Typically the CRM component is a piece of technology, usually software which can be run on a single PC or hosted on a server either internally or remotely from a company or organisation and accessed via a client application or web browser securely from any location in the world.

It enables data to be centralised to a single point from which decisions about what types of communications are suitable for a specific contact or record or groups of contact or records can be made.

Activity associated with any contact, accounts or groups can also be tracked by the system to further enhance the value of the data and the effectiveness of decisions made from it. Records can be profiled and segmented into groups according to their needs or desires which the organisation is able to service and achieved by exchanging relevant and engaging communications.

This data may be combined with technical support data or financial data from accounts. Live customer enquiries and developing opportunities can help to build reports for financial forecasting automatically.

Where does CRM marketing start

Many companies are probably doing it in some shape or form without a structure or system in place. However much time and effort will be lost or duplicated because information cannot be easily shared or exchanged and trying to get communication campaigns out to prospects or customers becomes difficult and unthinkable, instead the day to day running of the business ensues.

But at some point you will want to take more control of your communications and streamline them to become a more effective business. This starts with the establishment of a CRM database which is either bought or with some technical skills can be set-up for little cost.

You may have existing data about current and past customers which you can import into the system and then expand upon as you go along or if you’re starting from scratch you will import a data list (which should be profiled specifically for your target market) bought from a supplier or manually created.

Developing a CRM marketing campaign

You then design and run your campaign using the database to filter which records your targeted message should reach. This could be in the form of a direct mail campaign where data is extracted about each relevant contact from the database and merged into a communications piece automatically to personalise the message as much as possible and then tagging that specific record with the campaign piece that has been sent to them.

You may instead choose to run an email campaign, sending your message electronically over the internet. Either it matters not as the data can be manipulated and extracted at will with the right system in place.

Kotler.

Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price.

Adcock.

Marketing is essentially about marshalling the resources of an organization so that they meet the changing needs of the customer on whom the organization depends -

Palmer.

Marketing is the process whereby society, to supply its consumption needs, evolves distributive systems composed of participants, who, interacting under constraints – technical (economic) and ethical (social) – create the transactions or flows which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption.

Bartles.

Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise.

Drucker.

This customer focused philosophy is known as the ‘marketing concept’. The marketing concept is a philosophy, not a system of marketing or an organizational structure. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires.

Barwell.

The achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition.

Jobber.

Implementation of the marketing concept [in the 1990's] requires attention to three basic elements of the marketing concept. These are: Customer orientation; An organization to implement a customer orientation; Long-range customer and societal welfare.

Cohen.

What ever the experts definition you prescribe to or choose to follow you should always remember the following:

1. Your communications should be focused on the needs, wants, desires or problems that you can help to deliver, solve and supply for your key audiences or customers.
2. The very essence of these messages must be worked into every part of your organisation or business clearly demonstrating that you do what it says you will do every time an audience member or customer comes into contact with you.
3. It should never stay stagnant, but evolve with the changes in your market place and the world at large, ensuring that it keeps in-line with your customers or audiences needs, wants, desires and problems of the present, not yesterday.
4. Marketing is not just a profit driven exercise but a way for any individual or group to assemble a group of followers that share the same ideals or vision, whether its from a business or social perspective so don’t let its historical nature drive the perceived outcome, instead focus on principals that work and deliver you a desired result, what ever that is.

Why not share with us which definitions you’ve prescribed too in the past and why they have worked for you or not ?

Is Twitter Killing You

Firstly lets define “definition”; The dictionary describes it as something having “precise meaning” or “clarity”.

In marketing this is known as positioning or your “USP”, the thing that makes you different, the reason that customers buy from you, which I spoke about in my article on differentiation.

In community marketing or more specifically social marketing its the reason that people listen to or follow your blogs or other social media created by you.

However I see marketers destroying any positioning they may have by entering into the quantity versus quality game which is being amplified out of proportion using micro blogging sites like twitter.

So called marketers are abusing the system by creating a stack of content or “twitters” (gossip to the non twittered individuals out there) about all sorts of stuff that just isn’t relevant or related to any particular niche or market they may be representing.

This is a fatal mistake getting caught up in the need to twitter for the sake of twittering because everybody else is doing it, kind of like fashion trends which go in and out of favour and cost you a fortune to follow while leaving you looking questionably more fashion savvy lumbering you with a closet full of clothes that you won’t wear in a few months time and a large dent in your finances as you salivate until your next hit of fashion couture.

Twitter like all current modern communication technologies are marvellous pieces of marketing technology and if you have stacks of cash and are happy to play the “dumb” brute force game you can gain some advantages but they will be short and sweet and will cost you a pretty penny.

For those of you who are smarter, costs can be kept down and more value delivered by keeping your blog, networking, twittering or any other communications relevant to your specialism and you can build a very valuable commodity indeed in the process.

