The Client
Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Learning is a leading K-12 edtech company using research to dramatically improve learning outcomes for students, providing award-winning math, literacy, world languages, professional learning, and high-impact tutoring solutions to more than 5.5 million students and educators in all 50 states and Canada. Its growth marketing team ran campaigns on a legacy marketing automation platform holding about 1.1 million contacts alongside Salesforce. With that platform up for renewal in 2023, Carnegie Learning engaged Aptitude 8, to move to HubSpot.
The Problem
Carnegie Learning faced challenges using its legacy marketing automation platform to meet their ambitious marketing goals:- Time-consuming processes: List building and asset creation took longer than expected.
- Limited cross-channel analytics: Reporting across channels was limited, restricting insights into marketing performance.
- Integration issues: Marketing leads didn’t sync automatically with Salesforce, creating inefficiencies and fragmented data views.
- Lifecycle ambiguity: Unclear definitions of lifecycle stages in Salesforce made tracking lead progress difficult, resulting in confusion in sales pipeline analysis.
- Data model built for growth: As Carnegie Learning’s product portfolio expanded, clearer lead and contact definitions in Salesforce were needed to support more precise segmentation and targeting.
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Limited Control
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Limited Control
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Limited Control
The Solution
Phase 1 — Discovery & Alignment
- Facilitated six discovery sessions with leadership, marketing operations, web, SDR, and account executive teams
- Ran a joint Salesforce and marketing automation workshop to document current lead flow and sync requirements
- Mapped MCH Data list pulls, website form submissions, and Sample Center registrations from end to end
- Converted interview findings into user stories that defined the migration and integration scope
- Documented the requirement to trace marketing-sourced leads through Salesforce opportunities to closed won
Phase 2 — System Design & Data Modeling
- Standardized 184 MCH job titles into one governed title property with consistent spellings
- Mapped every job title to 24 product lines as influencer, decision maker, or senior decision maker
- Defined HubSpot lifecycle stages aligned to Salesforce lead and contact status values
- Defined distinct lead and contact records in Salesforce to support more precise segmentation and targeting
- Configured custom persona properties supporting vertical targeting across math, literacy, and world languages
Phase 3 — Implementation & Integration
- Migrated the legacy contact database and marketing activity history into HubSpot Marketing Hub
- Built over 100 HubSpot workflows automating list management, persona assignment, title-to-vertical mapping, and lead routing
- Configured the HubSpot and Salesforce connector to sync lead and contact records in both directions
- Deployed a Visualforce window that shows HubSpot engagement history on Salesforce lead records
- Integrated Zoom webinars to capture registrations, attendance, and non-attendees directly in HubSpot
Phase 4 — Reporting & Analytics
- Built HubSpot reports and dashboards measuring marketing performance across channels and product lines
- Grouped emails, forms, and landing pages into HubSpot campaigns for side-by-side performance comparison
- Configured sync health monitoring so marketing operations can find and resolve integration errors
- Enabled Zoom webinar properties for reporting on registrations, attendance totals, and average attendance duration
Phase 5 — Training & Enablement
- Delivered HubSpot training covering objects, custom views, lists, personas, campaigns, email, and forms
- Trained the team to build custom reports and dashboards, basic workflows, and Zoom webinar segments
- Covered integration sync health, error files, sync types, and settings for marketing operations staff
- Supported the client team in live sessions rebuilding email templates, forms, and landing pages
- Transitioned Carnegie Learning to an ongoing support agreement for continued HubSpot optimization
The Outcome
- Legacy platform retired, removing a six-figure annual cost and consolidating marketing in HubSpot
- Connected marketing-sourced leads to Salesforce opportunities through lifecycle stages shared by both connected systems
- Gave sales reps HubSpot engagement history inside Salesforce lead records through a Visualforce window
- Captured Zoom webinar registrations, attendance, and no-shows in HubSpot automatically for segmented follow-up campaigns
- Standardized persona data so campaigns target decision makers by product line and buying role
Strategic Impact
- Establishes one governed source of marketing data across every Carnegie Learning product line
- Gives leadership campaign-to-revenue visibility needed to justify marketing investment decisions
- Provides a standardized data model for onboarding new records as the product portfolio grows
- Aligns marketing and sales on shared lifecycle definitions as teams and territories scale
Persona mapping now covers all 24 Carnegie Learning product lines.
Six discovery sessions aligned leadership, marketing, and sales on scope.
Training covered 12 topics, from CRM objects to sync health.
HubSpot now brings together data from Salesforce and Zoom in one place.
The Tools
Former Tech Stack
New Tech Stack
What the client is saying...
Grace Bratzel | Carnegie
“We chose Aptitude 8 as our partner because they combine proven expertise with software companies and deep experience in edtech, so they understood our business from day one. With HubSpot as our growth platform and Aptitude 8 as our partner, we’ve connected marketing to revenue and built a data foundation that scales with our product portfolio..”
Marketing Operations Director
HOW WE SET YOU UP FOR SUCCESS
Next Steps
Aptitude 8 sequenced the engagement from discovery through migration, integration, and training, rebuilding the data model, automation, and reporting in one platform as Carnegie Learning moved off its legacy platform. Standardized job titles, persona mappings, and lifecycle definitions applied the same governance rules across HubSpot and Salesforce, giving marketing and sales one shared data model. Role-specific training on reporting, workflows, and sync health transferred daily ownership to marketing operations, and an ongoing support agreement keeps the platform aligned as Carnegie Learning grows.
About Aptitude 8
Implement. Integrate. Optimize.
Aptitude 8 is a technical consulting firm that helps companies make their business process, and the tools they use to deliver it, a competitive advantage. In today's business environment, the experience your customers have when buying from you is just as important as what you're selling. We build it better.
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