities. Managing dialogues with hundreds, thousands,
or millions, of potential customers, is why marketing auto-
mation platforms gained in popularity in the mid-2000s.
There was no other marketing method to keep up with
these contemporary burdens.
Trend #2: Increasingly tighter budgets

altered how companies approach rev-
enue generation and measurement
Some companies weather fierce financial storms by cut-

ting resources. But leading organizations know that growth
is their ticket to survival. They reorganize processes and in-
vest in marketing automation systems. This increases rev-
enue effectiveness even as budgets tighten.
Marketing automation technologies allow marketers to

measure the effectiveness of their marketing investments,
empowering marketers to determine what works and
what doesn’t, and strategically reallocate resources to op-
9 CHAPTER 1
erate more profitably.
Trend #3: The new software delivery

model unlocked access to automation
tools
Unlike before, today’s marketing automation solutions are

accessible as software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery models
within a browser. They are purchased through a recurring
subscription mechanism and paid for using operating
budgets, not capital.
Carlos Hidalgo, the co-founder of ANNUITAS, hosted a Mar-

keting Automation Crash Course in 2012, where he said,
“This is the first time in the history of B2B marketing in
which marketers are responsible for purchasing and man-
aging their own technology.”
Marketing automation is for everyone
As the marketing automation industry has grown, com-

panies from a wide range of markets joined the early-
adopters from tech-savvy organizations. Even the more
traditional, conservative, and pragmatic companies use
marketing automation.
When to start automating your busi-
10 CHAPTER 1
ness
Marketing automation has aided several businesses, but

some struggle to justify the investment, and others fail to
get the desired outcomes. Bill Gates explains, “The first rule
of any technology used in a business is that automation
applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficien-
cy. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient
operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
Assess your current operations, technology systems, and

needs before adopting marketing automation. Your pro-
cesses may need to be realigned for marketing automa-
tion to be implemented effectively.
To determine the best solution for you, appreciate the sce-

narios your business might face during online promotions,
as follows:
We have more leads than we can follow-up
You are amid a few firms with sufficient market share to

sustain your trade. Focus now to scale the business, and
your long term branding needs.
Existing tools for long-term branding include communica-
tions such as email newsletters, blogs, and social media
platforms. At this stage, you don’t need a marketing auto-
mation tool.
11 CHAPTER 1
We get lots of leads, but the conversion rate is low
Here either improve the quality of leads or follow-up pro-

cess. To enhance the quality of your leads, improve the
accuracy and detail of information on landing pages and
emails. Also, precise targeting will help.
Improve the follow-up process by automating it using CRM

(Customer Relationship Management) software. This will
ensure well-timed contact with prospective clients based
on their actions and behaviors. Additionally, lead-nurture
clients by changing various rules or creating higher quality
content.
An advanced CRM would suffice, but a marketing automa-

tion tool can assist. Justifying the costs associated with this
technology might still be difficult.
We have never used online marketing
So far, client generation is through referrals, forums, net-

working, or any method of non-digital marketing. But now
you need to grow.
Investigate pay per click (PPC) advertising and inbound

marketing. PPC advertising delivers optimum short-term
12 CHAPTER 1
results. But, in the long-term, they are more costly.
We want to buy lists and send out e-mail blasts
We don’t recommend sending emails or SMS texts to any-

one you are not acquainted with, or who have not sub-
scribed to your company. Spamming puts host servers at
risk of being blacklisted, thus hampering your long-term
search engine ranking.
If you still choose this route, you can seize leads and man-
age follow-ups. Marketing automation would be a disaster
here. To achieve success with marketing automation tools,
you must have a high-quality database of subscribed users.
PPCs are costly, don’t work, and we need a better

solution
If you feel PPC promotions are not working, content mar-

keting is your next option, allowing you to generate leads
efficiently.
Here investment in content curation, your email market-

ing platform, social media management, and influencer
marketing are needed.
Now you could implement marketing automation tools
13 CHAPTER 1
which automate repetitive processes.
We already do online marketing but need to do it

more e ectively to achieve better ROI
If you are currently engaged in digital marketing, are com-

mitted to inbound marketing and looking to improve ef-
fectiveness, marketing automation is your must-have tool.
Who is marketing automation for?
For Startup Businesses:
Flexible pricing strategies – Marketing automation soft-

ware adopts simple pricing models that help any growing
or restrictive budget.
Effective database management – Marketing automation

technology uses analytics and reporting options so you can
improve the effectiveness of campaigns by reviewing data
on email open-rates, and such like. You can compartmen-
talize leads, structure automated processes, and follow up
14 CHAPTER 1
with further relevant content, thus nurturing contacts into
useful leads.
Lower marketing team costs – use marketing automation

technology to automate mass marketing activities and
time-consuming jobs, allows you to streamlines activities,
and individuals can focus on value-added activities.
Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs)
SMB oriented marketing solutions – costs of marketing au-

tomation technology can be managed to deliver effective
marketing campaigns.
Supports increasing website traffic of SMBs – analyzing the

effectiveness and return of investment (ROI) from any digi-
tal marketing campaign is easily done through marketing
automation software instantly, reducing costs.
Increased drip marketing and conversions – Marketing au-

tomation software will enable the build of landing pages,
higher-quality emails, and detailed coordination of cam-
paign statistics. Analyze the journey of each lead and boost
15 CHAPTER 1
your marketing campaign. Lead scoring, nurturing, and au-
tomated response emails, will help spread awareness of
your brand and convert leads into sales.
Small Marketing Budgets – Inbound marketing projects

can be A/B tested to improve them using marketing au-
tomation software, like Platform.ly. The software’s built-in
analytics review open rates of emails and landing pages.
Large Businesses
Management of multiple campaigns or websites – auto-

