Why Can Marketing Automation Software Be a Game Changer?
Travel blogging is a complex job and, sometimes, it can be overwhelming to manage the entire workload yourself. But it doesn’t have to be this way. With the best marketing automation software you can take routine tasks off your shoulders and free up your time for creative and strategic work. These tools allow webmasters to automate and personalize various marketing functions, such as email campaigns, advertising, social media marketing, audience analysis, A/B testing, and so on.
Such automations can result in higher conversion rates, stronger lead generation, and better customer experience. Besides, the best marketing automation software is compatible with most popular CRM platforms and social networks so you can easily set up the integration. Finally, with so many tools available, automation becomes affordable for businesses of any size.
How to Choose the Best Marketing Automation Software
To grow and scale your travel blog, it is important to invest in the right marketing automation software that will help you focus on your main objectives. Here are several aspects you should take into account when choosing your automation tool.
Main Features
First and foremost, identify the tasks you want to automate, whether it’s lead generation, advertising, email marketing automation, etc. You don’t want to overpay for features that will be useless in the near future. Next, look for a tool that will have the corresponding functionality and will take that burden off your shoulders.
With that said, some features are equally important for blog growth, regardless of your current campaign objectives, and are worth investing in. Make sure your tool can fulfill the following tasks:
● Provide email marketing support
● Automate social media marketing
● Create a workflow and sales funnel
● Deliver analytics reports
Analytics
To improve your strategy, it is important to regularly check performance. Your software should provide you with those insights so that you can improve the campaign along the way. Your popular tools have built-in analytics, but offer various features, so make sure to check.
Easy Integration
The ability to integrate your blogging platform and marketing automation software will facilitate your work, so it should be one of the main factors influencing your choice. Thus, you won’t have to spend hours learning how to connect tools manually and can focus your attention on more creative tasks. Furthermore, blogging and marketing go hand in hand, so you will likely need to add other solutions in the future. This is why it is best to select a tool that makes all integrations easy.
Intuitive Dashboard
The easier the program is to use, the more likely you will be to take advantage of its maximum functionality. Make sure to check customer reviews to understand whether or not the tool is user friendly.
Price
Pricing can vary widely depending on the program and plan. Many tools offer various plans to cater to a wide audience and charge per number of contacts or emails sent. You should also look out for hidden fees. For example, make sure to check whether or not the platform offers monthly or yearly subscriptions. In addition, some programs might provide lower prices in the first few months and increase costs later on.
Your Business Size
While some marketing automation software provides solutions for different kinds of businesses, other tools are designed for companies of particular sizes (for example, mostly small enterprises). It is important to choose a tool that will offer a good relation between price and quality while allowing you to scale your business in the future.
API Access
Marketing automation software with API access will allow you to integrate additional programs in the future, even if they are not included by default. This can be important for the purpose of scalability, as well as when you have coding skills and can set up the necessary integrations yourself without overpaying.
Customer Support
As smooth as a tool can operate, there might be complications when you will need professional support. For this reason, it is important that the software you are buying provides rapid support. Make sure you speak the same language and your time zones coincide. In addition, check what channels are available for contact (email, telephone, chat, etc.) and if it is convenient for you.
Customer Testimonials
Checking user reviews can also be very useful. Nobody will present the tool’s benefits and gaps better than actual customers who paid for it. While companies tend to leave mostly positive reviews on their websites, it makes sense to look for more honest feedback on third-party review platforms.
Training
The more complicated the program, the more likely you will need some training to leverage its maximum functionality. It can help you save time and discover not-so-obvious yet useful features. Besides, if you don’t have much experience with marketing automation, onboarding could make the process less overwhelming so you can focus on your priorities.
10 Examples of Marketing / Content-Automation Tools
Once you have defined the most important features for your marketing automation, it is time to choose a tool. Below, you will find examples of all kinds of marketing automation software options and comparisons of their features to help you choose the best solution for your business.
Hubspot
HubSpot is one of the most popular and comprehensive marketing solutions. It offers a wide range of features as well as versatile integration opportunities. Here are some of its key features:
● Streamline your marketing activities across various channels and make them more efficient.
● Nurture your leads in a timely manner and help them move down the conversion funnel to become customers.
● Create triggers to send the right email to the right customer at the right time. No coding skills are required.
