Marketing your small business, whether online or off, is a time intensive process. As your business grows, managinglead capture, nurturing, converting and relationship management become too big to handle manually, which is why small business owners turn to marketing automation software to managethe load.

In general, automationbrings many benefits to your small business including:

However, because the promotion, selling, and relationship management processes involve so many steps, manyof which arerepeated for each customer, marketing isparticularly suited to automation. And thats where marketing automation software comes in.

Happily, there are many marketing automation software options for small businesses. These solutionscan handle a few, or alltypes, ofautomated marketing techniques. In other words, they include various automation features such as:

Note:Not all solutions offer every feature.

While you may be hesitantto try one becauseofeither cost orlearning curve, you should be aware that many marketing automation software vendors:

Are you considering marketing automation for your small business? If so, heres a list of marketing automation software solutions to consider.

GetResponsecalls itself the all-in-one online marketing platform to grow your business and a look down the features on their home page shows just how complete the software is.

While its oneof the most affordable solutions on this list,GetResponse brings the same, if not more,of the features and functionalityoffered by the more expensive solutions on this list. That said, the price doesincrease with use, but a small business should be able to handle the increase as it grows.

Another affordable solution, ActiveCampaign,offers everything a small business needs to automate its marketing efforts including a robust, built-in CRM system.

Calling itself a small business CRM, GreenRope is almost a small business management suite. Starting withmarketing automation, youll find website tracking, landing pages and more in this affordably-pricedsolution.

GreenRopealso offers sales and operations functionality setting the tool apart.

One of the more well-known marketing automation software options, Infusionsoftoffers everything your small business needs at a reasonable price.One feature that shows off the power of this solution is the flexibility of the campaign builder. This tool enables you to create elaborate workflows one timeand then implement them again and again. These workflows can include many types of steps including eCommerce, appointments, behaviors and actions, webinar attendance and many more.

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The only tool on the list to offer a website builder, HubSpot aims to integrateyour entire marketing effort in one place. One of the more powerful features of the tool is the ability to personalize your website with smart content based on a number of factors:

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Act-Onoffers arobust marketing automation platform.The software offers automation workflows and triggers as well as website behavior tracking, integration with many popular CRM platforms, and more.

One of the moreinteresting, and useful, featuresof Act-On is its funnel reporting. By setting up a sales funnel, you can track the effectiveness of your overall marketing efforts. Heres a sample:

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Marketo offers a powerful solution with many features. One thing that stood out however was theircustomizedproduct bundling, an approach that may makethe tool attractive for small businesses that want to dip their toe in the water.

One of the most interestingaspects of Autopilot is the number of integrations it enables you to use as part of your marketing automation workflows. For example, below you can seethat the bottom right step sends an automated Slack message:

In addition, the vendor offers multi-channel marketing via emails, headsups (little pop-upnotifications) SMS messages, and even postcards. Finally, the pricing for this solution is low and scales as your business grows.

Salesfusion is a heavily-loaded marketing automation toolthat can help you take your small business to a new level. One standout feature? Its SEO audit featurethat helps improve your search engine rankings.

In addition to its marketing automation features, SharpSpring offers additional features includinga blog builderandVisitorID tool which attempts to identify anonymous visitors to your website.

Also, the vendor enables you to use your buyer personas to automatically offer unique, targeted content by segmenting your customers based on how closely their profiles match.

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While a look at SALESmanagos home page may make you run, dont let the complexity of the vendors offerings chase you away. This solution literally has it all and, if thats what you need, then its certainly worth a look.

No matter whichmarketing automation software solution you select, make sure youre getting the most out of the tool. And remember, you can automate processes beyond marketing, too, so besure to consider how leveraging other tools can helpstreamline your small business.

Automated Marketing Photo via Shutterstock

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Take Your Business to the Next Level with Marketing Automation Software - Small Business Trends