mated software provides you with powerful data analyt-
ics. The analysis can prove the leads produced from cam-
paigns, blogs, or social media. You can quickly identify
what’s working well and adapt.
Customer segmentation – Setting up segmentation en-

sures that relevant content or languages are brought to
the right customers. For example, a person living in Italy
will be sent information in Italian, applicable to Italy, at a
time appropriate to their time zone.
16 CHAPTER 1
Management of large databases – Using your CRM, you can
streamline data and eliminate cold/dead contacts from
your marketing process. Lists can be developed effectively,
using less labor-intensive hours.
Lead Sourcing – Marketing automation software allows

leads to be better targeted to the right departments, for
individual salespeople to monitor results for effectiveness.
One company working together – often large companies

operate in a disjointed manner. By aligning sales and mar-
keting data, both teams can simultaneously work together.
Selection of software provider will depend on your budget

and perceived needs, but Platform.ly is a low-cost, high-
quality solution suitable for users of any size of company.
Pardot or Hubspot are more expensive and have mecha-
nisms in place that make leaving them difficult.
Marketing automation myths holding

you back
Myth 1: Marketing Automation Is Imper-

sonal
The Reality: Marketing Automation is impersonal when

misused. Proper segmentation of your database allows
17 CHAPTER 1
you to send the right timely messages to the right per-
son.
Automation, used correctly, enables the user to track re-

cipient behavior and determines what messages would
be relevant next. This system is not about scheduling the
same message for all leads. Instead, it plans to target the
right sub-segment of leads when the data surmises that
they are open to change.
Myth 2: Just Set It and Forget It!
The Reality: Introducing a marketing automation sys-

tem is easy, but never ‘set it and forget it’. Bountiful cam-
paigns are those that are regulated by your marketing
and sales personnel.
Data gathered from each campaign should be used to
develop insights on your market. Regular monitoring and
management of campaigns allow course corrections to be
made.
Myth 3: Marketing Automation Only

Works for Email Use.
The Reality: Email is a crucial component of marketing

automation campaigns, but the tool works with landing
pages, social media, surveys, and forms.
18 CHAPTER 1
Most marketing automation platforms have form and
landing page builders. So it is easy to acquire customer
information and use that in upcoming campaigns.
Marketing automation can also embed lead generation
forms into social media platforms. Additionally, you can
create pop-ups enticing viewers to check out your website.
Finally, marketing automation tools show you where leads
come from, making tracking and nurturing them through
social media channels easier.
Myth 4: Marketing Automation Is Only

Useful to Marketing Personnel
The Reality: Marketing automation impacts every aspect

of your business, and helps you gain efficiencies across
multiple disciplines.
Marketing automation has applications beyond the scope

of your marketing department. The effectiveness of the
sales function improves with the assistance of a CRM, so
marketing automation allows you to identify what your
customer’s previous interactions were and what leads
to follow-up - a significant time-saving development for
salespeople.
Furthermore, with such a defined practice in operation for
19 CHAPTER 1
qualifying leads and passing them on to the sales team,
it’s easy to define bottlenecks or areas that are performing
above or below expectations.
Myth 5: Marketing Automation Requires

Technical Expertise.
The Reality: It’s reasonable for companies to think that

you must be a technical guru to learn how to use market-
ing automation platforms. Behind-the-scenes, the tech-
nical wizardry to build such systems is complex. But that
doesn’t mean using it is difficult too.
Today’s devices are intuitive, user-friendly, simple to navi-

gate, and do not need months of onboarding time before
you can start your campaigns.
Myth 6: Due to my Company Size, Mar-
keting Automation Is Too Expensive
The Reality: There are many platforms to choose from,

for all budgets.
There are numerous marketing automation tools, includ-

ing Platform.ly, specifically designed for small and medium
size companies. They are easy to use, robust and intuitive,
offering similar capabilities as their expensive counterparts.
20 CHAPTER 1
Myth 7: Marketing Automation and CRM
are the Same.
The Reality: While there are similarities, they’re suitable

for different objectives.
The customer sales funnel: the customer’s journey from

being a prospect to becoming a customer. When you pour
into a physical funnel, everything comes out at the other
end. With a sales or marketing funnel, there are multiple
exits at every stage where you could lose a customer if they
are not given enough incentive to stay and move on to the
following stage.
Keep your customers away from exit points and keep them
flowing along to the next stage. The lower the churn at a
stage, the better the efficiency of user flows, and the better
the effectiveness of the marketing funnel.
Marketing automation is the best way to target and nur-

ture segmented prospects, moving them into the middle
of the sales funnel. CRMs enable your salespeople to work
with leads and customers on a one-to-one basis, moving
them to the top of the sales funnel. The two often store
similar information, but their functions within your busi-
ness are different.
21 CHAPTER 1
Chapter 2:
Benefits of Marketing
Automation
Below are the reasons why companies should consider de-
ploying marketing automation to grow their businesses:
Generate better quality leads
Automating communications between marketing and

sales means your team can focus on more value-added ac-
tivities, contributing towards overall strategy and nurturing
only promising leads. Over time, that means more pros-
pects and ultimately, more customers.
By implementing behavioral tracking methods (like fol-

lowing a user’s path through a website), marketing auto-
mation platforms can help the marketing team under-
stand buyer interests and where they are positioned in the
22 CHAPTER 2
purchasing lifecycle. Follow-ups can be customized based
on this awareness.
Marketing automation collates information from many

touchpoints, including website visits, downloads, and so-
cial media activity, enabling automatic scoring and pri-
oritizing of leads. This can fuel broader marketing cam-
paigns, including:
»» Infrequent “drip-feed” emails to preserve the interest

»» Facebook or Twitter posts
»» Trigger-based marketing messages
Nurturing quality leads
Influencing a lead through your sales funnel is worth the

time invested when it results in a sale, but not all leads will
convert to a sale, so a lot of money is wasted. According
to Gleanster Research, only 50% of leads generated by a
business are qualified, and not all of these are ready to buy
right now.
23 CHAPTER 2
Keeping in constant contact with all leads is not possible.
Marketing automation exists for this reason: to do the work
that humans do, but faster.
Better Revenue and Better Average

