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The infinite vastness of the MarTech universe – this image was deliberately chosen because it highlights one of the biggest challenges in marketing: the marketing technology landscape now boasts over 8,000 tools. In our campaign "The Next generation of CRM - may the MarTech be with you" we'll therefore take a look at the different technologies on offer and show you how to put together your own personalized toolset.
So far, we've talked about the wide range of possible options, from the requisite capabilities to marketing resource management, marketing clouds, the relationship between cookies and consent and how to manage these using consent management solutions. We also looked at how the tools fit into the b.telligent architecture. At the end of the campaign, we now ask ourselves: what capabilities does my overarching CRM strategy need to be able to deal with all the new challenges and tools?
Next-level CRM: why do we even need it?
Let's first take a look at the question of why the marketing world is changing so much. The answer is clear enough: it's down to the customer. And in order to offer them the best possible omnichannel experience, we have been increasing our advertising budgets over the years, especially for online marketing. However, if our advertising budgets are to achieve their goals, the customers must be known or, even better, addressable. And we can do this – you've probably already guessed ;-) – by making effective use of a well-designed toolset.
Incidentally, the marketing maxim that an addressable customer is a better customer was true even before the growth of online advertising budgets. After all, weren't you happy as a child when your local butcher knew whether you'd rather have a slice of sausage or a wiener?
Successful CRM in just a few steps
Basically, it's not that difficult to find the right CRM strategy for your company. Customer relationship management should be situational (does the child want a slice of sausage right now?), personalized (which sausage does the child like best?), broken down into micro-segments (I not only know whether I want a piece of sliced sausage or wiener, but also which type) and connected seamlessly across channels (I remember the child's sausage preference whether its parents buy it from a shop or from the market stall on Saturdays). And – quite apart from the technical aspects – optimizing individual measures should be as iterative and pragmatic as possible. But more about that later.
Does it sound complicated? It isn't, as long as you pay careful attention to these four success factors:
- Be realistic when looking for your setup and use an appropriate proof of concept (POC).
- Get the tools working closely together
- Become an expert yourself and actively exchange knowledge –internally as well as in the market.
- Build a fast-moving "production line" and constantly add to your knowledge
By the way, a "customer data platform" can help you find the kind of optimum CRM strategy described above. You can find more about it here.
CDP - the new silver bullet in marketing?
You want to know the difference between CDP and Marketing Automation? Then read in the first part of our blog series about Customer Data Platforms, why CDPs are the marketing tools of the futurer!
But let's look at the four success factors in more detail:
1. Proof of concept – what do I want, what do I need?
Think about what you really need. But more importantly - about what you don't need. Your first step should therefore be to define a realistic setup using a proof of concept (POC) rather than spending lots of time sending out RFPs (Request for Proposal). Our advice: many tool providers offer a trial period of several months in which to test individual applications free of charge or for a nominal cost.
2. The perfect combination
Another important consideration when choosing your toolset is that your tools should complement each other. So find out whether the individual applications work well together. Is it possible to transfer information from your email campaign tool via a data mart to your on-site personalization and to link them to each other without any major manual intervention?
3) Don't hire an expert – become an expert
This might be a strange piece of advice to hear from a consultant, but – become your own expert! The medium-term goal of all of our consulting projects is to pass on our entire expertise to our client's team. How? By being open-minded, actively exchanging ideas with our clients, partners and the entire b.telligent network, and learning from each other.
4) Act, measure, learn. Develop a coherent e-commerce strategy and learn from your information
A coherent e-commerce strategy is particularly important for your customer relationship management. What does that mean? For one thing, breaking down silos. The marketing, sales, product, development and BI/CI departments all collaborate to operationalize the company's goals, actively share information and work together. Second, developing the customer. Get to know your unknown customer. Turn a known customer into an addressable one and adapt your content to engage their specific requirements. Third, implement a cross-channel strategy and find the right mix of print, POS, InApp, shop, etc. And finally: act and react iteratively! The approach that has long been standard in the software development sector also works well in campaign management. Apply what you have learned directly – from successes as well as failures – and use this to improve your future decisions. Optimize your processes "on the fly".
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The Next Generation of CRM – möge die MarTech mit Dir sein
Du möchtest noch mehr erfahren über das Thema Next Genereation CRM und wie sich (Online)-Marketing verändert? Unser Experte Christian hat dazu einen Vortrag gehalten.
But what if you've paid close attention to all four success factors but still can't gain any traction from your MarTech stack? One of the following stumbling blocks could be the problem:
- There is a serious imbalance between processes/consultations and measures
- Workarounds are increasing in number and complexity
- Data silos are limiting the understanding of data across the organization, reduced data quality
- No clear lessons learned, or lessons learned are not being incorporated into the processes
- Processes are being prioritized over the behavior and interests of the customer
- Too many balls in the air and insufficient focus on the essentials
Do you recognize any of these issues in your own situation, or would you like to discuss setting up your own bespoke MarTech stack?
