Here are several excerpts from an article by Kris Tufto, President and CEO of Marketing Bridge, Tips for Selecting the Right Enterprise Marketing Platform. Be sure to check out the complete source article for much more on this topic.
The urgency to meet the timely needs of a company’s sales reps, resellers, franchises, and others revenue producers is even more pronounced now in a down economy:
Cracks in the marketing chain could be perceived as deeper trouble within the overall organization. According to a 2008 Forrester survey conducted well in advance of last fall’s meltdown, more than 40 percent of respondents struggled with campaign design, offer management, and customer segmentation. Nearly 60 percent of respondents lacked the ability to both manage marketing processes and resources and coordinate campaign management across channels.
Companies faced with the dilemma of making marketing staff cutbacks, or risking worker overload, can find safe harbor in multichannel campaign management systems, called enterprise marketing platforms (EMPs). In fact, EMPs are one of the fastest growing areas of CRM. Here are three steps to evaluate the right EMP to keep your marketing channels viable…
1. Look for a Total Solution at a Reasonable Price: Look for a complete solution from a company that demonstrates e-marketing prowess, as well as traditional media and analytics competencies.
2. Know that their automation processes work: When evaluating a company that offers EMP services, make sure its systems are reliable and that other known companies are using them. Ask for case studies or contacts of current customers. Once enabled, the automated process should allow flexible multi-wave campaigns and programs to flourish with greater customization in vertical channels, or by product line, for all forms of electronic media and print on demand.
3. Look for hot MDF applications: If everything looks positive in your due diligence for an EMP partner, look hard again at how strong its market development fund (MDF) application really is. The best performers will offer built-in redundancies for error-free execution, making it easier to drive reseller behavior and to fund, track, and manage marketing essentials.
Great outcomes with measurable benefits?You will know that you made the right choice in an EMP partner when you see forward traction in these critical areas:
- Optimizing Reach
- Achieving cost savings and greater visibility
If you have come this far with your recession-proofing measures and have managed to stay viable through the storm, you will have worked the magic available to you when aligning with the right EMP organization. Imagine where you’ll be when the clouds clear.
