You
may not think of CRM as a marketing tool, but the information it
provides can be extremely useful to a marketer. You could be utilizing
some great features of CRM not only to enhance your marketing, but also
make your life a little simpler – and goodness knows we all could use a
little more simplicity! Here are 3 ways to use CRM to enhance your
marketing:
1. Make Use of Your Integrations
I’m hesitant to admit this, but when I first started using my
marketing automation system, I wasn’t syncing my email lists from our
CRM. Instead, I was importing static .CSV files. This wasn’t a long-term
strategy. The static list required more upkeep because I’d have to
check every couple of months to see who should be added or deleted. When
you use your CRM/MA integration, you can segment directly from the CRM
into the MA based on your exact specifications. Your marketing lists
will always be current and synced to your database, which saves you time
and keeps your lists clean.
KEY: Make sure your sales team is entering prospects
using the CRM lead sources you designate for your campaigns. Without
their cooperation, you could be blasting to fresh lists, but incorrect
targets.
2. Align your Customer Journeys
Use your CRM to see how sales is mapping their customer journey. Does
your marketing process align with it? Draw up your own customer journey
to match. If your sales team doesn’t have a customer journey, now’s the
perfect time to create one together! In a quick 30-minute meeting, you
and your sales team can discuss the sales process and how marketing ties
in. Once you visualize how those processes are functioning, you can
work towards aligning them.
KEY: Make sure you understand how your sales team
qualifies their leads and prospects. Are these individuals ready to buy
or will you need to nurture them first? How is sales defining what
counts as a lead and what counts as a nurtured prospect? Do you need to
create any new lead source types for them to match up with your
campaigns?
3. Keep Everyone in the Loop
The more transparency you establish between sales and marketing the
more positive results you’ll see. For example, if sales knows you’re
sending an email on Thursday about business intelligence tools, they can
contact those people on Friday to follow-up. Use the CRM to create
custom event modules or tags for email promotions, and then share those
with your sales team. They can position that information
front-and-center on their CRM dashboard to keep them fully up-to-date on
your marketing agenda. Now, you’re helping them sell better, and you’re
helping yourself be accountable for your marketing tasks. Tada!
KEY: If you’re not already doing it, you should
include your sales team on all your promotional email lists. It’s the
no-brainer way to keep them in the loop with what’s going on without
having to invest any extra time.
These are good starting points for your marketing and CRM marriage, but they can’t be put into action unless you have some basic understanding of your CRM program. Do you or someone on your marketing team need CRM training? Check out our CRM training page for details on training courses by our certified experts.