Explaining My Job to My Family: Marketing Automation

I'm sure they're proud of me, but if you asked them to explain what I do, you'd get a lot of confident-sounding guesses followed by "I don't know, something with emails."

"Basically, I do email marketing."

That’s usually how I explain my job when my family asks what I do. It’s not completely untrue, but it’s also not the whole picture. Marketing automation encompasses email marketing, but it delves much further than just sending newsletters or promotions. We build automated communication systems that respond to real patient interactions, like completing a health risk assessment or registering for a seminar. The goal? Deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time, in a way that supports better care and keeps people engaged.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is how I was introduced to the field of marketing automation. We manage personalized email journeys for millions of patients across hundreds of facilities. SFMC is a powerful marketing platform under the broader Salesforce ecosystem. It’s a powerful suite of tools that helps businesses, our's in particular, support healthcare-specific messaging across hundreds of hospitals and service lines. We use it to support everything from appointment reminders to community event invites, all tailored to specific patients, hospitals, and service lines.

Outside of work, when I’m working on smaller projects, a client site, or personal pages, I use platforms like Wix, Mailchimp, or Klaviyo. They’re simpler, but still powerful. And while I don’t have to think as much about compliance in those cases, I still bring the same mindset around building thoughtful, timely communication. Good automation should be intentional.

My goal here is to break down what marketing automation is, explain what it looks like in both big and small contexts, and hopefully make it easier for my parents to explain my job to their friends and anyone else who asks.

What Is Marketing Automation, Really?

When I say “marketing automation”, I get the sense that my family pictures me scheduling those endless marketing emails from companies they bought a comforter from that one time, or maybe sending out a monthly newsletter or a holiday promo. I have to take some of the blame for that image; sometimes the question catches me off guard. Here's how I should explain it to my family: Marketing automation is building smart systems that automatically deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, based on their actions. Instead of sending the same email to everyone, it’s more like setting up a chain reaction. Someone signs up for something, books an appointment, or clicks a link, and that action triggers a message tailored just for them.

You’ve probably experienced this without even realizing it. You leave something in your online shopping cart and get a reminder the next day. Or you book a doctor’s appointment and receive a confirmation, a reminder before the visit, and a follow-up asking how it went. Automation, in my field, helps patients stay on top of screenings, follow-up care, and health reminders. Ideally, it's all sent at the right time, with the right information, and from the right facility. It’s a way to keep people informed and supported, without someone needing to send every message manually.

What It Looks Like at the Enterprise Level

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a powerful platform designed to support complex, large-scale communications. Our work spans hundreds of healthcare facilities across the country, so our infrastructure is structured to support that scale. A big part of our work involves building multi-step, automated journeys that support key health initiatives. Without getting too specific, these include things like reminders to complete important health assessments, outreach during seasonal awareness campaigns, and follow-ups that encourage patients to stay engaged with their care.

We still support occasional one-off email campaigns that serve more immediate communication needs: updates about new facility openings, invitations to local health events, or reminders about seasonal services. But even these emails are backed by strategy and targeted to reach the right audience.

Where marketing automation shines is in those longer-term, behavior-based journeys, where messages are triggered by what someone actually does. Beyond simply sharing information, these campaigns help build real, trusted connections between healthcare providers and their communities by guiding patients through their care journeys with thoughtful, well‑timed communication. This can play a crucial role in improving patient engagement and retention across touchpoints.

What It Looks Like on a Smaller Scale

On a smaller, more personal level, I've come to explore what automation can look like for simpler projects. Using Wix’s built-in automation features, I can create a simple two-touchpoint flow for my wedding RSVP form: an initial "Thank you" message that reminds guests of how to book travel and stay. And closer to the event, they receive a second email as a gentle reminder about accommodations. It was simple to set up, completely hands-off after launch, and it saved me time during an already hectic planning season.

Now, I’m using a similar setup for my portfolio site. When someone signs up for my newsletter (under construction), they receive an automatic welcome message that introduces what they can expect and points them toward a few pieces of content. It’s a small touch, but one that hopefully creates a more thoughtful experience, and that’s really what automation is about, no matter the scale.

Wix doesn’t have quite the same depth or flexibility as platforms like Salesforce, Mailchimp, or Klaviyo, and that’s okay. For personal projects or small businesses, it’s fully capable of creating automations for form responses, booking confirmations, or follow-ups without needing a team or any advanced setup. While I’m still learning just how much I can do with it, it’s already proven to be a great reminder that marketing automation doesn’t have to be a massive or complex undertaking. Thus far, it’s been a great way to experiment, stay connected, and keep learning by doing, which is honestly how I figure out most things anyway.

So... What Is Marketing Automation?

At its core, marketing automation is simply about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. That applies whether you're supporting millions of patients or setting up a simple RSVP flow for a personal event. I’m still learning, testing, and discovering what’s possible myself. So if you're exploring how automation could work for your business or project, I'm always happy to share what I’ve picked up and learn a bit more along the way, too.