Advertiser Platforms
Article | March 20, 2024
Verizon quietly introduced a new email marketing feature yesterday that it calls “View Time Optimization,” which the company says automatically times emails from companies to arrive the moment you’re looking at your email inbox, so it sits at the very top as a new message. The service is part of Verizon’s suite of email and web advertising properties, which includes AOL and Yahoo, and well-known programmer David Heinemeier Hansson (the inventor of the Ruby on Rails web application framework) called out Verizon on Twitter on Friday for what he calls an “Orwellian” ad placement tool.
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Advertiser Platforms
Article | March 12, 2024
Embrace the power of data-driven sales and learn how to harness real-time insights, personalize outreach, and optimize sales process for unmatched efficiency through sales intelligence best practices.
Contents
1. Introduction to Sales Intelligence
2. Sales Intelligence is the Future of Sales
3. Best Practices for Efficient Sales Intelligence in Businesses
3.1. Track Buying Signals
3.2. Understand Buyer Motivations
3.3. Personalize Outreach
3.4. Prioritize Leads
3.5. Track Performance Metrics
3.6. Analyze Data Analytics in Forecasting
3.7. Monitor Market Trends
3.8. Integrate with CRM
3.9. Comply with Sales Ethics and Data Privacy
3.10. Power up Social Selling
3.11. Enhance Customer Retention
3.12. Discover Total Addressable Market
3.13. Improve Lead Qualification
3.14. Gain Insights in Real-time
3.15. Lean into Personalization
4. Building a Modern Sales Culture
1. Introduction to Sales Intelligence
Sales intelligence combines internal and external data to provide deep insights into accounts, prospects, and markets. Internal data from CRM provides behavioral insights about leads and customers. Similarly, marketing automation platforms and other systems offer valuable information. External data sources such as business databases and social media provide relevant firmographic, technographic, and buying intent signals. Sales intelligence analyses this data to offer a clear overview. Eventually, it boosts sales targeting, messaging, and forecasting.
2. Sales Intelligence is the Future of Sales
Sales intelligence is like a secret weapon for sales teams. It uses data, analytics to give full picture of customers and prospects. This means sales reps can have more meaningful conversations and close deals faster. Business intelligence strategies include sales intelligence tools to integrate data from multiple sources, like CRM, marketing automation, and social media. This way they can create detailed profiles of prospects and customers.
The capacity to convert raw data into actionable insights differentiates successful sales organizations today. Forward-thinking companies are wisely investing in sales intelligence platforms from providers. Equipped with real-time alerts and predictive analytics, sales reps can engage in smarter conversations to boost pipeline velocity and conversion rates. The competitive advantage provided by sales intelligence solidifies its role in crafting strategies for the future of sales.
For a successful modernization initiative, sales leaders need strategic alignment across the business.
This involves recognizing the role of AI in sales to improve sales efficiency:
Partner with IT- Ensure seamless systems integration and data flows
Collaborate with Marketing- Coordinate campaigns, assets, and messaging
Involve Operations- Optimize processes to maximize sales efficiency
Educate Executives- Demonstrate value and progress through analytics reporting
Empower Sales Managers- Provide enablement resources to improve team adoption
3. Best Practices for Efficient Sales Intelligence in Businesses
Adopting best practices in the sophisticated approach to sales and marketing intelligence arena enables companies to dissect vast amount of data. This effective data utilization propels them to execute informed strategies. This methodology helps to understand the leads and interact with customers efficiently. The approach catalyzes growth and prepares companies to compete by being innovative in the market.
3.1.Track Buying Signals
Understanding and responding to buying signals in real-time can give an edge to the advertising firms. Businesses can identify accounts in the market or do research by tracking actions such as website visits, content downloads, and social media interaction. This allows sales teams to focus on hot leads instead of cold outreach and time their outreach and proposals perfectly.
3.2.Understand Buyer Motivations
Businesses can uncover what motivates buyers to purchase a particular solution through market research, customer interviews and previous deals. This helps create targeted messaging that speaks directly to the buyer's needs and pain points. Grasping why clients invest in advertising services or products allows for more focused and effective sales strategies. This could be the desire for brand visibility, market expansion, or digital transformation. Tailoring your approach based on these motivations increases relevance and impact.
