How to Choose the Best CRM for Marketing Agencies in 2025

Marketing agencies juggle dozens of clients, channels, and campaigns. The right CRM for marketing agencies centralizes pipeline, projects, and client communication while adapting to your exact process. This guide explains what to look for, compares leading options for 2025, and shows how to build a custom, scalable, no-code CRM with Noloco that your team (and clients) will actually use.

Why Marketing Agencies Need a Purpose-Built CRM

Agencies don’t sell one-size-fits-all products; they deliver scopes, retainers, and campaigns across SEO, paid media, social, creative, and analytics. A purpose-built CRM for a marketing agency ties revenue to delivery: you can track opportunities, approvals, tasks, and results in one place then selectively share updates via a secure client portal. This increases transparency, reduces context switching, and shortens cycle times from “won” to “live.”

Common CRM Challenges for Digital Agencies

Even mature agencies struggle when a generic sales CRM is forced into agency work. Here’s what typically breaks and how to spot it early.

Disconnected Campaign and Client Data

When email threads, briefs, ad accounts, and reports live in different tools, account managers lose context and leadership loses visibility. Deals don’t link cleanly to scopes, campaigns, or deliverables; reporting becomes manual, and clients ask for “just one more update.”

The fix is a data model that connects each layer of work: clients link to deals and retainers, which tie into campaigns. Campaigns connect to tasks and assets, which in turn produce results all supported by unified timelines and audit trails.

Limited Customization

Out-of-the-box objects rarely match how agencies operate: you need custom fields for channels, budgets, UTM rules, creative specs, platform IDs, and approval steps. If you can’t tailor pipelines, record layouts, and list/detail views, your team reverts to spreadsheets and shadow tools, creating duplication, rework, and access risks.

Lack of Automation and Collaboration

Onboarding checklists, asset requests, approval pings, weekly status notes, and renewals are often manual. Without built-in client collaboration (or a portal), your team burns hours on follow-ups. Look for workflow automation, scheduled summaries, and client-facing pages so updates and approvals happen where the work lives.

Top Features to Look for in a CRM for Marketing Agencies

A modern agency CRM should feel like a control center, not another silo. Use this checklist as you evaluate options.

Client Lifecycle Tracking

Map your lifecycle from lead → discovery → scoping → proposal → onboarding → delivery → renewal. Support both project-based and retainer motions, with custom fields for channels, SLAs, ad spend tiers, and stakeholders. Tie each stage to automations and required data (briefs, assets, billing info).

Campaign Activity Logs

Every client and deal should roll up a chronological activity log: campaign launches, creative approvals, performance notes, change requests, and linked assets. This creates a single source of truth for success metrics and post-mortems.

Integrated Task and Project Views

Agencies live in tasks. Your CRM should let AMs create tasks right from a deal or campaign and view them as boards, lists, or calendars. Dependencies, timeframes, and assignees should be visible without leaving the record. Bonus: progress widgets and workload views by team or client.

Role-Based Permissions for Teams and Clients

Granular access is non-negotiable. Freelancers shouldn’t see every client; clients should only see what you share. Ensure you can permission by role, record, field, and view, ideally with easy rules (not code). 

Automated Workflows and Notifications

Automate repetitive steps: kick off onboarding when a deal is “Won,” request assets with forms, notify approvers, schedule weekly summaries, and alert AMs when metrics slip. With Noloco AI and workflows, you can generate status drafts and trigger multi-step automations—no scripts required.

Best CRMs for Marketing Agencies in 2025

There’s no universal “best” CRM, it’s all about finding the perfect fit. Below are strong options for agency workflows, plus where each shines and where to be cautious.

Noloco (Best for Custom No-Code CRMs)

What it is: A point-and-click app builder that lets marketing agencies create custom CRM and client portal solutions — either on top of your existing data (like Airtable, Google Sheets, or Postgres/SQL) or using Noloco Tables as a built-in database.

Why agencies pick it: Noloco empowers you to:

• Design your own data models (e.g. clients, retainers, campaigns, tasks, assets)
• Customize interfaces and set user-specific permissions
• Automate processes with Noloco AI and powerful workflows
• Share securely with clients through dedicated portal pages

Strengths:

• Full customization for your agency’s unique processes
• Granular access controls for internal and external users
• Client-facing pages that look professional and are easy to manage
• Fast time-to-value: launch in days, not months
• No need for engineering support
  
  

Considerations: You’ll configure your own model and views (templates help).

HubSpot

What it is: A popular CRM with strong marketing, sales, and service hubs.

Why agencies pick it: Unified marketing/sales stack, robust email & automation, reporting, and an ecosystem of apps.

Strengths: Mature marketing tools, scalable add-ons, good adoption.

Considerations: Costs can rise with contacts, advanced features, and extra hubs; agency workflows may need custom objects and ops work.

Zoho CRM

What it is: A broad, cost-effective CRM that integrates across the Zoho suite.

Why agencies pick it: Flexible customization and solid value for SMB agencies.

Strengths: Competitive pricing, extensibility, marketplace apps.

Considerations: Advanced AI/automation and deeper customization typically sit on higher tiers; UX can vary across modules.

Copper

What it is: A CRM built for Google Workspace.

Why agencies pick it: Native Gmail/Calendar/Drive integration and simple pipeline management.

Strengths: Fast adoption for Google-centric teams, clean interface.

Considerations: Lighter project/automation features; complex agency models may outgrow it.

Build a Custom CRM With Noloco

A custom CRM shouldn’t require a development team. With Noloco, you design exactly what your agency needs, then iterate quickly as services evolve.

Centralize Client Communication and Campaign Data

Bring deals, retainers, briefs, assets, tasks, and performance notes into one place. Use client-facing views so stakeholders can self-serve updates, assets, and reports.

Customize Fields, Pipelines, and Permissions

Model channels, budgets, UTM frameworks, creative specs, and billing rules. Build role-based views for AMs, creatives, analysts, and clients using permissions. Add dashboards with charts and collect inputs via forms.

Automate Client Onboarding and Reporting

Trigger onboarding when a deal is “Won”: generate tasks, request assets, notify teams/clients, and schedule weekly status reports. Draft summaries with Noloco AI; orchestrate multi-step flows in workflows.

Use Templates or Build From Scratch

Kickstart with templates (CRM, portal, project tracker), then tailor fields and views. As you scale, add mobile apps, integrate data sources via integrations, and evolve your internal app alongside a client portal.

Get Started With Noloco’s CRM for Agencies

Choosing a platform is easier when you can try your workflow in minutes. With Noloco, you can prototype a CRM for your marketing agency fast, then refine fields, views, and automations as you test with real client data.

• Explore our CRM and client portal use cases
• Build with a point-and-click app builder and secure access via permissions
  
• Add AI & automations with Noloco AI and smart workflows
  
• Get started quickly with one of our templates

FAQs About CRMs for Digital Marketing Agencies

What is the best CRM for digital marketing agencies?

There’s no single winner. Consider

• Noloco if you want a custom, no-code CRM + client portal that mirrors your workflow and permissions.
  
• HubSpot for a unified marketing + CRM stack with strong automation and reporting.
  
• Zoho CRM for value and breadth across the suite.
  
• Copper for Google Workspace-first teams that want fast adoption.
  

Can Noloco be used to build a custom CRM for my agency?

Absolutely. Use the app builder to design tables, pipelines, and dashboards; secure data with role-based permissions; and automate onboarding, updates, and reporting with Noloco AI. 

How does Noloco help track client campaigns and communications?

Noloco makes it easy to keep track of everything related to your client campaigns in one place. You can connect deals to campaigns, tasks, assets, and performance notes, ensuring your team has full visibility. Approvals and key decisions can be logged directly in the system, so nothing falls through the cracks. When it’s time to share updates, you can create client-facing pages that show only the information your clients need to see. You can also gather inputs using forms and visualize progress with custom dashboards and charts. It’s a simple, powerful way to manage all communications and activity without the usual chaos.

Does Noloco integrate with my existing marketing tools?

Yes, Noloco is built to work seamlessly with the tools you already use. You can connect data from Airtable, Google Sheets, Postgres, SQL databases, and more. With workflows, you can automate data syncing, trigger notifications, and keep everything in your marketing stack up to date. This means less manual work and more time focusing on campaigns that drive results.

What are some other resources related to CRMs for marketing agencies?