BCO6604 Customer Relationship Management: Marketing Automation Trends

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of marketing automation within the context of customer relationship management (CRM). It begins by defining marketing automation and highlighting its benefits, such as increased marketing efficiency, productivity, enhanced responsiveness, and improved marketing insights. The essay discusses the attributes contributing to effective digital marketing operations, including understanding customers, delivering superior experiences, selecting appropriate technology, implementing governance and processes, and utilizing the right metrics. It also outlines the functions of marketing automation software, covering marketing campaigns, online and digital marketing, and strategic marketing. The essay concludes by examining how Netflix Australia has successfully implemented marketing automation, leveraging data to personalize recommendations and content creation. The essay emphasizes the importance of marketing automation in streamlining processes, improving customer experiences, and driving business growth.

Running head: CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Marketing Automation
Name of the Student
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The essay is a discussion on customer relationship management (CRM) with special
focus on Marketing Automation, considered an emerging trend in CRM. The essay commences
with a brief overview of marketing automation and goes on to mention its benefits. There is also
discussion about the attributes that contributes to the effectiveness of digital marketing
operations. The essay gives an insight into the functions of the marketing automation software.
There essay also explains how Netflix Australia has undertaken marketing automation. Netflix is
an American entertainment company that helps in providing streaming media and online video
on demand via mail.
Discussion:
Marketing Automation refers to the technologies and software platforms designed for
supporting marketers and organizations for effectively carrying out marketing on various online
channels like email, social media and various websites (Heimbach, Kostyra and Hinz 2015). This
also helps in the automation of repetitive task. Marketing Automation is an emerging trend in
customer relation management and is used by campaign and marketing managers, market
managers and analyst, promotions managers, direct marketing managers and database managers.
Marketing Automation platform primarily used for replacing the repetitive manual
processes with advanced automated solutions. Marketers nowadays use this platform for
planning, coordination, measuring and managing both the offline and online marketing
campaigns (Jarvinen and Taiminen 2016). The application of marketing automation ensures
implementation of newer processes and efficiency of the existing process. Thus, marketing is a
tool that allows designing, execution and automation of a time bound workflow in marketing.

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Platforms for Marketing Automation allow marketers in simplifying and automating the
client communication through the management of complicated Omni channel strategies of
marketing by using a single tool (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). The areas in which marketing
automation serves as a great help includes segmentation, lead generation, lead nurturing and
scoring, relationship marketing, retention and measurement of return on investment.
The benefits of Marketing Automation include increase in the marketing efficiency
through greater control over the cost and implementation of cost efficient and streamlined
processes (Sweezey 2014). This helps any incumbent in efficiently carrying out the process.
Marketing automation also ensures greater productivity in marketing through elimination of
manual processes where marketers can have increased focus on tasks that requires more stringent
monitoring. The platform also helps in increasing responsiveness. The application of the process
allows the marketers to respond to opportunities even when it is not a part of their plan. The
function of marketing automation enables companies to be a part of real time marketing and
instantly respond to identified opportunity. Marketing automation helps in improving the
marketing insights through its embedded functionality of analytics and reporting. Improvement
in marketing insight primarily takes place in terms of customers, campaigns, events and markets
that leads to both enhancements in effectiveness and efficiency (Chaffey, Smith and Smith
2013). The process also ensures enhanced customer experience and customer retention.
Marketing automation can help in customer retention and satisfaction through intelligent
marketing. This is done by providing the relevant insight into both the prospective and existing
customers. The process will help increased number of companies in predicting customer
decisions and needs thereby enabling them in acting accordingly with wastage of time.
Marketing Automation also leads to improvement in accountability (Powell 2012). The data

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analytics aspect of marketing automation enables the firms in better judging commercial return
from the marketing activities, ensure improved transparency and lead to timely information of
management. Marketing automation helps in the availability of complete customer data. The
process allows sourcing, capturing and storing customer data in a particular location and
allowing real tine analysis and access. The availability of tools allows modeling and visualization
of customer data.
The five attributes of effective digital marketing operations includes truly
understanding the customers, delivering an enhanced and superior experience, selection of the
appropriate technology for marketing, implementation of governance and process and making
use of the right metrics in driving profit(Miller 2012).