Segmented personalized automated email messages average 46% higher open rates than normal marketing messages.
3.3.Personalize Outreach
With insights into each lead's role, challenges, and interests, sales teams can craft personalized emails, social media messages, and other touchpoints. This tailored approach improves engagement and helps convert leads faster. Personalization is not just beneficial; it is expected. Using gathered intelligence to customize communications ensures that messages resonate with the specific needs and interests prospects through sales intelligence in B2B prospecting in the advertising sector.
Companies that track buying signals see a 70% increase in lead conversion rates.
3.4.Prioritize Leads
Not all leads are equal. By scoring leads based on fit, need, and readiness to buy, sales teams know where to focus their efforts for the best return. Data like firmographics, intent signals, and engagement can help segment and prioritize leads. Utilizing scoring mechanisms to identify and focus efforts on high-potential leads ensures optimal allocation of resources towards engagements that are most likely to convert.
A 2023 LinkedIn study reiterates the importance of detailed prospect profiling, noting that companies with comprehensive lead information recorded 40% higher conversion rates than those with sparse data.
3.5.Track Performance Metrics
One of the best practices of sales intelligence is monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs).
These include conversion rates, average deal size, and sales cycle length. These KPIs provide insights into sales effectiveness and areas for improvement.
Additional key metrics like win rates, deal sizes, sales cycle length, and lead response rates should be diligently tracked. Monitoring this data helps optimize processes and double down on what's working.
3.6.Analyze Data Analytics in Forecasting
Advanced analytics helps create accurate sales forecasts to meet targets and gain visibility into the pipeline. Historical data and predictions provide actionable insights for territory planning. Leveraging data analytics to predict market trends and customer needs allows for proactive pipeline management. This helps in anticipating demand shifts in the advertising industry and aligning offerings accordingly.
3.7.Monitor Market Trends
Staying ahead in the advertising industry requires a keen understanding of evolving market trends. This includes shifts in digital marketing, consumer behavior, and technology adoption. These factors enable your team to adapt and innovate, and is a best practice for sales intelligence. This external data paired with internal intelligence guides sales strategy.
Companies that stay ahead of market trends see a 25% increase in revenue growth.
3.8.Integrate with CRM
A CRM (customer relationship management) system integrated with sales intelligence solutions provides a single source of truth. This enables seamless data sharing across sales, marketing, and customer success for complete visibility. A robust CRM system is foundational for managing and analyzing customer interactions. Integration with sales intelligence tools enhances data accuracy and accessibility. The process fosters data-driven decision making and provides a 360-degree view of the customer.
78% of sales pros say their CRM is effective at improving sales and marketing alignment.
3.9.Comply with Sales Ethics and Data Privacy
While leveraging sales intelligence, businesses must ensure ethical data collection and usage practices. Protecting customer privacy enhances long-term loyalty. In an era where data is a critical asset, adhering to ethical sales practices and data privacy laws is paramount to building trust with clients. Additionally, it ensures compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.
42% helps influence customer buying decisions based on trust in organisation’s data security & privacy practices.
3.10.Power up Social Selling
Social platforms like LinkedIn provide a goldmine of sales intelligence. Following target accounts, engaging with connections, and monitoring content shares provide valuable insights. This utilization of social media platforms connects with prospects and clients, adding a powerful tool to the sales arsenal. It allows for the sharing of relevant content, engaging with brand conversations, and building relationships.
78% of salespeople who use social selling generate more leads than those who don't.
3.11.Enhance Customer Retention
Analyzing customer churn, satisfaction, and upsell opportunities helps retain and grow accounts. Sales intelligence plays a key role in understanding customers better. Beyond acquisition, the focus should also be on retaining advertising clients. This can be achieved through exceptional service, regular check-ins, and understanding evolving needs to foster long-term relationships.
67% of churn is preventable if the customer's problem is resolved during their first interaction.
