When it comes to your digital marketing strategy, you’re probably trying to juggle multiple different channels and platforms. From Facebook and Google Business to remarketing ads and live chat capabilities — it can be a time-consuming task.
You likely already have an entire team dedicated to managing all of your channels and developing new and engaging ways to interact with your customers. But after a while, it often feels like you’re just spinning your wheels and not making a significant impact.
That’s where digital marketing automation tools come in to help. With the right tool in place, you’ll free up precious time that your marketing teams are spending on digital marketing and allow them to do more. Whether that’s to explore new digital channels, expand your current reach, or focus on something entirely different — that’s up to you.
In this article, we’ll take a look at a few ways you can improve your current digital marketing strategy and then discuss 12 automation tools to help you make the most out of your daily efforts.
Here’s a quick look ahead to the digital marketing automation platforms and tools we’ll cover:
- Listrak
- Hubspot
- Marketo
- SendinBlue
- Sugar Market
- Autopilot
- GreenRope
- Jumplead
- SharpSpring
- Omnisend
- Wishpond
- ActiveCampaign
Developing a Digital Marketing Automation Strategy
When you consider how mobile our world has become over the last few years, it’s easy to understand why digital marketing is so important. From an increase in mobile usage to the number of people using the internet to find the things they need — it all adds up to a substantial amount.
When you look at how many people are actively using mobile devices and engaging with social media, it’s easy to see how important digital marketing is. If you don’t have a presence on these platforms, you’re missing a huge opportunity to reach your audiences where they already are.
But before diving too far into the world of digital marketing automation tools, you first need to define your strategy. This is an important first step because it will provide you with your roadmap for moving forward.
You’ll want to consider what digital channels and platforms you plan to include in your strategy. Once you know what you’ll include in your digital strategy, you need to define how these things will fit into your plan and how they can work together to achieve your goals.
Here are a few examples of things you may choose to include in your digital marketing automation strategy:
- Email marketing
- Social media
- Website and campaign landing pages
- Lead generation opportunities including forms and pop-ups
- Search engine optimization
- Digital ads
Identifying what digital tactics will fall into your strategy is an important step in the process, but there are numerous other things you’ll need to consider when building out your strategy. Let’s take a closer look at the steps you’ll want to take when building your automation strategy.
Steps For Building Your Marketing Automation Strategy
There are plenty of different ways to go about building your digital marketing automation strategy. In this section, we’ll take a look at a few key steps you’ll want to include in your strategy development process — no matter how you choose to move forward.
Step 1: Define Your Goals
When you embark on a new journey, one of the very first steps should always be to define your goals. Setting goals early on in the process will help you build your strategy around these goals — making it much more likely that you will achieve them in the long run.
When it comes to setting goals, following the SMART plan will set you up for success. Getting your goals right can make all the difference when it comes to the success of your plan moving forward.
As you’re setting your goals, you’ll want to make sure that these goals are attainable. Setting unrealistic goals will only set you up for failure and leave you discouraged month after month.
Here are a few best practices when it comes to developing your goals:
- Identify where you currently are and where you want to be in the future
- Make your goals specific and measurable
- Agree on what the goals mean so there’s no confusion
- Break your goals down into smaller parts and set milestones throughout the year
By outlining specific and measurable goals, you’ll be able to track exactly where you are and how much further you need to go to reach your goals.
Step 2: Know Your Audience
If you don’t already know who your digital audience is, now’s the time to put in the extra effort to find out. Just because you might know everything there is to know about your audience from a print or event marketing standpoint doesn’t mean you know their needs in the digital world.
Understanding what your customers want and expect from your company is extremely important. Personalized content can make a big impact on someone’s experience and people are actually willing to pay more for a better experience.
To better understand this, you’ll want to take time to identify your personas and map out what the customer journey looks like. This step could also include other things like market research and analysis, depending on your budget.
This is something you’ll want to continue to iterate on as you learn more about your customers and their digital behaviors. Choosing the right tool will help you better understand this and adjust your campaigns based on your real-time customer insights.
Step 3: Audit Content and Identify Opportunities
Transitioning to a new strategy may seem daunting at first. But you don’t have to totally recreate the wheel. You likely already have resources that you’re using to promote your company today. You might just need to upcycle those.
If you have articles written for publications or advertisements running elsewhere, you can convert that content into a more digital-friendly piece.
For example, that article you previously wrote could easily become your first blog post — which will have many legs between your blog, social channels, and email marketing.
There are tons of different ways that you can repurpose your content. One blog post doesn’t have to only live as one blog post. Bits and pieces of it can be taken out to develop checklists, podcasts, and more.
