Marketing Automation Services · Automation Engineering

Marketing automation services from the firm founded to be exactly that.

We were founded as Tactical Marketing Automation, LLC. The name was the business plan.

Most agencies added automation as a line item when the market demanded it. We started there: a marketing automation agency built to be the partner that makes the client's own team stronger, not a vendor the team depends on forever. The services below are the operating layer that sits under your program and keeps it honest.

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What our marketing automation services cover

The phrase covers a lot of ground, so here is the plain version: we audit what is actually running in your platform, repair what has drifted, architect what should exist, build the lifecycle programs, integrate the platform to your CRM so the two behave as one system, keep your email landing in inboxes, and put the governance in place so none of it silently degrades. Then we train your team to run it, because a service that only works while the vendor is in the room is a dependency, not a service.

That framing matters because most marketing automation consulting services are scoped as projects: implement the platform, hand over the keys, exit. The platform then spends the next three years accumulating half-decisions until someone orders another implementation. Our model is an operating layer instead: senior judgment applied continuously, with your team doing more of the work every quarter, not less.

The platforms we run this catalog on: HubSpot, Marketo, Act-On, Pardot (Account Engagement), Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Mailchimp at the smaller end. The service is platform-agnostic on purpose. Platform allegiance is a sales strategy, not an operating discipline.

The service catalog

Seven services, one operating layer. Engagements usually start with the audit and expand into whichever of the rest the findings justify.

1
Audit and repair
A structured read of what's actually running: programs, segments, sync behavior, deliverability, reporting: followed by root-cause repair of what the audit surfaces. Most engagements start here because the gap between what the team thinks is running and what is running decides everything else.
2
Platform architecture
The structural decisions: data model, lifecycle stages, program architecture, naming standards, enrollment guards: designed so the platform ages well instead of accumulating silent debt.
3
Lifecycle and nurture programs
Behavioral programs that follow real buyer behavior rather than the calendar. Scoring, routing, and the nurture architecture between first touch and sales handoff.
4
CRM and systems integration
The sync layer between the marketing platform and the CRM: field mappings, conflict resolution, inclusion logic, and the monitoring that catches drift before it poisons a quarter of data.
5
Deliverability
Authentication, domain and IP reputation, list hygiene, and inbox placement: managed as part of the same discipline rather than outsourced to a separate specialist when the open rate finally drops.
6
Governance and change control
The standards that keep small edits from compounding into silent failures: documentation, versioning, review discipline, and the suppression and naming conventions that make the platform legible to the next operator.
7
Training and handoff
Knowledge transfer built into the engagement. We document what we built and why, train your team to operate it, and structure the retainer so your internal capability grows instead of atrophying.

Why the founding identity matters

Tactical Marketing Automation, LLC was incorporated to do this specific work: not as a creative agency that later bolted on a platform practice, but as the marketing automation partner first. Phil Easley-Bosley spent years inside Act-On as Lead Marketing Automation Strategist, working with thousands of marketing teams, and authored the platform's Marketing Automation Strategy Guide: still in use. That history is why the service catalog reads like an operating layer instead of a menu of deliverables. The work has always been the same: make the client's team capable of running a program their headcount shouldn't be able to sustain.

Supporting guides and definitions

Matching services

See the same work from the platform and delivery angle.

These service pages cover scope, approach, and what an engagement actually delivers.

Act-On →Marketo →Email Marketing →

Frequently asked questions

QWhat do marketing automation services actually include?+

In our catalog: platform audit and repair, architecture, lifecycle and nurture program builds, CRM integration, deliverability management, governance and change control, and team training. Some firms scope the phrase narrower (implementation only) or wider (all of demand gen). Ask any provider for the specific list before comparing prices.

QHow is this different from hiring a marketing automation agency?+

It mostly isn't: we are one, and we were founded as one. The real distinction worth interrogating is the model. Deliverable-shaped agencies implement and exit; an operating-layer engagement owns the platform's health continuously and trains your team as it goes. Both are legitimate; they fit different situations.

QWhat do marketing automation consulting services cost?+

Audit-and-repair projects run six to ten weeks at a defined scope. Ongoing operations are retainer-based, priced on platform footprint, send volume, and integration complexity. As a reference point, the all-in cost is typically well below one specialist hire and covers a wider set of disciplines.

QWhich platforms do you support?+

HubSpot, Marketo, Act-On, Pardot (Account Engagement), Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Mailchimp, plus the CRM side: Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, SugarCRM: and the integration layer between them.

QDo you replace our internal marketing team?+

No. The engagement is designed to make the internal team more capable, not smaller. We carry the platform depth and senior judgment; your team keeps the institutional knowledge and does more of the operating work every quarter.

QCan you take over a platform another agency implemented?+

Routinely. Most of our work is in mature instances that have passed through two or three operators. The audit reads what is actually there; the repair plan follows the evidence rather than the original implementation doc.

QDo we need the full catalog or can we buy one service?+

Single-service engagements are common entry points: a deliverability rescue, an integration repair, an audit. The catalog exists because the disciplines are connected; a deliverability problem is often a list-governance problem wearing a costume.

QHow fast can you start?+

An audit can usually begin within two weeks. First findings land inside the first two to three weeks of the engagement.

QDo you offer marketing automation implementation services?+

Yes. Greenfield implementations: platform selection, data model, lifecycle stages, program architecture, CRM integration: are part of the catalog. Implementation is actually the easier half of the work; most of our engagements are repairing instances that were implemented correctly and then drifted for three years without governance.

QHow do you compare to a platform vendor's professional services?+

Vendor services teams implement their platform correctly; that's the scope. They don't own the CRM side, the deliverability posture, or the governance that follows. The gap between a correct implementation and a trustworthy operation is where most of our engagements live.

QWhat does 'empowering the client's team' mean in practice?+

Documentation your team can actually use, training built into the engagement, and a retainer structured so the work your team can own moves to your team. The measure of a good year is that you need us for harder problems, not the same ones.