In a conversation with my friend Jesus Hoyos from Solvis Consulting I was reminded of how much work is yet ahead of us to fully address the convergence of Social, CRM and Digital Marketing at large from a platforms perspective... the scenarios Jesus is helping his customer’s address in Latin America are in some cases so complicated and comprehensive that dealing with them require a composite arrangement of platforms (which may crank up the cost to a prohibitive level), or ad hoc and manual labor intensive solutions that are not reusable and / or scalable.
Here an example of the kind of scenarios Jesus is dealing with, paraphrased and names obfuscated to protect the innocent:
Take a company that has an extensive product portfolio: Candies, pre-packaged kids lunch, Geriatric nutrition complements, pre-packaged weight control meals, Athlete nutrition products, etc. This company is extremely CRM savvy and understands that managing a multi channel, multi brand, multi persona relationship with the individuals that buy / are interested in their products is of the utmost importance.
Take Sandy (made up persona); Sandy is (like many of you) someone that uses many hats through the week:
Think about this company; think about this multi-faceted customer they cater to..
Think about the platform that is required to support such relationship(s).. can you name one from the top of your mind that doesn’t necessarily require a 7 digit number and lots of consulting to get going? Lots of work ahead and beautiful problems to tackle!
Here an example of the kind of scenarios Jesus is dealing with, paraphrased and names obfuscated to protect the innocent:
Take a company that has an extensive product portfolio: Candies, pre-packaged kids lunch, Geriatric nutrition complements, pre-packaged weight control meals, Athlete nutrition products, etc. This company is extremely CRM savvy and understands that managing a multi channel, multi brand, multi persona relationship with the individuals that buy / are interested in their products is of the utmost importance.
Take Sandy (made up persona); Sandy is (like many of you) someone that uses many hats through the week:
- Sandy is a mother with little time to spare but no shortage of love for her kids; she is extremely deliberate about choosing what to pack for their lunch at school and carefully considers her friend’s advice in this topic, normally that advice is exchanged / offered over email and social media sites.
- Sandy is a concerned daughter that helps mom look after her health; mom is elderly now but still living at her own home and very much self sufficient but set in her own ways (she is going to cook the same thing she did 60 years ago); Sandy is looking for unobtrusive ways to help her complement her nutrition without requiring a drastic change in diet; the advice of nutritionists (subject matter experts) weighs heavily on her choices in this space.
- Sandy is an accomplished professional with little time to prepare and pack lunch; yet she carefully looks after what she eats. She likes to buy pre-packaged foods that promise to help her control calorie intake and shamelessly follows the recommendations celebrities offer through TV programs and advertisement.
- Sandy is a human and like many of us every now and then makes impulsive decisions; maybe grab a chocolate bar as she is waiting on the cashier’s lane or maybe making an exception and buying chocolate cookie dough to pamper her family with the smell and flavor of freshly baked cookies and a glass of milk tonight. Brand awareness aided by advertisement, friends mentions, her kids pledges, etc. help determine her impulsive decision.
Think about this company; think about this multi-faceted customer they cater to..
- This customer does not fit in the standard lead / prospect / etc. categorization..
- This customer requires different interaction, different approach to lead her to make a favorite decision towards this company depending on the context (in some cases it would be social media, in others advertisement, in others subject matter expertise, in other celebrities, etc.)
- Tracking the effectiveness of the different tactics will require a comprehensive set of tools (brand awareness surveys, coupon redemption tracking, loyalty rewards, etc.)
- Allowing the different business units of this company to address this customer individually is a terribly missed opportunity that will rob the company of a comprehensive understanding and relationship with her (equivalent to the blind men and an elephant story)
Think about the platform that is required to support such relationship(s).. can you name one from the top of your mind that doesn’t necessarily require a 7 digit number and lots of consulting to get going? Lots of work ahead and beautiful problems to tackle!
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