3.12.Discover Total Addressable Market
Market research and data analysis helps assess the total addressable market (TAM) for products and services. This guides sales goals, resource allocation, and growth strategies. Identifying the TAM enables advertising firms to understand their potential market size and segment focus. This strategic insight guides marketing efforts and resource allocation.
3.13.Improve Lead Qualification
Solid lead qualification is as essential for an efficient sales process as building trust and rapport. Sales intelligence enables businesses to define ideal customer profiles and accurately identify qualified leads. Lead qualification processes can be improved by cultivating leads. Eventually, this maximizes sales efficiency on prospects with the highest likelihood of conversion.
Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.
3.14.Gain Insights in Real-time
With real-time alerts and dashboards, best practice in sales intelligence includes sales teams acting on critical events as they occur. This level of agility and visibility drives faster deal progression. Real-time sales intelligence provides immediate insights into customer behavior and market changes. This paves the way for agile responses and strategic adjustments.
3.15.Lean into Personalization
Businesses segment audiences and customize messaging for relevancy using sales intelligence for business growth. Personalized communication converts leads into customers more effectively. Personalization across advanced sales practices can significantly differentiate an advertising firm in a competitive era. Tailor experiences, solutions, and communications to meet the unique needs and preferences of each client.
According to McKinsey, personalization marketing can increase revenue by 5–15% and marketing ROI by 10–30%. It can also reduce customer acquisition costs by up to 50%.
4.Building a Modern Sales Culture
Looking ahead, AI in sales intelligence will become even smarter leveraging to surface patterns, recommend next steps, and even orchestrate actions across sales and marketing stacks. Perhaps most importantly, leading sales teams will increasingly view intelligence not as a utility but as an integral part of their workflow. They will use it to guide everything from targeting to messaging to forecasting. For executives, prioritizing sales intelligence today lays the foundation for data-driven selling and a formidable competitive edge.
Leveraging sales intelligence and marketing automation insights is pivotal for businesses aiming to refine their strategic positioning and enhance operational efficacy. Utilizing cutting-edge sales intelligence, organizations pinpoint lucrative prospects with unparalleled accuracy. They craft sales strategies that resonate on a deeper level with their target demographics. Future trends in sales technology will include strategic deployment of marketing analytics driving the creation of highly targeted campaigns, optimizing channel performance and ensuring elevated ROI.
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Ad Tech and Martech
Article | May 14, 2024
Read this article for an in-depth analysis of top CRM tools that empower businesses to enhance customer engagement, boost ROI, better understand customer needs, and drive significant growth.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Understanding Customer Engagement
2.1 Key Perspectives on Metrics to Improve ROI through CRM
2.2 Role of Engagement in Customer Retention: An Expert Analysis
3. Top CRM Tools for Managing Customer Engagement
3.1 Pipedrive
3.2 ClickUp
3.3 Copper
3.4 Nutshell
3.5 Nimble CRM
3.6 Close
3.7 Insightly CRM
3.8 Sugar Sell
3.9 Workbooks CRM
3.10 Maximizer
4. Final Thoughts
1. Introduction
In the growing digital age of intelligence and innovation, leveraging customer relationship management (CRM) tools has become indispensable for businesses aiming to enhance customer engagement and maximize return on investment. These top tools in CRM help streamline interactions and provide invaluable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and needs. This article explores the top CRM tools that can help businesses implement CRM to forge stronger customer relationships, enhance their marketing strategies, and foster companies to drive growth and innovation.
2. Understanding Customer Engagement
Customer engagement transcends basic interactions between a company and its customers. It encompasses the emotional, psychological, and behavioral responses that customers exhibit toward a brand over time. This complex construct is significant as it connotes a proactive relationship where customers choose to interact with the brand beyond contractual obligations.
2.1. Key Perspectives on Metrics to Improve ROI through CRM
Advanced metrics to measure customer engagement go beyond traditional indicators to provide deeper insights into customer behaviors and preferences. These metrics include:
Customer Lifetime Value: An estimation of the total value a customer is expected to generate during their relationship with a brand. This CLV metric helps businesses understand how much they should invest in maintaining or expanding relationships with individual customers.
