Simple Marketing Resource Management Software
Ever seen a marketing team in the throes of a full-blown multi-campaign frenzy? No? Oh wait…that’s because you’re in the marketing team and it’s difficult to see anything but the barrage of project requests, deadlines, and creative content to be managed and stored. If this is sounding all too real, it’s time to introduce a simple marketing resource management platform to take away much of the heavy lifting and act as the team’s system of record. And, when you’re coming from chaos, a simple MRM solution is the only way to fly. Here’s a run down of what it is and how you can benefit from it.
What is Marketing Resource Management?
Just like sales teams need a CRM system, and accounting teams need software to manage invoicing, marketing teams need a marketing resources management system. According to Gartner, Marketing Resources Management Software (MRM Software) is defined as: applications enabling strategic planning and budgeting, program management, creative development and distribution, content management, media planning and execution, event coordination, and resource measurement. As far as summaries go, that’s quite a lot to get your head around. More detailed information can be found in the recent Forrester Wave for MRM.
Importantly, Forrester discusses the critical role MRM software plays as CMO’s struggle to show how marketing should be viewed as an investment versus an expense. By connecting budgets and planning to content, brand and results, MRM software helps to showcase marketing’s role as a business driver with tangible benefits.
Key Benefits of MRM Software
- Improved marketing efficiency
By automating workflows and streamlining processes such as creative approvals and marketing project intake forms, MRM software helps marketing teams to work more efficiently and effectively.
Image: Stop reinventing the wheel with each new brief by interlinking master briefs, campaign briefs and ad hoc requests. - Better collaboration
MRM software can help to improve collaboration and communication between team members, as well as external partners and vendors. For example, with real-time review and proofing on videos, HTML websites and emails, you can collaborate with your distributed team in real time.
Image: Real time traceable proofing is just one feature of IntelligenceBank’s suite of collaborative tools. - Enhanced visibility, process and control
MRM software can provide marketing teams with greater visibility into their marketing operations, including budgets, timelines, and performance metrics. This can help improve decision-making and enable teams to quickly adjust their strategies as needed. You can’t manage what you can’t measure and MRM software provides a range of detailed reports that help CMO’s see process bottlenecks, so teams can continually improve.
Image: IntelligenceBank Dashboards provide visibility on a range of metrics - Increased accountability
MRM software can help increase accountability by providing a clear record of who is responsible for each task or project, and by ensuring that all team members are working towards the same goals. With calendars, Kanban boards and interactive dashboards, it’s always clear where a project sits, across teams and product lines. When a new master brief is approved, and the strategy and budgets are signed off within the system, automatically, tasks can be assigned for niche campaign that will ‘carry’ the premise of the master brief, and the tasks will roll into the main brief for visibility.
Simple MRM Software or Complex?
According to Forrester, there are 9 key players in the MRM Software category, each with their strengths and industry focus:
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The first step when embarking on your Marketing Resource Management journey is to choose a partner that matches your team’s appetite for complexity and technical skill.
Step two onwards should be getting answers to the following questions:
- How easy is it to edit? For example, can you easily change briefs, dashboards and forms yourself, or, do you need professional services to make small changes? If you need professional services every time you need to make a change, you need to consider your total cost of ownership when selecting a vendor.
- Is the MRM software simple to use? Does the UX look good? Will embedment within your organization be a problem? While some vendors have amazing features, some are impossible to use and administer. Focus on the specific problems you need to solve now, and ensure whatever system you choose is easy to understand and use.
- Is the MRM software platform fully integrated or cobbled together? That is, the Digital Asset Management, Workflows, Creative Briefs, Creative Templates and Disclaimers should be interoperable – not separate systems that don’t have unified reporting.
To learn more about Marketing Resources Management
- Download Forrester Wave for MRM to understand the industry and how Forrester sees the world.
- Download our free RFP template – so you can see all the features you may want to consider for your MRM project.
- Watch our Marketing Operations best practices video to learn how the pros do it.
As always, you can get in touch with our team to learn more or arrange to see a demo of how your peers reduce content chaos, stay on brand and manage marketing compliance.
