Know your marketing technology and software systems
CRMs and CMSs for Marketing-based Technology, or is it technology-based marketing?
We work with a lot of clients helping them understand what technologies they need to drive revenue from their marketing activities. More than ever, I'm appalled at how often I have to explain what these two core technologies are to "marketing people."
Every marketer should use these systems, and know all the players in the market.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - You need a central repository for customer data, as well as an engine for automating and managing marketing and communications. This is CRM. Systems range from open-source CRM solutions like SugarCRM to mid-range and highly flexible platforms like Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Salesforce, all the way to super-large mammoth systems like Oracle [Seibel] PeopleSoft and SAP.
Content Management Systems (CMS or WCM [Web Content Management)) - Nothing upsets me more than finding companies who have thrown money down the drain paying a developer to build a website from scratch. First of all, a developer or designer should NEVER lead your web strategy--that's for a strategic marketer. Second, you can save tons of time and money by utilizing content management systems. Try free, opensource CMSs like Joomla, Wordpress and Drupal, or consider new and innovative CMSs designed to integrate with other systems like Microsoft Sharepoint 2010 or Sales Force Sites.
We work with a lot of clients helping them understand what technologies they need to drive revenue from their marketing activities. More than ever, I'm appalled at how often I have to explain what these two core technologies are to "marketing people."
Every marketer should use these systems, and know all the players in the market.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - You need a central repository for customer data, as well as an engine for automating and managing marketing and communications. This is CRM. Systems range from open-source CRM solutions like SugarCRM to mid-range and highly flexible platforms like Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Salesforce, all the way to super-large mammoth systems like Oracle [Seibel] PeopleSoft and SAP.
Content Management Systems (CMS or WCM [Web Content Management)) - Nothing upsets me more than finding companies who have thrown money down the drain paying a developer to build a website from scratch. First of all, a developer or designer should NEVER lead your web strategy--that's for a strategic marketer. Second, you can save tons of time and money by utilizing content management systems. Try free, opensource CMSs like Joomla, Wordpress and Drupal, or consider new and innovative CMSs designed to integrate with other systems like Microsoft Sharepoint 2010 or Sales Force Sites.