Take the time to audit the content you already have and leverage it where you can. The more content you have, the more you can build more dynamic and personalized experiences for your customers.
Then as you start to get more acclimated to the digital environment, you can start to plan and create new content.
Step 4: Identify Automated Workflow Opportunities
Last but not least, on our list of steps to get started is to identify where you have automation opportunities.
There are plenty of different ways you can automate digital marketing tactics. Email is a great example because you can set specific triggers based on the customer data and provide the most relevant content possible.
As you start to think about what your goals are and where you can engage with your customers more frequently, you’ll start to see opportunities to build automated workflows. These workflows can be set up and run in the background without your manual intervention every month.
Here are a few examples of evergreen content that you can automate right away:
- Welcome campaigns to warm new leads up and move them towards a purchase
- Retention campaigns for customers who have not been active recently
- Abandonment campaigns to bring users back to your site to make a purchase
Finding areas to improve these types of processes will be one of the first things you’ll do when getting started with your digital automation. It will free up your time and keep your customers engaged based on where they are in their journey.
Digital Marketing Automation Tools
Once you have your strategy in place, it’s time to start thinking about what tools are available to make your transition easier.
Investing in a tool to help manage your digital marketing will provide you with numerous benefits. From freeing up your time to better customer insights, you’ll be able to do more with your newly developed strategy.
These are just a few of the benefits that come with investing in a digital marketing automation tool:
- Save time and money by automating repetitive tasks
- Improve ROI by improving targeting and cross-channel marketing
- Elevate the customer experience with your brand
- Expand your marketing reach in other areas by freeing up valuable time
- Gain better customer insights to improve future campaign
There are tons of different tools available to help you make the most out of your automation efforts. Which one is best for your company will depend on your specific wants and needs from a platform.
In this section, we’ll take a look at 12 different tools to help get you started on your digital automation journey.
1. Listrak
Listrak is a digital marketing automation platform that was created with retail businesses in mind. Whether you’re looking for a tool to manage your emails, implement a cross-channel strategy, or gain valuable customer insights — Listrak can do it all.
Reach your customers across all of your digital marketing channels. By understanding their wants and needs, you can improve your strategy and see a direct impact on your bottom line.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automation and management for all of your digital marketing tactics, including email, SMS messaging, social media, and more
- Customer insights to better understand the needs of your audiences and predict what they’ll want next
- Create cross-channel marketing campaigns based on real-time data to reach your customers at the right time and place
- Track, understand, and react to the needs of your customers with behavioral triggers such as abandon cart messages
Pricing: Customized based on business needs
Company Size: Listrak is a good option for retail companies of all sizes
Clients: Alex and Ani, Hudson, Splendid, Spencers
Website: https://www.listrak.com/
2. Hubspot
Hubspot is one of the more well-known digital marketing automation platforms but is a great tool to manage all of your marketing needs. Develop, launch, and manage your digital marketing campaigns, then see how well it’s performing and what audiences are engaging with it the most.
Keep track of your campaigns and know exactly where you’re converting leads from. Having this visibility will allow you to continue to adjust and improve your digital marketing efforts.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automation and campaign management for all of your digital channels, including email, social, and advertising
- Create custom landing pages to improve the success of your campaigns and convert more leads
- Get up-to-date metrics on how your channels are performing with customized reporting
- Build automation workflows to free up valuable time and keep moving your customers through the sales funnel without manual intervention
Pricing: There are four plan options: the Free plan, the Started plan starting at $45 per month, the Professional plan starting at $800 per month, and the Enterprise plan starting at $3,200 per month
Best For: Hubspot is best for medium to large businesses
Clients: Frontify, Trello, SurveyMonkey, Loom
Website: https://www.hubspot.com/products/marketing
3. Marketo
Marketo is another one of the more well-known marketing automation platforms out there. It’s designed to help businesses improve digital marketing management, better understand customer data, and bring it all together to improve the customer experience across platforms.
Manage all things digital from one central location. Marketo makes it easy to build multichannel marketing plans and reach your customers every step of the way.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automate and manage digital tactics including email, mobile, and more
- Improve account targeting by better understanding your data and tapping into artificial intelligence
- Learn more about how your marketing channels impact revenue to know where to put your focus
- Integrate your sales and marketing teams to improve the follow-up process and turn more leads into customers
Pricing: Customized based on business needs
Best For: Marketo is best for medium to large businesses
Clients: Roche, Cloudera, Panasonic, Citrix
Website: https://www.marketo.com/
4. SendinBlue
SendinBlue is a digital automation tool that was developed with growing businesses in mind. With all of the things you need to thrive, SendinBlue can help you achieve your automation goals.