Deal Size
Once you automate your up-sells, cross-sells, and follow-

ups, you’ll notice an upsurge in customer lifetime value.
Combine this with better lead handling and prioritization,
and it’s highly likely that the sales activity will yield an im-
proved ROI.
Productivity Improvement
24 CHAPTER 2
Marketing automation eliminates repetitive manual tasks
by substituting automated processes, which, in turn, im-
proves productivity.
Personalizing the Journey for your

Customer
According to Pardot, 77% of consumers want unique con-

tent, targeted at each stage of their investigations. Market-
ing automation simplifies the process of getting exclusive
content to the buyer at the appropriate time. Additionally,
the software captures behavioral data from all content. Au-
tomated data capture will answer these and many more
25 CHAPTER 2
questions about your content marketing approaches.
Dell noticed heavy traffic on their online store without

many sales developing. Using marketing automation
software, they leveraged behavior analysis, created new
ads based on customers’ web activity, and products left
in shopping carts. This resulted in a 70% increase in click-
through rates and a 300% higher conversion-to-sale rate.
As a side, Omnisend states that marketers who send three
abandoned cart emails get on average 69% more orders
than those who opt to send one.
Better Data Means Smarter Decisions
Marketing automation allows a company to readily em-

brace big data, gathering valuable intelligence at scale,
and immediately putting it to work.
Software solutions like Platform.ly, use a single platform for
dashboarding and analytics, collecting and storing data,
and closed-loop reporting. So you can better understand
how sales and marketing are impacting your bottom line.
26 CHAPTER 2
Save time managing social media
campaigns
Marketing automation tools allow management of your

social media campaigns from one dashboard and post to
multiple accounts in one shot. Hootsuite and Tweetdeck
have facilitated this for years.
27 CHAPTER 2
Chapter 3:
What is
marketing automation
used for?
1 - Getting that Lead
This is not the primary purpose of a marketing automa-

tion platform, yet capturing that lead is the first step of the
marketing process. Some platforms provide lead capture
features natively. Others may need connection to an adja-
cent service.
Five Lead Capture Features with Marketing Au-

tomation
Look for some of these lead capture opportunities in your

marketing automation platform:
»» Landing Pages (LPs)– Here, the user finds exact in-

structions to follow on arrival with enticing offers,
making LPs a perfect way to convert visitors into
leads. Your chosen software should allow the crea-
tion of LPs within it or integrate with world-class LP
software.
28 CHAPTER 3
»» Blog Subscriptions - Triggered embedded sidebars
or hero forms can alter a passing visit into a lifetime
customer. Once you obtain the prospect’s email ad-
dress from there, you can send out weekly blog sum-
maries, encouraging leads to take the next step with
your company.
»» Download Forms - When a visitor on your website
needs to download content, they can enter their con-
tact information and automatically receive their re-
quest.
»» Webinar Attendees – Many leads can be obtained
from webinar registrations using integrative software,
saving your business a massive amount of time in-
stantly adding them into the marketing automation
workflow.
»» Pop-Up Forms - Interruptive lead capture forms
(pop-ups) can be an opportunity to add leads to your
marketing automation workflow. Whether deployed
on a click, or after a set period, you should select a
platform that provides this or can integrate seam-
lessly with your chosen service.
Email Marketing Campaigns
The most common use of marketing automation software

is to send out email marketing campaigns but by schedul-
ing and triggering different messages based on the unique
actions/behaviors of your prospect.
29 CHAPTER 3
5 Styles of Email Marketing Campaigns
Below are just five types of email marketing campaigns

that marketing automation software, like Platform.ly, can
deploy:
»» Subscription Trial Campaign - a short sequence of

emails that follow up with a user who trialed your
subscription service. Set-up an automated email
campaign that trickles out over a period.
»» Cart Abandonment Campaign – a series of emails re-
minding the visitor of the products they left in their
online cart, encouraging them to checkout, and may-
be offering a discount for completing the purchase.
»» Welcome Campaign – a single or a series of emails,
welcoming your customer, introducing your busi-
ness, setting expectations of what they’ll receive, and
restating the benefits of being a subscriber.
»» Mini-Course Campaign - an educational resource
sent out in bite-sized chunks over a predetermined
time to a new subscriber. Position your company as
an authoritative source and offer additional material
or services.
»» Follow-Up Campaign - a sequence of emails sent af-
ter an occurrence determined by you, to follow-up a
prospect. Designed to drive engagement and devo-
tion and turn that prospect into a sale.
30 CHAPTER 3
Nurturing Leads
Using marketing automation, ensure your prospects are

more open to purchasing, by engaging in various; all in
a bid to warm up your lead to their new position in your
sales funnel.
4 Lead Nurturing Practices to use with Marketing

Automation
These are some lead-nurturing practices you should be

aware of when assessing software:-
»» Webinar Invitations - After a lead conducts a set

number of actions on your website, an automated
invitation can be sent to them, requesting that they
join a webinar on a relevant topic.
»» Content Marketing – Based on their interest, you can
send content relevant to their interests, or actions
they’ve taken on your website. Schedule information
out to your leads and nurture them towards a sale.
»» Custom Website Content – Example: A company has
identified which prospects are from which niche.
Now they can display a custom, dynamic website
that’s tailored to specific niches.
»» Appointment Scheduling – This feature sends auto-
31 CHAPTER 3
mated invites to your leads to schedule an appoint-
ment with your business, engaging nurtured leads at
just the right time.
Segmentation
Segmenting your database based on activity means you

can define core clusters of individuals with similar interest
levels, and personalize content by segment.
How to segment from actions with email
Segment correctly and improve the definition of each seg-

