CRM is the cost of entry into a modern market: try running a business without one. But a CRM is more than just a digital filing cabinet. It’s a way for you to access, understand and monetise a goldmine already at your fingertips: customer data.

The Data Gold Rush

Data on its own is useless. For data to be effective, it needs to be collected, stored and harnessed in such a way it becomes valuable with minimal maintenance. 

For example, having all the names of anybody showing interest in your business over the last eighteen months can be helpful. 

But how about knowing who was just browsing, who is ready to buy, or even who is ready to buy AND checked two or three other boxes critical for making a sale? 

By better understanding your data and working smart, you can ensure the right messaging gets to the right people at the right time without labour-intensive or prospect-annoying processes. Targeting has also become more sophisticated, meaning that ads are now less interruptive and more informative — so sophisticated, in fact, that we now take for granted the quality of the ads we get served in our Instagram feeds and YouTube videos.

The old ways don’t work anymore

Contemporary digital marketing has changed from its first inception 20 years ago. GDPR, privacy, savvy prospects, and even huge corporations like Apple redefining data mining have all had a profound impact.

Sound familiar?

You probably even still see some of them. And we’re not talking about the occasional ‘Hi {first name}’ greeting mistake every marketer dreads sending. We’re talking about the data-scraping, privacy-invading, industry-shaming practices that gave us all a bad name. 

Any company relying on these practices today would seem ancient by comparison. But the uncomfortable truth is many businesses STILL market like this. We bet you’ve even had one this week.

But why?

Malicious intent? Avarice? Lack of caring?

In most cases, it’s none of the above. It’s the opposite. Many companies are so excited to get their message out there, they forget the blend of science and craft that comes together to create great marketing. They forget they sit on a goldmine of prospect data offering powerful insights into behaviour, predilections and desire.

Say hello to the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

A CRM is a system that holds the data of your customer. It can be as simple as a spreadsheet or as powerful as a constantly evolving AI single source of truth. And when used correctly, a CRM has the power to drive more revenue and delight prospects at every stage of the buying journey.

Why You Need to Leverage Your CRM for Experience-Driven Marketing

The marketers who get ahead today are hyper-focused on the customer experience. Experience-driven marketing puts your customers at the centre of everything you do as a marketer.

When focused on the customer experience, marketing attracts and feeds into sales. Sales engage and feed into service. Service delights and feeds back into marketing. And all of this is only possible when the customer is at the centre, managed by a CRM.

Leveraging your CRM is the secret to experience-driven marketing. Experience-driven marketing isn't just a buzzword -- it's your secret to growth. Forrester's research found that companies who said they were focused on experience grew 40% faster and increased customer lifetime value by more than 60% versus those who weren't.

Very few marketers have all of their tools and tactics tightly integrated into a CRM -- which often leads to disjointed customer experiences, siloed data, and an inability to know what's working.

HubSpot has invested a lot of effort in tightly integrating Marketing Hub with the CRM -- to give your team a unified view of the customer experience, which allows you to create truly personalised experiences across all channels, and to help you properly measure your success as a marketer.

A CRM Helps You Personalise Your Marketing Offers

Rooting your marketing in a CRM also lets you create personalised experiences across every channel. Personalisation continues to be the holy grail for delivering a great experience. In this hyper-competitive environment, it's harder than ever to win attention -- and we all know that the more you personalise, the greater your chances are of being noticed.

What does real personalisation look like to me? Real personalisation is when the content on your site changes, recommending content that your visitor hasn't read yet. Or when that visitor has shown interest in one topic, so you show them an offer that's related. Or when you have CTAs for customers and different ones for prospects. Or when the chatbot on your site remembers not only their name but who their sales rep is. All of this is possible through CRM-driven marketing.

Whether you’re looking for CRM powered marketing campaign support or would like to know more about HubSpot and how it can sync with your existing systems, get in touch with Chris.