There was once a time when marketers thought quantity and quality could not comfortably sit side by side in a good strategy - those days are gone. Good marketing automation is not easy to achieve but with the right strategy, it is possible.

Automated marketing is the term used to describe the software, technology and strategy put in place to streamline elements of sales cycles to replace manual processes and interactions with automatic solutions. It enables brands to effectively nurture leads and maximise marketing budget. Understanding prospect behaviour and acting accordingly, means that leads naturally drop into the sales funnel at the right point, leading to much stronger conversion rates and great ROI.

While automated marketing can save marketers valuable time, it is important that the customer and their needs, remain at the centre of the strategy. A good automated marketing strategy will save time, enhance conversion rates of leads to customers, as well as enhancing the user experience.

If the strategy isn’t delivering on all of these outcomes it’s time to re-examine it; the wrong automated marketing strategy can do more harm than good when user experience is sacrificed.

Marketing automation can have an influence on all areas of the customer journey from social media to email marketing, website visitors to physical footfall. At its best, marketing automation helps to nurture prospects with highly personalised, useful content that converts prospects to customers, turning clients into delighted customers and real brand advocates. This type of marketing automation typically generates significant new revenue for brands and provides an excellent return on the investment required.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing automation, nor should there be. It’s important to understand customer journeys and make sure leads are being effectively tracked, monitoring ‘digital body language’ across all of the touch points with a brand – only then can marketers understand how to implement a successful automated marketing strategy.