April 16, 2014

WordPressers, should you build your own CRM?

Think it might be great to build your own crm? I want to suggest you consider marketing automation alternatives.

So the question I hear talked about a lot - around WordPress developers - is whether to build their own custom CRM directly inside of WordPress. It's a "eat your own dog food" kind of thing. And of course, many developers even think that maybe it's a product others would buy.

So I thought I would just answer the question right now.

No. Don't. And here's why.

In the end, the benefit of using real marketing automation is much better than using custom post types, a spreadsheet, or trello.

So no, don't build your own crm. It's going to miss out on all that you can get from marketing automation tools.

But I know what you're going to tell me. You'll say that it's a lot less expensive than the market leaders today:

  • HubSpot
  • Act-On
  • Pardot
  • SalesFusion
  • Marketo
  • Eloqua

What I'd tell you is to look at the micro-market, where players like these are.

But even that may be too expensive for right now. In that case, check out:

Either way, using systems like these will help you much more than building your own.

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About the Author

Chris Lema has spent twenty-five years in tech leadership, product development, and coaching. He builds AI-powered tools that help experts package what they know, build authority, and create programs people pay for. He writes about AI, leadership, and motivation.

Chris Lema

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