Marketing automation is an intrinsic part of on-demand customer relationship management, otherwise known as CRM. One of the most important aspects of CRM lies in the integration of sales and marketing. Marketing automation enables companies to manage multi-channel marketing campaigns, and provide current communications with sales teams. An automated lead handoff system further ensures that leads don't go cold, and real-time reports and analytics allow marketers to measure and track ROI and other data on marketing campaigns. Here are the specifics on the most important components in a marketing automation application:

Integrated Sales and Marketing Application
An integrated sales and marketing application, complete with automated lead conversion, is one of the biggest benefits of marketing automation. Such a system allows leads to be handed down the pipeline to the right people and ensures they remain hot all the way to the end. An automated system allows sales and marketing teams to view the same information so they are on the same page. There is nothing worse than a sales team who has different lead data than the marketing team--this can lead to many problems that are easily avoided by the use of an automated, integrated sales and marketing application.

Analytics and Reporting
Other components of a good marketing automation application include analytics and reporting. These are important elements that play key roles in determining ROI in a marketing campaign and tracking results. By identifying key strengths and weaknesses, tracking traffic levels to and from a website and measuring the effectiveness of a marketing campaign, a company can greatly optimize its sales and get the best possible results. These elements also allow a company to manage, generate, and report on lead conversion rations and sales, among many other capabilities. The reports include graphs, charts, and other customizable elements that can be used as needed.

Document Management
Document management allows companies to manage the content that drives their business, usually by offering a central repository from which the company can take all of its important documents. This way all authorized users can access the same documents from anywhere in the world at any time, enabling more effective, reliable communication across channels.

Asset Management
Asset management capabilities allow a company that implements a marketing automation system to track the products customers are purchasing and the competing products they're using, and generally building up a knowledge base of what customers are purchasing, installing, and downloading. This knowledge can then be used to improve products and placement, easily identify renewal opportunities with clients, and analyze issues customers might have with a product.

Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign Analysis and Optimization
Marketing automation also allows for multi-channel marketing campaign analysis and optimization through a complete marketing solution that includes strong elements like contact management. Contact management means a company has the ability to view and monitor all their customers. This includes developing and managing complete profiles of each customer, segmenting customers to create targeted marketing campaigns, optimizing lists for outbound marketing, and much more. Thus, strong contact management and campaign management capabilities allow a company to optimize and measure the effectiveness of its offline and online marketing campaigns quickly and easily.

Salesforce.com is the world's first on-demand application service and a giant in the field of CRM. With over 24,000 customers, over 500,000 subscribers, and a 97% customer satisfaction rate, Salesforce.com continues to lead their field. To find out more about them, please visit www.salesforce.com .

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