Marcus Evans, president at Proximity Canada, presented a cheeky but informative presentation on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives at the Canadian Marketing Association’s Direct Marketing Conference.
Throughout his presentation he emphasized the long-term nature of CRM’s, and how their initial financial loss is offset by long-term customer appreciation and loyalty.
Marcus’ presentation, laden with practical real-world CRM examples, is a presentation all audience members could learn something from. What should have been taken from the presentation is that a CRM relationship has to be a strong bond between brand and consumer. Marcus likened a CRM to the relationship a woman has with her hairdresser – an extremely personal one. In order for a CRM to be a success, companies need to think as if their “CRM is a whole new way of doing business.”
In his presentation Marcus outlined 6 elements that can torpedo CRM initiatives:
- Not starting with a clear destination in mind
- Straying from the path
- Short-termism
- Not embracing the paradigm
- Tactical rational vs. strategic emotional
- Getting cheap
These 6 pet peeves were elaborated on, with examples of brands with excellent CRM models – oddly enough, Air Canada was one of them. In this 3:33 video clip Marcus shares with One Degree a successful story of how offline relationships were merged with online branding experiences to yield positive results. (Please excuse the video’s darkness)