ment as per below:
»» Segmenting on email opens: The open action is a

false positive. Don’t use this technique to segment.
»» Segmenting on email bounces: A bounce requires
manual effort to decide if the email address is valid
and signals to sales to work other leads instead.
»» Segmenting on email link clicks: An email link click
is a deliberate action that is highly accurate, revealing
specific interest. Segmenting based on email clicks
helps you to segment by:-
• Product interest
• Level of interest
• Different relevant campaigns
32 CHAPTER 3
»» Segmenting on time: Create segments for periods of
inactivity, such as “No action for the last 60 days”.
»» Segmenting on lead-score: Calculate scores based
on activity and inactivity, such as “Prospects with no
scores” or “Prospects whose scores have increased
the most in the last 30 days.”
How to segment o from your CRM data
Any data in your CRM system can be used for segmenta-

tion by your marketing automation system. Consider data
sets for targeted marketing automation campaigns, such
as segmenting on:
»» buyer purchase history

»» stage in the sales cycle
»» opportunity phase
Lead (or prospect) scoring
Using lead scores determined by your marketing automa-

tion tool, you can focus your attention on prospects most
likely to convert. You can set up your system to score leads
by analyzing the information collected on them.
When scoring leads, you assign them a numerical value
to the lead, for example (1) “interested” to (5)“ready to buy”
based on their behavior to date. Exactly how you quan-
tify a lead’s value is your choice, but assigning numerical
33 CHAPTER 3
values makes it visible at a glance who you should invest
more time and resources into.
Trigger Marketing
Trigger marketing is where you send notifications at a

specified time, in response to an event. Alternative user
actions trigger different pre-prepared messages, engaging
with the client at the perfect time to ensure your presence
is felt and increase your probability of conversion. Auto-
mation maximizes impact and creates very sophisticated
campaigns with minimal time invested.
Another point to note is that although it is common to

speak of email trigger campaigns, this type of promotion
is not limited to email. Trigger-based mobile marketing is
also a growing trend, and an excellent opportunity to get
the most out of your app if you have one.
These are the most common “key moments” to launch

this type of campaign using marketing automation:
»» Welcome: customize a personalized message with
promotional material relevant to them.
»» First Actions: before and/or after the new user regis-
ters, they will browse through your website. Monitor
their interests and send out a triggered email.
»» Purchase: confirm their purchase was correctly com-
pleted and remind them what the next steps will be,
34 CHAPTER 3
eg, when they should expect their product.
»» Loyalty: for example, offer a coupon with their sec-
ond purchase.
»» Reactivation: remind the user of your existence if
they have not visited your site for a predetermined
period.
Advantages of trigger email
»» Trigger Marketing makes a client feel special. Per-

sonalized emails that adapt to the user’s individual
needs is an excellent example of customer service.
Such service increases satisfaction and the probabil-
ity that they will recommend you to others.
»» Trigger emailing increases brand awareness and
leaves them with a positive impression of your com-
pany.
»» Automation saves time and resources of your mar-
keting personnel.
»» Trigger emailing attains better results for your busi-
ness by maximizing conversion opportunities at all
stages of the funnel.
35 CHAPTER 3
Chapter 4:
Marketing automation
examples and
workflows
Marketing automation workflows allow you to nurture for-
gotten contacts through your sales funnel. Below is a list
of workflows that we think all B2B marketers should im-
plement using marketing automation platforms, for any
lead-nurturing campaigns, or to improve lead quality and
increase marketing productivity.
1. Hot-Lead (Marketing-Qualified)
Workflow
Trigger: Lead score
The workflow automatically notifies Sales as soon as a con-

tact attains “hot lead” status. This status is triggered when
the actions of the contact build up to achieve a score that
you have deemed as “hot,” or ready to approach.
The challenging part of this workflow is ascertaining what

factors determine that the lead is now “hot”. Decide this
with your salespeople. Areas of consideration could in-
clude a leads:-
36 CHAPTER 4
»» Level of fit (position, company size)
»» Level of engagement (number of content downloads,
quantity of email opens)
»» Views on your pricing page
»» Press on the “request a demo” button
The last two factors should fast-track the status of a lead to

“hot” status.
2. Re-Engagement or Cold-Lead
Workflow
Trigger: Contact inactivity
Marketing automation platforms support the creation of a

re-engagement workflow. The workflow will trigger when
a certain amount of time has passed and reignite the fire
37 CHAPTER 4
of your lead. The email could include company updates or
a survey.
3. Lead-Nurturing Workflow
Trigger: Website form completion
38 CHAPTER 4
The foundation of a lead-nurturing workflow is the goal
to convert a lead into marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) or
hot-leads. This process must be automated to ensure that
you give potential customers as much company informa-
tion as possible before they decide they are ready to pur-
chase.
Example: An individual becomes a lead by completing a

form on your website. You follow-up and send them two
content offers designed to nurture them through the fun-
nel. They interact with your content, becoming more en-
gaged and racking up more points, eventually drawing
closer to MQL status.
4. New-Subscriber Workflow
39 CHAPTER 4
Trigger: Subscription request to your newsletter
A workflow can be set up to nurture new subscribers to

engage with more of your content. Set up an initial email
cadence that allows them to receive the best, most perti-
nent content first.
40 CHAPTER 4
5. Topic-Based Workflows
Trigger: Download of ‘gated’ asset or views of related topic

content
If you have a variety of wide-ranging topics, select your top

four topics most suited to prospective customers based on
their interests, and map content material to such topics.
Then create your workflow for each topic.
When a lead shows interest around your chosen topics, the
workflow will trigger a sequence of emails designed to en-
gage your lead with material related to it.
6. Event Workflow
Trigger: Registration for, or attendance of, a live event
41 CHAPTER 4
Set up an email workflow to automatically send partici-
pants information, so they are adequately prepared before
the event. This information could include a reminder that
the event is taking place and information on how to get
there.
Once the event is over, ensure there are workflows securely

