Internet Marketing: CRM, Marketing Tactics and IT Alignment

Internet marketing and sales strategyInternet marketing continues to evolve, becoming both more viable and more complex. Customer relationship management software (CRM) has become a must due to the complexity. It plays an important role at all stages of the sales funnel. With a solid CRM system in place, your Internet sales and marketing teams can more effectively manage contacts whether they’re in the engage, convert, or nurture stage. Where the sales funnel was once the realm of the sales and marketing team, today’s Internet marketing strategies require a robust CRM solution – and IT involvement.

To add to the complexity of CRM and the Internet sales funnel in general, social media has emerged as a major channel for customer service, tech support, sales, and marketing alike. Integrating social media into your Internet marketing CRM program allows everyone to see the larger picture. For example, is a contact complaining about your service? Is she raving about your products? Has a contact expressed a need that your company can fill? By tapping into these channels, your sales, marketing, customer service, and tech support teams can respond appropriately.

Opinions vary on the best approach to CRM with some Internet marketing experts favoring a single, shared database for both marketing and sales and others preferring separate databases to ensure that leads are managed properly according to where they are in the Internet sales funnel. Other experts advocate using marketing automation software to first clean up the sales funnel data before importing it into CRM software.

Can a single CRM solution handle everything your Internet sales and marketing teams need? The answer varies from company to company. In most cases, sales and marketing need to work with the same data and contacts; however, they tend to interact with that data differently.

Integrated CRM solutions that include marketing automation and email marketing software may be the optimal choice by allowing sales and marketing to access shared data without duplication or conflicts. For example, with an integrated Internet marketing CRM platform, when an email subscriber unsubscribes from an email marketing campaign the contact will be removed from the mailing list and relevant information appended to the contact’s record.

No matter which option makes the most sense for your Internet marketing strategy, one thing is clear: you need IT support. With multiple databases, automation software, and lead sources (such as cold calling, opt-in lists, special events, and social media channels), managing the sales funnel requires software and systems that perform to their fullest potential.

While many Internet marketing platforms are offered as “software as a service” and imply that minimal IT intervention will be required, aligning marketing with IT is essential. While installation, updates, and support tasks may be minimal with cloud-based Internet sales solutions, IT should be involved in selecting the solution to make sure it is compatible with existing systems along with the company’s security and privacy policies. If your CRM solution includes social media information from contacts based in European Union countries, stricter privacy regulations may apply.

By including IT in the Internet sales and CRM conversation, you’ll benefit from a broader perspective that extends beyond the sales funnel and better aligns with the organization’s objectives. In addition, IT professionals tend to have more experience in purchasing software. Thus, they may be better equipped to evaluate the terms and conditions and negotiate the contract.

No matter which CRM solution you use to nurture prospects through the sales funnel, stronger Internet sales require alignment between your Internet marketing, sales, and IT teams.

Online Video Marketing: Tips for Nurturing Online Video Viewers

Now that you’ve converted your site’s visitors into leads and customers, you have the opportunity to drive sales by nurturing these visitors with online video. You’ve already used Web videos to engage and convert them; now it’s time to nurture them. Some will have ordered from you already while others are genuinely interested but haven’t yet committed. Either way, it’s smart to use video to nurture prospects and past customers.

Nurturing Prospects

Prospects are those viewers who have moved through the first two phases of the video-to-lead funnel. They are engaged and have converted into qualified leads. They haven’t purchased yet. The point of nurturing videos is to guide them toward a purchase.

When you first converted these prospects, you likely prompted them to sign up for a newsletter, subscribe to your blog, or enroll in a free video course related to your product or service. If so, you now have the opportunity to continue your relationship via the marketing channel you presented. Create a series of videos that continue to build upon the foundation you’ve already created and integrate these videos into the marketing channel. For example, if your prospects have signed up for a monthly newsletter, include a video segment in your newsletter each month.

Nurturing Customers

These customers have already purchased from you, so why should you nurture them? Because nurtured customers will be likely to purchase again or refer others to you! It can cost five times as much to attract new customers than it does to keep existing ones. You’ve already invested the time and money to engage and convert your customers, and they’ve experienced your quality and customer service. By staying in touch, you can nurture them and drive additional sales.

Using Online Video to Nurture Prospects and Customers

While text-based communication has its place, online video is a powerful medium for nurturing prospects and customers alike.

For example:

  • Use follow-up emails and videos to announce new products.
  • Send customers coupon codes revealed within informative online videos.
  • Ask customers to post video testimonials or prompt prospects to view them.
  • Send occasional how-to videos related to the product. For example, if you sell kitchen gadgets, send a link to an online cooking video.
  • Hold live, interactive video sessions where customers and prospects can ask questions or learn more about your products and services.

With an audience of qualified leads and past customers who are genuinely interested in your offers, the hard work is already complete. Use your creativity to produce nurturing online videos and reap the rewards.