Index IntroductionHow Marketing Automation WorksCharacteristics of Marketing AutomationFuture Developments in Marketing AutomationLegal Concerns About Marketing AutomationReferencesIntroductionTechnology continues to change the way businesses are conducted all over the world. By leveraging various technology systems, companies can increase efficiency through streamlined operations, improve compliance with automated quality control systems, or leverage communication systems to find new ways to collaborate and launch new innovations. New best practices arise and archaic systems are replaced with more agile and proactive ones. The marketing industry is no different. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In recent years, with the massive shift to digital communication and access to artificial intelligence and big data, technology has changed the way companies approach marketing and the way consumers respond . Marketing strategies have shifted from massive paper mailings with general messaging to much more electronic methods such as personalized emails, personalized website landing pages, mobile advertising, and targeted social media messages (O'Brien, n.d.). In today's global economy, where companies around the world are competing for consumers' daily attention, having a solid marketing strategy that speaks to them in their language is critical to success. Enter marketing automation software. Marketing automation software programs are data-driven solutions designed to increase the operational efficiency of your campaigns by streamlining, automating and tracking your marketing activities. It's the missing link between a content management system (CMS), which personalizes browsing data, and an association's customer relationship management (CRM) system, which creates personalization based on member data stored. By leveraging marketing automation software, businesses can organize the data they already have about a specific customer or prospect and use that data to automatically send a targeted message that will resonate with that individual, at the most appropriate time, resulting in a very more profitable. (Nutley and Gregoriadis, 2019). According to Forrester Marketing Automation Technology Forecast, spending on marketing automation software and tools could reach $25.1 billion annually by 2023, and 67% of market leaders are already using the technology to achieve their marketing goals. marketing. Businesses of all sizes can leverage marketing automation to get more leads, improve customer engagement, and increase sales revenue by bringing together all digital marketing workflows and channels, including email, website content , social media, text messaging, and online advertising, in one centrally managed place (Alexander, n.d.). This marketing automation concept of personalized messaging is especially relevant for trade associations. Often established as a nonprofit organization, a trade association typically relies on dues paid by members to fund its day-to-day business operations, which include defending its members' interests as well as promoting and helping to develop opportunity for growth within that business segment. Therefore, most trade association marketing efforts focus on member recruitment, retention andon event recording. Therefore, ensuring that actionable messages reach the appropriate person is critical to ensuring the viability of the organization. If members do not believe they are receiving value for their membership fees, they will most likely discontinue their membership. Likewise, if a member receives communications that they believe are useful, relevant and will help grow their business, they will continue to be an engaged member, opening emails, signing up for training and purchasing resources. According to the State of Higher Logic's 2018 Marketing Automation Association, these findings have been a driving force for associations as they evaluate whether to adopt and implement marketing automation platforms (Wathen, 2018). How Marketing Automation Works Marketing automation software can be a single program or suite of tools that work in tandem with other technology systems (via an application programming interface or API) to allow businesses to create a automated marketing campaign based on consumer behavior, such as clicking a link in an email or visiting a web page. By using the software together with data stored about the user, companies can create and send the "right" message at the "right" time to your target, increasing engagement, increasing leads and, ultimately, sales. Think Amazon. After searching for a product on Amazon, a consumer may begin to see advertisements for that product on other websites they visit or on their social media homepage. They may receive an email reminding them that they didn't complete their purchase or a notification that the original price of the product has decreased, prompting them to purchase the item immediately. You can make product recommendations based on the purchasing patterns of consumers of a similar demographic to increase sales opportunities. There are many different types of marketing automation solutions with different price points within the market, from basic tools to elaborate systems based on and integrated with other technology systems. For example, some programs simply categorize information such as contact lists while other more robust systems allow organizations to automate all marketing-related activities, conduct A/B campaign testing to compare which messages resulted in a better conversion rate, and create personalized branding and landing. pages. Trade associations can also choose, depending on the supplier, how to install the software. The most affordable plans are hosted in the cloud and typically offer free basic plans, which is a great place for a marketer to try out the services. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketing automation systems are hosted on the vendor's server; therefore the association is not responsible for the installation of any updates or maintenance. Systems hosted on the association's on-premise service, known as an on-premise marketing automation system, are the most expensive due to the complex setup process, hardware installation, and updates required. Marketing Automation Features Marketing automation software features vary by platform and software vendor. To ensure that an association has the right tools to facilitate its marketing objectives, it is best to research and ask for proposals from multiple service providers. Below are some of the most common features of marketing automation software (Grover, 2019). Email Marketing: Compile lists from multiple sources to send targeted messages. Online marketing: produce, analyze andoptimize personalized marketing campaigns across multiple channels. Lead Scoring – Identify marketing pain points and craft messages to automatically generate and nurture leads. Social Marketing – Generate ROI with specialized social media outreach. A/B Testing – Segment, compare and analyze alternative marketing strategies. Analytics and reporting – Set metrics and key performance indicators to prioritize tasks, resources and create marketing campaigns. API Technology: Easily integrate with existing infrastructure by leveraging API technology. Future Development in Marketing Automation Technological advances are constantly emerging, expanding companies' marketing reach every day. Citing The State of Salesforce report, Strorozhkova (2018) indicates that artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics will propel marketing automation programs into the future. Insights from the report explained by Strorozhkova (2018) indicate that 33% of marketing organizations are increasing their investments in AI within the next 12 months and 43% of B2B companies will invest in predictive analytics. The use of artificial intelligence will allow associations to achieve an even higher level of personalization than ever before, not only by indicating which messages to send, at the most appropriate time and communication channel. Using machine learning, predictive analytics will allow associations to improve their lead scoring efforts, segment them based on top-performing marketing challenges, and further adapt marketing strategies by tracking how members react to every action they take. they engage with your communications, whether email, website, chat or social media (Strorozhkova, 2018). By adding artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to marketing automation, associations will be able to expand beyond sending targeted messages to large data sets and truly focus on creating insightful content at a level that has never been possible, such as the IP address of a website. visitor. Marketing automation is definitely here to stay, but it will adapt, becoming increasingly intelligent, targeted and personalized. By integrating other systems into marketing automation platforms through bridges and APIs, associations will also be able to improve their targeted outreach even beyond the leads in their contacts. system to individuals or companies with whom they do not have an established relationship before they even visit their site. For example, by using account based marketing (ABM) platforms, associations will be able to direct individuals or businesses to personalized content and a landing page that is more likely to engage them (Dickey, 2018). Additionally, by integrating additional social media automation platforms that use artificial intelligence, associations can create filters that will automatically search for leads and instruct the software to follow, like, comment, and unfollow accounts to help grow their social network organically. This could prove especially fruitful when you consider that a study on social purchasing conducted by International Data Corporation (2014), indicated that 84% of executive-level business professionals use social media to support their purchasing decisions. AI-enhanced marketing automation software can therefore help associations improve their reach by spreading their most valuable content to the most appropriate audiences. Marketing Automation Legal IssuesIt goes without saying that data is the lifeblood of any organization and itsmarketing automation platform because without data, how Does an association marketer know who to contact, with what message and when? Leveraging various technologies, the company can now track and store our habits, interests, demographics, locations, relationships and more to personalize its outreach efforts. However, as concerns around data privacy and security continue to be a hot button issue for consumers, regulators and businesses, it is imperative that associations keep a finger on the pulse of the latest privacy developments and implement internal controls to meet their obligations regulatory. regarding the tracking, storage and use of your data. There are numerous laws and regulations, such as anti-spam and data capture laws, that establish minimum requirements for sending marketing materials to contacts and storing personal information. As a sender of marketing materials, it is imperative that associations ensure their marketing automation software and service providers adhere to their respective regulatory requirements to avoid costly fines or embarrassing public relations problems. The tricky part is knowing which regulations apply to whom in your system; therefore, some associations take a more conservative approach to addressing tighter data acquisition and retention restrictions. Depending on your association's reach, major regulations you may face include the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the United States' Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act 2013 ( CAN-SPAM) and the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), also known as the Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act. Each regulation has its own set of rules and minimum standards for sending marketing materials to contacts, including specific requirements of consent, opt-in and unsubscribe requirements, parameters relating to the subject, sending address and content of the email campaign, as well as such data storage guidelines. such as the ability for contacts to correct inaccurate personal data, to request deletion of their data, and to limit how their data is processed (Grim, 2018). Please note: this is just an example. Get a customized document from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The main struggle for associations right now is complying with the provisions of the GDPR. Although it has been a year since the implementation of the GDPR, the majority of organizations in 2019 have less confidence in their compliance capabilities than in 2018. According to Lauchlan (2019), only 28% of companies indicate they are GDPR compliant, a percentage that dropped dramatically from 78% confidence the year before. Given the growing focus on data security and the exorbitant fines that can be imposed under the GDPR – up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 million (whichever is greater) – associations need to have firm control about how they obtain, store and use your contact data. Luckily, by offering email solicitation and data storage capabilities, most marketing automation software companies have tools that associations can implement to help meet their compliance obligations. References Alexander, L. (n.d.). What is digital marketing? [Blog article]. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-digital-marketingDickey, M. (2018, March 13). The Future of Marketing Automation: What You Need to Know. Extracted from