January 28, 2022

Common Marketing Automation Myths You Shouldn't Believe

There are many myths surrounding marketing automation, but you shouldn’t believe all of them. Here are 9 common marketing automation myths debunked!

Michael Dehoyos

Reading time: 6 minutes

Marketing automation has made the work of marketers a lot simpler and more streamlined in recent times.

Because of this, many companies are now taking advantage of automation techniques in their own campaigns. However, there are a lot of myths swirling about, and it can be enough to put some people off.

Here are some of the most common marketing automation myths, and why you shouldn’t believe them.

Common marketing automation myths

Myth 1: You can only use marketing automation software for email

There are many businesses that only take advantage of marketing automation when it comes to their email campaigns. Using software to automate your email drip campaigns does definitely help automate time-consuming tasks and speed up processes, but it can feel rather limited in what it can do for your business.

As such, it’s very easy for business owners to write it off.

However, don’t be swayed by what other businesses are doing.

Marketing automation has many more uses beyond email. It can be used for calls, landing pages, social media, sign-up forms, and so much more. Implementing these software aren’t difficult or expensive either, so even if you’re a small business, you’ll be able to take advantage of them.

Myth 2: Marketing automation is too impersonal

The best marketing campaigns are those that focus on the customer — personalizing the experience and giving them something that they want.

“Many people are put off from using marketing automation as it feels too impersonal,” says Barry Dean, a marketing manager writer at Origin Writings and PHD Kingdom. “The truth is, it’s only impersonal if you’re not using it properly.”

And what is meant by ‘not using it properly’, you may ask? Well, think of it this way: if you don’t properly segment your customers into groups that fit their stage of the sales cycle, you’re not going to have a clear messaging for each individual customer.

And when you go ahead and use marketing automation without having segmented your customers, it’s not going to work effectively because you’ve already got the previous step wrong.

See where we’re going?

Your marketing automation software only comes in to help you automate your tasks, provide granular data, and essentially make life much easier for you and your team. You’ve got to have the right steps before that, to have marketing automation work for you.

Myth 3: Marketing automation means you can 'set and forget'

Many marketing automation software out there brand themselves as a software that helps you ‘set and forget’. What this means is that you can simply flip a switch, let the software run by itself, and forget that it even exists.

Well… In theory, you can do that.

But you’re just not going to get the best benefit from it. The most successful campaigns out there are ones that have been painstakingly planned and once it’s set up, are monitored closely by the marketing team.

You’d want to pay close attention to the data and feedback you get. This can be extremely useful to make tweaks to optimize your future campaigns.

It’s very easy to think of marketing automation software as something that will do all the work for you, but that isn’t the case. Instead, they’re more of a guide to help you make good decisions for your marketing campaign.

Myth 4: Marketing automation is too expensive for small businesses

Small businesses may find marketing automation platforms too expensive and be deterred from using any software to support their marketing efforts.

Overly expensive marketing automation software were more common in the advent of marketing automation. But that’s a thing of the past. With the booming industry and introduction of marketing automation companies left and right, it’s only natural that prices will drop to meet the demands of customers while still remaining competitive.

“You’ll find that there are marketing automation platforms to suit all budgets now,” says business writer Adrienne Jones, from Brit Student and Next Coursework. “Because of this, you can take advantage of the software, no matter how large or small your business is.”

In fact, there are several platforms that are designed for small businesses. These software usually are more affordable while still giving you plenty of features that cater to your business scale.

Myth 5: You need a lot of expertise to use marketing automation

Back when marketing automation first came out (in the year 2003), many platforms seemed overly complex and simply impossible to understand – unless, of course, you had the expertise to use the software.

Because of this, businesses would hire people with the know-how in order to run it, making it an expensive venture.

But fast forward to present times, software companies have made improvements over time and user-friendliness is one of the major differing factors. It has improved so much that a user-friendly and intuitive software can make or break a business.

Many software have drag-and-drop builders, ready-made templates, and clear tabs or fields so you know where everything is supposed to go. You don’t even need to know HTML or other programming languages to use it.

Marketing automation has never been easier than in the 21st century.

Myth 6: Marketing automation and CRM software are the same

It’s easy to get confused between the two because both software technically help to automate and manage some processes.

But let’s take a closer look at them.

CRM software refers to tools that help manage the relationship between a company and its customers. This helps to develop lasting relationships with their customers with the goals of fostering business growth, improving customer loyalty, and improving profitability.

💡 For a more in-depth explanation of CRM, check out our article: What is CRM?

On the other hand, marketing automation software refers to managing strategies that help a business find customers, generate leads, and nurture them.

So in other words, marketing automation comes first, because you need to bring the customers to your business, followed by CRM software that help you bring value to your existing customers.

As such, marketing automation software is best designed for the top and middle of the marketing funnel, when you’re trying to bring that lead in and get them to convert. Once they have converted, that’s when the CRM software will come into play.

Myth 7: Marketing automation only benefits the marketing team

Even though it’s called marketing automation, it doesn’t only benefit the marketing team. In fact, it benefits sales teams as well.

Not only does marketing automation fill your funnel with qualified leads, but it also helps you understand them better by providing relevant and personalized experiences.

Now when you have a bunch of qualified leads in the sales funnel, this makes the marketing-to-sales handoff easier and coherent. Your sales team doesn’t need to spend all day trying to sell your product or service to leads who aren’t even interested.

And tying in with the previous point, when you bring your leads over to your CRM software, this offers sales visibility into a lead’s journey with your business. This makes it easy for the sales team to pick up from where the marketing left off. Once again, coherence.

Myth 8: Marketing automation will solve all your marketing problems

Many businesses think that marketing automation is the solution to all their marketing problems. As much as marketing automation software help alleviate some burden and your reps’ workloads, it won’t work if you don’t put in the effort on your part.

Like all software, you will need to spend some time familiarizing with it to see what it can or cannot do for your business. Even though most software are very intuitive now, you’ll still have to poke around.

When you make that time investment though, you’ll be able to get so much more out of it.

Marketing automation can certainly make your marketing better, but it’s not going to fix every problem you have right out of the gate. It will take time and effort, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Myth 9: Marketing automation makes a business lazy

This myth might seem absurd, but it’s a misconception that many businesses believe.

However, we’re here to debunk this and say that using marketing automation software doesn’t make your team lazy. In fact, we’d argue that it’s more practical.

In fact, statistics show that sales productivity increased by 14.5%, and 77% of business owners had an increase in conversions after using marketing automation software. That’s because in the amount of time you’d take to manually complete your tasks, your competitor could have finished all of that and more.

Furthermore, as we mentioned earlier, marketing automation still requires time and effort in the planning and executing of a good marketing strategy. You’re simply using automation software to speed up tasks, so you can focus on the more important things on hand.

Conclusion

There are plenty of myths floating around regarding marketing automation, but don’t believe everything you hear. While some might be true, the ones we listed are certainly things you don’t want to believe.

Now that you’re aware of these common misconceptions regarding marketing automation, it’s time to fully invest in a marketing software to up your marketing game and propel your business towards success.

Michael Dehoyos

Michael is a marketing writer and editor for Academic Brits. He works with companies to create new marketing strategies, in order to help them broaden their customer bases.

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