CRM does not mean Customer Relationship Marketing, at least not with the companies I've seen. Marketing has generally been a less developed focus in the CRM software arena.
Having worked primarily in the middle market, I've not been as exposed to well defined marketing machines. But, when I have, they are almost always working with different systems than than peers in sales and service.
I have a hard time understanding, in these situations, how marketing can be a part of the comprehensive customer relationship. The more messages sent which lack unity means the wrong message can be sent too often. If you want to reduce customer loyalty, customer value and increase customer confusion, then this is a good thing.
Many companies tend to be made up of silos. These can be business units, product groups or functional departments; but the bottom line is that these silos do not communicate well with each other. They also operate under a different set of objectives since they don't communicate will with each other.
Selecting the right technical implementation manager with all the right training and experience is appropriate once you get to the software. But what if CRM implementation i more than a checklist of customizations and procedures? We expect implementations to go smoothly. But if you've missed the entire point of the initiative, have you really gained anything?
Integrating Marketing with the rest of your business
To be successful, companies need to implement effective marketing. One of the keys pieces of a CRM strategy is customer relationship marketing. Understanding your customer better is one of the main ingredients in extending customer loyalty. Marketing is not a one way communication department. It collects data from each customer facing part of an organization and if objectives vary across your silos, the results will have much less meaning.
Some might argue that the most you can do is enhance current or potential value (not necessarily loyalty) given that all customers eventually defect or leave. Either way, the key to this type of marketing is the use of a cohesive CRM program that provides the interaction and data collection mechanisms necessary to be effective.
How to Begin Customer Relationship Marketing
The return on your marketing investment requires that some basic areas of information collection be planned. After all, you're making customer relationship decisions with this information:
* Maintain customer demographic information
* Log emails, phone calls and web visits
* Log responses to marketing campaigns
* Keep track of all quotes and sales revenue for each customer
The Benefits of Customer Relationship Marketing
When What Who
There are different schools of thought when it comes to marketing and each company will pick the one they think works for them. For instance, some will be build systems around collecting demographic information while others will go a step further and closely analyze customer activity. Regardless of how you proceed, make sure you are getting the three key benefits you should get when analyzing the inbound data.
* Knowing what you will say in the future
* You will know who to say it to
* You will know when to say it
Marketing is an investment, like many things. And when you invest you expect the highest possible return. So, to throw all of your money in one direction all at the same time is a guaranteed path to failure. You will have wasted your resources and you will come away not knowing your customer any better.
Using a customer relationship marketing strategy can certainly enhance your business by focusing the right message, on the right customer, at the right time. This makes them more likely to respond the sending a one size fits all message and tells you that you're on you're way to a better two-way relationship.
Wouldn't everyone like to find out when a customer is about to jump ship and act quickly to change the situation? That is what effective relationship marketing looks like - 15246
Having worked primarily in the middle market, I've not been as exposed to well defined marketing machines. But, when I have, they are almost always working with different systems than than peers in sales and service.
I have a hard time understanding, in these situations, how marketing can be a part of the comprehensive customer relationship. The more messages sent which lack unity means the wrong message can be sent too often. If you want to reduce customer loyalty, customer value and increase customer confusion, then this is a good thing.
Many companies tend to be made up of silos. These can be business units, product groups or functional departments; but the bottom line is that these silos do not communicate well with each other. They also operate under a different set of objectives since they don't communicate will with each other.
Selecting the right technical implementation manager with all the right training and experience is appropriate once you get to the software. But what if CRM implementation i more than a checklist of customizations and procedures? We expect implementations to go smoothly. But if you've missed the entire point of the initiative, have you really gained anything?
Integrating Marketing with the rest of your business
To be successful, companies need to implement effective marketing. One of the keys pieces of a CRM strategy is customer relationship marketing. Understanding your customer better is one of the main ingredients in extending customer loyalty. Marketing is not a one way communication department. It collects data from each customer facing part of an organization and if objectives vary across your silos, the results will have much less meaning.
Some might argue that the most you can do is enhance current or potential value (not necessarily loyalty) given that all customers eventually defect or leave. Either way, the key to this type of marketing is the use of a cohesive CRM program that provides the interaction and data collection mechanisms necessary to be effective.
How to Begin Customer Relationship Marketing
The return on your marketing investment requires that some basic areas of information collection be planned. After all, you're making customer relationship decisions with this information:
* Maintain customer demographic information
* Log emails, phone calls and web visits
* Log responses to marketing campaigns
* Keep track of all quotes and sales revenue for each customer
The Benefits of Customer Relationship Marketing
When What Who
There are different schools of thought when it comes to marketing and each company will pick the one they think works for them. For instance, some will be build systems around collecting demographic information while others will go a step further and closely analyze customer activity. Regardless of how you proceed, make sure you are getting the three key benefits you should get when analyzing the inbound data.
* Knowing what you will say in the future
* You will know who to say it to
* You will know when to say it
Marketing is an investment, like many things. And when you invest you expect the highest possible return. So, to throw all of your money in one direction all at the same time is a guaranteed path to failure. You will have wasted your resources and you will come away not knowing your customer any better.
Using a customer relationship marketing strategy can certainly enhance your business by focusing the right message, on the right customer, at the right time. This makes them more likely to respond the sending a one size fits all message and tells you that you're on you're way to a better two-way relationship.
Wouldn't everyone like to find out when a customer is about to jump ship and act quickly to change the situation? That is what effective relationship marketing looks like - 15246
About the Author:
Mike Boysen consults and writes on topics related to customer relationship management (CRM). His blog, Effective CRM Consulting, is designed educate companies and consultants alike in what CRM truly stands for. He works with a top CRM consultancy that provides services from process realignment to functional implementations. You'll find more about customer relationship marketing on his blog
