At Waterfall Mobile we’ve been touting a need for a communication strategy for a while, along with the importance of having a CRM strategy.

This “mobile CRM” perspective makes sense at face value without having to do too much business language “unsucking” (aka turning jargon into something that makes sense). Businesses have an opportunity to use mobile phones (“mobile”) to interact with customers (“C”), and develop a relationship (“R”) management (“M”) strategy that allows them to effectively build and monetize this mobile-enabled base.

However, as is the case with most concepts, a strong face value understanding doesn’t get you very far. Significant onion peeling is required before you can adequately seize – or in this case “Cs” (yes, that’s a pun) – the intricacies of mobile CRM.

Admittedly, playing around with the “C” in “CRM” is nothing new, but even I was surprised at how valuable an exercise it turned out to be for unlocking the potential in the mobile CRM ecosystem. Consider how many options there are to replace the “C”:

• Client RM – Certainly customers purchasing goods and clients purchasing services can both benefit from mobile’s ability to simplify transactional processes (think mobile bills and receipts). Beyond this, seeing as business is more “on behalf of” clients and “for” customers, client relationships can benefit from those mobile services (e.g. mobile updates, notifications, support, meeting coordination) that help nurture this type of association.


• Constituent RM – As organizations like Participant Media/Take Part have demonstrated, mobile is an invaluable asset for promoting causes (there’s that “C” again) and inciting action from those who participate along with rather than purchase from a given company. Moreover, given that the skills needed for cause-building mirror those needed for brand-building, a mobile Constituent RM strategy is relevant for all businesses.


• Company RM – Along similar lines, a business can use mobile to streamline internal communication, whether it be for company updates, idea generation, or emergency notification purposes.


• Collaborative RM – Too often people think of CRM in one direction: it’s a company figuring out how to deliver information to others. CRM should involve an interactive dialogue and mobile is perfect medium to easily accomplish this. Businesses can take advantage of the interactivity inherent in mobile distribution channels and ensure that a mutually agreed upon and mutually created strategy is in place.


• Channel RM – A mobile CRM strategy that restricts itself to just mobile will never see the success of those that integrate that strategy with email, social, and traditional media. There are just too many ways that people can interact with businesses in today’s economy, so any CRM strategies that don’t take advantage of all available channels will ultimately be ineffective.

This should help businesses get their heads around mobile CRM strategy. We’d love to hear your thoughts and have you jump in on the discussion; feel free to visit our Msgme Facebook discussion page and comment so we can all have a look “C” (last one, promise).

You can follow Kane on Twitter @WaterfallMobile or read more from him at Mobile Demystified.