This is a section from the Book Business Tech Buyer's Guide which is a publisher's reference on emerging technology in the book industry. You can find other Buyer's Guide sections here:
Digital Conversion and Workflow Services
Many publishers have been working tirelessly over the past few years to build direct relationships with their readers, whether through social media campaigns, ecommerce, branded webpages, or specialized newsletters. Beyond the obvious benefits of increased online bookselling, these efforts also yield valuable data about readers' buying and reading habits and overall online behavior and interests. And that leads to more effective marketing.
Managing direct-to-consumer sales channels and making sense of the incoming data has now become a challenge. For book publishers that want to make a significant data play, new talent and technology are often in the cards. One tool that can manage outgoing marketing communication and incoming data is a marketing automation platform. Marketing automation allows publishers to automate messaging to consumers and to adjust and target messaging according to consumer behavior. If a reader regularly opens a newsletter about the latest crime novels, the next message might be a discount on a crime author's debut novel. Messaging can be automated across any digital channel from social media to native ads.
While the investment in technology and talent needed to support marketing automation are significant, so are the opportunities for audience development, marketing, and organizational efficiency. It's also worth noting that new solutions are becoming available that are more in line with the publishing market's cost structure and marketing automation needs.
Email marketing providers, also included in this section, provide tools for publishers to design newsletter templates, manage email lists, and track subscriber engagement across campaigns. Email marketing services often provide some automation tools, analytics, and list management. Unlike a marketing automation solution, this kind of automation is limited to email channels.