CRM is the abbreviation of Customer Relationship Management. This system is widely used all around the globe and its popularity keeps on growing day by day. CRM has all the potential to automatize the way we maintain business management on a daily basis. Such sectors as sales, marketing, and customer service can’t imagine its functionality without this tool. Everybody can benefit with CRM to boost communication, productivity, and cooperation between team members.
When it comes to Public Relations, the situation is slightly different. There are still a lot of PR specialists who prefer to use old-school solutions for handling workflows/spreadsheets, managing a vast amount of data, sending media files, and tracking project progress. Do you know that around 60% of public relations specialists prefer using such a tool as spreadsheets for trading?! Let’s see how CRM can help PR handle working issues.
The Definition of CRM
Customer Relationship Management is a powerful tool for business. It enables a business owner to build an efficient strategy and boost productivity. By using CRM, a business organization is able to keep focused on its relationships with colleagues, partners, suppliers, service users, and clients. It is wrong to think that only salespeople use CRM in their practice. There are many other sectors, for example, Public Relations, Human Resource, Customer Support Services, that can benefit a lot after implementing this technology.
What Are the Advantages of a CRM Tool in PR/journalism?
CRM system is efficient in eliminating the usage of spreadsheets and notes when it comes to organizing Public Relations Management workflow. These are the tools old-school journalists and public relations specialists use to keep their work well-organized.
Here are seven ways a Journalist or a PR pro can benefit from using CRM technology:
- Storing/managing your social media contacts
The first advantage of the CRM tool is its ability to manage/store all the social media contacts of your organization in a separate database file. We recommend you use the tool for eliminating multiple spreadsheets created in Excel and storing such data as emails, correspondence, documents, invoices, media handles, event reminders, and conversations associated with a particular blogger/journalist/influencer in a single place. You must know that your CRM system has a special feature for managing and structuring contacts with tags, which you can customize according to your business needs.
- Tracking media/business contacts for future follow-ups
As a PR expert, you have to deal with bloggers/journalists/influencers on a regular basis. These are the people you deal with the most. Indeed, it is an essential task, but it is very time-consuming. Thanks to integrating the CRM system into your organization, you’ll automate a lot of tasks, such as scheduling and sending follow-up emails. It is a way to get rid of a long chain of emails between your organization and media contact.
- Public Relations driven by data
When you perform any kind of business operation, it has to be based on the most relevant data concerning the market, metrics, and analytical results. CRM is able to provide a vast amount of data and assist you in improving the needed correspondences or finding bloggers/influencers who might be interested in your PR services. Do you know that you can even check whether your sent email has been opened or your blog/site has been viewed?! All this helps to make your PR campaign efficient. Besides, you can share your report with the entire team.
- Integrating various tools within one CRM system
It is possible to integrate several tools for tracking your PR activities on many social media platforms, such as Gmail, Google Analytics, etc. Tracking PR activities with your own business have never been so simple! You will stop wasting your time keeping track of metrics on many different online platforms. CRM provides a dashboard to make your business decisions based on data.
- Cooperating with your PR team members
The demand for PR experts grows, so many agencies have big teams. By using the CRM tool you can work closely with multiple team members under the same project. You’ll have a clear idea who works under pitching certain media requests, what reporters they deal with, or whether there are people they’ve already reached out to several times. If you do not work on structuring your team workflow, your public relations work will become a real nightmare. CRM is efficient in organizing a big number of conversations with partners, clients, and other media contacts. You won’t find a better approach to communicate with your group and keep everybody informed about the most up-to-date news.
- Monitoring social media news
When it comes to finding new public relation opportunities, social listening is one of the essential keys to success. The CRM system is able to track the most recent social media news, people’s discussions on forums/chat rooms, conversations about your organization/startup, and information about your top competitors. This data can be efficiently used for identifying the most relevant public relation opportunities. Do not lose your chance to build meaningful relationships with top influencers, bloggers, and journalists in your industry.
- Boost personal relations with insights
A successful and experienced PR expert knows that his/her success is based on strong relationships built within the organization and outside contacts. We mean your colleagues, clients, social media influencers, and other representatives of the media space. A CRM tool can show the data about all your existing contacts and their preferences in movies, music, literature, etc. Knowing this personal data is essential when it is time to send suitable pitches. Besides, it will help you build a strong bond with your target audience.
Final Words
CRM has vast potential in managing PR workflow and boosting its efficiency. In this article, we have just described the top pros of the tool, but there are much more to discover and implement in your organization. We encourage you to explore this online platform for enhancing pitches, monitoring contacts, tracking social presence, and boosting management within your organization.
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