Continuing our short series on inbound marketing, today we’re taking a look at customer relationship management (CRM) systems. These powerful platforms typically integrate with both your website and your business systems to effectively form the backbone of your business. Used correctly, the data in your CRM system will become your most powerful asset and you’ll be able to use it to make important business decisions.
CRMs are great because they effectively allow you to create records for each of your potential customers and to store information about every interaction they have with you. This then allows you to tailor your marketing messages for individual prospects, whether it’s the emails you send or whether it’s the landing pages that you send them to.
Many CRM systems also include lead scoring tools, which allow you to assign a point value to every potential customer to make it easier to tell who’s ready to buy. Perhaps they score three points for opening an email, six points for downloading an e-book and ten points for visiting your pricing page. Then, once they reach a certain score that meets your threshold, you can pass the lead on to your sales team – and your sales team can vary their approach depending upon what content they’ve consumed.
The market leaders
CRM systems used to be considered cutting edge, but they’ve rapidly become the new norm, especially for B2B companies with long lead times. Nowadays, if you’re not using a CRM system then you can bet that your competitor will be, and that puts you at a disadvantage.
The good news is that there are all sorts of different platforms out there, including specialist platforms for specific industries. Some of the more popular generic providers include HubSpot, Infusionsoft, Salesforce, Marketo and Act-On, but there are so many choices now that you can afford to be a little picky and to shop around to find a system that has the precise features that you’re looking for.
Another thing to consider is the rest of your infrastructure and how your CRM system will integrate with it all. For example, if you’re using WordPress as the CMS for your website, you should try to find a CRM that integrates with WordPress. Alternatively, pick a system like HubSpot that includes a CMS as part of the platform so you can build it straight into the back end of your website.
Conclusion
If you’re a B2B company and you’re hoping to take advantage of inbound marketing, you need to get yourself a CRM system. It’ll make your marketing efforts far more effective, and that will help you to make the most of your limited budget while making it easier to track whether you’re securing an ROI. They’re so powerful that they’ve become the new norm, and if you’re not using a CRM system then you’re squandering an opportunity and failing to live up to your full potential.
Struggling with lead gen? Don’t worry – we’re here to help you to gather the leads you need to boost your business. Request a demo of Bant.io to find out how we can help your company to grow by sending hot B2B leads directly to your inbox. You won’t regret it.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.