Marketing Governance

Weve got two suveys for you today. The first is by the Lenskold/Pedowitz group they have devised a way to measure your Revenue Marketing Index (RMI) score. Based on your use of metrics, marketing automation and marketing ROI capabilities, you’ll find out if you are at the basic, advanced or leader level as a Traditional Marketer, Lead Gen Marketer, Demand Gen Marketer or Revenue Marketer. Once you complete the questions, you’ll receive a score as well as a list of recommended actions to move you to the next level. Read More

Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services study conducted earlier this year among 930 businesses across the globe in various industries, found that only one in four organizations believes its use of business analytics has been very effective in helping to make decisions. Even though more than half of the companies in the survey said that they rely heavily on data and metrics when making decisions, many admitted that intuition and business experience still tip the scale when it comes to decision-making. Read More

Coca-Cola, IBM and Volkswagen are among the brand owners that have made the most effective use of marketing in 2011, according to a report from Advertising Age, the industry title.

Coca-Cola, the soft drinks giant, took top spot in the Advertising Age rankings, not least thanks to the Coca-Cola Music platform, aimed at teenagers worldwide, and Fantas Less Serious campaign, which ran in 190 markets. Diet Coke also became the number two cola brand in the US, overtaking Pepsi, and sales of Coke and Fanta have grown by 3% year on year. Moreover, Del Valle and Minute Maid Pulpy have both seen annual revenues reach $1bn. Read More

Theres no escaping it: we are surrounded by sounds every day. Some are pleasant, others are very unpleasant. Sound can be an incredibly powerful part of brand positioning, because its instantly recognisable. You may have no idea what Intel Pentium 4 is, but you probably recognise its five-note sonic logo. In this ultra-short TedTalk, Julian Treasure explains how our behaviour is influenced by the sounds we hear and what that means to marketers. So you have been warned: that annoying jingle in the supermarket will actually scare away the customers.

Take five minutes to watch the video and dont forget to turn up the sound! .

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MRMLOGIQ made a seven-part video series which answers all of these basic questions. The series is an introduction to Marketing Resource Management, explaining aspects of running an efficient marketing department. Resources, workflow, and the organizational model behind the daily practise all these aspects are discussed. For the next six weeks, we will post a video from the series. So before the year is out, youll have a firm understanding of MRM.

Today part one: The 21st Century Marketer. Why the current marketing environment calls for the Homo Marketerus Universalis: a rare breed of marketer, uniting both creativity and structure in its marketing activities.

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Unilever, the consumer goods group, is prioritising advertising and branding over promotions as it pursues a long term growth strategy, despite the challenging financial climate.

Jean-Marc Huët, Unilevers chief financial officer, argued the pressure on disposable income in Western Europe and North America, combined with rising commodity costs and intense competition in emerging markets, posed significant obstacles. However, he added the organisation would not let economic fluctuations prove a distraction from its overarching focus on innovation, new market launches and brand building. Read More

In an increasingly globalizing world, successful marketing efforts are increasingly local. That is the outcome of the new CMO Council report, Localize to Optimize Sales Channel Effectiveness. 86 % of respondents said they intend to look for ways to better modify, adapt and localize their marketing content, messaging and prospect engagement practices. The current level of maturity in this field may not be very high yet, but technological advances are helping global marketers to localize their efforts, the study shows.

Early adopters of hosted platforms and cloud-based services in this area will gain competitive advantage in their ability to execute campaigns more effectively, provision their channel and field organizations more efficiently, better control their brand assets, and track the performance of their marketing content investments. Read More

Aprimo, SAS and IBM have been named to the “Leaders” quadrant of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integrated Marketing Management.  The report was published by Kimberly Collins, research vice president, and Adam Sarner, research director, CRM, at Gartner on October 27, 2011.

In addition, IBM has been named a leader in  The Forrester Wave™: Web Analytics Q4 2011 (receiving the highest scores of any vendor for both current offering and strategy), and a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management. According to IBM, they are the only ones who can claim such broad and strong market recognition for its Enterprise Marketing Management offerings. Michaela Stribling from IBM/Unica says:

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Are billboards dying out as a marketing tool? Lots of companies are shifting their focus to social media: its free, its easy, and potentially, it can reach thousands of people at one click. But lets not forget the impact a well-placed billboard can have. Take a look at these funny, outrageous, and simply awesome billboards that make you laugh as well as notice the product they advertize:

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is the emphasis on ROI actually hurting Marketing? The article is based on an interview with Menno Lijkendijk, director of the Dutch B2B marketing company Milestone Marketing, ‘Can the focus on ROI create problems?’, Lijkendijk was asked. It is a topic which has my full attention.

Let’s start with my short answer: no, the focus on ROI is not hurting Marketing. But the wrong ROI focus is likely to create problems, and no focus on ROI will definitely create problems.

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