Your question: How can I talk to all of my customers at the same time (for company announcements and the like) efficiently and easily?

The basic starter here is simply a web site that could offer customers access for latest information, offers etc.

Another efficient and effective (not to mention quick) form of eCRM communication is the email. Provided communications are targeted, relevant and unobtrusive, email is generally very well received and generates a lot of turnaround interest. If you plan to do this with existing clients where the relationships are founded I would encourage it, I would not however encourage the same with “target” customers and new business.

Another simple and easy solution is to use audio conferencing. You can arrange the call just like a meeting or a conference, and invite as many people as you wish to dial in. Mechanisms can be set up to allow questions to be raised by your customers during or after your communication on the call. The call can be recorded and sent out to customers after the event, or it can be recorded so that people can dial in to listen at a later date. It is possible for you to capture the details of the people dialling in so that you can monitor which of your customers have attended. It is low cost, can be set up with a call to a service provider. Such services are available from a number of suppliers, including BT Conferencing, and save everyone the cost of travel and time. There are ways of achieving the same thing through Business TV, or Internet broadcasting, but audio conferencing is by far the best for ease and efficiency.