In this competitive and dynamic market, how do you address the right contact at the right time with the right message to set yourself apart from your competitors? And how do you manage to penetrate the flood of information, attract the attention of the potential customer, and thus build a long-term, trusting relationship?

1. From personal address hyperpersonalization

The attention span has shrunk significantly: Never before have messages been deleted as quickly and mercilessly as they are today. If companies want to inspire their target groups and keep their attention, content must be highly personalized. This can only be achieved if they know the market and the target group as well as their needs and put people at the center. If content is too general and aimed at the masses, prospects will not feel personally addressed and the message will be deleted. The spectrum ranges from personalized forms of address to "individual" marketing campaigns (via marketing automation) and finally personalized content on websites and in videos.

Data is an indispensable basis for this. On the one hand, customer data provides information about the wishes and needs of the single person within the target group. On the other hand, user data can be used to derive insights into how the customer reacts to individual marketing activities and which offers are appropriately placed.

With the help of data-based marketing, relevant data from websites and social media platforms, among others, can be used to make the right strategic marketing decisions and to run highly individualized marketing campaigns. Useful tools include marketing automation, which helps support the structuring of entire marketing processes as well as their individual and efficient design.

The CRM solution can provide this data basis: All interactions with the customer converge in the CRM and thus provide the 360-degree all-round view in the corresponding dossier. Not only are the interests, wishes, and needs of the customer visible, but also every point of contact and every archived communication is transparent and traceable. In this way, the customer can be addressed individually and personally and is optimally supported.

In addition, brand building plays an increasingly important role in addressing customers in the B2B sector. It links the (rational) product with emotions. Why is that? In most cases, potential customers have already made a decision for or against a product or company before they actively enter the purchase decision-making process. Therefore, it is important to connect the product with the right emotions in order to influence the gut decision. In this context, authenticity and the associated trust are crucial for long-term customer loyalty to the brand.

2. Sustainability becomes a duty

The sustainability of companies is increasingly becoming the focus of perception and is a relevant factor in the customer's decision-making process and thus also for marketing. This also includes the fact that digital sustainability has become a minimum requirement for companies.

Important sustainability topics can be conveyed via suitable marketing measures. Now at the latest, companies should address the question of what positive contribution they can make to society and communicate this transparently in terms of sustainable business management.

CRM can support this, as manual processes are replaced by digitally sovereign, end-to-end processes. This not only promotes the exchange of knowledge, saves time and resources, but also contributes significantly to a sustainable corporate orientation. GreenConfiguration as part of a CPQ solution can also support the sustainable configuration of complex products with many variants.

3. Strong attraction: Content Marketing

The Internet creates boundless knowledge and enables prospective customers to obtain extensive information online themselves before beginning any contact with sales teams. That is why today, the buyer's journey begins predominantly on digital platforms. With content marketing, companies reach potential buyers at precisely these online touchpoints. In contrast to pure advertising, high-quality content can create trust in the brand and the company and build reach. At a time when corporate PR work is increasingly migrating to social media channels, benefit-generating content has become indispensable for communication via social media such as LinkedIn. Influencers in particular, who distribute content from companies in their networks, are of central importance in gaining the trust of prospects and customers.

The optimal orchestration of the different communication channels is particularly challenging. Marketers must regularly feed their social media channels as well as their own website with attractive content in order not to lose potential customers and to convince them with valuable content. But what content is right for the target group? CRM in combination with marketing automation helps to inspire customers and prospects with valuable and relevant content by centrally linking information about interests and needs in the CRM solution. This high-quality data basis ensures long-term customer loyalty.

4. Automation and Artificial Intelligence create freedom

Digitalization has once again accelerated rapidly over the past year. This development also has a noticeable impact on marketing in that some of the routine tasks can be automated and the associated focus can increasingly be placed on the strategy and design of an inspiring customer experience.

With the help of the data collected from all the touchpoints along the customer journey, such as in social media or on the company website, it is now possible to individually tailor messages and product or service offerings to the needs of users. The behavior of users can also be better understood and targeted marketing campaigns can be designed accordingly.

In the future, marketing measures will focus even more on direct dialog with customers and prospects. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and chatbots such as ChatGPT ensure a personalized approach and targeted messages. Through direct interaction, companies get to know their target groups better, can respond to their individual needs and build a trusting, emotional bond.

Time-intensive processes can be mapped in a CRM solution and implemented with just a few clicks. In addition, data can be linked together so that changes are detected early and findings are correlated (predictive analytics). With the help of interfaces, processes can be designed in a consistent and time-saving manner. At the same time, this means more time for the customer to build, expand and maintain a personal relationship.

In addition, the CRM software ensures that all processes are implemented in compliance with the GDPR. Seals and certifications such as Software Made & Hosted in Germany or fair.digital ensure that data protection guidelines can be adhered to with the support of CRM.

5. Sales and Marketing merge into one team

In order to obtain a 360-degree view of customers and to be able to derive suitable marketing measures from this, companies must break down existing data silos. Marketing and sales must merge into one team in order to model a precisely tailored customer life cycle that delights customers and prospects at every touchpoint and convinces them with a simple process.

As a Customer Delight Team, Marketing and Sales tap new potential by increasing efficiency, transparency, and sales within the company. In practice, this collaboration succeeds with CRM as a customer data platform that makes all relevant information centrally available to employees across departments. In this way, Marketing and Sales work together using the same knowledge base. Data and information are clearly available and customers and prospects can be optimally supported thanks to integrated processes.

6. Numbers please: Controlling, Analysis & KPIs

The one thing you should never neglect in all marketing activities: Controlling and analysis. Only those who know their key figures and analyses precisely can develop marketing strategies in a targeted manner, manage activities successfully and calculate and justify marketing budgets adequately. The cost-per-acquisition (CPA) ratio serves as a guide for calculating the costs per new customer acquired. Along with the acquisition of new customers, regular checks should be made to determine whether the existing target market still suits the company or whether a new target market should be opened up due to current developments.

As a central customer data and information platform, a CRM solution such as CAS genesisWorld provides all the important data in a clear manner so that well-founded decisions can be made. For example, report views can be created for a variety of analyses and displayed in diverse charts with drill-down options. This information can be used not only to plan targeted marketing activities, but also to individualize campaigns and differentiate them from competitors.

Conclusion

With an increasingly differentiated target audience and advancing technological developments, marketing has never faced as many challenges and opportunities as it does today. New trends are regularly formulated, but not all trends fit every company. Individual decisions and the conscious assessment of risks are important when companies decide for or against trends. In addition, the decision is always dependent on the target market and controlling in order to make campaign successes measurable and to have a reliable basis for budget decisions.

As automation and AI continue to develop in the future, data protection and data security in particular must not be neglected. At the same time, with increasing digitalization in marketing, more and more technical competencies are required, which companies often outsource to specialized service providers.

With all these technical changes, it is important not to forget the "we" spirit. After all, successful marketing requires not only digital tools, but also creativity and people with central core competencies in the company, who know the customers and their customer life cycle precisely and who can plan the right marketing activities.

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