If you’re running B2B marketing, you know that connecting your data sources can be a mess. You’ve got leads moving jobs, sales reps chasing outdated contacts, and marketing emails going to dead inboxes. Enter Champify, a tool that helps you track job changes and stay in touch with the right people. But here’s the catch—Champify’s only valuable if you can sync it with your marketing automation tool (think HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, or even plain old Mailchimp).
This guide is for B2B marketers, ops folks, and anyone else who’s tired of wrestling with disconnected tools. I’ll show you how to actually get Champify data working with your marketing automation stack—no fluff, just the steps, the gotchas, and what’s worth your time.
Why bother syncing Champify with marketing automation?
Before you start wiring up tools, it’s worth asking: do you really need this? If you care about:
- Not missing out on warm contacts when they switch companies
- Triggering timely campaigns based on real changes
- Avoiding the “who the heck is this?” moment for your sales team
…then it’s worth the setup. But don’t expect magic. This won’t fix bad content, lazy sales follow-up, or an overcomplicated workflow. It just gives you fresher data and a shot at smarter automation.
Step 1: Map out what you want to happen (don’t skip this)
It’s tempting to jump right into connectors and zaps, but resist. Sketch out what you want first. Ask yourself:
- Which data from Champify do you actually care about? (Job changes, new employer, updated email, etc.)
- What should happen in your marketing tool when that data updates? (Start a sequence, assign to sales, update CRM, etc.)
- How often do you need the data synced? (Real-time is cool, but daily is fine for most use cases and less likely to break things.)
Pro tip: Over-automating is a classic mistake. Start simple—one trigger, one action. You can get fancier later.
Step 2: Check your integration options
Here’s where things get real. Champify doesn’t have a native integration with every marketing tool—but you do have choices:
1. Direct integrations
- Champify has native connections to Salesforce (and sometimes HubSpot).
- If your marketing automation tool is “downstream” from Salesforce/HubSpot, great—you can sync there.
2. Zapier or Make (Integromat)
- If you need to bridge the gap, these no-code tools can push Champify data into almost anything.
- Downside: You’re limited by what each platform exposes. Some fields might not come through.
3. Manual CSV exports
- Old-school, but works in a pinch.
- Download updates from Champify, then import into your marketing tool.
- Tedious, but zero tech skills required.
What to ignore: Unless you have a dev team and a weird edge case, skip building a custom API integration. It’s overkill for 90% of teams.
Step 3: Get your data fields straight
This is where people trip up. You need to make sure the fields in Champify match up with fields in your marketing tool. Otherwise, you’ll create a mess of duplicates, bad merges, and lost context.
- Identify the key fields: At minimum, you’ll want email, name, old company, new company, and job title.
- Map the fields: Make sure you know what each field is called in both systems. “New Employer” in Champify might be “Company Name” in your marketing tool.
- Set up unique identifiers: Email is usually best, but people change emails when they switch jobs. If possible, use a combo of name + LinkedIn URL + old email to avoid confusion.
Pro tip: Create a simple spreadsheet to map source fields to destination fields. It’ll save you a massive headache later.
Step 4: Set up the sync
Now for the actual connection. Here’s how to do it, depending on your stack:
If you’re using Salesforce or HubSpot with a native integration:
- Connect Champify to your CRM.
- Usually a matter of clicking “Connect” and logging in.
- Watch for permission scopes—don’t give more access than you need.
- Push relevant fields into your CRM.
- Set up field mapping (see previous step).
- Automate from your CRM to your marketing tool.
- Most marketing automation tools let you listen for updates in Salesforce/HubSpot.
- Build a workflow: “When contact is updated with new job, trigger X campaign.”
If you’re using Zapier or Make:
- Set up a trigger for Champify job changes.
- This could be a webhook, or polling from your CRM if Champify updates there.
- Map the incoming data fields to your marketing tool.
- Use the field map you made earlier.
- Test before you go live.
- Always run a few test records. Don’t spam your prospects with accidental “Welcome to your new job!” emails.
If you’re going manual:
- Export updated contacts from Champify.
- Clean up the file.
- Remove duplicates, fix weird formatting, and make sure emails are valid.
- Import to your marketing tool.
- Most tools have an import step where you match fields—double check here.
- Tag or segment these contacts.
- So you know who’s a “Champify job change” and who isn’t.
What doesn’t work well: Trying to use old-school email-forwarding or BCC tricks. It’s messy and error-prone. Stick to proper data syncs.
Step 5: Build your campaigns (keep it simple)
Now that the data’s flowing, don’t overcomplicate things. Start with one or two campaigns:
- Welcome/“Congrats on the new role” sequence: Send a friendly message, offer something useful, and give them a reason to talk to your sales team (if that’s the goal).
- Nurture tracks: If they’re not ready to buy, drop them into a light-touch nurture flow.
- Internal alerts: Sometimes the best action is a nudge to your sales team, not an automated email blast.
What to avoid: Don’t hit new job changers with the same tired old pitch. Make it relevant, or don’t send it at all.
Step 6: Audit and improve (repeat this part)
Syncing tools isn’t a “set it and forget it” job. Every few weeks, check:
- Are the right contacts making it into your campaigns?
- Are you getting bounces or weird duplicates?
- Are sales and marketing actually following up?
Get feedback from your team, and tweak the automations. Sometimes, less is more—if a workflow causes confusion, kill it.
Real talk: What actually works (and what doesn’t)
Works well: - Simple, single-step automations (update contact, trigger one campaign) - Regular field mapping audits - Using job-change data for personalized outreach, not just generic blasts
Doesn’t work: - Over-automating—too many triggers, too many segments, and everything breaks - Ignoring data hygiene—bad data in means bad results out - Trying to integrate everything on day one
Ignore the hype: No tool combo—Champify included—will magically fix broken marketing or lazy follow-up. It just gives you better data. What you do with it is what matters.
TL;DR: Keep it simple, iterate often
Syncing Champify with your marketing automation isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to overthink. Map your fields, connect the dots, and start small. Don’t try to automate every possible scenario—just get the basics working, see what breaks, and adjust. The best teams keep it simple and improve as they go. That’s how you actually get more out of your tools—without the headaches.