3 REASONS YOU NEED A DISTRIBUTED MARKETING SOLUTION
Distributed organizations face a variety of challenges every day. Whether it’s maintaining consistent brand messaging through individual markets or having to rely on local marketers with varying levels of expertise, companies that utilize local franchises, enterprises or dealers encounter a wide range of problems that inhibit overall marketing success. If you work for a distributed organization, you’re likely already familiar with these challenges – and know how much they cost you in time and money.
Problem 1: Localized messaging doesn’t meet brand standards
When it comes to creating marketing materials, too much freedom at the local level makes it hard to maintain control over brand standards. Companies worldwide are spending thousands – even millions – of dollars on campaigns that aren’t compliant with corporate branding. And when branding isn’t consistent, you create a fragmented brand experience for the customers – which can affect your bottom line.
On the other hand, too little freedom saddles your sales reps with marketing that doesn’t serve local needs. Each local market is going to have its own customers and its own unique needs. Strict corporate branding that allows for no flexibility doesn’t leave room for local marketers to serve the needs of their individual region.
To find balance, many corporate offices provide marketing materials to their local reps, but even that isn’t a guaranteed solution – which brings us to problem no. 2.
Problem 2: Marketing assets are difficult to access
According to IDC research, 40% of marketing assets are never used by sales teams because they can’t find them, the files are in the wrong format, or the materials are too difficult to customize. If you’ve got materials stored in dozens of different folders or flying around in email attachments, you’ve felt this pain – and know how it can undermine your overall marketing efforts. And when assets can’t be found, they must be created from scratch – which brings us to problem no. 3.
Problem 3: Personalizing materials can take too much time
Creating original marketing assets is a time- and resource-intensive process. Local reps spend a lot of unnecessary time creating assets, whether it’s because they can’t easily find and access corporate marketing materials or because they decide to scrap those materials altogether in favor of messaging that better fits their specific customers. In fact, sales reps spend as much as 40% of their time creating presentations, customizing messaging and preparing to engage customers – as opposed to actually spending time with the customer. Most of this preparation is repetitive, which wastes time and ultimately money.
Finding the Right Solution
So how do you create promotional materials that your local representatives can easily customize without losing brand consistency? How do you store the files in such a way that these materials actually get used? And how do you streamline the process to be time- and resource-efficient? For every challenge there is a solution. And the solution to all these problems is a distributed marketing asset management system.
Solution 1: Pre-Approved Marketing Templates and Messaging
With a distributed marketing asset management system, you can provide your sales reps a database full of customizable marketing materials. Create materials using your brand standards, then give local users access to customize as much or as little of the materials as you’d like. They’ll be able to create targeted messaging aimed at the customers they know best, and you’ll breathe easy knowing that it’s all done in beautifully designed templates you’ve approved.
Solution 2: Easy File Storage and Management
Distributed marketing tools also make it easy to organize, access and find marketing materials, meaning your reps will never have to dig through folder after folder to find the materials they need. Materials can be accessed and quickly customized on any mobile or desktop device.
Solution 3: Easy, Effective, Efficient Processes to Save Time
Having a one-stop shop for all your marketing needs means your local teams will spend less time preparing and more time selling. Distributed marketing tools can reduce or even eliminate preparation time, helping to improve overall productivity and leaving your reps more time to assist customers on a more personal basis.
Conduit: The Right Distributed Marketing Tool
According to Gleanster, 62% of top performers feel their centralized brand marketing system is a key factor in their success. And it’s no wonder – the right centralized messaging tool with the right capabilities can deliver outstanding benefit for both corporate and local-level teams.
If you’re looking for a distributed marketing tool to solve your organization’s specific challenges, Conduit has what you need. Conduit features an easy-to-use ad builder, marketing automation, marketing execution, print-on-demand and fulfillment options, training and support, and a robust reporting and analytics system. With Conduit, you can protect your brand identity while allowing your sales teams to deliver targeted, strategic messaging.
If you’re ready to find out what Conduit can do for your business, contact us today to learn more and to request a demo.