When it comes to marketing, a little creativity goes a long way and innovation can often save the day.

Having said that, automation can really help to streamline your strategies and, in this article, we’re looking at some marketing automation trends for 2024 and exploring the emerging technologies and best practices.

What Is Marketing Automation?

This term refers to the use of technology which can take on simple repetitive tasks within your marketing strategy – leaving you and your team free to focus on the more creative endeavors. As marketing automation technology becomes more and more sophisticated, these tools have become essential for the forward-thinking marketer. 

Marketing Automation Trends For 2024

No matter what kind of business you’re running, there are a few trends that will work for you in 2024 and we’re looking at some of these in this section: 

1. Personalisation

If there’s one marketing trend that’ll never get old it’s that of personalisation. When you tailor your marketing to your customer’s likes, wants and lifestyle, you will always stand a much better chance of success. 

The use of AI driven automation tools can help you to quickly and effortlessly identify customer preferences including: 

• Behavior patterns
• Purchase histories
• Online interactions

Armed with this information, you can then instruct your marketing automation tools to adjust your messaging accordingly. 

Personalised marketing makes customers feel valued and seen – which helps them to automatically form a connection with your brand. 

2. Omnichannel marketing

If you want to reach your potential customers, you need to go where they hang out. In 2024, more people than ever tend to hop from channel to channel when online and so your best chance is to be everywhere they go. 

Of course, trying to do this manually is a tiresome and time-consuming task, however, marketing automation software can make light work of this for you – quickly and easily formatting and publishing your messaging across a wide range of channels; and potential customers. 

3. Customer retention

When we think about marketing we tend to focus on grabbing new customers but, as important as that is, keeping the ones you have is even more essential. 

Marketing automation can help here by focusing on customer retention and customer satisfaction through: 

• Automated loyalty schemes
• Super-personalised communication 
• Targeted offers

While it’s vital to keep working to acquire new customers, this is all for nothing if, once you have them, they don’t stick around. For instance, using scheduling software for hospitality can help ensure a seamless experience for guests, encouraging them to return.

Emerging Technologies And Best Practices

Now that we’ve explained some of the benefits of marketing automation, you’ll no doubt want to know what’s out there so, in this section, we’re looking at some of the brand new – and the tried and tested – technologies out there: 

1. Hubspot

Founded in Massachusetts in 2006, Hubspot is a world leader when it comes to CRM and marketing software. Some of Hubspot’s fabulous features include: 

• Automatic collection of social media data
• Form builders
• Lead pipeline creator
• Integrated email marketing

You can get your hands on Hubspot from $702 per month. 

2. Pipedrive

Focusing on email marketing trends, Pipedrive has been around since 2010 and was founded by Estonians Timo Rein, Urmas Purde, Ragnar Sass, Martin Henk and Martin Tajur. 

With a powerful CRM and some great email marketing features, Pipedrive costs from just £14 per month. 

3. Zoho CRM

Created specifically for SMBs, Zoho is a California software veteran which was first founded in 1996. 

Its tools have, of course, been significantly updated since that time and its offering, which starts at 14 Euros per month, includes extensive automation features and almost 100% customizability. 

Marketing Automation Best Practices

When using marketing automation, you’ll want to make it work for you and you can do this by putting in place a few simple rules: 

1. Customer journey map 

Creating a customer journey map is essential in order to understand the customer and to therefore improve customer satisfaction and opportunities for engagement. 

2. Buyer personas

Customer journey maps go hand in hand with buyer personas – and this involves creating a profile of your typical customer to help you to dig deep into what makes them tick and how you can capitalize on that through your marketing.

3. Content

Combine your automation with great quality, engaging content (written by actual humans, of course) in order to find the sweet spot between tech and human. Whether you are planning a networking event or a product launch, automation tools can help you manage the logistics and communication more effectively.

Embracing The Tech

Getting onboard with marketing automation can be daunting at first – but you won’t regret it. You’ll soon realise that you have so much more free time and headspace to concentrate on what you do best – running your company and coming up with engaging and innovative marketing campaigns.