Social Listening: The process of monitoring digital conversations to understand what customers are saying about a brand online. This metric is crucial for gauging sentiment and engagement in real-time, allowing companies to quickly respond to customer needs or market shifts.
Heatmaps: Visual tools that show how users interact with a website, including what they click on, how far they scroll, and what areas they spend the most time viewing. Heatmaps are essential for understanding engagement at a granular level, enabling optimizations that enhance user experience and retention.
Event-Triggered Analytics: This involves tracking and analyzing actions taken by users in response to specific events or campaigns. It helps in understanding how particular activities influence engagement and can guide more personalized customer interactions.
Customer Health Score: A metric that combines various indicators of customer retention, engagement and satisfaction, such as product usage frequency, support ticket incidents, and feedback scores, to predict future engagement levels and potential churn.
2.2. Role of Engagement in Customer Retention: An Expert Analysis
Deeply engaged customers represent a significant asset to any company. Their ongoing interactions with a brand reinforce and deepen their loyalty, making them less likely to switch to competitors.
From a business perspective, enhancing customer engagement leads to various strategic benefits:
By analyzing engagement patterns, companies can predict future buying behaviors and preferences, allowing for better inventory management, personalized marketing, and more accurate sales forecasts.
Highly engaged customers often become brand advocates. They share positive experiences and recommendations with peers, effectively acting as a powerful marketing channel. This word-of-mouth marketing can significantly reduce acquisition costs and increase market penetration.
Engaged customers typically require less support and are more familiar with the brand's processes and products. This familiarity reduces the cost and effort needed for customer service and leads to smoother transactions and interactions.
Engaged customers provide continuous feedback, whether through formal surveys or informal comments across communication channels. This feedback is invaluable for continuous product and service improvement.
3. Top CRM Tools for Managing Customer Engagement
CRM plays a crucial role in almost all businesses and ventures. A strong hold on CRM entails a good sales and marketing strategy.
Below are some of the top CRM providers to choose from according to varying needs of businesses.
3.1 Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a renowned sales CRM platform designed to optimize customer relationship management processes, enabling businesses to streamline interactions, enhance data management, and improve customer experiences across various stages of the customer lifecycle.
Its features include:
Lead and pipeline management, workflow and marketing automation, and comprehensive reporting, Pipedrive provides businesses with the tools necessary to manage leads effectively.
It automates key sales activities and gains valuable insights into customer behaviors and sales performance.
As a cloud-based solution, Pipedrive offers flexibility and accessibility, allowing teams to work from anywhere and ensuring that all employees operate from the most current data.
3.2 ClickUp
ClickUp is among the best CRM tools and revolutionary all-in-one productivity platforms that streamlines business operations by integrating essential tools such as AI, project management, document collaboration, and more into a unified system.
The platform provides:
Enhancement of the entire customer lifecycle, from lead tracking to customer onboarding, through its advanced CRM capabilities, which include customizable workflow visualizations, automation of sales processes, and comprehensive data management tools.
ClickUp supports robust collaboration features that allow seamless integration across departments, ensuring that every team member is aligned and productive.
With its ability to replace disparate workplace tools and create efficiencies, ClickUp helps organizations save significant time each week, fostering a more productive work environment.
3.3 Copper
Copper is a distinguished CRM platform designed to integrate seamlessly with Google Workspace, enhancing the efficiency of relationship management for businesses. As the only CRM recommended by Google, Copper optimizes workflows by enabling users to manage leads, track communications, and access files without leaving their Google apps.
Key Features:
Real-time updates and contextual information across Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive, ensuring that all customer interactions are streamlined and more productive.
Copper empowers businesses to enhance customer relationships and drive revenue with features like direct contact addition from Gmail and Calendar, automatic file synchronization, and comprehensive visibility into communication histories.
3.4 Nutshell
Nutshell, one of the top CRM tools, is a comprehensive platform that simplifies and enhances B2B operations in CRM and email marketing. It is designed especially for teams that prefer to avoid juggling multiple sales and marketing tools.
