If you haven't heard of marketing automation, you probably don't actively market your business.

Marketing automation typically consists of software and technologies that allow marketers to automate repetitive tasks through a variety of channels such as social media, websites, and email.

Many marketers opt to use MailChimp for their marketing efforts, and rightfully so! MailChimp offers great tools including list and audience management, social media integration, data driven insights, and marketing automation. The last of which will be the tool we're focusing on today.

Before you start writing blogs, before you even start an inbound marketing campaign, you need to know who your audience is and how to talk to them. If you’re not truly speaking to them, you may as well be talking with a mouthful of crackers.

You invest substantial time and money to send your team to a trade show. But, if you’re not generating a buzz and driving people to your booth, your money is as good as flushed down the toilet.

We know, we know -- increasing trade show booth traffic and engaging with prospects prior to the show is easier said than done.

That’s why we put together this guide of sample emails to send prior to the show to help your team make the most out of the show.

Where does a manufacturing lead come from? Like the age-old question a prepubescent kid asks his parent -- “Where do babies come from?” -- the question of how to get online leads as a modern manufacturer can be … uncomfortable.

Why? It seems daunting to grow from best-kept secret in the middle of nowhere to an industrial lead generation machine. And the truth is that many manufacturers and other B2B companies have websites that simply don’t give themselves a chance when it comes to generating leads. Or, if they do, they lack the email and social media marketing to supplement it.

Today, to new and potential customers, a good business website is often the face of a company. It represents your business to a worldwide audience, answers customer queries, and should help generate leads. A great-looking website isn't enough if it can’t attract adequate traffic to it. The best manufacturing websites have mastered several ways to increase traffic on their sites.

In a world that seems to be endlessly moving toward digital, manufacturers know that there's still a shred or two of value in old-fashioned face-to-face relationship building. In your world, a real handshake still means something.

Email marketing helps you send the right message at the right time. Plus you’ll increase your website traffic and lead generation with email marketing -- whether you need to share a blog post, announce a new machine added to your fleet, or nurture trade show leads. In fact, three-quarters of companies agree that email offers "excellent" to "good" ROI. (Econsultancy, 2016)

Manufacturers, in general, have been slow to learn and adopt digital best practices like content marketing to stand out in the 21st century. Not being absolutely sure about website traffic isn’t an option in the breakneck speed and high stakes of the digital world.

Marketing automation is fantastic (if done right). It helps turn your leads into revenue and helps time-strapped small businesses use their marketing more effectively.

Are you still teetering on whether or not you are going to use marketing automation? Here are some interesting things (you may not already know):