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The Definition of CRM: Customer Relationship First, Management LaterApril 20, 2011 – 5:09 pm |
 Abdul Fattah Ismail |
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Marketers contend with a lot of segmentation in cyberspace. Customers peruse for their favorite goods and services through coupon purveyors, auction sites, social media networks, and chat applications. As this writer from Direct Marketing questions, how can brand loyalty be cultivated and maintained? This is critical, as the writer notes, because loyalty comes from engagement, a fundamental block to strengthening customer relationships. Strong customer relationships help unify CRM solutions before applications are typed in code. Strong customer relationships are built before applications are utilized in corporate operations.
Through my professional and personal experiences, I feel that relationship is critical for decoding our response to objects in the world. In the case of marketers, this is paramount for successful strategy. America, for better or worse, is a society dependent on the consumer. Brands must stimulate their intended segment. The demographic must be engaged through human interaction. Marketers need to understand their desires and offer things that solve their issues, imagined or tangible. 
After these tenets are established, then marketers must maintain integrity. If a customer has specific privacy demands, guide them through the possible opportunities where both parties can reach satisfaction. Customers have shown that they are more confident in telling the world about a faulty service experience. The balance is tricky, but must be achieved to see success with a new promotion because loyal customers will offer the first complete round of feedback.
Marketers should also not be too quick to surrender a campaign initiative if customer feedback is negative. That can actually fan flames on the issue, disillusioning your employees who put in the blood and sweat for innovation. The Gap’s logo change is a clear example. A venerable American brand that was struggling flushed millions of dollars invested in market research down the drain last year when advertisers and social media waves panned the logo change. I can only imagine the private seething that took place in the San Francisco headquarters. A logo change will not make a difference in the long run for the financial profile of an apparel retailer. Apparel retailers these days must be aware of inventory control and property expenses, not a logo. Customers get mad, but they move on from that over time, as long as the product delivers good value. Gap has not been doing that with their collections. Slow sales don’t lie.
Customer relationship management can only provides a solution to your operations if you know the issues at hand. Marketers must not bite those hands that feed them.
One Response to “The Definition of CRM: Customer Relationship First, Management Later”
Thanks for the writing. It really analytical . I liked it. Want more.
By Md. Manjur H Chisti on Apr 21, 2011