Workflows. They’re like that friend who everyone is intimidated by, yet can’t get enough of. They’re complicated. They’re complex. But they can do a LOT of good for your marketing program.
Admittedly, workflows have been the most difficult concept for me to grasp in all of my inbound marketing and HubSpot trainings and certifications. Let’s be honest: workflows can be a beast. But the automation element alone can make any marketer’s life far easier. 
As with most things in life, let’s take things slow. First things first—let’s define workflows as a “series of automated actions that you can trigger to occur based on a person’s behaviors or contact information,” according to HubSpot.
My favorite word from that definition: automation. I don’t know a single marketing or communications professional who wouldn’t love more automation to make their job easier.
And that’s just what workflows do. They automate a process for your marketing campaign as a result of a website visitor performing an action on your website. This can include an automated follow up email to a person who submitted a form on your website or you can automate an email to a smart list that’s ever-changing and growing. As HubSpot puts it: “Workflows go beyond email and take simple marketing automation to the next level, allowing you to send emails, update contact information, add or remove contacts from lists, and trigger email notifications.”
Do you need even more reason to love workflows? Workflows allow you to precisely segment communication with specific leads. By narrowing down your segmentation, you’re able to be more accurate and relevant with your marketing communications.
This goes back to traditional marketing where you shoot out an advertisement and hope that something sticks. Same thing applies to your email marketing—no longer do you need to send one email blast to your entire list of contacts and hope that something resonates. The ability to regulate and segment your email automation to a targeted, specific group of prospects where the information is most relevant is much more beneficial than sending a blast to everyone where the information would only apply to a small group.
Also, when someone submits any form on your website, you’re able to immediately send an email to them to reach out in a timely manner—even follow up with them after a designated time period to get back in touch automatically. Depending on the content they are interested in or submitting to download, you can set certain conditions that would instinctively begin to filter them through a workflow.
Thus, another reason to love workflows—you’re able to convert more visitors into leads, then leads into customers.
So now that we know what workflows are and why they are crucial to your inbound marketing practice, how do you set them up?
To create a standard workflow, identify the condition type (such as someone filling out a form), select the form, and indicate what page the form you’re referencing is housed on. Then, establish the first workflow set—for instance, send an email immediately after a contact fills out the form. You can even opt to delay the email delivery for a certain period of time (down to the minute!).
Sounds easy enough right? Not necessarily when you’re integrating a workflow in the overall inbound marketing process.
This is where I got overwhelmed. But one day I got all sorts of “inbound marketing nerdy” and created a one-pager that identifies all steps that need to be created to develop a complete workflow example. And to be honest, it’s made our lives here at WordWrite easier.
So what are you waiting for? Check it out now!
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Christy Goodman is senior account executive for WordWrite Communications. She can be reached at christy.goodman@wordwritepr.com and on Twitter @christylgoodman. 
