Marketing Automation vs. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

It is a common misconception that your marketing automation software is your CRM and that your CRM is your marketing automation software. This could be due to the fact that they usually come as a package — buy marketing automation software… get a free CRM. It is important to note that these perform different functions and therefore should be managed independently.

Typically, your marketing automation platform will be used by your marketing team (shocker, I know!) and your CRM will be used primarily by your sales team. Meaning that a user will likely work through the marketing funnel until they become a marketing/sales qualified lead and then they will be pushed to the sales team and the CRM. This is a typical order of operations, although it can vary for unique situations.

Marketing automation software and CRM software are not mutually exclusive; this is not a situation where you want to choose one or the other (especially when you can get one for free!). You need both. Independently, these are powerful tools but together they provide your business without insights about your audiences and leads that you could have only dreamt about!

Being a creative and marketing agency, we are partial to utilizing most often the capabilities of marketing automation software. The below graphic will show you the main differences between marketing auction and CRM platforms. If you have any questions or want to get started with marketing automation, give us a call!