How is marketing automation like the Wizard of Oz? Without being noticed, both work furiously behind the scenes to produce an experience that works like magic.

As defined by Marketo in the following infographic, marketing automation is the technology that "allows companies to streamline, automate, and measure marketing tasks and workflows so they can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster."

Marketing automation enables companies to...

Nurture relationships with leads that aren't ready to buy. Nurturing can result in 50% more sales leads. (Only 20% of leads are sales-ready when they come in.)

Retain and extend customer relationships. Companies can use marketing automation to build customer loyalty and increase retention.

Build sales alignment. By integrating its marketing automation with CRM systems, companies can better identify hot leads, so Sales can immediately follow up on them. 

Prove and improve marketing ROI. Marketing automation lets companies get the metrics and insight they need to see what's working and what isn't.

To find out more about the benefits of marketing automation, how to sell marketing automation to the C suite, and how to select the right solution, check out the infographic: