We are at the center of the fourth industrial revolution, with technologies dominating every sector we know of. Primarily, marketing has significantly changed drastically over the past year. So, with all the different software categories, it becomes tough for you to choose the right one for your business.
Without proper planning to choose software, you are at risk of making faulty investments. Currently, many professionals have a tough time figuring out the difference between CRM and CMS. So, today’s blog will focus on CRM vs. CMS and how you can select the best one for your business.
What are CRM and CMS?
1. CRM
The expansion of CRM is the Customer Relationship Management system. As the name suggests, it helps you manage the interactions you have with your customers/clients. It enables you to store, organize and manage all customer information under one roof. This tool is beneficial for your sales and marketing team to keep track of their leads.
If you have many customers on your database, handling them without the perfect CRM for business can become burdensome. There are many CRM tools available in the market today. And it can become tough to choose one for your business. Let us take a look at some best CRM features that your selection must-have.
a. Contact Management
The primary purpose of a CRM is its ability to store and manage contacts. So, this is one of the critical features of this software.
b. Tracking Customer Interaction
You have to have all the past records of interaction with a customer to provide a customized experience. Irrespective of the mode of interaction, the tool must store all kinds of interactions with the customer.
c. Lead Management Tools
Handling potential customers start with qualifying and ranking them. You can do this with the help of a CRM tool. The CRM workflow follows specific steps to qualify the leads. It saves time and effort for your sales team members.
d. Email Integration
Managing your emails from a centralized platform helps you track your employees’ interactions through the company email. It basically improves transparency and accountability within an organization.
e. Pipeline Management
Apart from all the other features, it acts as a project management tool for the sales team. You can assign the tasks through the software and manage different aspects of the sales pipeline.
f. Reports and Analytics
You should be able to generate extensive reports and detailed analytics through the CRM tool. Since it already has all the information needed to make accurate reports, it reduces the time taken to manually create accounts.
With the latest advancements, you can also integrate the marketing automation software with CRM tools to bridge the communication gap between the sales team and your marketing team.
2. CMS
The expansion of CMS is Content Management System. The CRM and CMS tools have no similarities or whatsoever. But tools like CRM, CMS, and marketing automation altogether make the marketing process more accessible. Even if you do not use a CRM, you will have to start with CMS for business.
It is a tool you can use to manage all the content you publish on your website. For example, WordPress. You should never compromise on your website. A good quality website is what drives engagement and, thus, sales. There will be so many templates for you to start your web development journey with. So basically, CMS tools help you create website content that resonates with your brand.
The following are some key features of a CMS tool:
a. Domain Names
Tooling a CMS in business lets, you create custom domain names. Having a domain name that matches your brand name significantly improves your website traffic.
b. Web Hosting
Most CMS platforms come with a hosting service that lets your website stay online. But for better speeds and accessibility, many people prefer using a dedicated hosting service.
c. Site Management
The CMS tools also have options using which you can modify the elements of your website. For example, launching a new page on your website can now become quick.
d. Content Library
Many CMS tools have a massive repository of templates and images. It helps you quicken your process of website creation and deployment.
e. eCommerce Tools
Almost every CMS has dedicated tools for making your eCommerce website more interactive. You can also manage all your product catalogs in a streamlined fashion.
CRM Vs CMS
| CRM | CMS |
| It is a tool for organizing and managing all your contacts. | It is a system that you use to manage and publish content on your website. |
| Primarily used by the sales team to make a sales pipeline more customized. | Primarily used by the marketing team to create and deploy useful content that drives engagement. |
| You can forecast sales using the best CRM software for business. | You can find customer engagement on your website based on the content you publish. |
| You start employing a CRM only after you gather enough client base. | CMS is the first tool you should use to gather leads for your business. |
Is It Necessary for a Business to Have These Tools?
The short answer is yes. But, it all depends on your business. Depending on the type of business, you may or may not need a CRM. Tools like CRM, business intelligence, and other such software almost provide the same features.
But, CRM has more advanced features. However, whatever your business is, you need to have a CMS. If you are skeptical about whether you actually need a CMS, you can choose from some of the best free CMS for small businesses.
List of CRM Tools
The following is the list of CRM tools you should consider before choosing one from the plenty of available tools.
1. HubSpot
Probably one of the most popular choices among B2B businesses. It is the best B2B CRM suite that combines various marketing automation features. It lets you perform omnichannel interaction and tracking to improve your overall sales process. This software suite is also famous for its ability to integrate with multiple productivity tools.
2. Salesforce
This is another massive player in the CRM field. It is one of the best B2C CRM tools in the market. Customization is the key to the success of this extensive software suite.
3. Keap
Keap is a CRM tool that is popular among small businesses. Many consider it to be the best CRM for SMEs and startups. It deserves this title mainly because of its impressive cost-to-features ratio.
List of CMS Tools
Despite the increasing number of CMS tools, a more significant percentage of businesses rely on any one of these popular options:
1. WordPress
You probably already know this, but WordPress is the best free CMS for small businesses and every other kind of business alike. Since it is open-source, you can customize your website according to your will. There are many plugins and numerous support platforms for you to get started with your website development.
2. Weebly
Similar to WordPress, Weebly is also a drag-and-drop content management system. Plus, it has a better user experience than WordPress. Moreover, you do not need additional plugins to check the analytics of your website.
3. Joomla
It is another popular free and open-source CMS. If you want a CMS that can grow along with your business, then Joomla should be your go-to solution.
What Amount of Budgeting Do You Need for These Services?
This is another significant difference between CRM and CMS tools. As you can see from the above tools, the most popular CMS tools are free of charge. The only cost will be the fee for hosting your website on a good server. Also, you must base your budget depending on the type of web hosting service you choose. You can choose from various options like shared server, virtual private server, etc.
Hence, you have to first decide the type of hosting service to estimate a feasible budget. When it comes to a CRM tool, there are many factors that you should consider before allotting a budget. The following are some factors that you must base your budget on:
- Need analysis
- System cost
- Employee training cost
- Data transfer cost
- Storage cost
Apart from these factors, there can be many hidden charges when you buy a CRM for business. So, when choosing a CRM solution for your business, you need to query about the future maintenance and update costs from the vendor.
Future of CRM and CMS
According to Gartner, the global CRM market will grow by 13.7% by the end of 2021.
Similarly, CMS will experience a growth rate of 15.7% in the upcoming years.
Conclusion
From this blog, you can conclude that CRM and CMS are very different in their functionality and intended purpose. However, for streamlining your business in this digital era, you need them both in your industry. CRM vs. CMS might be the trending debate topic, but we can conclude that they only have the letters’ C’ and ‘M’ in common.
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