MOBILE
How do I overcome customer-adoption issues when implementing a mobile marketing initiative?
There are several keys to enabling adoption of a mobile initiative, says Christopher Carfi, CEO of Cerado. “The first is recognizing that the mobile device, much more so than a desktop PC or even a laptop, is truly a personal device. As such, marketers must constantly remind themselves that anything they do must be about the customer, first and foremost,” he says.
The customer is in total control in the mobile realm, Carfi notes. “Initiatives that are intrusive or interruptive will be summarily ignored or worse, reviled.” Truly engaging initiatives are those that realize the customer is now a producer, not just a consumer.
SOCIAL MEDIA
How can I use video as a new media marketing tool?
Organizations’ Web sites should contain a wide variety of content that highlights who they are and why they are important, says Sarah Hoddinott, fundraising product manager at Advanced Solutions International. “Record special moments when they happen — whether it’s at an event or just day-to-day happenings,” she comments.
Digital camcorders are inexpensive, smaller than many cameras and can be used to easily post files on YouTube, MySpace and your own home page. Hoddinott suggests using these recordings not only as a dynamic way of keeping your messaging fresh, but also as a way to call for action, noting that President Obama “built a huge multimedia library and secured his own reputation and fate in doing so” during the 2008 election.
CRM
What business process improvements have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction?
“Although companies continue to spend a fair amount of money on CRM solutions, customer-satisfaction scores have only seen marginal improvement,” says
Amy Bethke, CRM director at Pegasystems. “With traditional CRM technology, the focus is often on consolidating customer data rather than managing customer requests from end to end. All too often, customer requests bounce between different departmental silos and multiple enterprise systems, leaving customers in the dark, wondering what happened. In short, even the best CRM strategy won’t work unless customer requests can be managed from receipt through resolution.”
The key is thinking about CRM activities from the customer’s point of view, she contends: “By aligning CRM strategy and business process initiatives with an emphasis on the customer, companies can deliver greater value to the consumer.”
INTERNET MARKETING
How can you unleash the marketing power of your Web site?
Companies need to be creative with every dollar and leverage the following three strategies, says Robert Rose, VP of marketing and strategy for CrownPeak.
First, make it easy to help customers find exactly what they want on the first click. This often means directing them to a dedicated campaign landing page rather than the homepage.
Second, create a call to action. Getting users to the right page is only half the battle, the next step is showing them what to do once they’re there.
Finally, check your success. The previous two strategies won’t do you much good if you aren’t capturing conversion data to know which programs, campaigns and activities are getting you results.
