Overview

The marketing department's role is that of a customer advocate. It's the department that spearheads the creation of a mutually beneficial buyer-seller relationship the tenet of CRM.

A marketing department's mandate is to gather data (through various methods) to help find answers to the age-old questions:

• Who are the customers?

• What is the target market?

• How to nurture a customer relationship?

• How to develop trust?

• How to develop an interactive dialog with the customer?

Then the marketing department is charged with researching and analyzing the amassed data to determine what the targeted customer wants and needs. Based on the results of these efforts, the marketing department can develop campaigns which can direct channel selection, advertising, and promotions; provide leads and other data to sales; and even have a hand in product development and pricing.

CRM to the Rescue

The demands placed on the marketing department are growing, especially with direct interactive marketing; the flexibility of e-marketing; multichannel integration; and real-time dialogue being in almost universal demand. Moreover, new channels, such as wireless (and who knows what's coming down the pike) must be addressed sooner, rather than later.

CRM tools make the marketing department's tasks easier. The CRM vendor community has developed more intelligent, efficient and effective solutions than were available in the past to help resolve many of the issues the average marketing professional grapples with daily.

In recent years a number of techniques have emerged that are designed to improve the relationship between the business community and...