CRM for Marketing: 9 tricks for marketers to get more out of CRM in 2024

by Marcel Nanning | Last Updated: January 18, 2024

For years, CRM was mistakenly seen as a sales and account management tool, with CRM for marketing in the background. For marketers in particular, a CRM system is fundamental software for a powerful marketing effort. For marketers, CRM software offers the right data and tools to make an impact on the target group and to bring an unambiguous sound to the market together with sales. Since the CRM market is one of the fastest-growing, we also see that CRM systems are getting better and more extensive. Time to reap the benefits of CRM for marketing in 2024.

First this; what exactly are we talking about when we talk about CRM? CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and is often used as an indication for the software that is used for this. CRM systems help you store and edit contacts, interactions, opportunities and more. Some examples of CRM software systems (including CRM for marketing):

1. Creative use of the database

As a marketer, the first quick win is to use the valuable data from the CRM system as the basis for personalized marketing campaigns. The better the message connects with the recipient, the greater the chance of effect.

This starts with segmentation. By keeping track of the data, there are sufficient fields to compose segments where a specific offer and message can be sent. Think of creating target groups based on company size, niche/business management (SBI code) or region. Or create audiences based on customer value or the number of previous interactions in the past year.

Another option to leverage the database is to use CRM database fields to address the target audience based on company characteristics, contact person or specific areas of interest.

An example of creative use of the CRM database at CRM for marketing:

Dear Mr. Pieterse
At Pieterse Machinefabriek BV < company name> you are busy every day finding new customers. So take advantage of our xyz solution to immediately generate more leads.
Sincerely,
Jan Janssen

2. Product development and campaigns based on customer insights

Okay, less obvious; use the CRM database for customer insights and analysis for product development. Make analyzes on the database and discover where the opportunities lie for new products and services.

Which markets (niches) are moving? What products/services have been selling well lately? Which less? Which interactions do customers show on certain expressions? What information can you get from the recorded conversations with target groups? For example, are you an IT service provider and do you notice that more and more customers are talking about bringing their ERP environment to the cloud? Then develop a product, service or campaign based on that.

Insights in opportunities

Analyzes can also be performed on the success of certain products/services within certain customer groups. For example, analyze to what extent product group A sells in niche 1 and compare this with the sales of the same product group in niche 2. From these insights, you can zoom in further to see why there is a difference and whether there are still opportunities for more turnover with this product or product group.

3. Roll back campaign results in CRM for marketing

A great opportunity for marketing operation specialists: use CRM to set up campaigns and feed the results back into the CRM system. Think of clicks on e-mail newsletters, downloaded white papers, read landing pages or requests for information.

Again, the necessary analyzes can be performed on this. Determine the success of the campaign and where possible improvements lie for the next time.

By making the marketing campaign results visible in CRM, you can provide insight into the entire funnel from a system and pinpoint exactly where more attention is needed. This is also a way to bring sales and marketing closer together. Perhaps that is the most important effect!

4. Email marketing with CRM

CRM systems often offer options for sending mailings from the CRM system. Most systems rely on third-party email marketing software for this and connect to this via an API or app. The further this integration goes, the better!

By integrating these systems with each other, you amplify the power of both systems. You no longer have to import and export lists and enjoy a lot of other benefits. We have named one of these: read campaign data back into the CRM system.

Systems such as ActiveCampaign and HubSpot CRM provide a total solution where CRM and email marketing are closely related and controlled by the same system. When you look at CRM for marketing, email marketing is one of the most important channels you end up using the CRM database for.

5. Prepare slick emails for sales

You can also use this integration to prepare beautiful e-mails that sales, account management or service employees can send to a specific prospect or customer with 1 push of a button. These emails can contain a complete sales kit. The advantage of this for the marketeer is that the house style, tone-of-voice and proposition texts are monitored and an unambiguous sound goes into the market.

This could mean that the user of the CRM system can perform an action from the relationship card or contact card after a telephone conversation or even during a sales conversation, whereupon the recipient immediately receives the specific mail that matches the requested interests.

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6. e-mail waterfalls activated by sales/service

A step further on this action is activating multiple emails with 1 press of a button. This is marketing automation, activated from the CRM system. This can be at the instigation of an employee or take place automatically based on a certain action.

Think of filling in a form or downloading a digital product. After one of those actions, the recipient now periodically receives a certain e-mail that gives him/her more and more information in the route to a possible purchase. this automation can go a long way.

For example, you can set that a click in one of those emails leads to another automated email campaign. Or that a call task is automatically shot in the CRM system so that the relevant Account Manager can contact the customer.

7. Prepare forms and view results in the CRM system

More and more CRM systems have a form option. Here you can see that CRM for marketing has become a key part of the CRM propositions. With this you can set up landing pages to, for example:

Event registrations to be collected via the form.
Offer customer or prospect information to the customer to update the information
Generate leads from online marketing campaigns landing on the form page

There are plenty of examples for the use of forms in combination with the CRM system.

This has major advantages because you immediately have access to the entered data in the CRM system. So there is no need to manually export and import data. Actions can also be taken directly based on the form results. Think of the automatic submission of a task to an Account Manager for telephone follow-up and acquisition. Or the automatic sending of an e-mail when a certain answer is given in the form.

8. Account Based Marketing campagnes

Map out the DMU of a company and set up hyper-target campaigns based on the Account Based Marketing strategy. Work intensively with sales on a number of accounts based on all the data available in the CRM system. Think of; the roles of the various contact persons within the DMU, ​​the way in which these people work together on a possible decision regarding the purchase of your product or service. Also approach every member of the DMU from the right Buyer Persona.

In practice this means that different messages with their own tone-of-voice are sent to the contact persons. A precondition for this is therefore a complete customer view with sufficient data from the CRM system.

Good Account Based Marketing campaigns cannot do without the data available in the CRM system.

9. Build a prospect database with AI

The prospect database is sacred to the B2B marketer. You can use this database to run campaigns and realize conversions to leads. It is therefore of great importance for the marketer that this database is complete and up-to-date.

Nowadays there are useful functionalities within CRM systems or from external tools to enrich data in systems. Think of the automatic completion of company information and contact information based on data available online. This can also be messages about the company that are relevant to your marketing messages. This automatically adds value to your marketing database and increases the effectiveness of your campaigns.

💡 Bonus tip! Link your CRM for marketing to a quotation tool for tight quotations!

As a marketer you prefer to have a grip on all points in the Customer Journey. From the first contact to the contact moments of existing customers. In the case of a sales funnel, this also means a grip on the quotations that go out. How do they look like? Which texts are in it? How are they presented? Some CRM systems also have a quotation module with which you can automatically generate quotations. There are also stand-alone quotation tools that can help you with this. An example of this is Rumpslomp.

Funnel power!

By linking the CRM for the marketing environment with this type of tooling, you ensure a smooth process from sand to customer and you work up to the offer with an unambiguous appearance. As a marketer, you have a grip on the text blocks and the style of the quotation. This ensures that sales always use the most recent marketing texts when offering products and services.

Sales is thus freed from clicking quotations together themselves based on quotations made earlier (with all the associated errors). By linking your CRM system with a quotation tool, you can save time, make an impression with your quotation and monitor the texts and style.

This is also great for setting up marketing funnels for new business and excisting business. More on that in this marketing funnel guide!

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