Businesses that use marketing automation tools, see 53% higher conversion rates than companies who don’t, and an annual revenue growth rate that’s 3.1% higher than those who don’t.

Enough said.

This post compares two of the best marketing automation tools available, to find out which one is most suited for the needs of your small business.

The marketing needs of small businesses vs. large businesses

Small businesses follow the same marketing strategy as a large business, but the implementation of the strategy would be completely different, because a large corporation has teams of people and a much bigger budget, whereas the marketing of many small businesses is left to the owner who also needs to perform the businesses’ core tasks.

Large corporations, although they look for growth too, may not need to perform the same activities as a small business which has to grow at the right speed.

Another area that is different between large companies and small ones, is the depth of creativity, innovation and skill: large companies who have teams of people in their marketing, design and sales departments, can do more than small businesses where the owner dons the marketing cap too, but who more than likely lacks at least some, if not all of the skills required for successful marketing campaigns.

For instance, online marketing involves the application of strategic thinking, psychology, design and technical ability. All skills an entrepreneur may not possess.

Large companies may focus on brand awareness that brings results over time, but small businesses need to generate as many sales as possible, to get money now.

Most small business owners that go online, have no idea about where to start when it comes to a digital marketing strategy:

Small businesses have a hard time choosing the right methods of online marketing.

Image Credit: Digital And Social Media Academy

Large corporations, on the other hand, can employ teams of people who only specialize in one area.

The marketing automation requirements of a large, or even medium sized business, will be disparate to those of a small business.

Why small businesses budget for marketing automation

An automation platform can make all the difference to the marketing success of a small business, which is why 63% of the companies who are successful, plan to increase their marketing automation budget.

The owners of small businesses have found great value with marketing automation tools because:

• They become more productive from saving time.
• They don’t need to be marketing gurus to run successful campaigns.
• They are able to implement a marketing strategy without needing to hire someone to do it for them.
• When the tools they choose are designed specifically for small businesses, the owner-cum-marketer is able to learn the ropes as they go, instead of needing to study marketing on the side.
• More time is saved because all marketing activities can be done from one dashboard instead of logging in to numerous tools.
• They can save costs by using one tool to do many things instead of many tools that perform one thing.

Image Credit: Reach Marketing

It must be said: a tool is just a tool. It’s not going to do wonders for your business growth if you don’t have a good marketing strategy. A marketing automation tool simply implements your marketing strategy. If it’s a good plan, it will do well and the tool will amplify your efforts. If however, the plan is poofie, your results will also be poofie. But amplified-poofie.

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The greatest differences between GetResponse and InfusionSoft

Not all tools are created equal. And when you begin studying them, you’ll notice that in general, although all of them consist of email marketing software, the similarities end there.

There are three marketing automation tool “tiers”

There are three “tiers” of marketing automation platforms:

1. At the most basic tier are the email marketing automation tools. Most of them have autoresponder features, analytics and email templates, as well as advanced functions like tagging and segmenting. These are the cheapest tools, starting at about $10 a month, depending on which provider you choose.
2. The middle tier consists of tools that are designed specifically for small businesses. They are affordable and have the functionality for growing companies or freelancers. Most of the time, the marketers who use the tools in this tier, are the owners themselves, or someone hired by the owner. GetResponse sits in this tier.
3. Right at the top tier, are the Big Boys; the tools which cater to the more stable, “bigger” small to medium sized business who already have teams of people in their marketing, sales and CRM departments. They are more costly, ranging from $199 to $895 per month. InfusionSoft resides in this top tier.

The greatest differences between GetResponse and InfusionSoft

The greatest differences between GetResponse and InfusionSoft are:

• GetResponse is created specifically for small businesses whose marketing gets done either by the owner or someone hired by the owner. The tool is in the mid-tier. InfusionSoft however, is in the top tier and was developed for teams of people in a bigger company. It has functions that an owner-marketer would not utilize, such as CRM integration and sales team notifications.
• The greatest contrast between the two tools is price. GetResponse is $49 a month, while InfusionSoft is $199 per month, with an onboarding fee of $999.
• GetResponse offers webinar software, designed as a lead magnet, and a survey-maker, while InfusionSoft does not have these features.
• InfusionSoft offers Facebook promotions, CRM integration, sales team notifications, lead management, event marketing and funnel analysis, but GetResponse does not have these features.
• In addition to email marketing and automation, which is the core of all digital marketing initiatives, both tools offer:
  • Email templates
  • A/B testing
  • Landing page builder
  • Analytics
  • Sign up form templates
  • Shopping carts integration
  • Website tracking
  • Scoring, segmenting and tagging

In conclusion

Unless your small business is already at the point where you’ve hired or employed teams of people who perform marketing, sales and customer relationship management, GetResponse is probably the logical and most affordable solution.