As the marketing budgets are increasingly coming under pressure, advertising agencies nowadays are being directed to think beyond branding and impressions. Their clients are keen to know what is getting sold due to the investment made in advertising and marketing initiatives.
Recently, when a survey was conducted, it has been found that the ad agencies like the other business players from different domains also face quite a few pressing challenges in regard to sales. Few of these main challenges are -
- Inadequate lead generation activities –
One of the foremost challenges which the marketing agencies face is marketing themselves. This can be understood since lead generation process is driven by number of other factors. Choosing marketing channels that are not just interruptive but also non-permission based in nature could be one of the problem areas.
Research proves that prospective clients are not big fans of outbound marketing campaigns. One of the other possible reasons could be that many ad agencies put lot a focus on working and collaborating with the present clients as compared to stressing on lead generation activities.
Solution – The ad agencies facing this problem should rethink about which marketing initiatives to use to impress their potential clients so that in the long run it helps in lead generation. In such a scenario, sales CRM software can be handy.
- Aiming to create ‘clear water’ and attaining differentiation is a very tough job. It is believed that the old competitive tools such as product development, distribution, pricing, advertising and packaging these days get copied very quickly and mostly customers’ notion of ‘everyone is selling just the same thing’ is coming to the fore. Creating long lasting impressions on the current clients and prospects is becoming increasingly difficult.
- Research proves that in the last one decade, the loyalty among the clients have declined considerably due to the growing competition in the market. Every customer is looking for a service provider that moves a step ahead of just meeting expectations. By using a sales CRM solution, it will become clear what exactly the customers are looking at.
- More and more customers are eyeing for added value along with their products/services. They also hope that their suppliers will be helpful in lowering down the costs, raising the sales figure, etc.
- Inconsistent cash flow – Marketing agencies who feel this to be the biggest challenge usually focus just on few services for their customers. By undertaking just few/niche services, most of these agencies bag projects instead of retainers, leaving behind the clients to focus on them for a short period of time. Left with just couple of projects, the cash flow faces unpredictability and this causes financial concerns.
Solution – Ad agencies should use sales CRM tool that will boost consistent, strong partnership with the customers in different marketing initiatives. This process helps in monitoring a lead from its earliest conversion to final stage sale. It can also help review how to repeat these marketing campaigns that produce sales and also raise customers’ ROI. It leads to enhanced retainer opportunities along with the rise in cash flow.
- Facing difficulty in getting new customers – This is one of the most common problems which often lead to weak sales practices. It has been found that many ad agencies focus on their portfolios, with high hopes that their previous work profile will successfully leave a positive impression on their potential clients which will help in the selling process.
Solution – The sales CRM tool can play a significant role as it helps to develop a stronger sales process to decide their potential client’s goals and challenges, while devising other plans to boost revenue. It is a proven fact that strong sales processes stress on customer pain points apart from looking for goal-oriented solutions. It can also track down lead intelligence and lead activity both at the same time.
Apart from the above mentioned features of the sales CRM tool, there are plenty of others which can prove helpful for an advertising agency.
- Offering a unified customer database with the aim to capture leads from all possible different sources such as advertising, trade shows, call centre, email, advertising, etc.
- Quick distribution of the inquiries to the different sales channels and also unveiling a lead scoring methodology.
- Usage of different initiatives such as lead nurturing, incubation services and marketing for taking care of the inquiries coming from potential clients.
- Maintaining a close track of the marketing to sales conversions.
- Introducing real-time dashboards to review the cost-per-lead, sales per campaign and ROI.
- Offering customized forms and landing pages that provide unlimited options for maintaining maximum data.
- Configuring marketing automation, automated workflow and also business rules that will make the complete sales and marketing process simple.
Although, the challenges pose as significant trouble, but using a sales CRM tool could give the advertising agencies to make a difference. Although, this technology is fast catching up in other business domains, it also offers scope for being creative and introducing innovative thinking in the advertising world as well.
