CRM and branding: combine instead of separate
COLUMN In many companies, there is a sharp distinction between CRM and branding. Dr. Christian Huldi*, owner of DataCrea AG and an expert in strategic customer relationship management, explains why this is wrong.Branding is branding and customer relationship management is customer relationship management (CRM): Branding is about everything that has to do with brand, positioning and image and CRM is about customer-related processes, but above all about IT and tools. Unfortunately, this (sharp) separation is still commonplace in many companies. Professionals, on the other hand, combine CRM and branding and thus achieve important synergies, which are worth their weight in gold in times of declining budgets and increasing sensory overload on the markets. The decisive factor is that the synergy effect is two-sided: a strong brand helps to achieve CRM goals (customer loyalty, customer development and customer acquisition) better and faster. The reverse effect is also true: The quality of CRM processes has a direct impact on a company's brand and image. It should be noted that the effects are always in the same direction and often reinforcing. In the negative case, some companies have had to bitterly realize this - by ruining their brand through poor CRM processes.But what does this mean in concrete terms? A company that wants to improve its image should not only think about traditional tools, but also about employer branding in the CRM processes and, in particular, about the touchpoints between the company and the customer. Employer branding and touchpoint management are thus growing together - to play a bit of "bullshit bingo": A company's brand is increasingly shaped by employee behavior in the CRM processes that are put into practice. And if this was all far too theoretical for you: companies such as Nespresso, Swisscom, Migros and Apple have long been living these synergies and are going from record to record. The important thing is that SMEs in particular have huge potential here.
