Marketing Governance

Saepio, research company Frost & Sullivan explore the value of Marketing Resource Management (which they call Marketing Asset Management one of MRMs many aliases) for the health care industry. The whitepaper takes a look at the value of a centralized approach to creating customized marketing collateral for different audiences.

The study includes a case study of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), a leading healthcare management vendor, which, according to the report, streamlined its marketing content workflows and achieved astonishing return on investment through deploying marketing asset management and collateral customization solutions. Read More

Marketers in all types of enterprises are facing growing pressures to improve marketing productivity. CEOs are demanding that marketers develop and execute programs that drive revenue growth, streamline marketing operations to eliminate waste, decrease cycle times, reduce costs, and demonstrate the economic return generated by every marketing investment.

These demands for greater marketing accountability have become more insistent just as the marketing environment has become more complex. Digital technologies have created new marketing channels and enabled marketing techniques that would have been impossible only a few years ago. But, todays marketers also face a daunting array of challenges: Read More

BrandMaker, the software vendor was rated the best in its field by the annual Gartner overview. According to the research firm, however, the field is very difficult to compare with last years quadrant. The vendors providing marketing software are becoming increasingly mature, but the companies that adopt their solutions have grown in the way they employ the technology. Moreover, recent mergers and takeovers have shaken things up in the quadrant.

Two of the major players, Teradata and IBM, entered the quadrant two years ago by taking over Aprimo and Unica respectively. SAS joined only last year with the acquisition of Assetlink. On the other hand, large companies such as Alterian and Oracle have disappeared off the map, while CDC Software, Code Worldwide, and PTI Marketing have entered the field. Read More

Hungry for some good news? Looking for inspiration? Curious to see what your colleagues are up to? MarketingSherpa has collected the marketing lessons learned by 70-odd marketers in all fields of marketing: email, social, online, technology. Sharing their best insights from 2011 in an economic climate that was challenging at times, the marketers featuring in this report have some interesting things to say.

Weve seen such dramatic results from simple remarketing campaigns; I believe it will be a standard practice within every paid search campaign in 2012. Its never been a better time to do so. Once a costly marketing strategy, companies can embrace the free remarketing capabilities available in every Google Adwords account, and take advantage of the latest way to use display advertising. - Heidi Sturrock, Sturrock Interactive Media Read More

the Gabriel Group. Meet Moe the CMO. Customizing all his marketing on the go. Like a pro. Get into the flow with the video below. But beware: you may experience some after-effects. .

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Aprimo Marketing Summit from February 28 to March 1 in Las Vegas.

Technology For Marketing & Advertising is the UK industrys largest and longest running event, delivering content, solutions and networking to enhance your multi-channel marketing and advertising strategy. With over 250 exhibitors such as Alterian, Eloqua, IBM and Neolane, keynote speakers from Google, Yahoo! and SAP, and of course a networking bar, TFM&A is a great opportunity to meet new people, listen to great ideas and get a fresh look on the industry, marketing strategy and technology solutions. Read More

The good news about the SaaS subscription model: long-term paying customers.

The bad news about the SaaS subscription model: long-term paying customers.

With the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model, vendors can build a sustainable source of long-term, predictable revenue. As long as the subscription fees cover customer acquisition expenses and other costs, the model should support a profitable, growing business.

So far, so good. But theres a catch: long-term, paying customers require long-term care and feeding. In exchange for collecting on-going subscription fees, the SaaS vendor takes on substantial on-going obligations. Some of those depend on product development and operations. They need to keep the SaaS solution up and running, protect the customers data, and add new features over time.

Marketings role in retention

But marketing plays a role too. Those long term customers also expect on-going communications from the SaaS vendor. They want to know how best to use the system, what enhancements are being developed, and what other customers are doing. And they dont want just one-way communications. Customers want a way to have input into what new features are built, and they want a way to share information with other customers.

This is where marketing comes in. (I warned you that we werent off the hook.) Marketers need to take a role in building and maintaining communication channels with existing customers. Talk to existing customers? For lots of marketers, this could be new territory.

A confession

When I was responsible for marketing traditional on-premise applications, I usually only thought about existing customers on two occasions: once at the annual user group meeting, and second when I needed a customer reference. Thats it. Nothing personal; it just wasnt my job. My main responsibility in marketing then was to find new customers. People who had already signed up and paid werent my concern.

In the SaaS subscription model, its all different. Retention and renewals are an essential part of marketings job. Marketers need to focus on existing customers as much as on prospective customers.

In fact, in the SaaS world, existing customers are prospective customers. . .

Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He succeeds Chris Lenton, who remains as a trustee.

Harvey, a chartered marketer and business development and communications director at law firm Dickinson Dees, has been elected chair having joined the Institutes board in 2007.

On his appointment as chair, Harvey comments,

2012 promises to be an exciting year for The Chartered Institute of Marketing as we focus on how we can best support the marketing community in our second century. It is a great honour to be elected as chair of the Institutes board and to be given the opportunity to lead the Institute as we enter a challenging yet optimistic period. Read More

We all know the kind of meeting that just drags on and on. The discussion is going round in circles. There are 24 more powerpoint slides left on the slideshow. Your neighbour is playing Angry Birds. Surely, there must be a way to put everyone out of their misery?

With the Cost Of Meeting App (or COMA) by marketing agency LBi, you can calculate exactly how much money is being wasted by holding a meeting. Fill in the number of attendees, their avarage hourly rate and start counting! Youll see the billable dollars, pounds or euros leaking away. If the cost spirals out of control, the app tells you: If youre seeing this message, fire your project manager.

After all, time is money. . .here.

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If its relevant to you, you can track it with Aprimo.  Aprimo/Teradata is an international software vendor offering Marketing Resource Management and Integrated Marketing Software solutions. The MRM module automates core marketing processes and optimizes the allocation of resources. Budgeting, planning and metrics are all covered in this module, promising full control over marketing operations. .

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