One of the best software investments a company can make is implementing a CRM for marketing efforts. While yes, the software is incredibly powerful, but its power limited to its users. If end users are not able to take full advantage of the software, it might seem to limit or hamper operations in many ways.
However, there are some strategies within CRM deployment that must be employed in order to ensure that the software is being used to its fullest. By incorporating certain functionalities and tools into a larger marketing strategy, you can rest assured that you are taking absolute advantage of all that your CRM has to offer.
1) Regular data evaluation
CRMs often fall victim to faulty or poor quality data, which can lead to a great deal of frustration – especially if marketing campaigns are constantly falling short of expectations. The best way to avoid this is to ensure that during the onboarding process, you evaluate your data to ensure its quality…and maintain that.
Remind yourself and the rest of your team to do data check-ins every so often (the frequency will likely depend on the amount of data and overall user engagements) to ensure that your data remains high-quality and that you are reaching the right people.
2) Deep segmentation and customer targeting
Most departments are fine using CRMs solely for email campaigns and not much else. However, CRMs are incredibly powerful when it comes to segmentation and targeting – so why not use it? Take full advantage of what your CRM has to offer and start to experiment.
Who are you trying to target currently? Who are your future targets? Are there certain demographics you would like to capture? Work with your team to establish answers to these questions, and then look to your CRM to see how you can deliver on this. CRMs offer a level of customization that cannot be replicated in other marketing software, so take advantage of it.
3) Continuous campaign analysis
CRMs offer complex and deep analytics that many departments are hesitant to really dive deep into. Though it might seem like a heavy investment of time initially, it is worth the reward. Use your CRM to really understand how your campaigns are landing with your target audiences and identify weaknesses.
Moreover, once you have established who you are targeting, monitor your campaigns to see if your message is effective with those demographics. Much of digital marketing is often a trial-and-error process because of shifting audiences and shorter attention spans, but a CRM can be a secret weapon to help narrow that gap and ensure that your digital marketing campaigns are successful over long-term periods.