in place to send things like feedback forms. The ultimate
objective should be a future paid event registration.
42 CHAPTER 4
7. Closed-Lost Reason Workflow
Trigger: Lost opportunity indicated
Closed-Lost Reason Workflows direct “lost” opportunities

in your CRM back into the sales cycle. Examples of reasons
and triggered actions with marketing automation are:
»» Opportunity lost due to budget restrictions: create a

nurture program that offers a discount or some other
promotion.
»» Opportunity lost to competitor: send material edu-
cating them on your product, keeping any relevant
contract timelines in mind.
BONUS:
Stuck-in-Sales-Funnel Workflows
Trigger: Opportunity inactivity after a particular stage in

sales-funnel
Create a workflow for stalled opportunities, wedged in

your sales funnel for too long. Re-engagement can be au-
tomated, so you are using the resources of your sales team.
Possible reasons for a stalled-lead:
»» They weren’t interested

»» It’s not the right time
43 CHAPTER 4
»» They weren’t educated enough in your offering
Remember, Personalize the Experience
To get the most out of a marketing automation workflow,

you must ensure that visibility is high, communication is
continuous, and that there is collaboration between de-
mand generation, the rest of your marketing team, and
your sales team so that workflows can do what they need
to without interruption.
Workflows help you automate email sends and alerts to

sales, but they need your input and personalization. Real
engagement is only attained through experiences that
build your personal relationship with the lead, promote
engagement, and through binge-worthy material content.
44 CHAPTER 4
Chapter 5:
+ inbound marketing
What is inbound marketing?
Cold calls and direct mailshots are examples of outbound

marketing, which is ineffective. However, inbound market-
ing is designed to engage with today’s fully informed, em-
powered buyers.
The methodology works at every stage of a buyer’s journey.

Once you have relevant leads, the Marketing CRM auto-
matically adds them into an inbound marketing workflow
45 CHAPTER 5
Marketing automation + inbound marketing
and sends out relevant information to potential buyers.
Where does Inbound Marketing fall

short
Inbound marketing working in isolation will fail for most

companies. The most critical limitations noted are that in-
bound marketing:
»» leads are not ready to buy

»» does not identify who’s hot
»» makes it hard to target specific audiences
»» doesn’t energize people into action
»» won’t improve marketing ROI
So you need marketing automation as well to make in-

bound marketing work for you, which is possible with Plat-
form.ly.
Marketing Automation and Inbound

Marketing Working in Harmony
To reap the full benefit of inbound marketing, companies

should combine it with lead scoring and lead nurturing
mechanisms of marketing automation. This is known as
the Inbound Marketing Multiplier.
Wrap up
46 CHAPTER 5
There are loads of technological solutions that can assist
with inbound marketing, including blog software, SEO,
content management, and social media monitoring. They
will sit alongside a marketing automation platform.
47 CHAPTER 5
Chapter 6:
Email marketing +
marketing automation
On average, the ROI for email campaigns in the US is $44
for every $1. HubSpot states that approximately 49% of
companies use some form of email automation as a way
to simplify their marketing communications and increase
revenue.
What is email marketing automation?
48 CHAPTER 6
Email marketing + marketing automation
49 CHAPTER 6
Email marketing automation means you can send out per-
sonalized, segmented emails to your subscribers based
on a pre-defined trigger. This avoids emailing everyone on
your list at the same time with the same message.
What Types of Email Automation are

there?
There are two key forms of email automation: (1) time-

based or (2) behavior-based.
Time-based automation:
Here emails are delivered on a date, time, or delays as

dictated by you. For example, the ‘Welcome Series’ could
mean five emails sent weekly over five weeks.
Behavior-based automation:
This type of automation allows you to personalize what

you deliver and when. Using this method, you monitor
your welcome series and see if a user clicks on a specific
link. Based on this, another email could be sent, outside of
your standard welcome series, informing the lead of spe-
cial offers.
50 CHAPTER 6
Transactional Email vs. Marketing Email Transac-
tional emails:
These emails are sent to consumers who have complet-

ed a transaction or process. The content includes mate-
rial unique to that consumer. The trigger is an event. For
example, when you purchase something from an online
store such as Amazon, you automatically receive an order
confirmation email:
Marketing emails (Commercial emails):
These are sent to groups of prospects. Their objective is

commercially driven, and they are delivered strategically
at a pre-configured time.
Examples of marketing emails are sales campaigns and
newsletters.
51 CHAPTER 6
The Purpose of Email Marketing Auto-
mation
The benefits of using email marketing automation are:
1. Ensures on-time delivery
Email automation is triggered by events, sending emails to

the right people at the right time.
2. Saves time
Email marketing automation saves time by creating email

sequences once and letting them run automatically, with-
out further direction from you.
3. Higher open- and click-through rates
The Epsilon Email Institute cited Q4 2016 figures convey-

ing that automated email messages yield a 50.4% higher
open rate and a 106.3% higher click-through rate com-
pared to standard marketing emails.
GetResponse’s email marketing benchmarks report shows

that automated emails – triggered and autoresponder –
52 CHAPTER 6
have higher open- and click-through rates than regular
newsletters.
Different types of automated emails
Here are seven types of automated emails you could pro-

duce, some of which we have described already:
1. Welcome emails
2. Thank you emails for a purchase
3. Online course emails enticing people to join by offer-
ing a free course.
4. Re-engagement emails targeting inactive contacts.
5. Up-sell emails directed at those who have taken up
membership with you., enticing them to buy.
6. Abandoned shopping cart emails
7. Subscription renewal emails – Retain more clients by
sending out automated renewal emails, reminding
them that their subscription is due.
Wrap-up
To succeed, make sure any email marketing strategy in-

