I have been in the world of email marketing for over 15 years; I remember taking a class on email marketing back in 2000 when I was studying for my Master’s in Business Administration. A lot has changed in the online world since 2000, but email marketing has remained an important way for businesses to communicate online.
However, in more recent years, Marketing Automation, which includes the use of email marketing has become popular. In order to understand the real difference between Email Marketing and Marketing Automation, we must first look at the definition of both:
Email Marketing
According to webopedia, Email marketing is a type of direct digital marketing that uses electronic mail (also called email or e-mail) as the marketing communication delivery method. Email marketing is used in a number of ways by organizations and marketers for brand and customer loyalty building, acquiring or converting customers, company advertisements, or for communicating promotional offers and more.
Marketing Automation
According to wikipedia, Marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks.
An easy comparison is like comparing a cell phone to a smart phone. The original idea and concept of a cell phone was simply to make calls and send messages, a smart phone can do the same, but can also do sooo much more! Email marketing is like a cell phone in that you can send out multiple email messages using an Email Marketing Service Provider; and Marketing Automation is like a smart phone, in that you can do sooo much more!
Here are 4 advantages of using Marketing Automation v. Email Marketing:
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Automation
The goal of Marketing Automation is to automate aspects of your online marketing. Many activities are repetitive so if you can automate those actions it will save you a lot of time. For example, you may send the same set of emails to all new customers, instead of having to recreate the email every time a person becomes a customer, you simply add the person to the new customer list, and the system will automatically send out the emails to each new customers. All you had to do was set it up once, and the system does all the work for you after that. Email Marketing Service Providers also offer this form of automation through an Autoresponder feature, but Marketing Automation systems allow you to set-up and entire workflow that can send out automated messages based on timing, action, and more.
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Nurturing
Marketing Automation allows you to nurture your clients and prospects in a much smarter way. For example, if you have a client who is interested in one particular service that you offer, you can set-up that customer to receive emails just about that particular service. This allows you to nurture your clients based on their interests, which is a more effective way of communicating. On the other hand, Email Marketing systems were mainly designed to assist with mass communication and many people use email marketing to conduct “blast emails” to various lists and segments. Nuturing clients and prospects is a smarter way to market to individuals via email.
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Personalization
Similarly, you can personalize your client messages based on your client preferences and even based on your clients actions. For example, you can set-up follow-up emails based on the fact that the person clicked on a particular link within your email, this can all be done automatically. The key is once it is set-up then it continuously works in the background communicating with your prospects and clients on your behalf.
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Tracking
One of the most powerful, but most overlooked aspects of Marketing Automation is the ability to score your contacts based on their interaction. Most Marketing Automation systems include a tracking system that scores the interaction your prospect has had with your communications. Prospects with higher scores have more of a potential of becoming a customer because they have interacted more with your content. This enables you to see who you should be concentrating more of your marketing effort on.
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All-inclusive
Another great advantage of Marketing Automation is that the platform is all-inclusive, so even though most of the tasks I mentioned are all related to email marketing, a Marketing Automation platform also allows you to create and manage other aspects of your online marketing including:
- Landing Page Creation– Landing pages are a super important part of a successful online marketing campaign. Most Marketing Automation system have the ability for you to create and customize your own landing pages.
- Social Media Posting- Social media is a huge part of online marketing and many of the Marketing Automation platforms allow you to post to social media right on the platform.
- Form Creation- Online forms are a great way to grow your email database, and most Marketing Automation platforms include a feature for form creation
- Integration– Most Marketing Automation platforms offer integration with other key tools in your business, like payment platforms, sms messaging systems, appointment setting systems, etc. These integrations allow your Marketing Automation platform to be even more powerful.
So which one should you use in your business? Marketing Automation or Email Marketing? The answer depends on what you are trying to achieve and how much you can manage. Email Marketing Systems tend to be very user friendly and easy to use, but they do not have the power of a Marketing Automation System. On the other hand, Marketing Automation System usually require some type of learning curve and is a little harder to master than a simple Email Marketing System, but offers a lot more features and benefits.
Are you using Email Marketing or Marketing Automation? If so, share your comments below what you like or dislike about your system. If you need assistance deciding what system is best for you, contact us to schedule your FREE Email Marketing Success Strategy Session.