Stefan 
Every education agency in the international education industry, has one thing in common: the desire to recruit more students and achieve higher revenue faster. Where most education agencies fail though is in aligning their people, processes, and technology to achieve these objectives.
What is
Marketing Automation?
A rough definition of marketing automation would be: the technology or software that empower companies to streamline, automate and measure marketing operations, tasks and workflows, so they can increase the efficiency of their operations and grow faster. Marketing automation is driven by data.
What are the features of
Marketing Automation Platforms?
There are certain features that set apart marketing automation platforms from other platforms. You recognise a marketing automation platform by the following features:
- email marketing
- landing pages
- campaign management
- marketing programs
- lead generation
- prediction/scoring
- lead management
- CRM integration
- social marketing
- resource management
- marketing analytics
Why is Marketing Automation so hot right now?
Marketing automation is not a new concept. The term was first used in 1980, according to Google Ngram, started to gain traction in the 1990s and peaked around 2004. It started to decline in usage and reached a low point in 2007 before rising again. Today, it’s used as much as back in 2004.
The rise of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions drove marketing automation to become a hot trend again.
A case for education agencies using marketing automation to increase revenue
There are three core benefits to marketing automation:
- Save time and money
- Measure and optimize marketing investments
- Faster revenue growth
Most education agencies today operate in batch email mode, leaving them in the dark when it comes to tracking the effectiveness of its marketing content. On top of that, because of such a diverse student base, the sales cycle could range from just a few days to four years. Education agents need flexible solutions that provide detailed insight into student behaviour and the sales pipeline.
The marketing automation platform that is perfect for education agencies has to have the ability to provide first-hand insight into how potential students progress through the website, interact with the landing pages and how they respond to marketing campaigns in real time.
By using marketing automation, education agencies can gain deep, actionable insight to determine the content that has the most immediate impact on lead generation, open rates, conversion rates, and enrolments. As a result, agencies will be able to move potential students through the application cycle faster, and at the same time, lower the cost of marketing. The ability to measure ROI will be dramatically improved and this in turn, will allow Marketing to become the driver for higher revenues.
Free email course
Organise your students’ applications into a repeatable, automated process that will save you time
What is the relationship between marketing automation and CRMs?
Many CRM systems have a module for marketing, but CRMs are designed and optimised for a very different scope. CRM systems in general do not provide functionality for things like email marketing, prospect behaviour tracking, and marketing program management. While the business goal for a CRM system is to track opportunities and pipeline, manage contact and account information, the goal for marketing automation is to develop customer relationships, automate marketing programs, and measure marketing ROI.
What is the relationship between marketing automation and email marketing?
Email marketing still works really well, but the world is changing. Marketers have to deliver their relevant messages in more formats to multiple devices, more frequently. Gleanster Research says “Marketing automation solution delivers essentially all the benefits of an email marketing solution along with integrated capabilities that would otherwise need to be cobbled together using various standalone technologies.”reached a low point in 2007 before rising again. Today, it’s used as much as back in 2004.
The rise of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions drove marketing automation to become a hot trend again.
What is inteleagent?
The question that rises is: is inteleagent a marketing automation platform? The simple answer is NO. inteleagent is an application management system built around the process of tracking the applications through pipelines, manage student details, and account information.
The focus of inteleagent is primarily sales and sales management, as well as some marketing. Inteleagent can help your agency streamline the business operations of your education agency, track your student applications through customised pipeline stages, generate invoices and keep track of commissions, as well as many other features that will improve the way you run your business, all for a low monthly subscription.
