by Sarah Kelleher 
Reading these three solutions to the most common excuses for not using marketing automation, my first thought was that someone had recorded one of my meetings! I have heard all the excuses for not using marketing automation over the years and they are all just that… excuses.
One of the most common fears amongst new adopters of automation is the time taken to implement it. There are two solutions to this. Firstly, find an expert partner to guide you through the process. It really does help (I know I’m biased, but trust me on this).
Secondly, accept that you will need to invest time in your automation tool. But where you spend time initially, you’ll save heaps of time on those processes you were previously doing manually. I’ve never met a marketer with free time, but you’ll certainly be able to use that time for smarter, more targeted campaigns.
Plotting out your customer journey, creating different email templates, segmenting your lists and physically creating automated programs takes time. But while these elements of marketing automation implementation might take longer to complete up front, your ongoing execution time and effort is greatly reduced once these programs are live, freeing up valuable time.