Marketing automation and CRM platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement or Marketing Account Engagement (Pardot) are powerful tools designed to help businesses streamline their processes, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth. However, many clients fail to utilize these platforms to their full potential, leading to wasted investment and missed opportunities. This article will explore the common reasons why businesses struggle to maximize platform usage and how partnering with the right consulting vendor can address these challenges.

Common Reasons Why Clients Can’t Maximize Platform Usage

1. Managed Services from the Implementation Vendors Are Not Enough

After the initial implementation of platforms like HubSpot Marketing Hub or Salesforce MCE, many clients rely on managed services to maintain and optimize their systems. However, these services often cover only basic tasks such as:

• Initial setup and configuration
• Basic campaign management (e.g., email blasts)
• General maintenance and troubleshooting

Managed services may not include comprehensive support for advanced features such as dynamic segmentation, automated workflows, or data-driven personalization, which are critical for maximizing platform potential. This limited scope results in underutilization of the platform’s full capabilities, turning it into just another “email marketing tool.”

2. Complexity for the Platform Management Team

Many platform management teams come from traditional digital marketing backgrounds or outsource to marketing agencies and may not have experience with sophisticated automation or CRM systems. Without in-depth knowledge of features like:

• Advanced workflow automation
• Multi-channel campaign orchestration
• Personalization strategies

These teams often struggle to adopt and leverage the platform’s full range of features. The complexity of managing these platforms can overwhelm users, leading to a situation where they only use the platform for simple email marketing rather than more advanced automation and customer engagement processes.

3. Lack of Defined Marketing Funnels (Outbound to Inbound)

Another major obstacle is the lack of clearly defined marketing funnels. Many businesses don’t have a strategy in place that integrates both inbound and outbound marketing efforts. Without a structured funnel, they miss opportunities to:

• Automate lead nurturing from initial awareness through to conversion
• Optimize sales and marketing handoffs
• Segment and target audiences with personalized content

As a result, businesses aren’t able to create effective marketing automations or workflows that drive lead conversion and engagement

How to Optimize the Performance of Using a Marketing or CRM Platform More Effectively?

Maximizing platform usage isn’t just about implementing the tools—it’s about ongoing optimization and strategic consulting. Here’s how businesses can overcome these challenges:

1. Work with a Martech Solutions Consulting Vendor

A specialized consulting vendor can help bridge the knowledge gap by offering deeper expertise in marketing automation, CRM systems, and data-driven marketing. Consulting vendors go beyond the scope of managed services by:

• Conducting comprehensive platform audits
• Building and optimizing automation workflows
• Training teams on advanced platform features
• Creating data segmentation strategies for targeted marketing

For a reasonable fee, a consulting vendor can help clients fully utilize the platform’s capabilities, maximizing the ROI of their technology investment.

2. Leverage More Ways to Apply Advanced Features from the Platform

A consulting vendor will work with the client to map out how the platform’s features align with their specific business goals. This includes:

• Defining marketing funnels from outbound to inbound
• Setting up and refining automation processes
• Developing campaigns that target specific customer segments

By ensuring the platform is directly supporting business objectives, clients can see a higher return on their investment.

3. Timely Action is Needed to Use the Platform as Effectively as Possible

Most marketing automation and CRM platforms are offered on a subscription basis, often with a minimum commitment of two years. If businesses fail to optimize their usage, they risk:

• Not setting up sufficient automation or workflow processes for sales and marketing
• Failing to execute diverse marketing campaigns across multiple channels
• Underutilizing key features like lead scoring, personalization, or automating the process of nurturing and converting leads

Ultimately, not maximizing platform usage is a waste of money. Businesses are paying for tools they’re not fully leveraging, and in a competitive market, this could lead to missed opportunities, poor customer engagement, and lower revenue.

Implementing a marketing automation or CRM platform is only the first step. Without proper platform management, optimization, and strategy, clients risk underutilizing these powerful tools. Partnering with a consulting vendor ensures businesses can maximize platform usage, align it with their business goals, and get the most value from their technology investment.