21 Nov CRM in Marketing: Implement, Automate, and Measure to Grow
CRM in Marketing: Implement, Automate, and Measure to Grow
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the key tool that allows us to gather, organize, and manage the relationship with our customers and prospects, ensuring that all teams act with the right information at the right time.
When we apply a CRM to marketing, it becomes the operational core of the strategy, moving beyond the function of a simple database. It’s essential for coordinating campaigns, personalizing messages at scale, and making data-driven decisions. In our experience, it allows us to: know each contact and their unique context, orchestrate campaigns and automations, prioritize high-value leads, work with sales and service teams in alignment, measure the real impact on revenue, and most importantly continuously learn to improve.
What a CRM Solves in Your Day to Day
In the fast paced world of marketing, where teams manage multiple projects at once, the CRM is the factor that brings order and focus. How? By working with reliable data and keeping all channels connected, we can build dynamic, up-to-date segmentation.
This, in turn, simplifies daily operations. Think about automatic tasks, saved views that eliminate repetitive searches, or templates that ensure consistency. Plus, reporting becomes a regular practice, not an occasional torture. With dashboards customized by campaign, channel, and stage, you get immediate visibility into: what’s working today, where the bottlenecks are, and what you should prioritize. This data clarity enables fast decision-making and leads to much more useful and strategic conversations between marketing, sales, and service.
Key Benefits of CRM in Marketing
Implementing a CRM transforms how marketing teams operate. Here are the most tangible benefits we experience, which help build that bridge between marketing investment and company revenue:
- Strategic Channel Connection: Links ad accounts, social media, website, and landing pages to view the source, campaign, performance, and the entire customer journey in one place.
- Unified, Clean Data (The Foundation of Everything): A single record per contact/company with well-defined properties. This is the non-negotiable basis for correct segmentation and generating reliable reports.
- Smart Segmentation and Personalization: Lists that automatically update based on user interest and behavior to ensure timely and relevant communication.
- Time Saving Automations: Implementation of progressive nurtures, internal reminders, and automatic tasks that free up your team from repetitive work.
- Lead Prioritization (Lead Scoring): Assigning a score based on real buying signals to focus marketing and sales efforts where the probability of converting to an SQL is highest.
- Strategic Alignment with Sales and Service (SLA): The handoff is done with full context and clear response times, reducing friction and improving close velocity.
- Traceability and Attribution: Accurately measures media investment, traceability, and spending per campaign, allowing you to optimize budget and resources.
- Dashboards for Informed Decisions: Panels for generation, quality, and revenue that show performance and results by channel/campaign, quickly identifying bottlenecks.
- Growth with the Current Base (Fidelization): Post-sale journeys, surveys, and renewal flows that enable you to activate cross-sell, upsell, or referral strategies.
- Continuous Learning: Facilitation of A/B tests, analysis of disqualification reasons, and constant feedback to adjust messages, channels, and content.
The Thread: Aligning Marketing, Sales, and Service
One of the most relevant and highest-impact aspects for the business is getting marketing, sales, and service to work in sync. The CRM is the bridge that allows us to share context, speak the same language, and advance opportunities with the least possible friction.
From Interest to Sales Opportunity
When a contact fits the profile we’re looking for and shows qualified interest, marketing flags them as ready for the handoff (the MQL, Marketing Qualified Lead). Sales then takes over and confirms if there is real potential to open a commercial opportunity (the SQL, Sales Qualified Lead). It’s crucial to understand this as a data-guided conversation to ensure no marketing effort is wasted.
Clear Agreements (SLA) and Handoff
It’s critical to agree on response times (SLA) and define what essential information must travel with each record: pages viewed, forms completed, most recent interactions. The CRM’s automation ensures this happens without human intervention:
- MQL criteria are met.
- The CRM updates the pipeline stage and creates an immediate task for Sales.
- The complete contact history is automatically attached.
If Sales decides not to move forward, they log the reason for disqualification. That feedback signal goes back to marketing so we can adjust messages, segmentations, and campaigns. It’s a cycle of continuous feedback and learning.
By implementing this contextual handoff, the benefits are immediate: there is a potential increase in the meeting rate, and sales conversations are more direct. Why? Sales stops receiving “cold lists” and starts working with leads that already have a history.
