3 warning signs that illustrate the need for an operational marketing portal

OK, we all read the information on marketing stacks and new platforms, so maybe you are a little cynical on the need for more marketing technology, or perhaps you feel your marketing operations are running like a dream. However, if you look close enough you may see some warning signs that this is not the case.

1) Are your marketing assets, materials and collateral out of date?

When dealing with large volumes of diverse documents and publications across a distributed organisation, it can be difficult to ensure that updates to important elements such as messaging, pricing, terms and conditions are executed everywhere. Do you have any idea what your sales teams are sharing with customers? Are there any DIY materials out there in the marketplace?

It is also usual to hear that central marketing or brand management teams have no clue what's happening once their carefully constructed collateral leaves the head office. Maybe your local regional teams are developing their own assets as you don't have something suitable available? Or are they using older inaccurate, non-compliant versions?

Let's face it, we've all come across cases of outdated or off brand templates that are in circulation despite everyone thinking they have been formally withdrawn from use.

By maintaining a central resource library that updates every instance of anything from a logo or product pricing to your annual report, you can be confident that each document shared with a customer, prospect or other stakeholder is the most up-to-date approved version.

2) Are you adhering to your brand and compliance requirements?

It is getting more complex to maintain compliance. Sure, many industries, such as insurance, banking, pharma or life sciences, have had strict, onerous and frequently changing requirements to deal with for years, but with GDPR and other privacy legislation, more and more businesses have more to manage and comply with.

If you are regularly failing to meet legal requirements or are missing delivery deadlines due to ineffective disconnected processes, this is a clear indication that you need to implement more structure and have controls in place. In today's real time connected world bad news travels quickly and grows exponentially. Small slip ups in wording, incorrect product claims or the wrong terms and conditions can become big news and a source of huge embarrassment, and ultimately cost your business dearly in many ways (financially, reputationally etc).

By implementing a centralised marketing portal with comprehensive asset and product information management features, combined with thoughtful processes and controls, you can easily manage all marketing collateral that relates to any given division, strategic group, product or service, and rapidly deliver updates to any components across all versions and media.

3) Or are you just too slow?

Can you easily review and approve email content across multiple stakeholders? Is there a time delay between publicising the launch of a new product or service and the availability of all materials necessary for your markets, regions and channels to be successful? Does dealing with the localisation process take far too long? Are there clear and collaborative approval processes in place?

A centralised marketing portal with advanced artificial intelligence automatically tagging assets, spellchecking text from images, flight checking email content and allowing your team and your clients to work together and collaborate visually means that your limited resources can deal with more. This, combined with clear processes that cover approvals and even translations, means you will be better placed to manage the increasing volume of content required across multiple channels.

To conclude

So, what do you think? Do any of these warning signs ring true?

In our experience most businesses struggle with at least one of these warning signs and this is where the rigour and processes provided by an operational marketing portal could be what you need (rather than relying on shared drives alone). An operational marketing portal comprises a number of facets:

1. An electronic store for all marketing materials, assets and documents (with appropriate metadata, including concise descriptions, expiry dates, tags etc)
2. The ability in some cases to manage product information. This lets you identify how messages or information are applied throughout all your products and brands
3. A good user experience allowing users to search and find things easily
4. Artificial intelligence enabled automation for tagging and logging information about materials and assets
5. Visual collaboration with and around marketing materials, assets and documents
6. Process automation to enable and manage the sharing, reviewing, approving and managing of media content with your clients and fellow workers