Does Your Marketing Move at Internet Speed?

Business owners are very skeptical when it comes to “buy in” and the world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Just the phrase is daunting to some because it sounds robust and complex. In some situations a CRM and its use can be a challenge but there are also many benefits that you can derive for your business if you decide to take the plunge.

In this inaugural blog, it only makes sense that we start at the beginning of the business cycle and talk about marketing. And since email marketing and the internet are cost effective it is what most people use to communicate and source information. Marketing resources are generally scarce anyway and email marketing using a CRM is a great way to get your message out to your target market without breaking the bank.

So, what does “Internet Speed” have to do with marketing? It has everything to do with the way you get the word out and ultimately how many customers you will acquire. Think about the products and the services you buy and how you go about researching them and then moving forward. When was the last time your first instinct was to call a friend for a referral or pick up a phone book? My point exactly! Our first action or reaction when it comes to information is to open up a browser. Society has changed, technology has changed, and in order for a business to survive, it needs to define its “virtual” presence in addition to its physical presence.

The buying cycles for everyday items and for big ticket items have become extremely compressed and that is what we mean when we talk about “Internet Speed.” The premise of a customer database is for you to be able to track those that you engage with once or a hundred times. Find out their likes and dislikes and then message to them in a meaningful way in the medium that they will receive your message most effectively. Inexpensive tools available today enable us to record back to a CRM every time someone opens an email or clicks on a link in a newsletter you send them without the user ever knowing. Some people may jump out of their chair and say, “My email marketing program tracks clicks and opens.” True, but does it record it someplace so that when you look at your customer’s history you have real intelligence on their current interests or notify you when they open something two or three days in a row?

What we have seen in the past few years is an explosion in the number of people using the Internet and the number of people using email as their primary mode of communication (yes, even over telephone). This means that our “commercials” are delivered in the form of short direct messages to people’s inbox. And more importantly, our message is more effective when we leverage a database. The tools available today enable the smallest of companies to message with great looking templates that make their “virtual” presence as nice as Tiffany’s or BMW. And, those same tools enable you to capture when and where people are reading your message so that you can effectively deliver the next message or pick up the phone when it matters most. And finally, this history is tracked over time so that you are able to keep your market engaged and keep those repeat sales coming.

For those who have mastered email marketing next time around we are going to discuss CRM and Social Media: Friend or Foe? 

Danny will be featured in the free upcoming NY Report webinar, Double Your Revenue with CRM: Case Studies & Selling Success Stories. More details can be found here.