TeamBlog

So, what is a marketing campaign in a CRM world?

A campaign is used in many realms of our personal and business lives. Think of it, political campaigns we are deluged with constantly; product announcement campaigns every few minutes within our favorite television and radio programs, even as we workout at the gym; weight loss campaigns to keep us in shape; and on and on. In this next few paragraphs lets deal with marketing campaigns intended to introduce a product or service of your company.

At the outset, we need to define what the GOAL of the campaign is! Many people begin their campaign designing cool artwork, logos, brochures, newsletters, fliers, coupons, etc. Unfortunately, in the majority of the non-professionally driven campaigns, the GOAL is left until the end or is assumed at some level.

Let’s begin a definition of what we expect from a marketing campaign and   management tool.

The goal in every case is to generate an opportunity to create a meaningful relationship between the product/service provider and the prospective customer.  This statement encapsulates the very essence of why any communication is performed.  Need a larger goal? More reasons? We’d think not as every transaction begins with a relationship to the company, the service or the product – the depth of relationship is the only variable.

The campaign management toolkit should assist us in creation, setup, execution and follow-through.  In the RedHorse CRM toolbox the tools are there, now it’s up to us to use them appropriately and fully.

Let’s outline our approach and needs:

A – We need to be able to pick our recipients from our CRM and determine who will receive our message;

B – The toolkit should provide us with the ability to generate the messages in multiple forms, eg. e-mails, merged letters, printed fliers, online conversations, etc;

C – Once the messages and media are created, the system should assist us in distribution of the e-mail, the hard copy letters, and potentially even the social media message;

D – It should be obvious to most businesses that tracking the costs and ROI should be a significant toolkit piece!  But, apparently not in many systems.  In RedHorse CRM – “It’s Included….”

E – Measurement of the cycle of distribution, receipts, responses and follow-up is key to a successful campaign in fact possibly more important than the message preparation.  We need to know number distributed, number received by the target parties, quantity of responses, and actions taken.

F – Last but certainly not least, it is CRITICAL that we use the prospects actions as an opportunity to respect their needs, service their wants, and assist them in a way that further develops the relationship.  Yes, Relationship is the Middle name of CRM.

With the RedHorse CRM system, all of the above is possible and “It’s Included…”

If  marketing campaigns and management is a concern of your business, feel free to contact us for a brief discussion of the tools and how we might assist you.

For more information about CRM systems click here.

RedHorse CRM has a tag line “Its Included….” We have found that “It REALLY IS…”

I must say “IT REALLY IS INCLUDED….” After spending more than a decade in another product (yah, you know the one) we got so used to our add-on products that made life easier, we forgot to stand back and look at ourselves.

Well, we have gone live!

As is true with many of these projects we feel a bit hampered in our abilities to do our job at the speed we did last week. Due to the learning curve and simply a new paradigm, and of course the untangling of data and operational knots we’ve created over the last 20 years.

We find ourselves moving slower and with more caution and I would venture to say ignorance. We find what we believe are “undocumented features – or bugs as some call it” but later find that we are simply approaching the issue strangely.

What an experience for us. We are so set in our ways and so engrained and trained in GoldMine we have a difficult time with other technology. I summarized on the phone yesterday to someone by stating, “It’s kind of like writing with your left hand (I am right handed). I know I can do it but I may be sloppier and slower but I will get there.”

Short time today but will add more at a later time.

NICE product, just different for us.

After 4 hours of time, we are waiting for our hundred thousand plus e-mails to convert into the RedHorse product. We’ve had a bit of database corruption in the past we were not even aware of.

Converting from any software in your company or even upgrading it can be concerning for even the most seasoned experts. Follow us through this conversion from GoldMine to RedHorse CRM.