cludes a combination of one-off campaigns and automat-
ed emails so you can send out timely, relevant, and person-
alized emails to all your prospects and customers.
53 CHAPTER 6
Chapter 7:
+ CRM
SessionCam found that 89% of users have integrated their

marketing automation platform with their CRM as it makes
data management effortless.
How this integration can be beneficial:
All-in-One CRM
Deploying CRM and Marketing Automation software sep-
54 CHAPTER 7
Marketing automation + CRM
arately causes problems. Constantly checking both plat-
forms to ascertain the interaction with a customer is hard
work and leaves plenty of scope for human error.
By integrating, you ensure consistent messaging without

any cracks in communication. Additionally, you can con-
trol data leaks and maintain data hygiene.
Unified Approach to Data Management
Two different platforms mean two different systems to

monitor and update. New data will get lost, only being up-
dated on one system and not the other. A single platform
that consists of both software can prevent this.
Enhanced Customer Relationship
Having two separate platforms is the same as tracking two

different conversations with the same customer. This will
become confusing and baffling and won’t add any value
to customer relationship building.
Synchronization with Sales & Service Teams
Your marketing and sales teams have the same ultimate

goal - to attain a sale and a customer. Later down the line,
55 CHAPTER 7
the service department will also be involved in retaining
customers and assisting with purchases. It is difficult to at-
tain this parity easily with different software being used by
each department – integration resolves this.
56 CHAPTER 7
Chapter 8:
+ content marketing
Here is how content marketing and marketing automa-
tion can work well in unison:
57 CHAPTER 8
Marketing automation + content marketing
1. Engage and Stay Top-of-Mind Across
Channels
The marketing automation approach coordinates the use

of multiple touchpoints (such as social media, or email
marketing) to engage in continuous exchanges with your
consumers. You can connect email messages to website
engagement or social media usage to lifecycle nurturing
activities. The marketing automation platform monitors
every prospect and client to deliver personalized content
on every selected channel. This means that duplications
are never sent, and each touchpoint advances your rela-
tionship.
Below are some examples of how marketing automation

and content marketing work in unison on different chan-
nels:
»» Social media—Marketing automation helps you to

learn about consumers as they engage, so you better
appreciate which content nurtures relationships and
determines sales.
»» Email—Content and marketing automation can en-
sure your messages are always relevant and personal-
ized.
»» Web—Your website is the heart of all your content
marketing and using marketing automation, you
58 CHAPTER 8
can convert anonymous visitors, and deliver strategic
pages to users you do know.
»» Mobile—Create seamless mobile experiences and
communicate with customers based on their real-
time locality.
2. Deliver Relevant, Personalized Con-

tent to Every Customer
Marketing automation brings several intelligent features to

the table here:
»» Predictive content and smart analytics use AI (or ma-

chine learning) to automatically deliver the most rel-
evant content in front of each prospect when they
visit your site.
»» A/B testing delivers the best triggered-emails to each
lead to help drive click-throughs and engagement.
»» A streamlined, synchronized databank automatically
updates your CRM in real-time, based on online or of-
fline consumer behaviors.
»» Retargeting uses all data collected on your audience
to create a personalized route, with targeted ads on
well-known ad platforms, including Google and You-
Tube.
»» Web personalization collects behavioral insights of
each visitor, even anonymous ones.
59 CHAPTER 8
3. Garner Insights From All Your Cam-
paigns
Marketing automation delivers insights into your process-

es, permitting you to:
»» Recognize the best and most effective channels and

campaigns with A/B testing and custom your KPIs.
»» Quickly view and share analytics by generating sim-
ple, customized reports containing the data you
need.
»» Demonstrate how your content influences consumer
behavior, and review how revenue correlates to par-
ticular promotions, with revenue cycle analytics.
60 CHAPTER 8
Chapter 9:
How to start automat-

ing your marketing?
1- Define your goals
Set SMART Goals
A goal should be defined using the SMART acronym,

meaning it is:
»» Specific
»» Measurable
»» Attainable
»» Relevant
»» Time-bound
EXAMPLE: Increase online sales by 15% in Q3 by launching

an email marketing drive.
»» Specific: given by what you want to achieve by the

end of Q3.
»» Measurable: you have selected the metric, online
sales with a measurable percentage, 15%.
»» Attainable: You have the means to attain it.
»» Relevant: Your goal is aligned with the business strat-
61 CHAPTER 9
How to start automating your marketing?
egies that you have implemented. You are utilizing
the marketing automation platform your company
has purchased.
»» Time-bound: you have set a deadline.
Using Marketing Automation to Set Goals
To set goals, you need to know your collected data and al-
low it to direct you.
Example: you acquired 100 leads in Q2, and you aim to in-
crease sales over Q3, which implies that one of your goals
must be to bring in more leads. Using SMART, we can
phrase our goal as follows: In Q3 increase our number of
leads from 100 by 40%.
Align Sales with Marketing Goals
To attain more leads to boost sales, you must consider

ways to improve your processes, like streamlining com-
munications between marketing and sales. Use customer
feedback acquired from your salespeople to strengthen
marketing approaches.
Develop a Clear Marketing Process
62 CHAPTER 9
Study your customer behavior by reviewing your analytics.
From there, you can set up behavioral triggers.
Alternatively, you could segment a more defined list to en-
sure you are targeting correctly.
Study your Metrics
Targeting higher sales figures is about increasing your

leads, but you also need to check your list growth and if
current unsubscribe rates are adversely affecting the con-
version rate. Review your open- and click-through rate and
any other metrics. Working your way through metrics will
help you evaluate your strategies and set appropriate goals.
Test. Analyze. Repeat
When your goals are set, and your marketing automation

strategies have been implemented, you need to actively
test which strategies are operating well and which are not,
and adjust accordingly.
One popular test to employ is A/B testing. You divide your

recipients into two groups. Each group receives different
versions of your email. After the test, check which email
gives you better results, and use that one going forward.
Reviewing analytics and testing results provides better in-
63 CHAPTER 9
sights, which can guide in goal setting. Platform.ly makes
this easier by providing real-time analytics.
2- Choosing the right tool and why

