One essential tool for businesses to pay attention to now is CRMs, or Customer Relationship Management software. CRM and marketing go hand in hand, as these tools help manage interactions with potential and current customers to gain valuable insights.
But what is CRM marketing? How exactly can it benefit your marketing strategy?
Forge Apollo provides HubSpot CRM onboarding and enhances our clients’ marketing strategies by optimally using CRM data. In this blog, we’ll explore the role of CRM in digital marketing and how it can help businesses succeed.
What is a CRM?
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a tool companies use to record and manage their interactions with potential and current customers. It allows businesses to streamline processes, manage communication, and gain valuable insights.
A CRM can record rich data about a contact. This can include demographic information like location, age, or job title. It can also include behavioral information, such as website views, form fills, meetings, calls, etc. Depending on the setup, it can also record information about interactions with a company, like sales and quotes.
What is CRM Marketing?
CRM marketing utilizes data and automation tools within CRMs for more effective marketing targeted to each contact’s personal behaviors and information.
Three of the most important CRM marketing functions include the following.
- Pulling insights from aggregated data to adjust a marketing strategy
- Using rich data for specific segmentation
- Setting up CRM marketing automation
The Benefits of a CRM for Digital Marketing
CRMs are a powerful tool for digital marketing teams that can provide the following benefits.
Increased Lead Conversion
Businesses using a CRM can experience as much as 300% more conversions than those without. Marketing teams can use the rich data a CRM contains about a user’s experience to understand where they are in their buyer’s journey and nurture them toward the next point.
CRM Marketing Automation
Many CRMs offer marketing automation tools that allow marketers to automate tasks like email marketing or ad targeting. This automation allows marketing teams to set up evergreen, automated campaigns once that can perform powerful nurturing functions for leads and current customers.
For example, Forge Apollo set up automatic lead nurturing email campaigns for Futures Recovery Healthcare that helped them earn $95,745 in revenue within seven months.
Increased Email Performance
Many CRMs have integrated email marketing capabilities, or at least an integration with an email marketing tool. This allows marketers to personalize email content to user demographics and behavior.
Email performance increases when personalization goes beyond inserting a contact’s name into an email. By working with a CRM, marketers can personalize email content to where a contact is in their journey and what they care about at that moment.
Improved Customer Retention
It’s common knowledge that keeping current customers is more effective than earning new ones. CRMs also help with that by providing data on your current customers. In fact, 47% of businesses have found that CRM software has an important impact on retention.
For example, set up an automation to remind your team when to contact customers about renewal or periodically to see how they’re doing.
Plus, brands can use the email marketing tactics mentioned above to provide customers with helpful content, like product tutorials, exclusive discounts, or simple acknowledgment of birthdays or other important milestones.
Lower Cost Per Lead
The data a CRM provides, and subsequent strategy adjustments can reduce the cost of leads the longer a business uses the software. In fact, companies lower cost per lead by 23% on average when they use a CRM.
Better Data & Insights
Compiling data in one system instead of keeping it siloed in multiple systems increases the available reports and resulting insights. In fact, some businesses noted that their report accuracy increased by 42% when they started using a CRM.
The resulting insights can improve your marketing and sales strategy to increase revenue.
CRM Examples
If you’re interested in a CRM but unsure of where to look, here are some common ones to consider.
HubSpot
HubSpot offers a robust CRM multiplied by marketing, sales, service, and other tools layered on top. Their combination of feature-rich “Hubs” that can be combined and overlaid with the CRM allows brands to magnify the power of that CRM data for all areas of their business.
Plus, customization options and a user-friendly interface make it approachable for brands new to CRMs and powerful for brands familiar with them.
As a Gold Tier HubSpot Partner, Forge Apollo can perform HubSpot CRM onboarding to help your brand get the most out of the platform.
Salesforce
Salesforce is another well-known CRM that can be customized for complex operations. However, it’s more geared towards sales, service, and operations than marketing. While it offers some marketing tools and data integration, they are lacking.
Plus, while it can be highly customized for specific needs, the user interface has a steep learning curve.
Zoho
Zoho is another popular cloud-based CRM that offers a lot of customizability. It includes several add-ons for functions like accounting and project management. As such, it’s also more geared towards sales and operations than marketing.
Users report it as having a steep learning curve.
Industry-Specific CRMs
Several industry-specific CRMs are available for brands with particular operational needs. For example, MarketSharp is for the home improvement industry, and Amadeus specializes in hospitality.
Each of these CRMs may or may not have integrated marketing capabilities, which marketing teams should consider when evaluating them.
Integrating CRMs
Integration is possible when different business areas need capabilities that aren’t all available in one CRM. For example, suppose Salesforce is a better fit for your sales and project management team. In that case, there is an existing integration with HubSpot, so your marketing team can use HubSpot’s powerful marketing tools without missing out on data.
Integration allows data to come together and provide more powerful insights instead of existing in a silo. If your business does choose separate CRMs for different functions, be sure to research the integration capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a CRM system be integrated with other digital marketing tools?
CRM systems can often be integrated with various digital marketing tools through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) or built-in integration capabilities. For example, CRMs can be connected to email marketing platforms, social media management tools, content management systems (CMS), and analytics tools. Integration combines data across platforms, enabling marketers to create more cohesive and personalized marketing campaigns. By leveraging the data from CRM, such as customer behavior and preferences, marketers can tailor their content on other platforms to align with their audience’s interests, leading to improved engagement rates.
What specific metrics can be monitored through CRM to measure the success of digital marketing campaigns?
Through CRM systems, marketers can track a variety of metrics that are crucial for assessing the success of digital marketing campaigns. Some of these metrics include lead conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value, email open rates, and campaign ROI (Return on Investment). Additionally, CRMs can track customer interactions and engagements with different assets in a campaign. By analyzing these metrics, businesses can adjust their marketing strategy to better allocate resources for maximum impact.
Can CRM marketing automation be customized for different industries?
CRM marketing automation is highly customizable to meet the unique needs of different industries. While there are general marketing automation strategies that can be applied across industries, the real power of a CRM is its ability to customize these strategies to specific industry requirements. For example, a B2B company might focus on lead nurturing and scoring to identify sales-ready leads, whereas a B2C retailer might prioritize personalized email campaigns and loyalty programs. The customization can extend to creating segmented lists, customized messaging, and automated workflows. This flexibility allows businesses in any industry to leverage CRM marketing automation effectively, making it far from a one-size-fits-all solution.
Find Success With a CRM for Digital Marketing
There are many advantages of integrating CRM into your digital marketing strategy. As you look to unlock these benefits, consider partnering with a team that can maximize your CRM’s potential. Forge Apollo stands out as a Gold Tier HubSpot Partner, ready to help your brand tap into the powerful capabilities of HubSpot CRM. For expert guidance and effective CRM implementation, contact us today.