This article is also available at
http://salescrms.weebly.com/blog/sales-crm-can-boost-revenue-of-advertising-agencies
Recently, when a survey was conducted, it has been found that the ad agencies like the other business players from different domains also face quite a few pressing challenges in regard to sales. Few of these main challenges are -
- Inadequate lead generation activities –
One of the foremost challenges which the marketing agencies face is marketing themselves. This can be understood since lead generation process is driven by number of other factors. Choosing marketing channels that are not just interruptive but also non-permission based in nature could be one of the problem areas.
Research proves that prospective clients are not big fans of outbound marketing campaigns. One of the other possible reasons could be that many ad agencies put lot a focus on working and collaborating with the present clients as compared to stressing on lead generation activities.
Solution – The ad agencies facing this problem should rethink about which marketing initiatives to use to impress their potential clients so that in the long run it helps in lead generation. In such a scenario, sales CRM software can be handy.
- Aiming to create ‘clear water’ and attaining differentiation is a very tough job. It is believed that the old competitive tools such as product development, distribution, pricing, advertising and packaging these days get copied very quickly and mostly customers’ notion of ‘everyone is selling just the same thing’ is coming to the fore. Creating long lasting impressions on the current clients and prospects is becoming increasingly difficult.
- Research proves that in the last one decade, the loyalty among the clients have declined considerably due to the growing competition in the market. Every customer is looking for a service provider that moves a step ahead of just meeting expectations. By using a sales CRM solution, it will become clear what exactly the customers are looking at.
- More and more customers are eyeing for added value along with their products/services. They also hope that their suppliers will be helpful in lowering down the costs, raising the sales figure, etc.
- Inconsistent cash flow – Marketing agencies who feel this to be the biggest challenge usually focus just on few services for their customers. By undertaking just few/niche services, most of these agencies bag projects instead of retainers, leaving behind the clients to focus on them for a short period of time. Left with just couple of projects, the cash flow faces unpredictability and this causes financial concerns.
Solution – Ad agencies should use sales CRM tool that will boost consistent, strong partnership with the customers in different marketing initiatives. This process helps in monitoring a lead from its earliest conversion to final stage sale. It can also help review how to repeat these marketing campaigns that produce sales and also raise customers’ ROI. It leads to enhanced retainer opportunities along with the rise in cash flow.
- Facing difficulty in getting new customers – This is one of the most common problems which often lead to weak sales practices. It has been found that many ad agencies focus on their portfolios, with high hopes that their previous work profile will successfully leave a positive impression on their potential clients which will help in the selling process.
Solution – The sales CRM tool can play a significant role as it helps to develop a stronger sales process to decide their potential client’s goals and challenges, while devising other plans to boost revenue. It is a proven fact that strong sales processes stress on customer pain points apart from looking for goal-oriented solutions. It can also track down lead intelligence and lead activity both at the same time.
Apart from the above mentioned features of the sales CRM tool, there are plenty of others which can prove helpful for an advertising agency.
- Offering a unified customer database with the aim to capture leads from all possible different sources such as advertising, trade shows, call centre, email, advertising, etc.
- Quick distribution of the inquiries to the different sales channels and also unveiling a lead scoring methodology.
- Usage of different initiatives such as lead nurturing, incubation services and marketing for taking care of the inquiries coming from potential clients.
- Maintaining a close track of the marketing to sales conversions.
- Introducing real-time dashboards to review the cost-per-lead, sales per campaign and ROI.
- Offering customized forms and landing pages that provide unlimited options for maintaining maximum data.
- Configuring marketing automation, automated workflow and also business rules that will make the complete sales and marketing process simple.
Although, the challenges pose as significant trouble, but using a sales CRM tool could give the advertising agencies to make a difference. Although, this technology is fast catching up in other business domains, it also offers scope for being creative and introducing innovative thinking in the advertising world as well.
This article is also available at
http://salescrms.weebly.com/blog/sales-crm-can-boost-revenue-of-advertising-agencies
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