{"id":45541,"date":"2021-03-29T12:21:22","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T05:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/act.com\/email-marketing-vs-marketing-automation-are-they-the-same\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T10:50:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:50:04","slug":"email-marketing-vs-marketing-automation-are-they-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/products.act.com\/en-gb\/email-marketing-vs-marketing-automation-are-they-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Marketing vs Marketing Automation: Are they the same?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\r\n
\"\"<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A common misconception among business owners is the variances between email marketing and marketing automation. For example, small business owners who are working to grow their business understand the benefits of building a customer and lead database to send emails to. But, many don\u2019t realize that they can save themselves valuable time by automating communications, promotional efforts, and sales tasks with marketing automation. The fact is, that email marketing and marketing automation can overlap but are also two very different concepts. Furthermore, business owners have to take definite steps if they want to automate their marketing efforts, one likely task being to upgrade to a marketing automation software, or to even simply educate themselves on the concepts. So, let\u2019s explore email marketing and marketing automation and how they can work together to benefit your business.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Email Marketing and Marketing Automation<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Email marketing refers to any actions taken to generate leads or sell products and services via email. This involves building an email list or database of current customers, potential leads, subscribers, and any other contacts you wish to receive your business\u2019 communications. If you\u2019re looking to get people to sign up for your list, you need to set up an opt-in page with a form where prospects provide you with their email in exchange for something of value such as a free gift, a mini-course, or perhaps valuable information in the form of a white paper or e-book.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Those individuals just starting out with email marketing, especially when they handle campaigns themselves (as opposed to outsourcing it to an agency) often perform many tasks manually. For example, minimal email tools offered by Gmail and other providers give you the ability to implement\u00a0extremely limited<\/em>\u00a0\u201cautomation\u201d. Such as, you can email multiple recipients using CC or BCC rather than typing out a separate email to each recipient. Although, this is a rather dated approach and doesn\u2019t give you the ability to track your results. Today\u2019s email marketing automation tools go far beyond such basic abilities. Like, tracking insights into subscriber opt-ins and open rates. Important metrics like these enable you to know what\u2019s working so you can focus your efforts and improve your results over time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

List-building is a good example of a powerful technique that requires a higher amount of automation. Meaning you won\u2019t have to send out e-books or newsletters manually. You can efficiently trigger these mailings whenever someone fills out a form on your website, or takes another specific action that you define.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Marketing Automation<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Automation applies to any software or system, not only related to email, that lets you perform tasks more efficiently. You can automate marketing tasks by using various types of software, such as a\u00a0CRM<\/a>\u00a0(Customer Relationship Management) and AI (Artificial Intelligence). Some examples how marketing automation can help you work effectively are:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n