Planned and structured communication with (potential) customers
When an organization reaches a certain size, it is no longer workable to base marketing on a mail program and some loose spreadsheets. That's when it's time for marketing automation. That is bringing together all data on (potential) customers and all marketing communications in one integrated system, so that everyone receives relevant information at the right time that suits their personal situation and preferences. To systematically move from a makeshift marketing workflow to marketing automation, go through these eight steps.
1. Signals that you're ready for marketing automation
At some point, you realize that the old way of doing marketing takes too much time and no longer delivers enough. Then it's time for something new. When exactly that is varies by organization, but these are some common triggers.
Potential customers don't know you exist or what you have to offer.
Existing customers don't know you have more to offer than the products or services they've been buying for a long time.
Because of mergers, acquisitions - or just because it's historically grown that way - the organization has numerous different sources (databases, spreadsheets, programs, lists) of customer information. And all those sources have their own structure.
For every marketing expression, many hours are spent collecting the relevant data, and even then no one is sure that all and only the right (potential) customers are on the mailing list.
The content of your communications does not match the information needs of the recipients. For example, newsletters are not opened often enough or do not lead to follow-up contacts.
The timing of your communications is not right.
2. Inventory data sources
The CRM system is obviously an important source of customer data, but limited: most CRM systems contain mostly static data (such as names and addresses) and notes on customer contacts. But there's more. Take stock of what data can be found in the various systems within the organization and which external parties have interesting data about your target group.
CRM - Depending on the set-up of the system, this stores data such as name, address, phone number and contact information such as e-mail exchanges and telephone records. From this the individual history the customer has with the organization can be read. But it gives little insight into future requirements.
Order History - If order or purchase data is not stored in the CRM system but in a separate system, such as a web shop, it should still be viewed in conjunction with the CRM data to see how contacts and purchases per customer are related.
Event Attendance - Who registered for what event, what workshops did someone participate in?
E-mail statistics - Who opens the newsletters and e-mailings and which recipients click through to which pages?
Lead information - Which potential customers requested a brochure, white paper or similar and what topic were they interested in?
Website analytics - Which pages of which websites are viewed by whom and when? Analytics tools like Google Analytics provide nice, anonymized data by demographic group of public pages. If (some of) the pages are behind a login or the visitor makes themselves known through information requests or a newsletter subscription, it is possible to identify and link visiting behavior.
Profiles - Customers express their likes (and dislikes) on social media. This data can be used (within privacy rules) to create profiles of customer groups.
External sources - For example: the Chamber of Commerce knows if a company is growing or acquiring other companies. This may create a need for new (information) products at such a company.
3. Combine data sources
Inventory through which common data the different sheets and databases can be linked. This could be the customer number, for example. But it is also possible to make connections at the group level, through profiles.
Combining all these sources and keeping the underlying systems running is no easy task. It requires endless copying, pasting and custom programming when done in-house. An alternative is to set up this process with specially developed applications such as 2bMore's Ternair Marketing Automation Platform.
Under the new privacy law AVG (also known as GDPR), customers have the right to view their data and, in certain cases, change or delete it. Combining sources not only helps to streamline marketing, but also to comply with privacy regulations because it is immediately clear what data the organization keeps in all systems.
4. Inventory marketing communications
An organization sends information to existing and new customers through many channels and media at many times. Take stock of which channels are used, what the frequency of contact is, which groups or individuals are reached with them and, if possible, what the results are. For example, but not limited to:
newsletters,
advertisements in/on other media,
postings and/or videos on social media,
conversations with sales representatives or account managers,
outbound phone calls from employees or the customer service desk,
appearances by authors on radio and TV,
contacts with resellers or distribution partners.
