Short explainer (YouTube video) contrasting CRM and marketing automation, describing how they differ in ownership and function and how they work together. Emphasizes three combined benefits—visibility, automation (personalized journeys), and joint reporting that ties marketing activity to revenue—and directs viewers to Trailhead and other videos for more detail.
A lot of people get confused when we talk about marketing automation and CRM. So what's the difference and how can they work together? Let's find out right now. Many businesses get confused with the differences between CRM and marketing automation, so let me help you out. A CRM gives businesses a complete view of their leads, prospects, and customers. CRM is often owned by sales, where marketing automation is owned by marketing. The two tools work in tandem. Marketing automation is used to manage campaigns, create assets such as landing pages and emails, and manage the programs those leads create. When the two tools are used together, they have three very powerful outcomes. The first is visibility. The CRM is a database where sales inputs data such as calls, emails and meetings. The marketing automation platform adds to that the individual interactions from the prospect, such as which content did each person look at? Or which emails did they open. This data gives sales the critical visibility to know who to talk to, when and what about. The second is automation. Marketing automation tools allow businesses to create truly personal customer journeys. The automations know exactly what to send to whom and when. Once the leads have been passed over to sales, the connection between the two tools is still strong. Marketers can create other automated programs sales can deploy directly from within the CRM. The final way the two tools work together is through reporting. With the two tools, integrated marketing can now track each lead they pass over, know when it closes, and even how much revenue it generated. This allows marketing to show their contribution to the bottom line. CRM and marketing automation are both powerful tools and when combined, businesses are able to generate more leads, close them faster, and prove the value of those efforts. Ready to learn more? You can head over to Trailhead for a deeper dive or you can check out the rest of the videos in this series. Thanks for watching.