One of the things you can do to leverage these technologies and not lose your positioning and audiences interest is to run separate sites, social media (such as bookmarking, squidoo pages, hub pages etc.) and twitter accounts focused on each niche you are building. This social network then wraps around the “theme” you are working on using carefully selected content based on SEO and market research which gives potential visitors another layer of flavour to taste before reaching the centre of your marketing gob stopper.

To do this personally I have to manage a lot of accounts, user names and passwords which I just could not do manually so I use a tool called Roboform. There are other free tools some built into IE and FF or Flock but they just don’t give me the flexibility and speed that Roboform does.
I can access a site within seconds, pre-fill a form and have my new content added fast.

This setup will allows you to keep your gossip network relevant to your sites and other content and the audience will know who you are and what you stand for which is ultimtely the reason why the will become a follower or not.

So if you spot (or you are) a dumb marketer, the sort that has a lot to say about a lot of stuff none of which is really focused on anything or of any use or help, then leave them a comment and point them to www.marketing-definition.com

Increase your prices. Don’t be fooled that price is the only reason that customers will buy from you. Your price can and will commodotise you unless it stands out from the crowd for some reason. Just being like the rest or cheaper is not always the right move.

2 – Ask Questions

Call your best 50 customers and prospects and ask; “Why do you do business with us”

Go meet with them and ask; “What do you need from us”

Then expand your products and services to meet the answers to those questions.

Also ask; “Can you give me the name of 2 people of similar calibre to you that would benefit from our product/service”

3 – Network & Connect

Find ways to reach people face to face and promote your message with a view to selling not only to the people you have met but to the people they may know. Build a virtual sales force and create strong alliances.  This can be done both offline ( networking clubs, meetings, events) as well as online at virtual meeting or information exchange places.

4 – Become an expert

Public speaking is a great way of becoming an expert in your field and a recognised leader. It makes your business more attractive to potential customers.

5 – Reduce unnecessary costs

Most advertising does not work because it’s done badly, so simply half your advertising costs, unless you have a clear and compelling return on investment that suggests otherwise.

6 – Do simple PR

Get involved in community work. All you need is a willingness to get involved. Just a few hours a month could raise your profile considerably.

7 – Up-sell & Cross-sell

Find ways to package products and service together to increase the average sale.
McDonalds always says “Do you want fries with that”

8 – Sell Better

Improve your sales skills and close more deals.

Remember your marketing should be like your virtual sales force; it will also attract more opportunities and open more doors.

9 – Keep Communicating

Keep communicating with your prospects using tools such as email.

10 – Joint Ventures

Working with complimentary businesses is a great way of accessing additional customers and selling more.

So, define marketing then ?

In my post What Is Marketing I tried to describe a general sense of marketing, not just from the point of view of a single activity but the journey and obstacles faced.

This time though I thought I would try and look at the institutional references towards marketing whether they be associations, encyclopaedias or centres of learning and education etc. to try and understand how marketing is seen by the world.

My gut feel suggested that I was going to find a variety of views which may or may not conflict in some way, but I was pleased to find that on the whole there was general agreement, with a few interesting odds and sods.

I thought I would start my search with the good old internet and work my way through to other books and references if necessary.

So in the Wiktionary marketing is defined as:

“The promotion, distribution and selling of a product or service; includes market research and advertising.”

OK, short and sweet and it conjures up a reasonable pictures (on the surface obviously).

Moving on to Wikipedia;

I was disappointed to find that the only reference was to the American Marketing Association so I hoped over the their website and had a look at the Definition of Marketing page.

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (Approved October 2007)”

The only thing that threw me here was the term “offering”, but I understand the vagueness of the term when you consider that marketing is not just a commercial activity used for products or services, its also used by governments or charities to raise awareness or bring about change where they are not necessarily selling anything.

Wordnetweb describes it as;

Marketing (the commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service) “most companies have a manager in charge of marketing” marketing (shopping at a market) “does the weekly marketing at the supermarket”

Now I have never heard anybody popping down the shops to do their local marketing, have you ?

I then hoped over the channel to The Chartered Institute of Marketing where marketing is defined as;

“The management process responsible for identifying , anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”

I had difficulty with this one also as its seems to be entangled with management which is neither here nor there as far as I am concerned. What is import is the reason for it and its outcome, how it gets done is another issue. I do however agree that marketing is important enough to be considered as not just a single task performed by one person but a complex web of people, skills, methods, channels ans do on that need carefully orchestrating towards a goal. The profit motive is also questionable (not for business though) when you consider that government and charities also use it.

So that almost brings us to the and of this little bit of research….”sorry, what”…..”oh!, how do I define marketing “…I hear you say (well you did ask for it having reading this far), well here goes;

“Marketing is delivering a message to your key audiences that causes them to act to the benefit of the message recipient and its source.”

