Stuck in rut, a huge number of marketers still rely on spreadsheets and other legacy tools when dealing with customer data. Though a standalone tool and old school CRM practice may sound good initially, they have their own demerits and loopholes. Any growing business cannot run its key processes using spreadsheets and legacy tool alone, and marketing is simply not an exception.
For any business, its customers are the most treasured assets.It is the customers, who offer valuable reviews/feedbacks for the services/products offered thereby, helping businesses to come up with innovative ideas and concepts. Above all, it is the revenue that customers bring in that makes them highly valued for a company.
This is the reason customer satisfaction plays a pivotal role to retain happy and loyal customers. Note that customer happiness is a lot more than simply appreciating a customer for picking your brand, as it is also about how knowing them and understanding their needs. When we mention customer happiness and satisfaction, the very first term to pop up is CRM or customer relationship management.
As we know marketing is the lifeblood for effective CRM, a business simply cannot afford to risk losing its customers by relying on spreadsheets and standalone CRM tools/practices.Here’s why a digital marketing team cannot see the light of day without a CRM solution.
CRM software: A longstanding tool!
CRM, the term has been hovering around for more than a decade among salespeople and has gradually paved its way into the marketing realm as well.
Yes, CRM has traversed a long way from rolodex, ledgers, filing cabinets, spreadsheets, and what not to what we know today as next-gen CRM systems.
Digital marketing is all about data as we see it. This data includes leads, prospects, purchase history, social footprints, transaction history, opportunities, leads, etc. Traditional CRM practices go futile when it comes to achieving the desired results for a digital marketing campaign be it social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization or PPC. This is the reason CRM solutions are gaining excellent traction among digital marketers these days.
CRM software to uplift your digital marketing:
Are you aware of the number of leads/prospects lying in your sales pipeline for a specific state or city? A digital marketer if fails to filter his/her customer base often ends up shooting the same message to all. This often fetches a bad repute for them accompanied by a cluster of super-irritated prospects.
A CRM software spruces up your brand reach by helping you devise and come up with targeted and relevant messages. Did I mention about personalized approach?
A CRM system by making available critical customer data such as purchasing patterns/history, interests, contact details, preferences and lot more on a unified platform delivers excellent insights into customer intelligence. Digital marketers can leverage customer intelligence to learn and understand their target audience in a much better manner.
Did you know that CRM technology is moving up at a rapid pace is projected to hit a staggering US $48 billion by the end of 2024! (Stats source: Salesmate)
Social CRM
Social media has become a part and parcel of our lives. What started as a medium to communicate with loved ones has evolved into a fine business tool. Be it reviewing a product, ordering pizza or shopping, one can do it all on social media. Businesses on the other hand are leveraging social media to build customer awareness and customer loyalty.
This is where social CRM comes into the picture. Yes, social CRM helps to integrate social media profiles like that of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more to a CRM system. A social CRM software helps you understand and track your customer’s social footprints thereby, assisting to identify their behavior, likes, interests, preferences and lot more. Most importantly, it lets you learn the type of marketing content your prospects and customers prefer. It does this by tracking the clicks, likes, shares and keywords used by a user on social media platforms.
Marketing and customer support people can swiftly share critical customer data at the click of a button. The biggest benefit is that everyone in the organization from operations to sales and marketing can seamlessly collaborate over the data. Long story short, social CRM solution ensures that everyone stays on the same page thus, no more data duplication and discrepancies.
Takeaway
Last but not the least, the secret to successful digital marketing is about how well you understand and know your target audience prospects as well as your customers and a CRM software helps you achieve that in a smart way. Digital marketers should understand and then reach their audience/prospects the way they prefer, which is the reason every digital marketer needs to have modern CRM software by his side.