Automation in Marketing with the CRM: More Than Just Email
Automation is the true value of the CRM. While sending emails is a basic function, the real potential lies in implementing processes that scale your team’s efficiency. Here are a few examples of relevant and useful automated flows to start with:
| Workflow | Detail and Function |
|---|---|
| Stage Based Nurturing | Progressive email flows (tools, comparisons, case studies) designed to gradually educate and mature the contact's interest |
| Dynamic Lead Scoring | Assigns points for high-value actions (visiting the pricing page, downloading a case study, email interaction, company industry/size) for objective prioritization |
| Automatic Tasks for Sales | When an MQL shows a high-intent signal (e.g., visits the pricing page), the system creates an immediate task for the salesperson, including the context and a suggested follow up snippet |
| Inactives Reactivation | If a contact remains inactive for 60 days, a reactivation sequence automatically triggers, focused on reawakening their interest |
| Data Hygiene and Normalization | Flows that standardize values, deduplicate, and complete key properties, keeping the database clean to improve segmentation and reports |
| SLA Non Compliance Alerts | If there is no response from Sales within X hours, a notification is sent to the manager and escalated, preventing the loss of valuable leads |
| Audience Sync with Ads | Adds or removes contacts from platform audiences (Google, Meta, LinkedIn) based on dynamic CRM lists, optimizing investment and personalizing the message (very useful for budget optimization) |
Connecting Paid Media to the CRM: Traceability and Attribution
Efficiency is maximized when we connect paid media campaigns directly to the CRM. We want every advertising interaction to provide useful context. Only then can we understand where contacts come from, what ad creative motivated them, and how they progress to become a business opportunity. This visibility facilitates better planning, precise investment adjustment, and the ability to clearly explain results.
Connecting Media in the CRM
- Define a UTM Standard: Create and share a naming convention with the team for source, medium, campaign, content, and, if necessary, term
- Activate Native Integration or a Connector: Sync leads and ad spend data between the ad platform and the CRM
- Add Custom Properties: Create contact fields to supplement source information if necessary (e.g., originating form)
- Configure Panels and Reports: Monitor efficiency metrics like CPL, Cost per MQL (CPMQL), Cost per SQL (CPSQL), ROI, among others.
The Relevance of Attribution Models
Attribution models in the CRM allow us to know:
- First Touch: To understand how they initially discovered us
- Last Touch: To identify which specific interaction drove the jump to Sales
- Multi-touch: To recognize the value of all intermediate interactions (example: ad > downloaded guide > nurturing email > meeting).
With these kinds of insights, we can move from assumptions to understanding how all channels contribute to the customer’s decision process and adjust budgets with solid evidence.
CRM Implementation: The Key Role of the Champion
Before discussing phases, it is essential to name a project leader (a champion). Their role is one of leadership: aligning marketing, sales, and service; unblocking dependencies; ensuring data quality; guaranteeing team adoption; and keeping the focus on business objectives. Without clear leadership, the project can quickly dissolve into scattered tasks.
With this leadership, the plan becomes executable. Broadly speaking, here’s how the phases for implementing a CRM might look. This example serves to guide the pace and priorities, but it can always vary based on the maturity, size, and type of business:
| Phase | Main Focus | Example Milestones |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Strategic Alignment and Foundations | Plan the data architecture, define the objectives and scope of the CRM | - Definition of success KPIs and customer profile - Creation of the field/property dictionary and lifecycle stages - Mapping of marketing, sales, and customer journey processes - Initial configuration of users, roles, and permissions |
| Phase 2: Data Cleaning and Migration | Ensure the quality of historical data before activating any automation | - Audit and standardization of existing data - Database cleanup: deduplication and correction of inconsistent values - Migration of historical contacts, companies, and deals to the CRM - Creation of initial master lists (Segmentation by ICP/Vertical) |
| Phase 3: Connections and Integrations | Guarantee a 360º view by connecting the CRM with the company's ecosystem | - Integration of marketing channels (website, forms, ads, social media, email, LPs...) - Transactional connection: if applicable integration with e-commerce, ERP, or Apps (order/invoicing/inventory sync) - Definition and deployment of the UTM convention for traceability |
| Phase 4: Automation and Go-Live | Activate the CRM's intelligence and formalize the Service Level Agreement (SLA) | - Implementation of lead scoring - Configuration of progressive nurturing by lifecycle stage - Formalization of the SLA (MQL, automatic tasks, disqualification reason) - End to End Testing (QA): validating form flows, scoring, and handoff to sales - Construction of lead generation and quality dashboards |
| Phase 5: Adoption, Documentation, and Scaling | Ensure usage, continuous learning, and preparation for subsequent growth | - Training for teams (Mkt/Sales) on the new processes - Creation of the usage playbook (templates, snippets, documentation) - Monitoring adoption and resolving friction during the first month - Planning for exploration of AI, multi-touch attribution, and A/B tests |
The champion must support each milestone, facilitate decisions, and validate progress weekly. Without that leadership figure and planning, implementing a CRM can turn into a headache.
