Get Started with Marketing Automation: A Detailed Guide to Installing and Configuring Mautic

At GreyMattR Digital, we believe intelligent marketing automation is key for fueling business growth. Using platforms like Mautic, we help companies nurture leads, drive conversions, and promote their brand through personalized multi-channel campaigns.

In this comprehensive tutorial, we’ll walk you through installing the free and open-source Mautic software, optimizing the configuration, importing contacts, segmenting your database, and building your first automated email workflow. With these steps, you’ll have the foundation to start leveraging Mautic’s powerful capabilities for your marketing strategy.

An Introduction to Mautic

For those new to marketing automation, let’s first understand what Mautic enables you to accomplish. At a high level, Mautic allows you to:

• Import contact data from various sources like email lists, social media, web forms, etc.
• Identify the most qualified leads through customized scoring models.
• Segment contacts into lists based on attributes like demographics, behaviors, and interests.
• Orchestrate multi-channel campaigns with automated emails, landing pages, social media, and more.
• Personalize content for individual contacts or segments.
• Track engagement across all touchpoints to nurture contacts towards conversion.
• Generate reports to continuously optimize campaigns and strategy.

As an open source platform, Mautic provides versatile features comparable to expensive tools like HubSpot or Marketo. And by hosting it on your own servers, you maintain full control and access to the data.

At GreyMattR Digital, we often recommend Mautic as a cost-effective automation solution for small to medium businesses. The free license, integrations, and customizations make it a scalable and powerful option. Let’s explore how to install and configure Mautic to cater to your specific marketing needs.

Installing Mautic on Your Web Server

The first step to using Mautic is installing it on your chosen web server. You’ll need:

• PHP 5.6.1 or newer
• MySQL 5.5 or newer
• Web server software like Apache or Nginx

Here are the steps to complete installation:

1. Download the latest stable Mautic package from their website. We recommend always using the most up-to-date version for best performance and security.
2. Unzip the downloaded files and upload them to your web server’s root directory. This is commonly labeled as “htdocs”, “public_html”, or “www”.
3. In your browser, navigate to yourdomain.com/installer (replace with your actual domain). The installation wizard will launch.
4. Follow the on-screen prompts to select language, server settings, database configuration, and set up an administrator account.
5. Once installation completes successfully, delete the /installer folder from the server for security.

After following these steps, you will have Mautic installed and accessible through your configured domain name. The setup wizard makes installation straightforward, but reach out to us if you need assistance with the technical configuration.

Optimizing Global Settings and Configuration

Before diving into creating campaigns and assets, it’s valuable to customize the global settings and defaults in Mautic. Here are some recommended configuration steps:

• Access the Mautic dashboard by going to yourdomain.com/index.php. Bookmark this admin URL.
• Under Configuration > API Settings, enable API mode. This allows full access to Mautic functionality.
• In Configuration > System Settings, update the Site URL to your preferred domain. Set the correct Timezone for your locale.
• Configure your SMTP provider credentials in Configuration > Email Settings. This enables sending email campaigns. Popular options include SendGrid, Mailgun, Gmail, Outlook, and Amazon SES.
• Review the Theme, Custom Code, Cron Jobs, and other settings to match your use case. We can provide advice or customization assistance.
• Enable security through HTTPS and .htaccess password protection. Follow best practices for hosting and backing up data.

Taking time to customize global configurations and defaults now will enable smoother campaign creation down the road. The flexibility is an advantage of Mautic compared to some less open solutions.

Importing Your Contact Database

Expanding your marketing database is critical for running segmented campaigns and nurturing leads. Let’s explore how to import contacts into Mautic:

1. Go to Contacts > Import. Click “New Import”.
2. Give a name to this import for reference. Upload the .CSV file containing your contact data.
3. Map columns from the CSV to standard Mautic fields like name, email, address, tags, titles, etc.
4. Set the line/date format and delimiter characters used in the file. Common formats are comma or semi-colon separated.
5. Match options include creating new contacts or updating details for existing entries, based on email address.
6. Assign imported contacts to existing or new segments.
7. Run a test on a few rows before completing the full import to validate formatting.
8. Your imported contacts will populate in Contacts > Manage Contacts.

Reaching out to our team at GreyMattR Digital for contact list audits and database expansion is another great way to fuel your Mautic campaigns. We utilize diverse tactics from email outreach to social media ads when building marketing lists.

Creating Targeted Segments

Grouping your contacts into relevant segments is vital for running personalized campaigns with Mautic. Segmentation options include:

• Demographic data like location, age, gender, industry, etc.
• Firmographic criteria such as company size, revenue, industry.
• Behavioral activity like email/page clicks, downloads, purchases, etc.
• Engagement level from net new to satisfied repeat customers.
• CRM data, survey responses, social media activity and more.

Here are the basics of creating segments:

1. Go to Contacts > Segments then click “New Segment”
2. Give the segment a descriptive name and configure basic settings like whether a contact can belong to multiple segments.
3. Build filter rules defining the segment using contact fields, behaviors, CRM data, social profiles, and other criteria.
4. Use logical operators like AND/OR to arrange the rules and conditions.
5. Preview the number of contacts who will be included based on the rules. Limit date range as needed.
6. Save and test the segment once rules are refined.

Mautic’s flexible segmenting allows you to group contacts however fits your campaign goals, whether broad batches or ultra-targeted niche lists. Continuously monitor and update segments as new data comes in.

Constructing Your First Campaign

Now for the fun part – creating your first email nurturing campaign! Here are the key steps to building a basic workflow:

1. Go to Campaigns > New Campaign. Give the campaign a name.
2. Visually build the campaign structure using the drag-and-drop Canvas builder.
3. Add emails to the campaign steps. Set timing, number of contacts to engage, and assign contact segments.
4. Use decision tools to branch the campaign based on engagement with emails, landing pages, forms etc.
5. Activate and publish the campaign once ready.
6. Monitor performance from the dashboard widgets. Pause, update and optimize as needed.

Even starting simple will showcase Mautic’s capabilities and the larger potential as you scale campaigns. The visual canvas builder makes constructing multi-channel workflows intuitive.

Expanding Your Marketing Automation

This covers the essential steps for installing Mautic, importing contacts, organizing your database, and launching basic automated campaigns. With the foundation in place, explore more advanced options:

• Build landing pages, surveys and forms to generate new leads.
• Integrate social media and other channels for true omnichannel marketing.
• Leverage Mautic’s detailed contact timelines and campaign reporting.
• Install themes, plugins and integrations from the active community.
• Customize campaigns, assets and code to your needs.
• Personalize outreach even further through custom fields and scoring models.
• And much more!

Marketing automation through Mautic helps nurture meaningful relationships that convert by engaging each contact appropriately. Start simple following this tutorial, then leverage the platform’s possibilities to accomplish your business goals.

The GreyMattR Digital team is here to guide you in applying Mautic or other leading martech tools. Reach out if you need assistance with setup, configuration, campaign creation, integrations, customizations, trainings or a complete managed solution. We look forward to exploring how marketing automation can transform your lead generation and branding.