Important Characteristics:
Nutshell integrates seamlessly with prominent business tools, offering functionalities such as automated sales processes and advanced contact management, all accessible through its native mobile apps.
The platform also features Nutshell Marketing, launched in 2021, which allows users to create, send, and measure the impact of marketing emails and automated drip sequences directly within the CRM.
The integration ensures that marketing efforts are closely aligned with sales activities.
3.5 Nimble CRM
Nimble is a streamlined and intuitive CRM platform for small businesses and solopreneurs utilizing Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Nimble combines CRM functionalities with contact management, social media insights, sales intelligence, and marketing automation into a cohesive relationship management tool.
Distinctive Advantages:
The platform enhances productivity by providing comprehensive company and contact insights directly within users’ email inboxes and across multiple workspaces, including Gmail and Outlook.
Designed to cultivate and nurture relationships rather than manage sales, Nimble facilitates the organization of contacts, calendars, and communications in one accessible location.
Its capability to integrate with over 100 apps enhances its utility, providing users with powerful tools for lead capture, pipeline management, and generating actionable insights through customizable reporting features.
3.6 Close
Close, one of the best CRM software, is a dynamic CRM platform that caters to small business teams and solopreneurs, particularly those embedded within the Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace ecosystems.
Distinguished Features:
Seamless integration of CRM functionalities with advanced communication tools, sales intelligence, and marketing automation, all designed to enhance user productivity without the complexity of manual data entry or an intricate UI.
It is highly acclaimed for its user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness and is consistently recognized as a leader in CRM solutions.
Close supports a range of essential business tools directly within the user's existing workspace, including email, calendar sync, and task management.
3.7 Insightly CRM
Insightly is a cutting-edge top CRM tool designed for modern businesses of all sizes, aiming to enhance customer relationships and accelerate growth. Insightly has quickly become a leading platform in the CRM sector, backed by significant venture capital investments totaling $38 million.
Peculiar Features:
Known for its user-friendly interface and quick setup, Insightly offers extensive customization options tailored to various industry needs, ensuring a swift return on investment at a competitive cost.
The platform integrates seamlessly with popular tools such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, enhancing productivity without the need for constant switching between applications.
With features like opportunity tracking, workflow automation, project management, and advanced email marketing, Insightly provides comprehensive tools to support marketing and sales teams in fostering deeper customer engagement, streamlining communication, and driving sales efficiency.
3.8 Sugar Sell
SugarCRM’s Sugar Sell stands out as a sophisticated CRM solution that liberates businesses from the inefficiencies of traditional CRMs by providing a high-definition customer experience without the typical hassles. Unlike conventional platforms that often involve tedious manual entry and limited functionality, SugarCRM eliminates blind spots, busy work, and roadblocks, enhancing overall business efficiency.
The platform offers:
Unparalleled customizability and control, particularly with its on-premises deployment option, Sugar Enterprise, which allows for deep customization to be tailored to specific business needs.
SugarCRM is designed to increase the understanding of customer needs, thereby improving conversion rates, revenue, customer satisfaction, and retention.
It includes powerful tools like SugarBPM for process automation and real-time alerts for dynamic account management, ensuring that every customer interaction is maximized for engagement and efficiency.
3.9 Workbooks
Workbooks is a versatile top CRM software platform tailored for growing companies seeking to streamline business operations and enhance customer engagement. It provides an extensive suite of services that encompasses not only the traditional realms of sales, marketing, and customer service but also integrates advanced functionalities such as marketing automation, event management, order management, invoicing, and supplier management.
Its prime features:
It is available at a cost significantly lower than that of major competitors, typically ranging from 50-70% less.
Workbooks are designed to cater to various industries, including media and publishing, business services, manufacturing, technology, transport and logistics, and accounting, making it a flexible and affordable solution for businesses aiming to optimize their comme.rcial operations and customer interactions.
3.10 Maximizer
Maximizer, a global leader in customer relationship management solutions, offers comprehensive CRM tools to optimize sales, marketing, and customer service operations.
Key Characteristics:
The platform stands out for its user-centric design that integrates seamlessly with essential applications like Outlook and offers extensive customization options to fit various sales processes.