● Set up targeted workflows using the visual editor in real time.
● With the advanced segmentation feature, you can be sure each subscriber is enrolled in the right workflow and receives personalized emails.
● Discover insights to make your marketing efforts more efficient and boost sales.
On the bright side, you can delegate all your marketing, sales, and support tasks to HubSpot and manage them in one location. This approach can provide numerous automation opportunities in contrast to using separate tools. Another advantage is the intuitive dashboard on which you can create both simple and advanced workflows. If you are new to marketing automation, check out HubSpot Academy for detailed instructions.
Pricing starts from €30 per month (when paid annually). This plan includes 1,000 marketing contacts and two paid users.
Japser.ai
Jasper.ai is an innovative AI-powered content-creation platform designed to revolutionize the way travel bloggers and content creators generate captivating content. By harnessing the power of advanced natural language processing and machine-learning algorithms, Jasper AI automates the laborious process of content creation, empowering you to effortlessly produce high-quality, engaging content.
By effortlessly leveraging the power of AI, Jasper.ai also allows you to create an ideal picture that perfectly aligns with your message. No more wasting time searching for stock photos or struggling with complex Photoshop editing. With Jasper, simply express your vision and, within seconds, watch as the platform generates stunning and unique AI art.
The platform’s flexible pricing options, starting at just $39 a month, make it accessible to bloggers at all levels.
To learn how you can use Jasper.ai and other AI content tools to write engaging and SEO-friendly blog posts, watch this webinar with Nina Clapperton, a six-figure-earning travel blogger and the founder of She Knows SEO.
SendPulse
SendPulse started out as an email marketing tool and has grown into a comprehensive marketing automation software. With SendPulse, you can manage all marketing and sales activities on a single dashboard and make every customer feel special with personalized email marketing, chatbots, notifications, etc.
SendPulse will send new contacts to your CRM platform, as well as help organize leads you already have. You can integrate your CRM tool with SendPulse and manage all contacts from one easy-to-use dashboard. All user interaction history is carefully kept on the platform so you can access it anytime and drive valuable insights. If your business is managed by several users, you can bring your entire team under one roof, easily delegate tasks, and track performance.
The program offers a visual chatbot editor to build chatbots for social media and messengers. ChatGPT integration allows you to leverage AI and make your chatbots even smarter. In addition, you can create professional online courses and sell them to your audience. The tool also allows you to run tests, add tasks, and give out certificates.
SendPulse offers a free plan to manage up to 500 subscribers. Paid plans start from €5.60 per month (when paid annually).
Moosend
Moosend is an email marketing automation tool that may come in handy for brands in various niches. This tool allows marketers to create beautiful emails and landing pages via a drag-and-drop editor. With the help of this tool, you can avoid doing repetitive tasks yourself, while automating most of your marketing processes. Just start with automation templates and customize them with a visual workflow builder. You can personalize a newsletter for every subscriber with list segmentation features and set over 100 triggers.
Moosend offers A/B testing for email subject lines and content to help grow conversion rates. You can also take advantage of the data-collection feature, receive detailed reports, and optimize your campaign along the way. Built-in analytics allows you to track website activity and user action for more efficient performance.
You can start with a 30-day free trial to test out the platform. Paid plans start from $9 per month.
Brevo
Brevo, formerly SendinBlue, is a digital marketing tool that provides automation for startups, agencies, enterprises, and ecommerce websites. With Brevo, you can run smart marketing campaigns via email, SMS, WhatsApp, and more. Personalized chat features increase lead scoring in live chats on Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.
Brevo’s API ensures 99% email deliverability. The drag-and-drop editor allows you to create beautiful emails tailored to your audience. A number of free templates can help you draw up an email even faster if you don’t want to start from scratch.
You can start with a free version of the service that offers up to 300 emails per day, custom email templates, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns, and more. Paid plans start from €19 per month. In contrast to other tools, Brevo offers plans based on the email sending quantity, not the amount of contacts in your customer base.
Keap
Keap is a sales and marketing automation software with over 20 years of market expertise. It is mostly popular with individual entrepreneurs and small businesses, although there are some solutions for larger companies as well.
