The difference between marketing automation and CRM

A client asked me recently what the difference is between marketing automation and CRM and why they needed both systems as part of their fundamental infrastructure. CRM solutions like Salesforce target sales and business development folks and the tasks that are important to them, especially how to input, manage, and track their leads. The unit of measurement used is an opportunity. However, CRM systems don’t do a good job of recording all the marketing activity that happens through multiple channels. For this, we need marketing automation. Most marketing automation applications are designed to do 7 core things: 1. Lead Generation Make sales happy with more qualified leads Convert website traffic into leads, automate lead development, …