Marketing automation is a great tool that can be used in all stages of the buyers' journey.  Email is still the preferred channel that marketers use to communicate with prospects and customers.  Marketing automation that is used for email campaigns works extremely well and generates great results.  However, marketing automation isn't just for email anymore.  While it's true that automated emails continue to be the backbone of marketing automation, you need not stop there.  If you're only using marketing automation for email, you're missing out on other communication channels it can be used for.  We have found an article at Act-On, written by Pam Neely, that lists 8 channels, in addition to email, with which to use marketing automation.  Pam explains how using marketing automation with each of these 8 other channels will benefit you.

Marketing Automation is scary powerful and can also be scary expensive but I have a few secrets that can help you add marketing automation but also keep the cost down.

You don’t need me to tell you that millennials have surpassed baby boomers as the largest living generation. You probably already have your eye on this coveted generation of 18-34 year-olds with $200 billion in annual buying power. With great big numbers of over 75 million according to the Pew Research from April 25, 2016, comes great opportunity; so how are we reaching them?

Data is the cornerstone of digital marketing, allowing individuals to make informed and concise decisions based on facts not intuition. As digital marketers, you can track and analyze users through clicks, opens, site visits and interactive content. Interactive content is your secret weapon to gathering data and generate leads.

Digital marketing contains many components such as SEO, social media, content creation, PPC, email, and web analytics.  Each of these components should be brought together under one overall digital strategy in order to get the best results.  The infographic below explains why you need a digital marketing strategy and tips for how to build one.