CRM system contains a vast depositary of data, data that can be exploited in your marketing campaigns to allow relevant and targeted literate to be distributed. While CRM systems can be hugely beneficial to your marketing campaigns, some have integrated features that are designed specifically to allow marketers to extract the useful data held with in the system. Some systems such as Sales Logix have specifically designed marketing modules to add extra functionality to marketing departments.



Generically these add-ons are divided into various features encompassing; campaign management, Email marketing, dynamic segmentation, campaign reporting and lead capture. Utilising each of these features can add an extra dimension to your Marketing Mix and have a real impact on the success of your marketing campaigns.

CRM systems can be excellent organisation tools, allowing members of staff to keep track of tasks, to-dos and targets. Campaign Management sections in marketing modules allow marketing staff to track every stage of the marketing process from budgets and released material, to generated leads and follow through sales.

CRM systems can help to ensure that marketing proposals stay on track and are delivered on time, and in budget. Essentially marketing modules can reduce the amount of time spent setting up and maintaining marketing campaigns. Campaign management functionality can be of huge benefit to marketing personnel and can improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

The real marketing benefit of a CRM system is the wealth of information that is stored with in it. Names, contact details, purchase preferences and location can all provide marketing departments with an edge. Without the means to extract this information, it is essentially useless. Good Marketing modules can automatically create contact groups based on preset criteria to allow you to send only the most targeted and relevant information.

Furthermore, some CRM systems have the ability to create dynamic groups, groups that are updated automatically as and when user preferences change. This feature can be especially useful to marketers who market in the consumer rather then the business-to-business market due to the constant changes in purchase preferences.

Some CRM systems now include features to allow E-marketing materials to be sent to the contacts held with in the database. Utilising segmentation functionality, marketing modules can allow high quality HTML emails to be sent to groups within the companies' database. Some marketing CRM programmes will also take care of unsubscribe and send to a friend features offering a real alternative to more expensive email marketing programmes.

Marketing modules, such as the one within Sales Logix allow marketing personnel to analyse the success of their marketing campaigns. Using the campaign reporting functionality to check click through, opening and response rates can provide marketing departments with a real insight into what they are doing well and what needs to be improved. Good quality campaign reports provide a real repository of information that can prove invaluable to businesses across all sectors.

There can be little doubt that the majority of businesses will benefit from marketing modules attached to their CRM systems. Integration with CRM products allows for useful data to be utilised to its full potential, furthermore the organisational benefits that campaign management features offer will be invaluable to the majority of marketing departments, no matter how large or small.