Marketing Governance

ABN AMRO Brand Portal with the addition of a marketing webshop. The ‘Shop’ enables ABN AMRO executives who are responsible for customer communications management to create posters, invitations and advertisements independently, according to local wishes and demand.

Because the publications are generated from a central platform using specialized marketing software by BrandMaker, all marketing communications meet the predefined ABN AMRO brand requirements and campaign requirements. Moreover, the right quality and price for production and processing are guaranteed, because orders are sent automatically to the right supplier.

Frans Riemersma of MRMLOGIQ:

Together with the ABN AMRO Brand Portal project team we’ve examined the large number and variety of the existing (marketing) communications materials. In order to better serve the information needs of ABN AMRO clients, we have distilled a set of core materials, which we can use as a basis. Embedding this new set of materials in a technology platform is an important step in the transformation process. In the next few months, we will be adding new materials to the Shop.

Madelon van Mierlo, Head of Brand Management of ABN AMRO:

By introducing the ‘Shop’, we have taken great steps toward the efficient development of (marketing) communications materials. With this new tool we are able to standardize certain materials. This means we won’t have to start from scratch every time we need a poster for the opening of a new branch, or an invitation to a seminar. Not only is this approach very cost-efficient, it also ensures consistency of our marketing communications.

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The Chartered Institute of Marketing has launched a set of diagnostic tools to identify marketers skill gaps and help prioritize personal development. The suite of tools provides information about marketing and sales professionals strengths and weaknesses based on technical competencies.

The assessment outcomes are measured against the strategic objectives of the person, team and organization to ensure that skills are aligned with requirements. It is designed to help organizations develop and retain top talent by identifying high performers and recommending training and development in line with organizational goals.

The suite of diagnostic tools includes:

• Marketing capability analysis: identify development needs in general marketing
• Digital marketing capability analysis: identify development needs in digital marketing
• Sales capability analysis: analyze sales and sales management skills
• Innovation capability analysis: identify individuals with strong problem solving skills
• Leadership capability analysis: define leadership development programs

David Thorp, director of research and professional development at the Institute, explains,

As marketing, sales and HR directors face a resource crunch, matching people to the right roles for their capability is imperative. Managers that practice the old adage if you measure it, you can evaluate it with their team will function more strongly, while motivating and focusing staff and, of course, maximising the training budget.

For more information, visit the CIM website. . .

We take our work serious. If somebody asks, What does Marketing Resource Management look like in Thailand? we just have to go there to find out ourselves. We conducted an in-depth study of local marketing strategies. The preliminary results suggest a remarkable standardization of retail strategies and communications, paired with a highly flexible and adaptive approach to demand. The raw data can be found below, compaired and contrasted with Marketing Resource Management: The Noble Art of Getting Things Done in Marketing. Efficiently.

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BrandMaker this time. The German-based company focuses on the do more for less approach to Marketing Resource Management. To BrandMaker, MRM is the clever use of information and technology to manage marketing workflows, brand assets, communication activities and service providers in ways that save money and shorten time-to-market. Their video certainly makes it all look very easy. .

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argued.

The consultancy suggests that existing ‘decentralised’ marketing functions lead to wasted expenditure, alongside making it harder to take a holistic view and develop new capabilities in areas like social media. It thus proposes forming ‘centres of expertise’ with capabilities covering all communications activity which can be leveraged across the whole company. Early adopters of this model have seen efficiency gains of 15–20%. Read More

marketing software, there is some confusion between email marketing and marketing automation. Many buyers see the two as synonymous, but in reality, the systems are very different, with a varied feature set designed for different types of buyers.

First, lets just break down the features:

From the feature list comparison, you can see that while there is functional parity in some areas, marketing automation is far more sophisticated. While email marketing systems are designed to track interactions related to email campaigns, marketing automation systems track the chain of interactions across multiple channels and can then make intelligent decisions based on the buyers behaviors.

Once you understand the features of each system, you have to reflect on your company and its needs to see what will work best for you. I suggest examining the three Cs: cost, complexity and content.

• Cost Most email marketing systems run around $20/month. Marketing automation is a much larger investment that can range from a several hundred dollars a month to several thousands. However, the investment is worth it if the system is going to help you win more business.
• Complexity Companies with limited resources and a fairly homogeneous customer base simply dont need marketing automation. An email marketing system will provide them with all the tools they need to reach out to clients on a regular basis, promote offers and deals, and attract new business. A company with a less uniform customer base might want to look into marketing automation.
• Content Email marketing systems require little in the way of content: create standard templates and refresh them with new content every once in a while. With marketing automation, content is the gas that fuels the engine. A key feature of MA is lead nurturing, which is all about providing targeted messages and communication to a customer to guide them through the buyer cycle. Without strong and consistently delivered content, MA will fail.

For the full article, please check out the Marketing Automation Software Guide blog.

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Adaptive marketers perform better in sales, customer satisfaction and innovation, according to a recent study. Yet the research also revealed that 78% of marketing leaders are having difficulty transforming their companies into ones that can adapt to evolving market conditions and technologies. These are some of the findings of a study by Forrester, in collaboration with the CMO Club, among  81 U.S. CMOs and marketing leaders.

Based on composite survey scores, the researchers classified marketers into four groups:

• Inflexible marketers. (22%) They are bound by a rigid and complacent company culture, where defying convention is frowned on.
• Restricted marketers. (56%) They have made some progress in building adaptive organizations and processes, but they cant get their companies to commit to a revised vision.
• Progressive marketers. (16%) Theyve made significant strides toward becoming more agile and nimble by building a collaborative culture and a networked organization.
• Adaptive marketers. (5%) They have the vision to transform the companys culture, structure and practices, and theyve gained executive support to redefine the mission and role of the marketing function.

Information is Beautiful is taking this idea to extremes and presents its working model of a scale of ideas, measured against an x-axis of functionality, and a y-axis of conceptuality. Where does the idea for this chart score? Is it silly, funny, clever, or simply beautiful?

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You have a product, know the market, you know who your customers are, and you know where your message should end up. Now what? Grant Halloran, CEO of software vendor Orbis, gives his take on what Marketing Resource Management is (a big kinda conceptual thing), and what it does. Halloran explains how MRM helps manage the planning, development and execution of projects and campaigns covering every aspect of a campaign, from message to receiver. Its interesting to see this vendors take on the still developing field of Marketing Resource Management.  . .

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It’s still a little while off, but probably worth clearing some space in your schedule for: Warc’s Measuring Advertising Performance conference, which will be held March 27^th and 28^th 2012 in London.

Featuring talks by speakers from Coca-Cola, Specsavers and Kantar, the MAP conference tackles communications measurement and evaluation from the perspective of three inter-related fields: clients, agencies, and media owners:

• Clients have traditionally taken the lead in owning data and commissioning research to help shape their performance and planning.
• Increasingly, agencies are using less industry-standard data and are taking a stand based on trading media across many media channels, new and old. Consider the data thrown off from that trading, blended with the core agency skills of understanding and predicting consumer behavior… and it’s clear that the major media agency networks are becoming increasingly powerful.
• Media owners, too, are building data positions based on new platforms for their content, proprietary research and deep, two-way relationships with their audiences. Read More