With a strong emphasis on actionable insights, Maximizer enables sales leaders to effectively monitor, guide, and enhance team performance, ensuring accountability and achieving revenue targets.
Its robust suite of features includes advanced analytics, pipeline management, and automated workflows to boost productivity and foster authentic customer relationships.
4. Final Thoughts
Selecting the right CRM tools can significantly enhance customer engagement and maximize ROI by automating workflows and providing detailed analytics to guide decision-making.
The future of CRM tools is likely to be shaped by the following trends:
AI can analyze data more deeply to provide insights, predict customer behavior, and personalize customer interactions.
Ensuring seamless customer experiences across all channels, whether online, in-app, or in-person, will be crucial.
With increasing concerns over data privacy, CRM tools that prioritize secure data handling will be more in demand.
These technologies could be used to enhance customer experiences, especially in fields like retail and real estate.
As businesses continue to grow and prosper, CRM tools will play a pivotal role in shaping successful customer engagement strategies. By deploying emerging technologies and focusing on customer-centric approaches, companies can ensure sustainable growth and a strong competitive edge.
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Advertiser Platforms
Article | June 1, 2022
As a marketer, your goal is to create ads that stick in the minds of your audience. You devote extra time and resources to creating memorable graphics, engaging CTAs, and interesting copy that works. You also buy just the right ad spots. But, what happens when your potential customer scrolls right past your ad? Your costly video ad never creates a difference and your campaign fails. Combat this video ad fatigue with audio advertising to effectively influence your target demographic.
After the audio content boom driven by podcasts, audio advertising is rising and becoming marketers’ new favorite. Nielsen Catalina Solutions’ 12-month-long study of audio ads on Spotify versus video and display ads found that audio ads were up to 25% more effective than other ad formats.
Mostly, audio ads are delivered through podcasts. We’ll dive into this shortly. First let’s look at how audio advertising can influence the buying decisions of your target audience:
Audio Advertising: Superpowers Explained
Audio advertising uses a broad content category such as background scores, jingles, and branded content apart from audio ads. By fusing audio ads into audio experiences such as ad-supported music streaming or podcasts, marketers can position relevant products and services in front of customers. Here are more of its advantages:
Audio Ads Offer Immersive Experience
A study done by Lightwave and iHeartMedia showed that one of the biggest benefits of audio advertising was its ability to connect with the audience on a deeper level. Remembering catchy jingles is also a part of this connection. Audio ads communicate emotions, capture the attention of the listeners within seconds and engage them enough to paint a picture in their minds. They achieve this without a big budget or production crew. A strong script and an audio booth are all you need to create an immersive audio ad.
They Have a Greater Reach
Primarily, audio ads are delivered through podcasts because they can be easily categorized and are widely consumed. According to Statista, almost 60% of all U.S. consumers older than 12 listen to podcasts. Interestingly, 70% podcast listeners do not multi-task while listening to a podcast, so you are catering to alert listeners who might end up retaining your ad (Edison Research). Apart from podcasts, audio ads are also run in locations such as radio, music, and news streams.
They Are Insightful and Creative
Marketers can use 3D and 8D audio to create soundscapes that offer an immersive experience. Additionally, audio ads create a 1-to-1 relationship. With the help of programmatic advertising, they also collect many layers of data that provide buying insights. Integrating audio ads with voice assistants is a creative approach to entice customers while being interactive.
Nars Cosmetics UK used Spotify to offer its customers voice commerce. Upon hearing the ad on Spotify, they could order samples and set up delivery using their smart speakers.
Smart Speakers Are Changing the Game
Smart speakers are contributing to screen-less moments in American homes. This means your video ad campaigns won’t get the kind of response you expect, but your audio ads just might. The Edison Infinite Dial report found that there is an average of 2.3 smart speakers in each home in the U.S. This number shows that a wide range of people use voice search and will listen to audio ads as a result.
Summing It Up
Audio advertising drives engagement and conversion through immersive storytelling, catchy jingles, and longer ad retention. It can be a great addition to your digital marketing strategy and refine the way you influence your audience’s buying decisions.
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