Getting warmer with PRM

If you have closely followed my instructions in this column to date you are now well on your way to witnessing some amazing results through your newly refined marketing strategy.

The principle of right person, right time with the right proposition should mean that you will begin to witness greater ROI then you have ever seen before. And in achieving this you have overcome some complex issues surrounding business data.

However, to get the maximum results we need to take a closer look at some of the points touched on last month; namely how to truly develop a prospect relationship marketing (PRM) strategy.

 

Even better results

In April’s edition I explained a five-stage process that clients and prospects go through for every purchase. Adopting this theory will mean that you are further ahead than you have been ever before, and – I would suggest – than your competitors.

Nonetheless, when looking at prospects we can go deeper and glean greater results by adopting a prospect relationship marketing strategy. This is ultimately a relationship marketing technique that will allow you to nurture all of your prospects from the initial contact through to the final stages of a sale.

 

The benefits of understanding

Hopefully by now, you have managed to create a single customer view, as outlined earlier in the series; and profiled and analysed your customer data to identify purchase behaviour and trends.

Through this greater understanding you will have been able to make key observations about your customers, which in turn enabled you to find like-minded prospects. If this has all been undertaken properly, adopting a PRM approach will see prospects convert into customers.

As already touched upon, experience has shown that companies don’t make impulse purchases like consumers but prefer to embrace formal procedures of pitches, tenders and contracts.

And as outlined last month, you must realise this business truth and try to understand what formal procedure each prospect undertakes.

When you understand this, you must then look to examine which stage the company is actually at.

 

Hierarchical targeting

PRM takes this approach further by creating a matrix or rankings, placing prospects at different levels, ranging from cold through to red-hot when a sale is near. The companies which sit high on the warm and hot stages of this matrix will be positioned higher on the prospect chain and will therefore require attention as a priority.

Additionally to this matrix, each temperature ranking can be split into further life stages of development – originating with the initial contact and moving systematically towards purchase.

Each separate ranking and life stage should be targeted with different messages according to their position on the prospect chain. For example, the frequency and intensity of marketing effort is likely to intensify as companies move from warm to hot leads.

With this in mind those that are still only at the cold levels should only receive basic maintenance necessary to retain the relationship – too much communication may, in fact, drive them away whilst still in these early stages. Those that are hot and are near to making a new purchase will need more frequent communications to ensure your company is involved in the pitch.

 

Trigger events

This approach should involve a strategy which will use the relationship now established to gain information on trigger events; communications can then be tailored accordingly.

For example, in the event of a contract renewal, target communications around the renewal date and used to warm the prospect and heighten brand awareness.

Additionally, the information gained from prospect relationship management analysis can facilitate informed choices on the appropriate route to market, product development and channels of promotion.

Through the last five months of this column I have taken you through detailed step-by-step approaches to excel in database marketing.

If applied correctly you should be witnessing outstanding results and you really should be shouting from the roof tops about what you have achieved.

However, there are more layers to uncover to achieve the pinnacle of marketing strategies in the June edition I shall be taking you through the idea of values based insight – essential when targeting the SME community.

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