Easily create, send, and manage all of your email marketing efforts. Then build a custom landing page to convert leads and increase campaign revenue.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automate and manage your digital marketing tactics, including email, SMS, chat, and more
- Manage your customer data from the same platform to see the full picture of who your audience is and what they’re engaging with
- Create customized landing pages to provide a more comprehensive experience for your customers
- Use retargeting to show ads to previous site visitors and remind them of your products while they browse other websites
Pricing: There are four plan options: the Free plan, the Lite plan starting at $25 per month, the Premium plan starting at $65 per month, the Enterprise plan that is customized based on business needs
Best For: SendinBlue is best for small and growing businesses
Clients: Louis Vuitton, Marcel, Michelin, Frontline
Website: https://www.sendinblue.com/
5. Sugar Market
Previously known as Salesfusion, Sugar Market is a marketing automation platform that can help you elevate your customer experience. From the first moment a user engages with your site to the moment,,, they become a customer and beyond — Sugar Market can help improve your digital strategy.
Get to know your customers and see exactly where and when they are engaging with your content. From the moment they find your website to the final campaign reporting, Sugar Market can tell you everything you need to know.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Drive web traffic with built-in advertising and social tools
- Create, manage, and send email marketing campaigns to engage your audiences
- Use customer data to develop personalized messages to increase conversions and nurture your leads
- Measure the success of your campaigns with advanced analytics and reporting
Pricing: Pricing is based on the number of contacts you have and starts at $1,000 per month
Best For: Sugar Market is best for medium to large businesses
Clients: Clarity, EMA, Kyloe Partners, Cleveland Cavaliers
Website: https://www.salesfusion.com/
6. Autopilot
Autopilot is a marketing automation platform that allows you to manage all of your digital needs from one central location. Starting from the moment you generate a new lead to automating each step they take to become a purchasing customer, all your bases will be covered.
Develop customized journeys to lead people down the path you want them to take. Whether that’s a welcome campaign to warm them up or an abandonment campaign to bring them back to your site — it can all be done with Autopilot.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Capture leads from your website, app, blog then nurture them through their journey to build more loyal fans
- Utilize personalization tactics to improve each interaction with your customers and increase your chances of making a sale
- Integrate other applications to get a full view of who your customers are and how they are interacting with your company
- Easily design and build customer journeys to automatically move audiences through the steps you want them to take
Pricing: There are four different plan options available, the Silver plan that costs $49 per month, the Gold plan that costs $149 per month, the Platinum plan that costs $249 per month, and a customized plan for businesses that have more than 10,000 contacts
Best For: Autopilot is a good solution for companies of all sizes
Clients: Encocreative, Lessonly, Kindly Care, Oscar Razor
Website: https://www.autopilothq.com/
7. GreenRope
GreenRope is a CRM platform that also allows you to manage your marketing automation efforts. This means you’ll have a full view of your customers that your sales, marketing, and customer service teams can all access.
Build customized journeys for your audiences based on their interests and interactions. This will allow you to guide them down the path you decide and push them towards making a purchase.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automate and manage your customer communication including email and social media
- Build customer journeys to move users through the funnel from awareness to conversion
- Track your campaigns across all digital platforms to identify future opportunities and pinpoint what was a success
- Make building emails and landing pages simpler with the EasyBuilder drag and drop editor
Pricing: There are seven different plan option available, the Starter plan costing $149 per month, the Prime plan costing $199 per month, the Pro plan costing $249 per month, the Premium plan costing $299 per month, the Powerhouse plan costing $349 per month, the Supreme plan costing $449 per month, the Ultimate plan costing $699 per month.
Best For: Medium-sized B2B businesses
Clients: V Corp Technologies, Traders Accounting, Orapub, Marketing-Treff
Website: https://www.greenrope.com/
8. Jumplead
Jumplead is a marketing automation platform that can help you manage your digital needs, including lead generation, email marketing, and more. With various pricing plans designed to meet your business needs, there’s a solution for companies of all shapes and sizes.
Know what is working and what isn’t with campaign reporting capabilities. From understanding how many people you’re reaching to campaign performance, you’ll gain valuable insights.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Generate leads by combining lead forms, customized landing pages, and more
- Automate and manage email and live chats to save yourself time and money
- Integrate various other marketing platforms to make the most out of your customer data
- Track and analyze your digital marketing efforts to better understand what content your customers engage with and how your campaigns are performing
Pricing: There are multiple plan options available for companies of all sizes. The pricing for small to mid-sized companies range from $49 per month to $299 per month while the enterprise-level plans range from $449 per month to $824 per month
Best For: Jumplead is a great option for companies of all sizes
Clients: AlayaCare, CollaborativeHealth, SearcherMagnet, Praecom Oy
Website: https://jumplead.com/
9. SharpSpring
SharpSpring is a sales and marketing platform that can help you improve your digital automation. From converting new leads to integrating with your other marketing platforms, SharpSpring can help take your marketing to the next level.
