Lawyers and law firms can no longer sit back and rely on existing clients to pay ever-greater bills, or for new clients to appear through referrals or direct contacts. Every law firm in the current competitive market will either thrive or fail as a function of its ability to implement a smart marketing plan and develop its business.

When it comes to professional services marketing, consumers expect to connect with companies anytime and anywhere, and they expect a personalized experience from architecture and engineering, consulting and accounting firms. Marketing automation presents itself as a great solution for professional services firms, and it allows small business owners to save time and create more effective marketing campaigns.

The healthcare industry has rapidly changed over the past few years. New legislation has altered the landscape of medical care and technology.

And it's not just this. The days of the door-to-door salesman are also coming to an end. People and organizations have moved online. They want to learn about new products online and they want to buy them online.

The combination of these two major shifts have created a completely new atmosphere for healthcare and biotech companies around the globe.

You have a beautiful website. You post quality content to your social media platforms. You keep a comprehensive contact list. You're on top of your game and doing a lot of things right.

But you keep hitting a wall, and you're spending a lot of time hitting the same wall over and over again.

Your contact list isn't growing and neither is your sales pipeline. Your website isn't producing leads. You're plateauing.

This is something real estate agencies and private realtors face daily.

By now, you probably understand the benefits of marketing automation. You know marketing automation saves you time, helps you scale your marketing efforts and allows you to measure end-to-end ROI. But do you know where to start?

On the surface, marketing automation is a daunting undertaking: