Is a Marketing Asset Management Solution Right for Your Business?

Prompted by growing demands from the corner office, marketers in all kinds of companies are seeking innovative ways to improve marketing productivity.  Today, a growing number of companies are turning to marketing asset management solutions to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the marketing function.

A comprehensive marketing asset management solution combines technology tools, manufacturing capabilities, and fulfillment services to automate and streamline many of the processes relating to the acquisition, management, and distribution of marketing materials.  MAM solutions can also provide a powerful platform for creating and executing direct marketing campaigns and programs.

In the right situations, MAM solutions can produce significant and valuable benefits.  For example, they can enable companies to:

• Eliminate the internal costs of processing and fulfilling requests for marketing materials


• Eliminate the costs of storing marketing materials and free up valuable building space for other uses


• Reduce the time required to process and fulfill requests for marketing materials


• Greatly reduce the waste (and cost) of marketing materials obsolescence


• Reduce the use of obsolete marketing materials by salespeople, channel partners, etc.


• Simplify and automate the process of creating and producing customized (and therefore more relevant and effective) marketing materials


• Simplify and automate the work required to create and execute customized marketing campaigns and programs in distributed marketing environments

You may be asking:  "All this sounds great, but how can I determine if a marketing asset management solution would be a good investment for my business?"

The final determination should be based on a thorough examination of your company's marketing needs and the characteristics of your existing marketing supply/distribution chain.  This examination will allow the benefits of a marketing asset management solution to be estimated and quantified based on your unique circumstances.

We've developed a self-assessment tool that's designed to help you begin the process of deciding whether a marketing asset management solution would make sense for your business.  This short questionnaire/scorecard is not intended to be comprehensive, and it doesn't answer all of the important questions.  The objective is to provide a preliminary indication about whether a marketing asset management solution would be a good investment for your company.

If you'd like a copy of our self-assessment questionnaire, send an e-mail to ddodd(at)pointbalance(dot)com.

A Monday Motivational Moment

Greetings....

Hope you all had a GREAT weekend.  Friday night was the start of high school football...my son's Senior season!  While the game didn't turn out on our winning side, it still provided plenty of fun and motivation for next week.

While sitting in the stands, I read the back of a t-shirt from a fellow Northmont parent.  It was a quote from a long-time Northmont soccer coach that had coached hundreds of area youth and unfortunately passed away recently.

The quote made me stop in my tracks and think about a lot of things...and the reach for greatness was one of those items.

So, for Monday morning...I share a quote to help each of us reach for greatness!

• Celebrate your accomplishments loudly... yet set the bar a bit higher each time you reach success.

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

The myth of the empowered consumer – II

This is the second of a two part blog post on the myth of the empowered consumer. The first part asked how we could consider consumers empowered when companies were encroaching on their time. This one asks how we can consider the consumer empowered when the information asymmetry in favor of the seller has never been greater.


At the dawn of the web, one of the greatest fears of businesses was

What It Takes to Make Marketing Content More Compelling

There's no longer any doubt that relevant marketing content is essential for B2B marketing success.  Business buyers are incredibly busy, and they're exposed to hundreds of marketing messages every day.  The only reliable way to cut through the clutter and create meaningful engagement with potential buyers is to provide marketing content that prospects will see as relevant and compelling.

The big question for marketers is, how do we create this kind of content?  We often hear or read that the answer is to customize marketing messages and materials for specific buyers.  But, what kinds of "customization" will actually increase marketing relevance and effectiveness?

There are two proven ways to make marketing content more relevant and compelling.  The first key is to make it easy for prospects to identify with your content.  To do this, you'll need content that's customized to fit the personal and professional characteristics of your potential buyers.  What jobs do your prospects hold?  What kinds of companies do they work for?  What size companies do they work for?  So, for example, if your target prospects are plant managers in small manufacturing companies, you'll need content that's tailored for that kind of buyer.

This kind of content customization increases what I call personal relevance, and it's proven to increase marketing effectiveness.  In research by MarketingSherpa, 82% of business buyers said that marketing content was more valuable when it was targeted to their industry.  Sixty-seven percent of buyers said that marketing content was more valuable when it was targeted to their job function, and 49% said the same for content that was targeted to companies of similar size.

The second way to increase relevance is to create and use marketing content that speaks to issues that have immediate importance to your prospects.  Most B2B buyers move through an identifiable set of buying stages as they make purchase decisions, and the issues that are most important to buyers will change as they move through the buying process.  If your marketing content provides a potential buyer information that's out of sync with his or her decision making process, it's far less likely to capture the buyer's full attention.

The solution is to use marketing messages and materials that are designed for each stage of the buying process.  This kind of content customization enhances what I call situational relevance, and it can provide powerful competitive advantage.  In a recent survey of B2B buyers by DemandGen Report, 93% of respondents said the solution provider they chose supplied ample marketing content to navigate through each phase of the buying process.

A few weeks ago, I published a white paper that describes these two ways to make your marketing content more relevant.  If you'd like a copy of this white paper, send an e-mail to ddodd(at)pointbalance(dot)com.

Customer satisfaction or market share? Pick one

This is guest post by Professor Mark Vandenbosch. Mark is the Kraft Professor of Marketing at the Ivey Business School.  He has held visiting professorships at IMD in Switzerland and INSEAD in France.  Much of his research focuses on intersection competitive positioning and effective customer interface strategies with his work appearing outlets ranging from Marketing Science to MIT/Sloan

Winning the Game

It's Friday in the fall...and that means high school football!

I LOVE this time of year...the only thing better is spring training for baseball!

I am constantly reminded when I watch high school football of several key things that easily translate to your job as a bank or credit union marketer:

1. The games not over until the whistle sounds


2. One play can alter an entire game


3. Its the most prepared team that wins...

For each item, the translation to your job is:

1. Keep plugging along and refocusing your efforts...the competition isn't slowing down and neither should you!  If you are behind goal at mid-year, reevaluate what you can do the remaining months...the goal is STILL within reach!


2. Its all about focus...  Keep the focus, its the little plays and small decisions you make and the small demonstrations of support and encouragement that can completely change the outcome of a game!


3. The most prepared team...not always the most athletically gifted or the bank/CU with the best rates or best locations.  The team that works most together as a team and keeps sight on the end prize while having done their prep work WILL be the winner!

Hope you have a GREAT Friday...

Cheers!

Bruce

The Importance of Re-centering

A professor of mine while in graduate school at CalArts advised us that if we could envision ourselves doing anything else, we should get out now. He was very blunt. Life in the theater was hard. Long hours, low pay and full of personal sacrifice.



The past couple of years have been very difficult for the arts. State arts commissions are being eliminated, Tony Award-winning regional theaters are going out of business, corporate sponsorships are drying up and nationally renowned arts education programs are disappearing. If life in the theater was hard ten years ago when I was in school, it must be damn near impossible today in comparison, given the new realities of the "post-global economic crisis" world.



Being now a decade into the profession, I have found that most of my colleagues have seriously debated leaving the arts all together (and several have). And who could blame them? In fact, I find those that have never longed for a more stable livelihood a little suspect.



Last week was personally trying for me. Exhausted and spent after several weeks of very intense work, I found myself doubting whether or not I could sustain a lifelong career in the theater. Having recently received a couple of tempting phone calls from recruiters about chief marketing officer positions at various institutions outside of the arts (and one not so tempting inquiry from a construction company), the doubt continued to linger. However, at the end of several long days, I didn't rush out of my office and head for home, choosing instead to stay behind and take in a few performances at my theater. And as Robert Frost once remarked, "that made all the difference."



Sometimes it is easy when your nose is to the grindstone to get lost in the day-to-day, and forget why it is you chose theater as a career in the first place. Your day gets gobbled by sales reports, revenue forecasting, pricing models, customer service issues, copy writing and media buying, and the next thing you know, it is time to leave (and you're probably hungry because you forgot to eat lunch). Let too many of those days go by without returning to the art that attracted you in the first place, and you will find yourself in trouble. You can do all of the aforementioned tasks for any non-artistic venture in the world. The skills are transferrable, you'll have a more stable career and lord knows, you'll make more money. But you chose to work at a theater because you have the spirit of an artist. Take the art away from an artist, and you steal their soul.



So if you find yourself lacking motivation, or a sense of purpose, take a stroll into the rehearsal room, visit a class full of young artists or watch an audience react to a performance. Doing so will allow you to re-center, and remind yourself why it is you do what you do.



P.S. for those theaters that encourage closed rehearsals, I would encourage them to reconsider, especially if they want well-informed, inspired marketers promoting their shows

The myth of the empowered consumer - I

Quick, is the consumer more empowered today than, say, 20 years ago?
More, of course. Right?
The consumer as shopper is armed with the mighty mouse. At the click of that mouse, she can call up competitors’ pricing information, and with another click she switches brands, and is gone. Brand loyalty that you spend years earning disappears in a trail of cookies signaling a price promotion by a

Its Friday...

Friday...

And its ONLY 75 degrees out today!!  A welcome break from the unrelenting heat!  Texas just broke their string of 40 straight days of 100 degrees or higher....wow!

Enjoy your day and have a fantastic weekend!   For many it is the last weekend before school starts back in earnest.  Enjoy!

Cheers!

Bruce

Killing Two Search Engine Birds with One Stone: PPC and SEO

There's a great tactic that will help your list building efforts -- both with paid AND organic search.

And it's not much additional work ... if you already have a lead generation landing page you're using for PPC, you can cover your basis on the organic side with a few additions.

Here's how:

--Start by creating a new URL for SEO purposes using the existing PPC landing page.



--Make sure the new SEO URL is packed with your targeted and relevant keywords (one caveat: before this, make sure you've done your research to see which keywords to use and the search volume on each one).

--Add relevant and targeted keywords into the new SEO lead gen page's tags including: title tag, meta description, and meta keywords. Also, if you have images on the page, make sure to add relevant keywords to those.

--If not already done, drop in the Google Analytics code to this page so you can track page visits/traffic.

After your page is indexed by the search engine spiders (which may take a few weeks), your lead gen page should start appearing in organic search rankings based on the keywords you've indicated in your tags.

What will also help your page's ranking be more favorable is if you can get some back-links from high traffic websites linking to this new, SEO landing page.

So start link-building efforts with sites that have the 2 R's - rank and relevance. Remember, search engines like back-linking between synergistic websites.

5 'Must Knows' For Better CoRegistration Conversion Rates

1. CoReg names (leads) come in from another website after a transaction and people tend to forget what they opted in to receive.



2. For optimum results, flag names that come in (segment) and withhold them from eLetter circulation for approx. 5-7 days.



3. Use this time to reconnect with them and let them bond with you, your gurus, your pub, or your philosophy.



4. Let them build that "warm fuzzy feeling" for you. Do this by following up with targeted introduction emails.



5. After the email series, where you'll also be giving them fantastic editorial, send them a special offer (such as discount, special new subscriber pricing, etc.) to help monetize the names.



6. Avg. cost per lead (CPL) for coreg tends to be between $1- $5. Implementing the email intro series also helps the LTV (life time value) of the subscriber. They'll buy more frequently, monetarily, and be more loyal.

Tweeting for Leads: Building your Twitter Presence

Unless you've been in a cave, you've likely heard of Twitter.

Twitter, or "Tweeting", is a way to connect with like-minded people by broadcasting short, headline oriented messages into the Twittospher. Then, those interested in what you have to say and want to hear more will "follow" you.

Twitter is a great outlet for information as well as a way to promote your business, newsletter or blog and build your prospect database. Many companies, publishers, entrepreneurs and others have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon to leverage this hot social networking outlet. But unless you're a celebrity or someone that already has universal name recognition ... and groupies ... getting individuals to opt in and "follow" your messages could be challenging.

So here are some tips to start building your presence on Twitter:

1. Promote the heck out of your Twitter URL (http://twitter.com/youraccountname). Remember, at this point, if you don't have a notable name and a built-in audience the goal is to drive targeted traffic to your Twitter home page so people can follow you. Remember to include your Twitter link in your emails (as an autosignature). Cross-market it in your newsletters and other correspondence. Mention it in your bio, bylines or editorial notes (whether you're a public speaker, on your PowerPoint slides, in press releases, article directory postings - virtually any place your name is). Link to it on other social networking sites from your Linked In, Facebook, and MySpace accounts. Add it at the closing in all your business proposals. Have it printed on your business cards. And of course, have it somewhere prominent on your website or blog. The mention is simple, "Follow me on http://twitter.com/youraccountname."



2. Make sure you have a keyword rich and relevant Twitter bio so the right people can read about you and follow you. Text is limited, so pick your descriptive keywords carefully. I suggest updating your bio quarterly with relevant keywords to your target market (follower). Think strong, short and pithy ... similar to a good headline that grabs your attention.



3. As far as content, keep your Tweets frequent, useful, relevant and entertaining. Don't just spam messages. It's transparent and will have a negative effect. Make people want to hear from you. Your headlines should be engaging and provoking, linking to the full article on your website or blog.



4. Follow the right people yourself. Many Tweeters have the mentality, you follow me, I'll follow you ... it's reciprocated. So as you're following other like minded individuals to expand your interest and knowledge base, they'll typically return the favor and follow you, thereby helping you build your presence.



5. Tweet daily. Try and have a regular presence on Twitter. The more frequent you Tweet the more you appear increase your odds to appear under 'Who to follow'. There are a few tools to help you determine when the best time to tweet is, check out: http://www.whentotweet.com/, http://www.tweriod.com/,http://www.tweetwhen.com/ and http://14blocks.com/. Most are free.



6. Engage with your followers. Retweet or reply to their tweets to help foster relationship cultivation. After all, that's what social media is all about ... building a community of like-minded 'friends'.

You'll see, with a combination of the above and a little time, you'll build your Twitter following. My clients have been implementing these tips and are enjoying steady growth on Twitter.

How Marketing Asset Management Improves Marketing Results

A growing number of companies are implementing marketing asset management solutions to improve marketing productivity.  MAM solutions combine technology tools, manufacturing capabilities, and services to streamline many of the processes relating to the procurement, management, and distribution of marketing materials.  They can also provide a powerful platform for creating and executing advertising and marketing programs, particularly direct mail and e-mail marketing campaigns.

Most discussions about marketing asset management solutions focus on how they can reduce costs and improve the efficiency of the marketing supply chain.  However, MAM solutions can also improve the effectiveness of marketing activities and programs in three major ways.

Less Use of Obsolete Materials

The obsolescence of marketing materials is a big problem for many companies.  In a recent survey by the CMO Council, 40% of respondents said they waste 20% or more of their marketing materials because of obsolescence.

The direct financial costs of obsolescence waste are bad enough, but the consequences of using obsolete marketing materials can be even worse.  In a highly competitive business environment, sales can easily be lost if prospects are provided outdated information.  And unfortunately, the use of obsolete materials is all too common.  In the CMO Council survey, 51% of marketers admitted they had sent materials to customers or prospects that contained outdated content.

Marketing asset management solutions reduce the use of obsolete materials by combining "virtual warehousing," on-demand manufacturing, and rapid fulfillment to eliminate the underlying causes of obsolescence.  With a marketing asset management solution, materials are stored in digital form so they can be easily and quickly updated, and MAM solution providers manufacture most materials on an as-ordered basis, so there is no need to maintain inventories that can become obsolete.

More Relevant Marketing Materials

Marketing asset management solutions also improve marketing effectiveness by enabling the creation and use of more relevant marketing materials.  Marketers have long known that customizing materials for specific audiences will make them more relevant and effective.  Unfortunately, however, using customized materials has usually forced marketers to choose between losing control of the brand and incurring excessive costs.

MAM solutions make customization easy and cost effective while simultaneously enabling corporate marketers to keep control of brand messaging and brand presentation.  The key to this controlled customization is user-friendly templates that identify what components of a marketing item can be customized and provide a set of pre-approved customization options.

Simplified Distributed Marketing

The third way that MAM solutions boost marketing results is by making it easy to create and execute effective marketing campaigns and programs in distributed marketing environments.

Distributed marketing  refers to a marketing model in which both a central marketing department and "local entities" perform marketing activities.  The defining characteristic of a distributed marketing model is that the local marketing entities have some degree of autonomy from the "home office."  When the local entities are franchisees, resellers, or other independent channel partners, they may have complete marketing independence.  A big challenge, therefore, is to persuade channel partners to market as aggressively as they should.

MAM solutions boost results in distributed marketing organizations by enabling local marketing partners to customize marketing programs to fit their specific needs and by making it simple for local marketing partners to create and execute those programs.

I've just published a white paper that describes these benefits in more detail.  If you'd like to review this paper, send me an e-mail at ddodd(at)pointbalance(dot)com.

Lessons from Congress...

Well...today the stock market is taking a beating.  I usually don't make political comments in our blog...and this one is not a strict political commentary...but I must borrow from the recent political happenings surrounding the debt ceiling.

Congress toiled and toiled and bantered around a political hot potato that is the statutory debt ceiling for the United States.  Finally, at nearly the 11th hour, Congress ratified an agreement that in principle increased the debt ceiling and addressed several other key political points...however, they forgot to ask the rating agencies for their reviews. As you know, on Friday Standard and Poors downgraded the rating on US debt...creating the exact problem that Congress was trying to avoid!

The lesson here is that you MUST not only pay attention to the interested parties in your market (for us...our customers and potential customers) but LISTEN to what they have to say when you actually ASK them for their input.

The customer has keen insights and may see things differently than we do...like the rating agencies seeing things differently that Congress. 

You need to stop and engage your customer and marketplace to determine WHEN and IF the actions that you are considering are going to be accepted and if not...help to determine what you should do!

Far too often, as an industry, we have insulated ourselves in meeting rooms and have a false sense of the customer pulse...the only way to know it, is to take it yourself through customer interactions and asking tough questions.

So, learn the lesson that Congress has not yet learned...ask the questions and be ready to modify your answer or strategy based upon the feedback you receive....in the end, you will be miles ahead and dollars saved!

Cheers!

Bruce

Brand portfolios: a mixed bag

There are practically no single-brand companies anymore, and very few stand-alone brands. 

What you have instead are portfolios of brands. Consumer goods companies such as Coca-cola, Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever each manage collections of hundreds of brands. In financial services, the corporate brand is often supported by dozens of product brands, and in the hospitality and retail

Names, Origins, Authenticity, Value, and Pleasure

 For marketing implications, see here and here.

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Wow...It's Hot!!

OK...its the 1st of August and it is just PLAIN HOT!  Record temperatures, record number of days in the 90s, and lack of rain... it all rounds up to a tough summer for being outside!

My summer has been hectic, busy and fun!  From great client project work, baseball travels with my son, and a vacation trip to a place in Colorado that I had not been to in 30 years...wow!  But I got to share that along the way the heat was just incredible!

My entry today is about turning the heat into something productive... I know, let me cool down first and then we can talk about doing more work!

The cooling down part is what sounds great...but this time of year, everything is just starting to heat up-- for work that is.  School is starting back, vacations are winding down, budgeting for 2012 is right around the corner, and the 3rd quarter is in full swing!

Here are 5 steps to take to ensure you heat up your institution:

1. Create a back-2-school promotion and have fun with it...
2. Focus on auto lending for the all important September selling season...
3. Prime the HELOC pump for customers wanting to fix the house, repair the AC, etc...
4. Launch a small business campaign, acknowledging the power of small business...
5. Update your marketing plan and calculate all of your ROIs for the first 1/2 of 2011!

These are sure fire ways to get your blood pumping and heat up your hallways at the office (like it needed it!)...

Have a great day!

Cheers!!

Bruce