The success of a business depends largely on the health of its relationship with its customers. It goes without saying that the better the relationship, the easier it is for any business to achieve long-term success. While some companies rely on the old-school approach in treating customers, the trend has shifted into utilizing software that tries to streamline all major areas of customer interaction: customer relationship management (CRM) system.

In essence, the CRM software is built with the satisfaction of the customer in mind, with the belief that this will attract more customers in the long run. A CRM platform helps you understand the needs of your customer and their behavior as well. It allows you to know the appropriate time to introduce a new product or service to them. It also helps you to identify profitable customers so that you can target them at the right time and not waste time on the ones that are not profitable. By doing this, you are making efficient use of your marketing resources.

But the million-dollar question is: Where do you place this CRM profile for optimum results? Read on.

#1: As Useful Content on your Blog

One good way to build reputation as an industry thought leader is to run your own blog, where you publish your thoughts. Mind you, this isn’t just about telling others about your most recent software updates or company events. There should really be specific topics around areas that you know your end users can actually benefit from. In writing about your CRM software, sound authoritative — like a thought leader would — to gain more credibility.

Check out: How Blogging can Drive New IT Clients!

It will only be a matter of time before you become an authority. And don’t ever make the excuse that everything interesting has already been written or blogged about. You can always write about the usual issues, tips and how-to’s, trends and whatnots related with CRM or SaaS as long as they are written with a fresh perspective, or at least, in a tone that does not induce sleep.

Related: Combating Marketing Challenges in Software Industry in Australia

#2: Software Review Sites

Much like a specialty restaurant would want to post a feature story on blog site that reviews restaurants and menus, a B2B company should also make sure it places its CRM profile at popular B2B software review sites. It’s not rocket science, really. The Local Consumer Review Survey by BrightLocal.com revealed that consumers read up to 10 user reviews before they buy from a business. Obviously, you should make sure your product is present in all popular B2B/SaaS (Software as a Service) review platforms to make it visible to as many potential clients as possible.

If you’re concerned about credibility, worry not. Most of these B2B review sites are independent of software companies, and the only connection they have is, for every lead or sale they give to a software company, the latter gives them a commission. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Remember to make your software information easily accessible to the reviewers. Aside from providing all the pertinent data, make sure potential customers get to review the product along the criteria you want to get the most feedback from.

Also, here’s one example from topten Reviews, The Best Lead Generation Companies in 2016.

#3: “Guest posts” at relevant sites

Obviously, you need to find websites that are relevant to your software. Then convince them to allow you to “guest post” as often as you deem necessary. There are a lot of sites, specifically those in the online retail industry, that have blogs that are a perfect platform to talk about CRM. There are websites like Callbox that allows guest post contribution.

While guest posting is not uncommon, one has to exercise utmost care when doing it. Most of these sites maintain a certain standard, and it is best you adhere to them by studying and understanding their own objectives, demographics, and the direction they are headed with the blogs they release.

Related: The Ultimate Guest Posting Guidelines from Baclinko

#4: As part of a “strategic alliance”

What’s something in common between Porsche and Goodyear, Apple and IBM, Starbucks and Barnes and Noble, and Disney and Hewlett-Packard? All of them have strategic alliances. Goodyear supplies the tires of most Porsche models, while Porsche makes the Goodyear bran even more credible. IBM supplies the chips for Apple. Starbucks places coffee outlets inside Barnes and Noble (a popular book retailer in the US), and HP supplies much of Disney’s IT network.

As proven by the companies mentioned above, strategic alliances always results to better access to target markets. You can follow this model and team up with a project or events management company or a customer service related company. Start by posting blogs on each other’s websites. You can also practice an old trick in the marketing handbook: incidental mention of the other company in a blog or post. With this, you and your partner can focus on your separate competitive advantages while expanding your opportunities for growth. That’s hitting two birds with one bullet.

Learn a lesson or two: Cisco wants Channel Partners to Engage with Digital Marketing

#5: Paid Ads

Free is good. Oh yes, we love free stuff. But as far as marketing goes, “paid” is always better than free. Ads are effective in telling the world you exist and you can make somebody’s life better. Getting a free ad these days is like eating at a fast food and expecting healthy food – it’s an illusion at best.

Related: Do you Have these Essentials in your Digital Marketing?

So convince your boss the budget you allocated for ads is a wise investment. There are so many options for ad placement. I’ll leave it to your wise judgment which avenue or avenues you want to use, but of course, you have to consider options that provide more mileage at a lesser cost. If you are going with social media, there are certain metrics that measure the success of your ads (which are somehow the same criteria that measure how much you pay for them).

Whichever you choose, make sure you have the results (read: ROI) to back up what you told your boss earlier: the budget for ads is a wise investment.

Don’t forget to spread the word on social media sites like Youtube. You have to make your business credentials we distributed as possible. Just like youtube video from Callbox CRM Integrated with Lead Nurture Tool.

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