Platform.ly is the perfect choice
7 Considerations to Include in the Selection Pro-

cess
We further recommend assessing the following seven as-

pects before you buy:
1. Costs: Sometimes, platforms have “hidden costs” (like

extra fees for support). Ensure you have clarity on
64 CHAPTER 9
what those charges are before you buy. Platform.ly
has no hidden extras.
2. Limits: Some platforms impose restrictions on the
number of emails you can send or the number of us-
ers who can have concurrent access to the system
and charge extra fees for going over any limits.
3. Support Options: Look for a package that includes
phone or 24/7 live chat support like Platform.ly does
so you can conveniently connect with experts if you
need to.
4. Availability: Review a provider’s commitment to
availability within their Service Level Agreement. Plat-
form.ly are that committed to support and availabil-
ity that if you need a new feature, you can drop them
a line on the feedback forum and they will reply.
5. Integrations: Consider the CRM integration aspect.
Also, evaluate other integration opportunities, for ex-
ample, social media marketing solutions.
6. Broader Capabilities: Make sure that your platform
has the capability to extend with you as your program
matures and develops over time.
7. Customer Feedback: Read reviews from other or-
ganizations who have used the platforms.
Platform.ly is a reliable platform proficient in automating

many of your routine tasks and channels you are actively
pursuing.
65 CHAPTER 9
Using it, we can direct and monitor customer lifecycles ef-
ficiently. It combines an assortment of essential tools like
CRM, link tracking, reporting, and lead capture.
Platform.ly allows us to accurately coordinate every phase

of our prospects journey through the sales funnel. We gain
valuable understanding and insights that lead to sales.
The software is suitable for all business sizes, providing your

business has sales and marketing features.
Your Technology Selection Makes a Huge Differ-

ence
The reason why Platform.ly is perfect is that it’s a complete

solution. The last thing you want is starting to use a plat-
form only to find out later that it doesn’t offer you every-
thing you need for your marketing automation. You must
give the technology selection process your full attention,
so you do not keep changing your platform. Changing will
drive up costs and decrease productivity as you redirect
resources to manage the change.
3- Set your automation targets
It may be that your goal of automation is to match your

team’s current performance and then deploy that re-
66 CHAPTER 9
source to alternative areas. But, automating that workflow
isn’t going to improve your results. It’s only going to free
up time so your team can spend it doing other activities.
Define a goal that is measurable so you can monitor the
impact automation strategies like this one. Be specific and
set targets for each quarter to gauge your success.
4- Map user flow
It is necessary that you carefully craft the user-experience

to ensure your users stay on track and continue to travel
through the funnel. Do this with just enough information
provided at each stage of the funnel to tweak attentive-
ness, and keep curiosity thriving so that users will move on
to the next step.
Experience, Flow and Journey
A user flow is a path that you want visitors to follow through

your website to achieve a specific objective. Developing
such will guide your website design, based on your objec-
tive and the objectives of your targeted leads.
A user flow consists of a series of actions that need to be

taken to achieve the objectives you have identified. Objec-
tives should be enticing to a customer seducing them to
purchase. This process is also known as the user journey.
67 CHAPTER 9
You should bear some other factors in mind when creating
user flows, including the following:
»» All user flows should be designed before building any

marketing automation campaign. Your marketing
automation strategy and website should be based on
user flows, and not vice versa.
»» Create user flows, keeping the user experience at the
forefront of your mind. The enticing experience needs
to be extremely logical and emotionally persuasive to
be effective so that users progress to the next stage
of the system.
»» When you design your website, create user flows
that maximize conversions by making sure that the
user journey ends in gratifying user desires. The flow
should take customers effortlessly and virtually seam-
lessly through the whole process of the funnel, from
building awareness to promising to fulfill their needs,
which brought them to your website to start with.
Mapping Out User Flows
When designing your website, start with what you want

to achieve through the website. The goal is to convert as
many customers as possible. The problem is how to get
people to visit you.
68 CHAPTER 9
Identifying User Needs and Desires
While building the user flows, first focus on mapping how

visitors will get to your website. Some examples are:
»» The user spots your site through paid advertising.

»» The user becomes aware of your site and business
through a friend’s post, or share or like on a social me-
dia platform.
»» The user discovers your site while conducting a thor-
ough organic search via a search engine, like Google.
»» The user becomes aware of your website because it is
revealed in a blog post, news article, or social media
post, raising curiosity so that they visit your website.
These are some of the entry points to your funnel. The ex-
pectations of your visitors will be governed by the entry
point that they used to access your site.
5- Create your emails
Once contacts are in your system, you can bring promo-

tional campaigns to prospects.
A simple way to start is to send a few marketing emails.

The first thing you will need is an email template. Many
platforms, like Platform.ly, include built-in templates you
can use right away. You also have the ability to custom-
69 CHAPTER 9
ize the email templates and add your branding and color
scheme.
Begin with an email informing your prospects and cus-

tomers about upcoming product releases.
6- Create the sequence
You will need to develop a sequence, add emails to it, and

specify when the emails should be sent.
Example:
»» A Welcome email – sent immediately

»» Email no.2 – sent 2 days later
»» Email no.3 – sent 4 days later
»» Free trial or discount offer – sent 5 days later
»» Offer reminder – sent 6 days later
»» Add them to your current customer list if they made
a purchase.
7- Analyze and optimize results
1- Conduct A/B tests, track and measure results
Test your emails at every step of your promotional cam-

paign.
A/B test the following areas:
70 CHAPTER 9
»» Email trigger
»» Frequency
»» Subject lines
»» Email content
»» Time and day sends
Measure your results with a sound tracking system to

analyze your conversion rates over time. Set up UTM (Ur-
chin Tracking Module) campaign codes or parameters, or
measure them with your analytics system, which Platform.
ly can do for you.
2. Optimize and repeat
A great feature of email campaigns is that they are simple

to tweak live. Test your email automation campaigns regu-
larly.
Optimize the email campaign by changing:
»» Time and day

