I just came across a very interesting infograph depicting how crm evolved into social crm. I don't fully agree with the way the PR department is portrayed as a central player in all this, but the visual brings at least a crisp overview of the current state crm is in. Check out the full infograph here.

This one has been sitting in my drafts for way to long. But it remains surprisingly actual.

Already a couple of months have passed since I first encountered this presentation on the approach Coca-Cola uses to build sustainable relationships through social media.

It was slide 15 in particular that inspired me in writing this post. The graphs show how Coca-Cola turned from traditional, one-shot campaigning to a more structural, long-term program focused on building and maintaining customer relationships.

Now, I took the liberty in altering these same graphs to make a point of my own.

Traditional campaigning

Sho me the money.

It is to be noted that a lot of brands still live in the presumption that marketing is a matter of buying people’s attention. Traditional advertising campaigns are characterized by a significant investment in (mass) media in order to push the message to as many consumers as possible. Unfortunately, the only result that can be expected from this is a sharp, yet very temporary spike in interest which usually correlates with the media spending. After a while the interest wears out together with the media presence and the advertiser is forced to break the bank over and over again to keep his product into the attention of the general public.

Brand activation

Brand activation is the CPR of marketing. It keeps an otherwise dying brand from flatlining every once in a while.

The default game plan: build some flashy brand website, set up a contest, create a campaign, spend a lot of money to build traffic and then try to acquire as much profiles in your marketing database as possible. Sadly enough, these databases get buried alive the very instant the campaign is over only to be cracked open like a can of worms the next time the brand has another “revolutionary product” or “great give away” to announce.
In other words, the brand activation marketer treats online marketing merely as a numbers game. Success is measured purely on the number of contacts acquired, ignoring that behind each email address there is a real human being.

Stop filling databases and start building relationships.

Structural online presence

Customers are always on. You should be too.

Customers don’t think in terms of prime time, launch campaigns or banner waves. On the interwebs, they are calling the shots. They will decide if and when you are worth their time and attention. Basically, it’s up to you to offer them something of value and doing this on a continual basis. So before you go out and blow out your marketing budget on social media campaigns and banner ads it is of outmost importance that you get the basics right.

1) Website (= content)

First of all, make sure there’s a place you can call home.  Claim your own online hubspot and define a content strategy aligned with your brand and business objectives. Ask yourselves these questions: What’s my brand famous for? What’s truly relevant for my customers? Where can I make a difference? In other words, it doesn’t really matter if you build the largest recipe database of the country, a brilliant B2B blog resonating your company’s market leadership, the most userfriendly eshop or the number one customer support center, just as long as you excel at it.

2) Search (= traffic)

Closely tied to your content strategy should be a performant search engine marketing program. Relying on your brand legacy simply isn’t enough. Instead, you should invest in a more rounded search presence, based on the context in which customers use, need and search for your products. If done properly, your brand will naturally appear at the moments of truth, directly intersecting with consumers’ online decision journeys. Basically, building an effective SEM program is about making sure you are found by (potential) customers and directing them to your website.

3) Email (= relationship)

Email has been proclaimed dead for years now. But from my own experience, I can honestly say that a permission based email marketing program is still a highly cost-effective way of building a sustainable relationship with (potential) customers. Not only is it an efficient way of obtaining recurring traffic to your website, it is also a valuable source of customer data. Every interaction is an opportunity to enrich your customer profiles which enables you to continually improve your marketing efforts. In short, the more actionable information you collect, the more relevant your messaging can become, the more engaging your customers will be.

So here’s the deal. Invest in a structural online presence before you start campaigning. The reason why is simple. Paying for attention not resulting in any form of engagement is just throwing money out the door. And what better way to launch a campaign than awarding your most loyal followers with the scoop, empowering them to act as true brand advocates. The result: a perpetual expanding brand relationship platform.