Track and manage your efforts from one central location. With all the data you need to make informed decisions, you can continue to develop successful and engaging digital campaigns.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automate and manage email marketing, landing pages, forms, and more
- Build your blog and share content to increase SEO and cross-channel content marketing opportunities
- Reporting and analytics to help you identify exactly what’s working and what’s not
- Track customer behaviors and turn that data into actionable insights to increase conversions
Pricing: There are three plan options available based on the number of contacts and two built for specific customer types. The plan options are $550 per month, $850 per month, and $1,250 per month. They also have customized plans available for large enterprise companies and marketing agencies.
Best For: Companies of all sizes
Clients: Incrento, Vareo, funnelbud, Brytons
Website: https://sharpspring.com/
10. Omnisend
Omnisend is a digital marketing automation platform that is designed for eCommerce companies. From automating your email marketing to reaching new audiences and nurturing new leads, Omnisend can help you achieve your goals.
Set triggers that enroll users into an automated workflow and sit back and watch the tool do the work for you. You’ll save time and reach customers at the right moment — which results in higher conversions.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automate and manage your email marketing, SMS, and more
- Easily build automated workflows with a simple drag and drop editor and move customers through a designated journey
- Collect, analyze, and take action on your customer data to improve the user experience
- Reach new audiences and turn them into leads with signup boxes, landing pages, and more
Pricing: There are four plan options available, the Free plan, the Standard plan is $16 per month, the Pro plan is $99 per month, and the Enterprise plan is custom based on business needs.
Best For: Companies of all different sizes
Clients: Samsung, Hallmark, Duke Cannon, Unilever
Website: https://www.omnisend.com/
11. Wishpond
Wishpond is a marketing automation platform designed to help you achieve all of your digital marketing goals. With a powerful email marketing tool, sales integration, and automation workflows — you can put your strategy into action.
Know when and where your customers are converting on your website. By understanding how people are engaging with your content, you’ll gain valuable insights for future campaigns.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automate your emails based on customer interactions and stay ahead of their needs
- Use customer data to improve personalization and send the most relevant content to your audiences
- Get notifications when a lead becomes qualified and should be sent to the sales team
- Capture more leads with website popups, customized landing pages, and more
Pricing: Pricing is custom based on business needs
Best For: Companies of all sizes
Clients: Walmart, Yelp, Deviate Labs LLC, GoEco
Website: https://www.wishpond.com/
12. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform that allows you to manage all of your digital needs in one place. From developing SMS messages and emails to split testing and lead scoring — it can all be done with this tool.
Make the most out of your automation workflows. With the help of ActiveCampaign, you can easily create and visualize your automation efforts.
Digital Marketing Capabilities:
- Automate your digital marketing tactics and set goals for your automation efforts
- Track customer interaction on your site and with your campaigns to better understand their needs
- Predict what content your customers will be looking for in the near future and provide it to them before they know they need it
- Convert new leads, then score and reach out to the most qualified to directly impact sales
Pricing: There are four plan options, including the Lite plan starting at $9 per month, the Plus plan starting at $49 per month, the Professional plan starting at $129 per month, and the Enterprise plan starting at $229 per month
Best For: Small and mid-sized companies that are in the digital business, B2B, or Ecommerce industry
Clients: Museum of Science and Industry, Hipcooks, Heather Read, The Produce Mom
Website: https://www.activecampaign.com/
Find the Right Digital Marketing Automation Tool For Your Needs
Digital marketing won’t be going away anytime soon. That means that if you’re not already spending a large majority of your time investing in your digital presence, now’s the time to get started.
However, you decided to get started. You’ll need to take time to develop your strategy. When developing your strategy, don’t forget to set measurable and realistic goals, get to know your customers, and audit your current content to identify areas of opportunity.
Once you’ve got the strategy down, then you’re ready to start looking into what tool you’re going to use to accomplish your goals. While there are plenty of different options out there, you’ll want to consider your wants, needs, and goals then make the decision based on what is best for your company.
After reading this article, you should now be equipped to develop your digital marketing strategy and have a list of tools to get started. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start making waves in the world of digital marketing automation!