»» Frequency
»» “From” line
»» Subject line and body copy
»» CTA
Monitor your results on a regular basis.
71 CHAPTER 9
Chapter 10:
Future of marketing
automation
From Personalization to Predictive Analytics
Being more personalized means that marketing automa-

tion has to expand to different parts of the customer de-
cision journey, with increasing personalized content and
lead-scoring in real-time. Using predictive analytics, mar-
keters will predict conversions and interactions for every
customer, so automation capabilities can only develop
and grow.
Marketers can test their offers and content instantly, nur-

turing meaningful interactions with consumers. Predic-
tive abilities help modify the customer’s experience. You
will benefit from the predicted conversion rates, but also
a chance to influence it, accurately calculating the most
appropriate communication channels, content types, and
time of impact.
Soon marketing automation will anticipate questions us-

ers have. This will help marketers to answer questions be-
fore they are even asked. The most successful innovation
will be delivering new value to your formerly unidentified
customers.
72 CHAPTER 10
Future of marketing automation
Promising future, but that’s not all!
Customization stands for open APIs, allowing businesses

to build custom and focused software tailored to their spe-
cific business intelligence requirements. It will perfectly
integrate with your corporate systems but also with your
sales efforts, just the way your company needs. In-house or
third-party development, in addition to the most popular
marketing automation platforms, will allow us to reach a
whole new level of customization for the marketer, as they
are the first users of the marketing products.
The exclusive combination of sales, marketing, and tech-

nology will achieve customization at the highest possible
level. These automation improvements will help a compa-
ny grow.
The power of prediction
Automation Engineers will continue to develop smarter al-

gorithms with even more extensive learning capabilities.
Its fruition will bring about precise forecasts about cus-
tomer behavior so marketers can fortify engagement and
better regulate who are the most desirable customers for
the business.
73 CHAPTER 10
Due to the amount of data available now from digital chan-
nels, marketing platforms can measure their data in real-
time and optimize in ways that will outpace their competi-
tors. Currently, marketing technology is about more than
automated practices – it’s about almost “automated self-
improvement.”
Marketing automation will continue to evolve and develop.

The perfect future described is not that far away. Power-
ful technologies like machine-learning with big-data ena-
bled predictive analytics will allow marketers to become
more effective and efficient. We should not forget that it’s
the human element that is at the heart of marketing, and
no automation can bridge the gap between you and your
customer.
74 CHAPTER 10
Conclusion
The crux of marketing automation is about nurturing rath-
er than selling. By avoiding the hard-sell approach, favor-
ing content that is warm, relevant, and personalized, and
aligning with our customers or prospects desires, we im-
prove the whole process. Furthermore, by implementing
marketing automation software, these techniques be-
come a lot easier. Quickly, we can map the entire process
back to our marketing goals or objectives.
Marketing automation helps streamline your process and

gives you greater clarity on what your visitors or leads are
doing. You can easily find what content they’re download-
ing, how they are responding to your emails, or where they
are in your sales funnel.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is Marketing Automation?

Marketing Automation Stats 7

Why is marketing automation so popular right now? 12

When to start automating your business 13

Who is marketing automation for? 14

Marketing automation myths holding you back 15

Benefits of Marketing Automation

Generate better quality leads 21

Nurturing quality leads 22

Better Revenue and Better Average Deal Size 23

Personalizing the Journey for your Customer 25

Better Data Means Smarter Decisions 26

Save time managing social media campaigns 27

1 - Getting that Lead 31

Email Marketing Campaigns 32

Lead (or prospect) scoring 35

Marketing automation examples and workflows

1. Hot-Lead (Marketing-Qualified) Workflow 74

2. Re-Engagement or Cold-Lead Workflow 79

7. Closed-Lost Reason Workflow 84

BONUS: Stuck-in-Sales-Funnel Workflows 84

In this guide, you will learn EVERYTHING you need to know

If successful, the company begins to grow. At this point, it

As time goes by, your marketing program will grow to such

Numerous companies in today’s B2B and B2C world have

Trend #1: Changing consumer behavior

Consumers used to rely on sales representatives to pro-

This brought about a power shift, such that marketers had

In turn, this presented another challenge: the problem of

Trend #2: Increasingly tighter budgets

Some companies weather fierce financial storms by cut-

Marketing automation technologies allow marketers to

Trend #3: The new software delivery

Unlike before, today’s marketing automation solutions are

Carlos Hidalgo, the co-founder of ANNUITAS, hosted a Mar-

Marketing automation is for everyone

As the marketing automation industry has grown, com-

When to start automating your busi-

Marketing automation has aided several businesses, but

Assess your current operations, technology systems, and

To determine the best solution for you, appreciate the sce-

We have more leads than we can follow-up

You are amid a few firms with sufficient market share to

Here either improve the quality of leads or follow-up pro-

Improve the follow-up process by automating it using CRM

An advanced CRM would suffice, but a marketing automa-

We have never used online marketing

So far, client generation is through referrals, forums, net-

Investigate pay per click (PPC) advertising and inbound

We want to buy lists and send out e-mail blasts

We don’t recommend sending emails or SMS texts to any-

PPCs are costly, don’t work, and we need a better

If you feel PPC promotions are not working, content mar-

Here investment in content curation, your email market-

Now you could implement marketing automation tools

We already do online marketing but need to do it

If you are currently engaged in digital marketing, are com-

Who is marketing automation for?

For Startup Businesses:

Flexible pricing strategies – Marketing automation soft-

Effective database management – Marketing automation