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Figure: Capabilities Supporting the Digital Marketing Operations
Source :( Stone and Woodcock 2014)
Truly understanding the customer refers to the knowing the customers well. This
involves tracking, analysis and interpretation of the customer attitudes and behavior that helps in
not only shaping and targeting the relevant experiences but determine delivery (Lemon and
Verhoef 2016). Feeding such insights into the marketing operation requires quick delivery and
analysis in a form that becomes appreciable to the decision makers. Scaling such capabilities
requires organizations in automating the processes. Superior delivery experience is necessary

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for continuation of the customer journey. This requires mapping of every step that define the sole
customer experience. This requires implementation of technologies and automating the processes
for ensuring a smoother journey. With the emerging trends of customer relationship
management, selection of the right marketing technology is of utmost importance. The choice
of marketing automation would ensure delivery of Omni channel customer experience and
thereby bridge the gap between the marketing operations and customer experience. Adoption of
technology through the process of marketing automation helps in implementation of
governance and processes. Digitalizing marketing operations through the adoption of marketing
automation helps in tracking, monitoring and managing the effectiveness of the marketing
investments. Thus, the process helps in using the best metrics for driving success.
Marketing automation software undertakes the function of marketing campaigns, online
and digital marketing along with strategic and other marketing (Lee, Tang and Sugumaran 2014).
The marketing campaign ensures campaign management and campaign management through
the process of direct mail. It also ensures campaign management via email along with
undertaking of trigger marketing, event based marketing and telemarketing. Marketing campaign
also ensures optimization of marketing and lead generation. As the name suggests, online and
digital marketing, deals with online marketing, keyword marketing, content management, social
media marketing, analysis of data and search engine optimization. The Strategic and other
marketing function of the marketing automation software ensures integrated marketing
management, marketing performance management, marketing the resource management,
management of loyalty, partner marketing, customer and market segmentation and selection,
asset and document management, lifecycle management of projects, development of workflow
and marketing analytics.

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Netflix has been the biggest online sensations of the world offering a completely new
kind of entertainment (Netflix.com, 2018). The company has undertaken marketing automation
that has benefited not only the consumers but also the business. Therefore, the things one can
learn from Netflix include their capability of learning to use the available data. Marketing
automation allows a company to use data to their advantage. Netflix has also made use of such
data to not only make recommendations but also use it for producing content as per the
preference of the people. The adoption of marketing automation also helps Netflix in being
where their customers are and remain completely responsive to the needs if the customers.
This is done by embracing mobile, social and digital technology. Thus, Netflix have a stronger
presence in social media that is also the platform for the largest target market of the company.
Marketing automation has also taught Netflix to overcome stagnancy (Stahlberg and Maila
2013). The company has been in business for a longer period of time and the reason for it being
the presence of the open-ended system. The important aspect of Netflix lies in the fact that the
company is not only proactive but also adopts constant change to include the preferences of the
people.
Conclusion:
The essay ends with a discussion on Netflix viewed in terms of the Marketing
Automation. The success of Netflix has led many company executives to reexamine its business
model and henceforth shift towards a model that focused on live streaming of movies and
television. The essay also discusses about the functions of the marketing automations software
along with a focus on the attributes that result in digital marketing operations. Marketing
automation make life easier, help in scaling the personal touch into the company and help the
business to grow faster. Marketing is an essential portion of the business and marketing

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automation is such a tool that helps effective business growth by helping them to grow in terms
of strength.

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References:
Chaffey, D., Smith, P.R. and Smith, P.R., 2013. eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and
optimizing your digital marketing. Routledge.
Heimbach, I., Kostyra, D.S. and Hinz, O., 2015. Marketing automation. Business & Information
Systems Engineering, 57(2), pp.129-133.
Järvinen, J. and Taiminen, H., 2016. Harnessing marketing automation for B2B content
marketing. Industrial Marketing Management, 54, pp.164-175.
Khodakarami, F. and Chan, Y.E., 2014. Exploring the role of customer relationship management
(CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information & Management, 51(1), pp.27-42.
Lee, Y.C., Tang, N.H. and Sugumaran, V., 2014. Open source CRM software selection using the
analytic hierarchy process. Information systems management, 31(1), pp.2-20.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), pp.69-96.
Miller, M., 2012. B2B digital marketing: Using the web to market directly to businesses. Que
Publishing.
Netflix.com. (2018). Netflix United Kingdom – Watch TV Programmes Online, Watch Films
Online. [online] Available at: https://www.netflix.com/in/ [Accessed 4 Feb. 2018].
Powell, G.R., 2012. Marketing calculator: Measuring and managing return on marketing
investment. John Wiley & Sons.

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Ståhlberg, M. and Maila, V., 2013. Multichannel Marketing Ecosystems: Creating Connected
Customer Experiences. Kogan Page Publishers.
Stone, M.D. and Woodcock, N.D., 2014. Interactive, direct and digital marketing: A future that
depends on better use of business intelligence. Journal of Research in Interactive
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Sweezey, M., 2014. Marketing automation for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.