More marketing defintions

Why not share your own definition of marketing…

Getting Your Message To The Right People

Over the years I’ve seen all sorts of marketing in many different formats, distributed through as many different channels selling different products and services to a whole bunch of different people.

My experience of worthwhile marketing is the kind of stuff that gets a great response because it’s like having your best sales person sent in the mail or hooking them up to the internet on a permanent basis, or having them give seminars or presentations that excite your customers every time without ever actually being there.

Carefully thought out messages that connect directly with your audience in a way that inspires loyalty or action is marketing success.

What I see all too often is emphasis placed on pure branding or imagery that makes the company look good but does not necessarily create a connection with its customers.

I think we all agree that people like to buy from people or from companies that understand them so we need to concentrate on the core principals before we start dressing it up, because nobody likes mutton dressed as lamb, especially vegetarians.

So, our jobs is to help those buyers find that “something” they desperately want or need and to give it to them and that means truly understand your market at a deep enough level where you can become like them.

Just understanding your customer and their needs is only the first bridge you will have to cross. Once over, you will need to connect with them in a language that encompasses their culture and style, clearly delivering benefits with effective calls to action.

Marketing is more than just your message, it’s about how its delivered and the impact it creates. It’s about doing things on your own terms, not on the terms of your competitors.

There are many low cost methods that you can capitalise on and exploit while mixing in selectivity and surprise to create an explosive package that many larger companies strive and fail to achieve every day.
Marketing is not about a single media, it’s about finding and using as many profitable channels as possible to generate as much business that you can handle that fulfils your customers desires and keeps them wanting more.

For example your web site should allow you to connect with your audience and give them the information they need to decide if you or your businesses can help them. It is a marketing tool by itself, and a very powerful and flexible one.

It’s a chance to demonstrate to people why they should choose you over anybody else and share with them your magnificent mission so that they can decided if it’s the same mission your are both working on.
Using tools like this and other techniques you can generate awareness about problems that you can solve for your audience or even meet immediate needs they may have.

Remember though, when building sales tools that can touch your audiences from a distance without you actually being their will require you to deal with preconceptions, assumptions, concerns and questions that they will seek answers too.  And if you can address them effectively by getting into the mind of your customer it will ultimately make it easier and faster for them to make a decision about you.

One way of doing this could be to support your claims with proof or evidence of what others say about you or what you have actually achieved which is always far more powerful than what you can ever say about yourself.

Marketing should be more than just raising awareness and getting new business, it’s about maximising your customer value and retention. Finding ways to create short term sales surges and fuelling word of mouth and adopting new marketing ways of reaching your audiences effectively.

To get the most from your marketing you will need a marketing strategy or plan which will keep you focused on these core ideas and allow you to tap into hidden opportunities inside and outside your business while you continue to advance your marketing efforts and ensure that your message reaches your audience, gets you noticed and the wheels of business turning.

Purple Cows Get Noticed - Do You ?

Your business MUST stand out from the crowd

Getting your products or services noticed and chosen in a world where there are just too many options and too little time is the number one goal for any business.

Most of us as we go about our daily business just ignore the ordinary and mundane stuff we come across (that’s most marketing then), whether its flipping channels during adverts, changing radio stations, walking past shelves or aisles in super markets or scanning through magazines and websites for the juicy stuff.

But if we come across something new, that manages to actually stand out from the crowd, a strange thing starts to happen…we start taking notice…and spreading that ideas to our friends, family and colleagues.

So why is this important ?

There is a fundamental shift going on in the economy as we are reaching a saturation point in the “mass market”.

Each year some 200,000+ books are published in English with fewer than 20,00 actually making it into the average book store and fewer still ever generating any descent sales volume.

More Choice & Less Time

In the music industry sales fell during 2000, for only the second time in a decade. Over the next few years, even after the economic recovery, the music industry continued to suffer. Something fundamental had changed. Sales fell 2.5 percent in 2001, 6.8 percent in 2002, and just kept dropping. By the end of 2005 (down another 8.3 percent), album sales in the US alone had declined 20 percent from their 1999 peak.

This same picture can be seen in other mass markets….and lurking deap beneath the surface there are some very interesting trends.

Perl Jam an international rock band ditched its record label in favour of selling direct to its fans.

4 ingredients a booked for time challenged cooks could not get a single book publisher interested, so they sold their book direct to people who cared using the internet creating the 2nd best-selling book of 2007 and THE best-selling book overall in 2009 in Australia reaching best-selling status within a single day and has since sold more than 1 million copies!!

The key to dealing with these shifting markets and indeed your success as a business is to reach those people (your target audience) that actually care enough about what you are doing ? This is an opportunity that you must not ignore.

Marketing to the masses, using traditional interruption techniques is dying and you need to master these viral techniques and build them into your business strategy to ensure your success.

