For marketing to be effective, it must convey the right message to the audience at the right time. You need to understand the needs of potential and existing customers and create marketing campaigns that meet those needs. Customer relationship management (CRM) software and tools help marketing teams collect and analyze audience data to create more effective marketing campaigns.
CRM functions and tools are different. Your specific company, industry, and target market will determine the marketing attributes you use. However, most businesses will benefit from the following key CRM marketing features.
1. CRM software is focused on accessing customer data.
CRM software stores and organizes customer data, including contact information, calls and emails, customer reviews and sales, in a central location, making contact management easier. Your marketing and sales teams can access this repository to view and analyze customer data and discover trends, patterns, and insights that will help your marketing efforts. These platforms have CRM dashboards that make important data easy to access and interpret.
2. CRM software helps marketers segment customers and target groups.
CRM software makes customer segmentation easier. Easily segment customers by demographics such as location, job title or industry, as well as activity including recent and past purchases, email response rate, social media activity and personal preferences. By creating clearly defined customer profiles, you can personalize the marketing messages you receive (more on this below).
CRMs improve e-commerce by providing marketers with detailed information that helps them create personalized messages.
3. CRM software helps marketers create personalized content.
Better data and personalization make email marketing more effective, and CRM software provides information that allows you to tailor messages to recipients. After all, no one wants to read a letter addressed to “Dear Customer.”
CRM software allows you to send impersonal marketing messages and contact customers by name. The best part is that your message can speak directly to them, accessing their purchase history, preferences, and notes from previous messages. For example, you can share current ideas and opportunities, provide valuable information, and focus the conversation on the customer's specific needs. Personalized content increases response rates, increases positive brand awareness, and ultimately generates more revenue.
4. CRM software improves social media marketing.
Many CRM software solutions integrate with popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and others, allowing brands to connect and interact with customers wherever they are. Using social media, marketers can develop relationships with customers, collect data, and tailor social media marketing campaigns to specific customer segments.
Social media integration gives your marketing team an additional communication channel to actively follow, interact with, and learn from customers.
5. CRM software helps marketers create, test, track and optimize campaigns.
CRM software offers great tools to improve your marketing campaigns. You can use the data you collect through your CRM to create campaigns, and then test different elements to see what works best. For example, most CRM solutions offer A/B testing, which allows you to try out different themes, calls to action, and graphics to fine-tune your campaigns.
Additionally, CRM analytics reports provide detailed information on email opens, new subscribers, and purchases, allowing marketers to adjust campaigns and even remove underperforming ones. This information can help you maximize your marketing budget and improve results.
CRM software makes it easy to reuse effective marketing campaigns. Redesigning campaigns, templates, forms, and other marketing materials for new clients and markets can improve the effectiveness of your marketing resources.
6. CRM software supports business growth.
CRM software supports efforts that can ultimately lead to business growth and success. You can gather valuable customer information and apply your knowledge to new markets and potential customers. Small businesses typically have modest marketing budgets, and CRMs help them maximize their resources and focus on the prospects who are most likely to buy from them.
CRMs help increase customer loyalty, which is another important part of business growth. These platforms help you maintain ongoing relationships with your customers that help them feel recognized and valued.
Many CRM platforms include tools to measure and track employee performance, further improving your organization's efficiency and time management.
