Written by Mihai Dragan on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 ( 2 responses )
Tags: incentives, interactive, maslow, online marketing
Having a look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (check it out on the right) I’ve noticed that the internet related advertising usually works on upscale needs such as self actualization, esteem, love, belonging, safety etc.
The finer the choices, the more the internet advertising can answer and relate to this needs. The two – way communication works best with upscale needs and probably upscale individuals: the influencers, the early adopters, the few.
The self actualization need, the “be all you can be”, the “discover your inner power” works best on the internet and it’s actually believable in a world where class, color, race, religion or income don’t matter. This is something the real world option can’t actually offer.
John Gerzema states that the recession has hit each and every one of us. “The times of leisure class marketing are behind us and the focus msut shift to addressing our essential needs” says John. While I cannot debate that I think that maybe, just maybe, it’s just the real world that won’t provide means of reaching higher ambitions to people. The internet will.
Written by Mihai Dragan on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Tags: crm, customer relationship management, online marketing, salesforce automatition, salesforce.com, social crm, twitter
Wikipedia defines CRM (Customer Relationship Management) as “the processes a company uses to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers”. People usually mistake the technology for the process and for good reasons: the companies that spend most on marketing the concept are the ones selling the technologies and want the concept associated to their brands.
The leading CRM software providers at the moment are SAP, Oracle and Salesforce.com with Microsoft growing at a fast rate. Microsoft has actually the highest growth rate, followed by Salesforce.com . The first backed up by its financial power and the second backed up by innovation and flexibility.
It should be noted that “flexibility and innovation” are terms that should be taken with a pinch of salt. The software cannot outpace the process too much as it becomes unusable for the company adopting it.
The benefits
What is the CRM good for? Everything. As a company revolves around its clients a customer-centric approach in management would have huge benefits in any company.
Imagine running a company (well – in case you are not already running one). Start with the beginning: a small company, focused on every customer and willing to serve him or her as good as possible. This is doable when you have a customer base of 5, 10 or even 50 clients. But what happens when you have over 1000 clients, 2000 prospects and you are running large scale advertising or marketing campaigns? You must automate.
This is where the Customer Relationship management comes in. Both as a process and a technology.
Who puts the “Social” in Social CRM ?
Salesforce.com apparently. They have recently integrated Twitter in their platform (quite a nice product). Many of you might ask – why Twitter? Why such a small social network? Well, according to Compete.com, Twitter is not so small anymore. With around 54 million page views it is surpassed only by Facebook and Myspace.
The social networks are the hubs your customers congregate now. This is where they share their views, opinions, feelings, thoughts and a whole lot more.
Brands should tap in this vast resource. They should listen, understand and reach out for the new customers.
The Social CRM has emerged as companies look for non-intrusive but useful ways of integrating social networks and their users. What seemed like a distant shift in perception several months ago seems closer than ever with the new trends.
Have a look at a very interesting presentation regarding the subject, put together by Fabio Cipriani, a Senior Consultant at Deloitte Netherlands and author of Blog Corporativo.
Connecting the dots – Online Marketing and Social CRM
Online marketing is just a part of OCRM (Online Customer Relationship Management). Just like the classic marketing is for the classic CRM.
The trouble with online marketing is that it doesn’t get the credit it should. We, the interactive enthusiasts, are yet to prove overall efficiency. How else can we but with the help of the CRM and its social features. Altough the Social CRM has just started its journey I am sure we will start seeing a great adoption rate in the future.
