In this article, we'll dive into the importance of a CRM and a Marketing Automation solution for your tech startup. From day one, it’s crucial to track your company’s sales activities effectively.

While most CRMs offer similar features today, it’s essential to evaluate specific aspects to ensure your current and future needs are met. The cost of a CRM and Marketing Automation solution can increase significantly as your contact list grows. To avoid unnecessary expenses, it's crucial to maintain an up-to-date CRM by removing contacts that don’t bring commercial value. For instance, job applications, companies reaching out to pitch irrelevant services, or contacts collected through content download forms can clutter your system.

For marketers, it's just as important to assess the marketing automation capabilities of the platform. You’ll want features like email marketing, automation workflows to organize your database, personalized reports, variable creation to qualify prospects more accurately, and native integrations with your other tools like webinar platforms or Slack.

Marketing automation is indispensable for your organization. By reducing manual tasks and human error, you save time and improve efficiency across your team. This article explores two key aspects of CRM and Marketing Automation that will help you better manage your database and analyze both online and offline campaigns.

Online Lead Management

Nowadays, CRM and Marketing Automation products have reached an unprecedented level of maturity. Ten years ago, Marketing Automation solutions were rare, often requiring advanced development skills. Today, with just a few clicks, everything can be automated, saving you considerable time. Most platforms now offer native integrations or can be connected using tools like Zapier or Make.

Your website is your company’s digital storefront, showcasing the value of your products and services. It often consists of a homepage and multiple pages outlining your offerings. Importantly, it’s the primary place where prospects will reach out via contact forms or demo requests. Ensuring that these forms are well-structured is vital for seamlessly feeding data into your CRM. This allows your sales team to be notified in real-time when new leads come in and ensures personalized follow-up communication.

For example, you can create a list of people who signed up for a recent webinar but didn’t attend. From there, send them a personalized email like, "Missed our webinar? Don’t worry, our next session is scheduled for [date]." With your CRM and Marketing Automation in sync, the possibilities for creative, segmented communication are almost endless, depending on your use case.

Offline Lead Management

Offline lead management is just as critical, whether you're attending trade shows, conferences, or any in-person event where you meet potential clients. It’s essential to capture these leads directly into your CRM. If you’re an exhibitor at an industry event, consider opting for a badge scanner. This tool will provide basic contact details like first name, last name, company, and email address.

Pro tip: If you only have one scanner for your booth, ask your team to take photos of badges throughout the day, and then scan them later. Tested and approved! If you don’t have access to a scanner, the old-fashioned way of manually collecting contact details or business cards works just fine.

Before attending events, it’s a good idea to set up a custom event variable in your CRM. This helps you track prospects by the specific event, calculate your cost per lead (CPL), and ultimately, determine your return on investment (ROI) when these leads convert into customers.

Conclusion

CRM and Marketing Automation go hand-in-hand and are essential for any organization. Integrating a CRM early on ensures precise tracking of your sales pipeline and client interactions. As your company grows, new team members will need to understand the sales history and relationships with clients and partners. A CRM serves as a powerful onboarding tool, giving context on your market and enabling more targeted efforts at the right time.

Marketing Automation complements this by streamlining data exchanges, automating repetitive tasks for your team, and ensuring that the right variables are applied when a prospect takes a specific action—like saving lead information from a marketing campaign and attributing the correct source.

If you have any questions about CRM or Marketing Automation, feel free to reach out!