Every marketing agency is looking for the next big trend to jump onto. Getting an early advantage will always give you an upper hand over your competitors. But, it’s not always easy to get that advantage when you have hundreds of different puzzle pieces to juggle.
That’s where a CRM comes in. Customer Relationship Management systems aren’t just great when it comes to keeping your customers happy, but they can also become the building blocks of your entire business.
Choosing the right CRM for your marketing agency is a real challenge though. Not all CRMs are created equally, and it’s incredibly time-consuming to take a deep dive into each CRM, especially if you don’t know what to look for. Keep reading to find out how you can choose the perfect CRM for your business.
What is a CRM?
Before we get into choosing the right CRM for your marketing agency, let’s first take a closer look at what a CRM is. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is designed to help businesses easily track their communications and nurture their leads and clients this ultimately helps your business to make more money.
On the surface it might seem like these are the only functions that a CRM has. However, once you start looking further into what a CRM does, you’ll discover that it is, in fact, the foundation of an entire business. When utilised correctly, a CRM can become one uniform system a business can build upon.
The result is more streamlined working spaces, better communication that transcends departments and physical locations, seamless integration with third-party apps, as well as incredible automation that will boost the productivity of your entire team.
How to Choose the Right CRM
There are several different CRM systems to choose from. It can be confusing when you’re considering all of the different options, and at first, it might seem like all of them are the same. However, in reality, not all CRM systems are created equal.
It’s important to do thorough research on each CRM system before you choose to invest in one. Once you begin to dive deeper into each CRM you’ll start to notice the differences between them.
If you’re choosing between two different CRMs for your marketing agency, you might want to consider some important factors. The first factor is the costs involved in implementing the CRM. But this is where you need to be careful — take a look at the example below:
CRM A is the first choice:
• Features XYZ
• Price: $70 per user
CRM B is the second choice:
• Features XYZ
• Price $90 per user
While most people would opt for the less expensive option, it’s not always the best choice. Less expensive CRM products may have hidden costs that you won’t be aware of until you commit to integrating them into your business.
Additionally, there’s a lot more to a CRM than just the price. The features and factors of each CRM can vary, and this could sway your opinion of which CRM to choose at the end of the day. Some of the commonly overlooked factors can include implementation time, customisable options for sales managers, and ease of use.
While one CRM might be famous for a specific feature, you need to evaluate how relevant that feature is for your business. Every business is unique and has its own needs and preferences, which means that no single CRM will be suitable for all businesses. Keep this in mind when doing your research.
Why HubSpot is an Excellent CRM for Marketing Agencies
HubSpot is the standout CRM for marketing agencies. HubSpot is famous for pioneering inbound marketing, and its CRM has a marketing focus which is ideal for any business looking to grow and expand.
But while marketing is a prime focus for CRM, it’s not the only reason why it’s an excellent choice. Hubspot offers its CRM for free, which is something that’s rare to find in the modern CRM landscape. There are no hidden costs or time trails when you opt for the free CRM.
Instead, HubSpot will simply limit some features. Nevertheless, the free version of HubSpot is still a fully functional CRM that small businesses and marketing agencies can take advantage of. Even better, if you decide that you would benefit from upgrading a certain element of the CRM you can do that. You can choose which areas of HubSpot’s package you want to pay for and which you would like to keep for free.
For example, you can choose to just upgrade to the paid version of HubSpot’s marketing, keeping your free customer service and sales packages active. This flexibility is ideal for small and growing businesses as it allows you to identify the key areas you need to work on first before committing to a fully-fledged CRM.