BtoB Magazine reported last week that marketers expect to spend $525 million on marketing automation this year — a 60% increase over 2011’s spend. We’ve certainly experienced this trend firsthand in our work with B2B clients, and have a few hunches about the reasons behind it.
Here’s our take on the top three reasons marketing automation is booming right now:
- Marketing automation tools are more accessible. In the past, most marketing automation solutions have priced themselves out of the sizeable small business market. Today, newer players like HubSpot and InfusionSoft are making it easier to get involved on a smaller budget.
- Content marketing has helped companies understand marketing automation. We need to give credit to marketing automation providers like Marketo for creating information-rich content marketing programs around the idea of marketing automation. The many white papers they have developed, blog posts they have written and webinars they have hosted have helped companies understand how marketing automation works and how indispensible it can be.
- Hiring is down, marketing automation is up. Many companies have put the breaks on hiring over the last few years as a result of the recession. Marketing automation systems can handle a lot of the work that employees once oversaw at a fraction of the cost, and B2B companies are taking notice.
Is your company increasing its marketing automation spend this year? Tell us why in the comments.
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