Software Development Management
Just about every client meeting I have includes the question, “what problem are you trying to solve or what benefit are you offering to your customers?” A lot of the products and services that are for sale do solve a problem or provide a benefit for the consumer, but is that obvious from the marketing material?
[Read more…] about Provide Your Customers with Something They Want
Sometimes your customers find you online by commenting on your blog or joining your Facebook fan page. But what if you’re getting started or you’re looking to find other places where your customers hang out? How do you go about finding your customers online?
Does your company have CRM (Customer Relationship Management)? CRM used to be about a business process of managing a relationship with a customer, but now it often just applies to a piece of software that stores customer names and some information about them. During this recession, there is an opportunity to actually form relationships with your customers. As Lee Odden from Online Marketing Blog says:
As companies decide where to invest their limited marketing resources, there is a distinct opportunity to focus on investing in relationships: with their customers, prospects, employees and business partners.
So instead of using your CRM to blast out targeted email campaigns, use CRM to form long-lasting relationships with your customers. Reach out to them and see if you can help. Companies and people who connect with their customers will be remembered much more than companies that just sent out lots of advertising. Best of all, building relationships is easy on the wallet – just takes a bit of your time.
(photo by “Solar ikon” @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: business, business strategy, crm, customer relationship management, customers, marketing, marketing strategy, online marketing, internet marketing