Digital Marketing and Customer Relationship Management: The Comparison

Safalta Expert Published by: Aditi Goyal Updated Tue, 04 Apr 2023 06:46 PM IST

Source: Safalta.com

Digital marketing is difficult because of its popularity, progress, and pressure. Companies have now realized that in order to survive the test of time, they must deploy a Customer Relationship Management system.

Nowadays, digitalization is the buzzword, but that doesn't mean you should lose sight of what originally set your company apart.
You should focus on your core customer base, the people who have made your business successful from the beginning when employing digital marketing, and the technologies that are associated with it. Never lose sight of the fact that your company's foundational relationships are what really got it off the ground and will keep it there moving forward.

Table of Contents
What is digital marketing?
What is Customer Relationship Management?
Benefits of Using Customer Relationship Management in Digital Marketing
Differences between digital marketing and CRM


Digital marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) are two distinct but interconnected components of modern marketing strategies. While digital marketing focuses on attracting and engaging potential customers through various online channels, CRM focuses on building and maintaining long-term relationships with existing customers.


What is digital marketing?

The term "digital marketing" is broad and covers a variety of tactics and strategies used to connect with potential customers online. Social media, email, search engines, and digital advertising are just a few examples of the channels that are included. By interacting with potential customers online, digital marketing aims to raise brand awareness, produce leads, and increase sales.

Businesses frequently create content or campaigns for a wide audience as part of a one-to-many strategy in digital marketing. This strategy enables businesses to communicate with a lot of potential clients at once. Building long-lasting relationships with customers, though, might not be as successful as a one-to-one strategy.

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What is Customer Relationship Management?

CRM, on the other hand, focuses entirely on creating and maintaining relationships with current clients. CRM's main objective is to encourage repeat business, customer loyalty, and advocacy through personalized offers, communications, and customer service.

CRM relies on a one-to-one strategy, unlike digital marketing. By making customized communications and offers that speak to each customer's unique needs and preferences, it seeks to strengthen the relationship with each one of them. Businesses can develop a close relationship with their customers through this personalized approach, which can result in greater customer loyalty and a higher lifetime value.


Benefits of Using Customer Relationship Management in Digital Marketing

To get a clear picture of customers' preferences and interests, a CRM gathers and examines crucial data from frequently visited customer web pages. As a result, even after a potential customer leaves your webpage, you can continue to market to them by using personalized ads that appear on other websites and serve as a reminder of the content they recently saw on yours.
 

When it comes to this sort of marketing, Facebook is particularly well-known. You may have noticed that a webpage you've visited appears as an advertisement on another website's page. You may also see useful recommendations if you click on one of their ads and log in again.

CRM advertising allows you to target the appropriate clients with the appropriate product or service adverts. You gain a solid idea of the people's age, gender, whereabouts, and other characteristics.

A business may access, monitor, and go back directly to analyzing a client's prior purchases because it is so effective, thanks to the outcomes of their preferences on digital platforms and the assistance of saved data.

The development of fresh ideas for certain future promotional channels that focus on the customers you desire is made easier by CRMs. CRM is also affordable for businesses: manual entries will be significantly reduced, and there will be no need to dedicate more time to storing client information than actually promoting. Because data is kept in one place, it won't ever again be lost.

CRM enhances SEO (search engine optimization), which is important if you want one of your pages to appear on the very first search result, most certainly on Google. But, for that to occur, it must address and relate to a certain issue or question; the more specific, the more probable.

Last but not least, when such databases are kept on the CRM platform, you'll be able to offer individualized customer care and enhance client connections through quick responses and higher satisfaction. As they tell their friends and family about their interactions with your company or product, it usually results in future devoted supporters.


Differences between digital marketing and CRM

The kinds of data that are gathered and analyzed differ significantly between CRM and digital marketing. With the goal of developing targeted campaigns and enhancing overall marketing effectiveness, digital marketing focuses on gathering information on the behavior and preferences of potential customers. The goal of CRM, on the other hand, is to gather information on each customer's unique interactions and preferences in order to personalize communications and offers, improve customer service, and find opportunities for cross-selling and upselling.

Businesses require specialized tools and platforms in order to implement a digital marketing and CRM strategies successfully. Digital marketing heavily relies on various digital platforms and tools, including web analytics tools, email marketing software, and social media management tools. CRM is dependent on specialized CRM software, which enables businesses to manage and track customer data, monitor customer interactions across various touchpoints, and automate communication and marketing campaigns.

The effectiveness of digital marketing is typically evaluated in terms of the volume of visitors, sales, and leads that come from different online channels. CRM results, on the other hand, are evaluated in terms of customer satisfaction, lifetime value, and retention rates.
In summary, CRM and digital marketing are two crucial elements of contemporary marketing strategies that cooperate to produce a successful marketing program. In order to encourage repeat business, customer loyalty, and brand advocacy, businesses need to both attract and engage potential customers as well as build and maintain long-term relationships with their current clientele. Businesses can create a well-rounded marketing strategy that engages both existing and potential customers by comprehending the differences and similarities between these approaches.
 

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is a broad term that encompasses a range of tactics and strategies aimed at reaching potential customers online. It includes channels like social media, email, search engines, and digital advertising, among others. The primary goal of digital marketing is to create brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales by engaging with potential customers in the digital space.
 

What is customer relationship management (CRM)?

Customer relationship management (CRM) is all about building and maintaining relationships with existing customers. The primary goal of CRM is to drive repeat purchases, customer loyalty, and advocacy by providing personalized communication, offers, and customer service.
 

What is the difference between digital marketing and CRM?

The main difference between digital marketing and CRM is their approach. Digital marketing often uses a one-to-many approach, where businesses create content or campaigns aimed at a broad audience. CRM, on the other hand, relies on a one-to-one approach. It aims to deepen the relationship with each customer by providing tailored communication and offers that resonate with their specific needs and preferences.
 

What type of data do digital marketing and CRM collect and analyze?

Digital marketing focuses on collecting data on potential customers' behavior and preferences to create targeted campaigns and improve overall marketing effectiveness. CRM, on the other hand, focuses on collecting data on individual customer interactions and preferences to provide personalized communication and offers, better customer service, and identify opportunities for cross-selling and upselling.
 

How do businesses measure the success of digital marketing and CRM strategies?

The outcome of digital marketing is typically measured in terms of traffic, leads, and sales generated from various online channels. In contrast, the outcome of CRM is measured in terms of customer lifetime value, customer satisfaction, and customer retention rates.