How do you go viral ?

There are many ways of going viral, using information, software, vidoes or other means but for the small to medium sized business it could be any one of these ideas that I borrowed from online2riches.  Basically you are looking for a way to get your target market talking and at the same time make it easy for them to pass it on….so lets get viral.

1. Write articles.

This is, of course, a favourite internet marketing technique. The reason is that it allows businesses to:

-build valuable one way back links to their websites,
-increase their rankings in the search engines,
-brand yourself or your business as an expert,
-show potential customers how you can solve their problems.

Showing potential customers how you can solve their problems is the most important element of writing articles. The reason is that you are adding value to your products by giving information, and sharing with others what you know without asking anything in return. It also gives you an opportunity to show whether or not you may solve the customers’ problems.

Most internet surfers are tired of sales pitches; they want information. Give good information.

2. Send out a press release.

Press releases are another way to build one way back links to your website. It’s also a way to tell others about your business and show them what you can do for them. On line press releases allow you to connect directly with potential customers.

To write an effective press release, you want to concentrate on news that shows others how you can help them to solve their problems.

Like articles, press releases are often syndicated across many sites, and this allows your press release to go viral.

3. Build a Squidoo lens.

Squidoo is the brain child of best selling author and entrepreneur Seth Godin. A Squidoo lens is like a one page mini site on a specific topic or product. Lenses allow you to give as much information as you want about your products or services. It also allows you to rank well in the search engines because Squidoo ranks well in the search engines.

Squidoo lenses offer readers a chance to vote on lenses, as well as bookmark them. The social element of this site makes lenses highly viral. Create a good lens, and you may go viral quickly.

4. Participate in social marketing.

Social marketing is an easy way to connect with both potential customers and others in your industry. This is an opportunity to get out there and “strut your stuff.” In other words, you have a chance to demonstrate your expertise.

Social marketing encompasses a wide variety of techniques, including social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, blogging, social bookmarking and videos. All of these are highly viral because they are interactive.

5. Write free reports to give away.

Although this technique has been around a long time, it’s also still effective. Mark Joyner used it with his free ebook, “Search Engine Tactics” which has been downloaded over one million times.

The way to make an ebook go viral is to first put it in a format everyone may use. PDF (Portable document format) is the way to do this because Adobe works on any computer. The other thing you want to consider is making the report brandable.

What this means is that you allow others to add their details, or the affiliate links to your report. Those who want to give away your report use a “brander” to add their affiliate IDs, as well as a link to their websites if you allow it.

This gives others an incentive to promote your report. More importantly, it gives them an opportunity to make sales. Branding increases the chances of your reports going viral.

I remember producing a white paper on VoIP for a telecommunication venture that was picked up by a consulting firm who then wanted to give it out for free to all their customers!

6. Build a network of joint venture partners.

Although this technique takes the most work to do, it’s also one of the most lucrative ways to market your business on-line. When you build a list of joint venture partners, you have the chance to reach more potential customers in your market. Not only will you reach more potential customers in your market, you also have the opportunity to gain new affiliates for those who want to sell your products or services.

The secret here is to provide as much support to your potential partners as possible. Make it easy to join your affiliate program and include plenty of viral marketing materials like articles, reviews, and brandable reports.

7. Use Tell a Friend Scripts.

These are bits of code that you can add to your website that make the process of sharing a piece of information you have found with a friend very easy. You just type in and email address and name and it does the rest for you.

A lot of these ideas are web based, but similar principals apply in the off-line world also using coupons, physical promotional products, seminars, demonstrations and tasters.

What results can you expect ?

Well, expect anything from elation to just down right fear as you unleash a viral monster.

A recent example is one on-line burger promotion that was pulled because it actually went too viral…WHAT!!..have you ever heard of a company (or done it yourself) that was forced to pull an advert or communication programme because it sold too much product. Nope! didn’t think so.

A food chain promptly stopped honoring a coupon which was a simple free $2.75 “Famous Star” hamburger which could be claimed at any franchise in the burger chain after this seemingly harmless on-line promotion was super sized by the net.

276 winning contestants were sent a text which included a pass code and a 48-hour-only URL to download their free red meat.

A day later, the URL and pass code spread faster than a Paris Hilton home-made porno as hundreds of bargain-hunting websites posted the URL and pass code, prompting the hamburger outlet to discontinue honouring them amid fears of a run on their burgers.

The crazy thing is though they are going to stop all activity like this now….errmmm…can anybody else see the goldmine here just waiting to be exploited or is it just me

Similar success was found on-line when a dance track was paid homage by thousands of youtube fans who started creating their own versions based around the same song. It went crazy, but the artist got upset and vowed never to do it again because it was an attack on his artistic soul.

Yet another opportunity missed in the fog of mundane or just plain boring business.