How CRM Benefits Marketing Campaigns

What is CRM?

CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” which is the process of managing interactions with current and potential customers as they move through the sales funnel. CRM’s goal is to improve business relationships with customers. CRM encompasses all the strategies, methods and processes that use data to develop, improve and manage customer relationships. It also describes the software, technology and applications that support CRM.

What is CRM software?

CRM software refers to the software, applications and technology that help organizations collect, organize, store and analyze data to better manage prospect and customer relationships. These solutions collect and track data at every customer interaction point, such as sharing their contact information via lead capture forms, engaging with marketing campaigns, communicating with customer support or purchasing a company’s products or services.

CRM software benefits various departments within organizations in different ways:

• Marketing: CRM platforms help marketers access customer details to create targeted marketing campaigns.
• Sales: CRM software generates sales analytics from previous purchases and interactions to help sales reps create customized offers.
• Customer support: CRM software stores customers’ background information, contact details and previous interactions to help support reps provide a higher level of customer service.

What is CRM in marketing?

Knowing and understanding your target customers gives your business a competitive edge. CRM software gathers and stores a wealth of customer data that can steer your marketing campaigns in the right direction and ultimately improve sales. 

CRM software helps you collect and organize customer information and identify their preferences. You’ll understand the problems they face, the solutions they seek and the products and services they need better. This detailed knowledge informs your marketing messages and presents your solutions in the best possible light. 

CRM software can improve your marketing efforts in the following ways: 

• CRM software helps you understand your target audience: CRM platforms centralize customer and prospect information. You gain a clearer picture of your target customers and can track changes to your customer base as your business grows. 
• CRM software helps you target specific customer groups: When you know your customers’ backgrounds, interests and purchasing histories, you can focus your marketing efforts on consumers most receptive to your message. 
• CRM software helps you find new customers: CRM software helps you identify promising lead sources where you can launch targeted marketing campaigns. When you understand current customers’ preferences, you can easily spot similar groups. CRM software also makes lead management and lead nurturing easier, helping you turn newfound prospects into customers.
• CRM software helps you identify audience trends and preferences: CRM software helps you uncover data patterns to discover audience likes and preferences, helping you connect with current and future customers. 

How CRM benefits marketing campaigns

CRM features and tools vary. Your specific campaign, industry and target market will dictate the marketing functionality you’ll use. However, most businesses will benefit from the following essential CRM marketing features.

1. CRM software centralizes audience data access.

CRM software stores and organizes customer data ― including contact information, calls and emails, customer feedback and sales activities ― in a central location that streamlines contact management. Your marketing and sales teams can access this data repository to view and analyze customer information and uncover the trends, patterns and insights that will direct your marketing efforts. These platforms also have centralized CRM dashboards that make it easy to access and interpret vital information.

2. CRM software helps marketers segment customers and target groups. 

CRM software makes customer segmentation effortless. You can easily group customers by demographics, such as location, job role or industry, and activities, including recent and past purchases, email response rates, social media activity and personal preferences. After creating precisely defined customer profiles, you can personalize the marketing messages they receive (see more on this below). 

3. CRM software helps marketers create personalized content.

Better data and personalization make email marketing more effective and CRM software provides detailed information that can customize messaging by the recipient. After all, no one wants to read an email addressed to “Dear customer.” 

CRM software helps you leave behind impersonal marketing messages and address customers by name. More importantly, with access to their purchasing history and preferences and notes on previous communications, your message can appeal directly to them. For example, you can share pertinent ideas and opportunities, provide helpful information and guide the conversation to specific customer’s needs. Personalized content boosts response rates, increases positive brand perception and ultimately brings higher revenues.

4. CRM software strengthens social media marketing.

Many CRM software solutions integrate with popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and more, allowing brands to interact with customers and meet them where they are. Marketers can nurture customer relationships via social media, gather data and customize social media marketing campaigns to suit specific customer segments. 