With Keap, marketers can capture more leads and turn them into loyal customers with little effort. Personalized automations allow you to cater to each subscriber individually and boost conversions. The platform will gather and keep all client information in one place so you can access it anytime. The automation feature allows you to delegate repetitive marketing tasks to Keap while you focus on strategic planning. With Keap Business Line, you can receive business calls and messages right on your smartphone, without interrupting your personal conversations.
Keap features several premium plans starting from $149 per month. You can start by signing up for a free trial.
GetResponse
GetResponse is an affordable and easy-to-use marketing automation platform. With this service, you can automate your email marketing, grow your subscriber lists, and personalize your communication. In addition, ecommerce businesses can also benefit from numerous marketing features.
GetResponse offers a wide range of tools, such as a website and landing page builder, autoresponders, SMS marketing, push notifications, live chats, a conversion funnel, ecommerce integrations, popups and forms, and even an AI generator. According to reviews, GetResponse is great for email marketing but not so efficient when it comes to complex workflows.
The free plan allows you to add up to 500 contacts and send 2,500 newsletters per month. It also includes a website builder. The premium subscription starts from €13.12 per month and includes an AI email generator.
Ortto
Ortto is another comprehensive marketing solution for customer data management, email marketing automation, and performance tracking. Ortto is known for its beautiful visual builder that allows you to easily set up and manage your campaigns.
With the CDR, you can gather and segment customer data and uncover more insights. From there, you can personalize messages and even journeys for higher conversions. With the visual customer journey builder, marketers can design multi-channel journeys and build workflows to automate repetitive actions. Delay controls allow you to send out messages at the right time. You can start with one of the templates and customize it according to your campaign.
Built-in analytics will provide insights into the customer lifecycle to help you find more opportunities and optimize existing ones. You can build reports with 10 visualization options and break down data more efficiently. Discovering trends in user behavior and comparing those trends to previous periods will help you optimize your performance.
Ortto is not the cheapest tool (with its pricing plan starting at $99 per month). A 14-day free trial allows users to test the platform before choosing a subscription type.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation tool that allows marketers to build and nurture close relationships with their clients.
With website tracking and beautiful subscription forms, you can capture as many prospects as possible and stay in touch thanks via the platform’s email marketing automation and segmentation features. Dynamic content allows you to display the most relevant offers for each subscriber and provide tailored guidance. In addition, you can build beautiful landing pages and set up pipeline automation. Split testing helps you try out various content types in order to find the best option.
Sales automation features allow you to keep all customer data in a single interface and create different funnels to convert every customer most efficiently. Lead magnets and forms allow you to capture the right prospects.
In addition, ActiveCampaign is available as an extension for both Google Chrome and Outlook.
Pricing starts from $49 per month (when paid annually). You will be able to access email marketing and marketing automation features, the landing page builder, API, and more.
Zapier
Zapier is a comprehensive marketing software that provides automation for processes up to 100 steps long. A distinctive feature of this tool is that you can connect over 5,000 marketing and sales apps in one dashboard and seamlessly import your data from the apps you used previously into Zapier. Zapier users save about 10 hours per week thanks to the platform’s outstanding automation.
The platform provides automation for lead management, customer communications, internal processes, and data management. With Zapier, you can automatically add leads to your CRM platform and move them through the sales funnel. Follow up on new leads right away to increase your sales and customize your lead funnels.
With a free plan, you can set up one trigger and one action for your workflow. Premium subscriptions start from €18.95 per month.
Buffer
Buffer helps marketers grow their audience on various social media platforms via a single interface. The platform allows you to identify the best publishing time for your social pages so that your content stands out from the competition. Buffer will also share relevant hashtags to help you grow your target audience. In addition to automated publishing, Buffer provides top-notch reporting so you can optimize your campaigns in no time.
The platform is also suitable for teamwork. You can set up different permission levels and delegate tasks to your team members.
Conclusion
Investing into marketing automation software can be the right step if your business is growing and you need to manage an increasing number of tasks. If you delegate repetitive tasks to an automation tool, you will have more time to focus on important creative and strategic decisions. Choose the platform according to your business needs, but don’t forget to think ahead and consider how big you can scale your brand in the near feature and which platform can best accommodate your needs.
Finally, don’t forget to take advantage of the growing inflow of leads and monetize your travel traffic with affiliate marketing. With Travelpayouts, you can join over 100 travel brands across various verticals and get access to numerous affiliate tools. It is free to join, so why not try affiliate marketing today?
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