In an era where efficiency and data-driven strategies are critical for success, the question isn’t whether businesses should invest in marketing automation — it’s which platforms to choose.
Customer relationship management platforms (CRMs) like HubSpot, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 are often at the center of a business’s marketing automation strategy, providing tools for customer data management, lead management and campaign performance analysis.
That said, a CRM probably isn’t the only marketing automation solution in your tech stack. Email marketing platforms, project management software and social media automation tools are usually in the mix, too. The art of making all of these platforms work together so that you get the most out of them is called marketing automation integration.
What is Marketing Automation Integration?
Marketing automation integration is the process of connecting different automation platforms and tools to deliver more personalized marketing campaigns and streamline internal operations. So what does that actually look like in practice?
It starts with identifying the marketing platforms you want to integrate. This could include your CRM platform, ERP system, email marketing platform, social media automation tools, internal project management and communication software, or anything else that plays a role in your day-to-day marketing efforts.
The second part of the process is choosing an integration method — in other words, deciding how these tools will communicate with each other. This can be done using:
- Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS): iPaaS is a cloud-based solution that acts as a central hub for managing multiple integrations. It includes pre-built integration templates for easy setup and scalability.
- APIs: Typically point-to-point solutions that connect one application to another, APIs can be custom-coded to align with specific marketing needs. However, managing multiple API connectors without an API management solution can be time-consuming and complex.
- Middleware: On-premise solutions like an enterprise service bus (ESB) or message broker, known as middleware, are used to manage integrations within an organization’s internal infrastructure, offering greater control at the cost of higher maintenance.
Jitterbit’s marketing integration automation platform combines the power of iPaaS with API management, EDI and low-code application development to connect your entire business. To learn more, schedule a free demo of the Harmony platform.
Benefits of Marketing Automation Integration
Reduce Manual Errors
Transferring data between systems manually — for example, uploading customer details from your CRM to your email marketing software — is not only inefficient, but also comes with the risk of human error. Integrating systems makes it possible for data to flow back and forth automatically, preventing mistakes by creating a more consistent data transfer process.
Drive Decisions Faster with Real-Time Data
A marketing campaign is only as good as the data behind it. When getting that data involves combining and cross-referencing customer info from multiple platforms, it slows down decision-making and delays campaign launches. Integration connects data from disparate sources automatically to create a single, reliable data source that updates in real-time.
Target Higher-Quality Leads
When it comes to B2B marketing, understanding and targeting high-value accounts is crucial for success. By integrating data from account-based marketing (ABM) tools with your CRM and other marketing platforms, you can get a clearer view of your prospects’ behaviors, needs and engagement patterns — empowering your teams to craft more personalized marketing strategies that align with their unique pain points and goals.
Hyper-Personalize Your Campaigns
From CRM data alone, you might be able to gather basic demographic and contact information that allows you to personalize campaigns based on a customer’s location or age. By integrating your CRM with other data sources, you can go even further, hyper-personalizing campaigns based on purchase data from an ERP, user behavior data from a social media management platform, or even customer support interactions from a helpdesk platform.
Easily Scale Marketing Efforts
Marketing is all about driving growth, but if your marketing efforts aren’t growing alongside your business, it can be difficult to keep up. By syncing customer data across platforms, marketing automation integration makes it easier to manage large data volumes without losing the personal touch your customers value. This, in turn, allows you to efficiently scale your marketing efforts as your business grows.
Examples of Common Marketing Integrations
CRM + ERP = More Personalized Marketing Campaigns
By combining the customer information stored in CRM systems with transaction data from ERP systems, businesses can create more personalized marketing campaigns based on an individual’s purchase behavior.
Example: When a customer makes a purchase, the transaction is recorded in NetSuite (ERP). This data is automatically sent to Salesforce (CRM), updating the customer’s profile in real time. Then, using Salesforce Marketing Cloud, a personalized follow-up email is sent to the purchaser with recommendations for similar products, or a discount on future purchases of the same product.
Explore Jitterbit’s Salesforce and NetSuite Opportunity-to-Order Process Template
CRM + Social Media Tools = Smarter Audience Segmentation
Syncing engagement data from social media with a CRM gives marketers a better understanding of how users interact with their brand, allowing for more precise audience segmentation that goes beyond basic demographic information.
Example: When someone interacts with your brand on social media, Hootsuite (Social Media Tool) records that engagement data and automatically sends it to HubSpot (CRM). In HubSpot, marketing teams can then use this data to segment users based on the type of content they engage with and how they interact, whether that’s through comments, shares, or likes. These segments can be used to send relevant promotions to users who liked a recent product-related post or customize messaging based on a customer’s preferred social media platform.
ERP + Email Marketing Tools = Inventory-Based Promotions
Connecting an ERP system with an email marketing tool lets businesses leverage inventory data to promote products based on stock levels.
Example: When excess inventory is detected in NetSuite (ERP), it triggers an email campaign in MailChimp (Email Marketing Tool) promoting a discount or bundle deal. Similarly, if stock is low for a certain product, MailChimp can send an email encouraging users to take action before it sells out. If a CRM like HubSpot is also integrated, businesses can also send automatic “back in stock” emails to customers who viewed a specific out-of-stock product multiple times.
CRM + Project Management Tools = Streamlined Marketing Workflows
Marketing automation integrations aren’t just about providing better customer experiences: They create better experiences for internal marketing teams, too. By integrating project management tools with your CRM, you can automate daily workflows like creating tasks, updating project statuses and sending follow-up reminders so that tasks are completed on time.
Example: When a new lead is entered into Salesforce (CRM), it triggers the creation of a new project in Asana (Project Management Tool). When that lead’s status is updated in Salesforce, Asana tasks are automatically added to the project based on where that lead is in the sales funnel.
Connect Your Marketing Automation Tools with Jitterbit’s Unified Platform
Whether you’re integrating sales data with your email marketing campaigns or connecting customer data across different platforms, Jitterbit’s enterprise automation platform provides the flexibility to design workflows that meet your specific business goals. From marketing to IT, our all-in-one platform is designed to automate processes across every department.
Learn more about how Jitterbit can help you integrate your marketing automation tools — and so much more — by scheduling a demo with a platform expert.
