How to choose a CRM.
A Customer Relationship Management program, or CRM, is great at keeping marketing systems in place and running effectively. But, like a computer, “garbage-in-garbage-out.” That means, like any complex machine that makes your life easier, your CRM has to be run correctly and maintained. It doesn’t matter how many bells and whistles the CRM has if it can’t be used correctly. Think of it like an old-fashioned VCR; eventually everyone can run it, but who wants to watch or is compelled to buy my products?
The do it yourself approach
The newer CRMs are easier to use and their costs are lower. But you, or a staff member, will need to be trained properly to run one. If you are being trained by your marketing agency, take good notes and ask questions. See if that CRM has good tutorials on YouTube as well. It may sound odd, but you want a robust system that isn’t watered down – one that a marketing professional would use. If you are going to spend the money on a monthly CRM account, you should not have one with just a few features. Make sure it has the same features as the big CRMs but for less monthly cost.
First things, first
Unless you have a marketing agency and an ad strategy, you may want to get that handled first, then get a CRM. A marketing agency will create ads, lead magnets (eBooks), and videos that showcase your company and what you offer (goods or services) in the best light. That comes first. You must have good quality creative ads that hit the mark (get people to respond) before anything else. Then use the CRM to set up funnels to educate prospective clients.
Learn from the pros
If your marketing agency uses a particular CRM and can make it run really well, purchasing that brand of CRM would be a good idea. Why? Most marketing agencies have to have a lean, robust system that can do it all or that would hamper their business bottom line severely. Think about it: Each client they have is attached to the same CRM. If the agency uses a cheap CRM with fewer features, clients would know immediately, the staff would be putting in too many hours, and the agency would (eventually) go out of business. So, marketing agencies have to know which is best simply to be efficient in business today.
Don’t forget creating and placing the ads (The reason you need a CRM to begin with)
Okay, you have your ads, and now you can use that CRM to keep track of ad placement and funnels. Make sure the agency shows you how to do this. Social media ad placement is a strange world where you can spend a fortune if you don’t know what you’re doing, and nearly all the social media giants will help you track.
Should I, or shouldn’t I?
The moral of the story is you can do this yourself, hire a staff member to do this for several hours each week, or, optimally, have your marketing agency do this for you while you watch. Let them hire someone to make sure the ads are being tested for effectiveness and that they run well. The choice is yours, but in the long run, instead of retraining staff, or doing it yourself, just continue doing what makes you great and let others do what makes them great.
If you would like a completely unbiased assessment of what you should do, email us at Avatar Marketing Works for a 10-minute chat (free of course). This is our way of paying it forward.