The marketplace (any marketplace) is noisy and some, to put it bluntly, are bloody crowded. Social media marketing expert Mark Schaefer recently wrote a piece in which he explained we are at a point at which humanity will struggle to consume all of the information it is presented with, something he refers to as ‘Content Shock’.
This leads us to a conundrum in our understanding of how we, as businesses, can reach our consumers and stand out from the pack. Conventional wisdom is to provide content for consumers which addresses their needs and so funnels them towards our brand in some regard.
However, with an increasingly saturated space for consumer content, the next challenge for a business to stand out is to provide content with greater personalisation and directed towards a more specific target group. This must be the most engaging, captivating offerings for the maximum chance at initiating engagement with its intended audience.
Clearly, offering more targeted engagements for more specific audiences is going to require a better understanding of a customer’s position in relation to the business. This is where the benefits of CRM and its related services become most apparent, and the continued interest from tech industry titans in acquiring those data sources can thus be easily understood.
A great example of this is with global giants like Netflix or Amazon. Netflix has such a sophisticated CRM that it allows allow them to serve up films or series based on customers previous viewing habits. Similarly, Amazon perfectly delivers well-timed recommendations of products that nine times out of ten will result in a purchase.
Each and every business differs though, and their respective interaction with customers’ needs to be personalised and to reflect those differences. Acquisition of large, well established CRM businesses may not be appropriate for companies just entering the marketplace, for example. In circumstances like this, we scale back the extent of CRM implementation, understanding that the high M&A valuations attracted in M&A deals for CRM-related services might be a more appropriate strategy for a business once it has achieved the necessary scale to warrant such an investment.
CRM strategy though can be implemented on any scale, and is a crucial element in defining the success of a business of any size and particularly those with the ambition to grow.
In the same way we have observed instances of failure to implement advanced social marketing strategy in high level merger and acquisitions. So too, sadly, we have seen the under-utilisation of potentially valuable existing client data within many smaller businesses.
Most businesses will hold a degree of data on their customers and any that have ambitions to scale, should be capitalising on the information they hold and implementing a CRM function to embrace it and to generate value creating insights. Yet, many fail to do so.
Panamoure’s specialisms include Data & Analytics and Systems Implementation, placing us perfectly to assist in applying or upgrading a CRM protocol for your business.
To experience the benefits and value a well-integrated CRM platform can offer your business, get in touch with Panamoure today.