Social media integrations give your marketing team an extra engagement channel to proactively monitor, converse with and learn from customers. 

5. CRM software helps marketers create, test, track and improve campaigns. 

CRM software provides excellent tools for honing marketing campaigns. You can use the data you collect via your CRM to create campaigns and then test various elements to discover what’s most effective. For example, most CRM solutions provide A/B testing, which allows you to try out various subject lines, calls to action and graphics to fine-tune your campaigns. 

Additionally, CRM analytics reports provide detailed information on email open rates, new subscribers and purchases, allowing marketers to tweak campaigns ― or even cancel ineffective ones. This data helps you maximize your marketing budget while improving results. 

CRM software also makes it easy to reuse effective marketing campaigns. Recycling campaigns, templates, forms and other marketing materials for new customers and markets will improve the efficiency 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 significant customer data and apply your knowledge to new markets and more potential customers. Small businesses tend to have modest marketing budgets and CRMs help them stretch their resources and focus on the prospects and customers most likely to buy from them. 

CRMs also help you boost customer loyalty ― another crucial element of business growth. These platforms help you maintain consistent customer communication that helps them feel acknowledged and valued. 

Choosing the right CRM software for your business

Many types of CRM software solutions exist to suit the needs of various businesses and industries. To choose the right CRM software for your business, ask the following questions to narrow down your specific needs. Next, find a vendor that can meet your needs and work with your budget.

• Will you use CRM software primarily for marketing, sales or both? The software you choose might depend on which teams in your organization have the most pressing need for a CRM solution.
• What level of complexity does your business require? Some businesses might benefit from a straightforward CRM that can scale with them as they grow. Others need a featureful, robust solution right out of the gate. 
• Which marketing channels do you use? Do you focus on email marketing, digital advertising, events or another marketing channel? Ensure your CRM has tools and functionality to address your most widely used marketing channels. 
• Do you need your CRM to integrate with specific software? Must-have CRM integrations include accounting software, e-commerce platforms and email marketing services. Ensure your CRM can work with the business software you use daily. 

The best CRM software

The best CRM software for you will be affordable, match your needs and grow with you. Here are some of our top picks to consider: 

• Salesforce CRM: Salesforce is a highly customizable CRM solution with robust features that can suit businesses in various industries. It’s surprisingly affordable for such a powerhouse solution and has an impressive app marketplace to further customize your platform. Read our Salesforce CRM review to learn about its Salesforce automation features that make reports, workflows, appointment scheduling and more seamless. 
• Pipedrive: Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM ideal for organizations intent on growth. The platform provides real-time, objective data and templates to create emails and sales funnels. Additionally, the software automates various tasks and administrative work to free your team for more profitable pursuits. Our Pipedrive review details the platform’s visual overview and how it can help you track and calculate your average lead conversion rates. 
• monday sales CRM: monday is a project management platform with excellent CRM tools that can assist with organization, time-saving automations and CRM workflows. Read our monday sales CRM review to learn about its top-notch customer support and customizability. 
• HubSpot CRM: If integrations are essential to your business, HubSpot may be a good fit. Its app marketplace boasts more than 1,000 integrations, ensuring you can work with all your favorite business tools. Check out our detailed HubSpot review to learn how this platform helps you manage your website, marketing, sales and other operations in one central platform.
• NetSuite CRM: NetSuite is a cloud-based business management platform with enterprise-level CRM tools and an all-in-one solution for sales, marketing and operations. Our in-depth NetSuite CRM review describes how this highly customizable platform supports omnichannel commerce.

CRMs provide invaluable marketing support

Incorporating a CRM platform into your marketing plan is an excellent way to customize your marketing campaigns and target the right audience. With detailed customer data at your fingertips, you can tailor your marketing and reach a broader yet more accurate customer base, helping you attract new customers and retain current ones. You can also better identify audience trends and preferences to ensure more efficient marketing going forward.

Sammi Caramela contributed to this article.