Many in the workforce today grew up learning the value of a good work ethic, and certainly, discipline and hard work can pay off. But what about working better, not harder?

Your marketing can benefit from Sandler Rule #34: Work Smart, Not Hard. A great way to apply this concept to your marketing is by using marketing automation.

Marketing automation is when you use software to automate marketing activities like email responses, reminders about classes and webinars, social media posting, and plenty more.

One of the tools we’re big fans of here at Sandler is HubSpot. HubSpot will let you automate some of your lead nurturing, using each prospect’s behavior to send custom emails. It also enables you to schedule your social posts to be published when your ideal prospect will see them. And there are plenty of additional marketing automation features. HubSpot also has a CRM, which means that the marketing team and sales team can work much more efficiently together.

There are other tools and options out there as well. Mailchimp will let you schedule email campaigns and do some other basic marketing automation. Platforms like Hootsuite and Buffer let you schedule your social media posts ahead of time. Often, your website itself can be set up to send automatic responses when people fill out forms, as well as adding them to your email database.

The goal of marketing automation is not just to make your job easier but to make it all about your prospects. Personalizing the message your prospects see based on their information and behavior is a huge part of marketing automation.

Yes, a time and even money investment is required to set everything up, maintain it, and pay for the ongoing services. But marketing automation is a great way to work smart, not hard.