But more than a few companies are still testing the waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Small businesses in particular have been slow to adopt. This isn\u2019t too surprising since most of the hullabaloo has centered around a handful of expensive megavendors, and since small businesses tend to operate on a tight budget and have simpler needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a report by BuyerZone, only 18 percent of small companies (less than 10 employees) and only 26 percent of mid-sized companies (10-100 employees) have adopted marketing automation. Maybe that\u2019s the place you\u2019re in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You wouldn\u2019t mind trying marketing automation software, but you aren\u2019t ready to pay for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe you\u2019ve heard there are some \u201cfree\u201d options out there, but you aren\u2019t sure whether or not you can trust a free solution. Would it perform well? Would it have the capabilities you need? In situations like this, old axioms such as \u201cYou get what you pay for\u201d and \u201cNothing in life is free\u201d haunt SMBs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, there are some marketing automation tools you can access for free \u2014 that aren\u2019t totally worthless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although most vendors package their software as a unified product, marketing automation really happens through a set of interconnected tools: email, social and web analytics, landing pages, lead management, SEO . . . you get the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of these tools, in their most basic, standalone forms, are available for free. If you\u2019re especially ambitions (and tech savvy), you could try to piece together your own free MA suite. It might look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few open-source options, such as Mautic<\/a>, that offer solid functionality but may require extra \u201ctinkering \u201d and provide scant customer support. Or you can choose an established vendor with a free, lower-tier product version (such as Automizy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n With either of these options, you\u2019ll only get basic features and capabilities, and you\u2019ll have to operate under some stringent limitations (e.g. you can only manage up to X,000 contacts, or you can only send X number of emails).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Free marketing automation won\u2019t cut it for every business, but there are some times when it might be a good choice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t have to think of marketing automation as \u201cexpensive\u201d (please don\u2019t hurt me). It\u2019s a matter of perspective and timing, really. Depending on the vendor, the price tag and implementation costs might seem high, but that\u2019s because you\u2019re thinking of MA as a capital expense \u2014 the proverbial \u201cnecessary evil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In reality, if you\u2019re marketing operations are big enough and complex enough to warrant marketing automation, you should be thinking of a software platform as an operational expense, an integral part of your growth strategy. It may take some time (3-6 months, ballpark) to see a solution pay for itself, but after it does, you\u2019ll reap the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to July report by VentureBeat Insight, the large majority of marketers actually think MA software is \u201cfairly priced.\u201d So, how do you know when it\u2019s time to adopt a paid solution? Here are three indicators:<\/p>\n\n\n\n * Just because you can get marketing automation software for free doesn\u2019t mean you should . . . or that you\u2019ll enjoy it, or that it will make any measurable contribution to your marketing goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then again, not every business needs to go out and spend thousands of dollars on a top-of-the-line product suite. There are plenty of vendors that offer on-demand solutions for less than $100 per month, depending on the number of users and contacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Define your goals, decide what tools will help you accomplish those goals, and find a solution that offers the most bang for your buck \u2014 even if that\u2019s a really small buck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Marketing automation software has been steadily climbing in popularity over the past decade. That\u2019s because it works. Maybe you\u2019ve heard there are some \u201cfree\u201d options out there, does the axiom “you get what you pay for” also apply to Marketing Automation?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":11200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[232],"dealstore":[],"coauthors":[650],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11095"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dealstore?post=11095"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Separate findings by Raab Associates indicate<\/a> that adoption is also slow for companies with low revenue \u2014 with less than three percent market penetration for companies with less than $5 million in revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Options for Free Use<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Option 1: Try to piece together your own set of tools.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Option 2: Find a marketing automation vendor that offers a free version of their product.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>When to Go With a Free Solution<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>When to Go with a Professional Solution<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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