There is a quote by David Raab explains that “Marketing Automation replaces separate systems for email, web visitor tracking, lead scoring, nurture campaigns, campaign management and reporting with one solution that streamlines marketing processes and shares data with sales.”

In today’s fast-paced digital world, the average consumer is smarter, savvier, and more empowered than ever.

For businesses to survive in the digital era, engaging, inspiring and connecting with your audience is a must. By harnessing the power of the technology, platforms, and marketing techniques available in a focused, strategic, and conversational way, it’s possible to achieve real success.

Digital marketing is a colossal task for any small looking to compete in today’s climate. In fact, 48% of organizational leaders are unsure they’re addressing needs across digital platforms.

But marketing automation makes engaging with your prospects and sharing your brand message across a number of mediums possible.

80 percent of businesses using automation have seen an increase in lead generation. What’s more, a study from Adestra revealed that 74 percent of respondents said the technology’s ability to save them time was its largest benefit.

It’s clear that marketing automation is essential to any small and medium-sized (SMB) digital marketing efforts. But, when it comes to long-term benefits, choosing the right marketing automation platform is essential.

To help steer you in the right direction and ensure complete digital success, here are three marketing automation platforms tailor-made for today’s SMBs.

GetResponse

When asked why he came up with name GetResponse Founder and CEO, Simon Grabowski responded:

“I was looking for a name that would sound cool, dynamic and focused on customers’ results, yet descriptive at the same time.”

This statement sums up GetResponse’s core values. As a scalable email marketing tool, GetResponse offers its clients a price plan based on company size and how many contacts you have on sign up.

The platform is home to 500 pre-designed templates all powered by initiative editing software and list-building tools, meaning it’s possible to craft fully-integrated, interactive campaigns without extensive technical knowledge.

GetResponse is equipped with one of the best pieces Salesforce integration software on the market today and is known for its 24/7 customer service. If you’re creating a broad range of digital marketing campaigns based on visuals from a range of different some sources, GetResponse allows you to export files from a range of formats.

In terms of analytics, GetResponse provides key information on everything from top-performing emails through to cart abandonment rate, making it easy to spot areas of improvement, as well as optimum times to publish or share your content.

For the SMB with big ambitions, GetResponse offers a tailored solution that ticks all the boxes and although there are a lot of functions to learn, the rewards of using this marketing automation tool are great.

MailChimp

For the modern SMB with a strong focus on email marketing, MailChimp is an excellent option.

A recent benchmark report discovered that MailChimp encourages an average open rate of around 22 percent across all the major industries – and its user interface makes the platform one of the world’s most user-friendly marketing automation tools available today.

For SMB juggling weekly or monthly newsletters, along with frequent marketing campaigns sporting a strong social media focus, this tool proves very helpful.

Regarding analytics, MailChimp works with platforms including Salesforce, WordPress and Google Analytics, to name a few. The platforms also integrates smoothly with Hootsuite, Facebook, Twitter Pinterest, and Instagram.

One of the most striking things about MailChimp is its quick and easy drag-and-drop functionality. By being able to drag images and other visual assets and format text with ease, creating eye-grabbing emails and promotional pages is a relatively quick and straightforward process.

MailChimp is one of the best marketing tools for today’s SMB, but for those looking for extra functionality, coupled with a dashboard that offers superior user insights, it might be worth trying something a little more powerful.

Marketo

One of the key to Marketo’s success is its accessibility. The platform’s easy to use interface gives complete beginners the power to manage their campaigns and generate new leads through its intuitive software and navigable interface.

Marketo makes it easy to build fresh landing pages for your website and its broad range of user resources helps newbie marketers understand the power of search marketing, social media, and behavior tracking.

The platform’s analytical software provides its users with an insight into the success of their marketing efforts and flags any urgent matters with a star or flame icon to help with lead prioritization.

While Marketo is an effective all-rounder with an intuitive design and a host of useful features if you’re looking for a marketing automation platform that delves a little deeper into user analytics, a more data-centric tool might prove more effective.

There’s no doubt that marketing automation is one of the key ingredients to the success of today’s SMBs. These three tools are the best on the market and by taking the time to choose the best possible tool for you – and your needs – you’ll help increase your chances of success tenfold.