Things to Avoid When Implementing a CRM in Marketing
Before blaming the software for a lack of results, it’s essential to review the execution and processes. These are the most frequent pitfalls we see and a practical way to avoid them:
- No Owner or Measurable Plan: Appoint a champion with clear objectives, a calendar or action plan with deadlines, and weekly reviews. Their job is to align teams, unblock dependencies, and keep the focus on the business
- Automating with Disorganized Data: Start by cleaning and normalizing fields, deduplicating contacts, and agreeing on naming conventions. Only then activate workflows and scoring on a reliable foundation
- Properties and Fields Without Purpose: Maintain a living field dictionary, eliminate redundancies, and prioritize only the properties that marketing, sales, and service actively use for segmentation and reporting
- Unrealistic Expectations: The CRM alone won’t fix a flawed message or a weak value proposition. Use it to execute better, measure accurately, and learn faster, aligning the scope with real resources and timelines
Stack and Best Practices in Hubspot CRM
As a specialized agency, these are the components we recommend getting ready in a platform like Hubspot to ensure marketing, sales, and service work in perfect sync from the start:
- Fundamental Key Properties: Define primary interest, vertical, stage, lead score, disqualification reason, and last interaction. This allows you to segment better and objectively understand why a lead advances or stops
- Dynamic Lists: Create automatic lists based on intent (contacts visiting critical pages), interaction recency, and vertical/segment. This allows you to activate campaigns and Ads audiences without manual work
- Control Panels: Prepare generation, quality, and revenue dashboards. Include metrics like “MQL by topic or campaign” and “SQL by channel” to detect which messages and channels contribute higher-quality leads
- Standard Templates: Use email templates with a single CTA and landing pages with social proof and brief FAQs. Standardizing assets speeds up production and maintains brand consistency
KPIs and Checklist for Starting to Measure
Before falling into the trap of over-measuring, define what key questions you want to answer. These KPIs and a light checklist will help you decide with clarity and maintain focus on growth.
| Focus | KPIs | What We Want to Understand |
|---|---|---|
| Generation | Leads per day/week, % new vs. known, and CPL (Cost Per Lead) | The pace of database growth and its acquisition cost |
| Quality | Advancement from "Interest to MQL," from "MQL to SQL," and booking or call rate | If campaigns are attracting real, qualified opportunities |
| Sales | Opportunities created, win rate, and sales cycle | The potential impact on revenue and where the bottlenecks are commercially |
| Loyalty | NPS/CSAT, Referrals, and % of cross/upsell | The health of the current database, satisfaction, and organic growth potential |
Conclusion and Next Step: Don’t Overload the Start
A well-implemented CRM brings clarity to daily work and boosts not only what already works in marketing but the growth of the entire organization.
Our experience has taught us that business results arrive when we combine three relevant pillars: reliable data, automation with purpose, and real agreements with sales and service.
The first step doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Define a minimal list of essential properties, activate a stage-based nurture, and review a shared dashboard every Monday. With that in motion, improving communication between teams, prioritizing leads accurately, and adjusting ad spend will organically become part of the team’s workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a CRM in marketing?
It is the software that helps manage customer relationships. In marketing, it allows you to centralize contact, campaign, and media information to segment better, automate communications, and measure which actions drive opportunities and revenue.
2. How do I choose where to start?
Start with the basics: minimum properties (source, campaign, interest, stage), one nurture per stage, and a generation/quality dashboard. With that, the team sees progress without getting overloaded.
3. How long does a CRM implementation take?
It depends on several factors, but generally, a 90-day plan could work well, considering the minimum phases: data and properties, connected campaigns and reporting, optimization, and scaling.
4. How do I set up a useful lead score without overcomplicating it?
One possible way is to assign points to clear signals: critical pages (pricing, comparisons), recency of interaction, industry/size, and consumed content. Review the model monthly with your sales team.
5. What should I watch out for when migrating data to a CRM?
It is essential to consider: cleaning and normalization, deduplication, a field dictionary, and clear mappings. Import the data in stages or phases and validate with samples.
6. When does it make sense to scale the plan or licensing?
When the team consistently uses segmentations, automations, and reports, and you need more capacity (for example, in users or limits) or advanced functions. Scale with a clear use case and a champion.
