Why Marketers Require Self-Service Brand Management

Today’s marketing professionals are faced with an ever-expanding marketing mix. Not only are they expected to be experts in the traditional forms of marketing (mass marketing via traditional media channels), but they are also expected to master the constant wave of new marketing options (permission marketing and the new Internet-based channels).

There is so much opportunity, yet still the same amount of time in the day. In today’s economic climate, there are also limited resources to execute on the overall marketing strategy.

All of these conditions warrant a serious look at marketing program efficiencies. One of the key aspects of marketing is to create, mold and protect the brand. Luckily, the marketing professional now has tools to accomplish this key initiative in a self-service manner.

Self-service means that a marketing program can be launched across a large community. At the same time, brand control is built into the program—supported by technology rather than expensive labor. Local resources are able to access marketing programs and execute on initiatives in a self-service manner, under centralized brand control.

The focus of the marketing professional then reverts to strategy, innovation and creativity—not on day-to-day monitoring and policing of the brand. For example, a marketing professional at a regional bank launches a campaign to promote a new financial planning product. There is centralized control and investment into creative services and brand messaging. The program is then launched on a web-based platform, which essentially manages the campaign.

The marketer’s attention then moves onto the next campaign because the campaign moves into a self-service, monitoring stage. The integrity of the campaign and its central brand message are maintained not by humans, but by software that elegantly provides both central control and local empowerment. Costly creative is centralized, but localization is enabled by personalization. Versioning of assets is tightly controlled via the software platform, essentially eliminating the cumbersome management of updating campaign messages and graphics.

The individual retail branch is empowered not only to localize materials but also to move at its own pace—unhindered from waiting for manual responses from the central offices. Marketing products and services are ordered directly from the local branch, but the technology allows central monitoring, business rules (e.g., campaign budgets), and enterprise analysis of campaign effectiveness. Depending on the size of the community, products can be sourced centrally or distributed to local vendors when timing is critical.

The tools available to the modern marketer are revolutionizing virtually every industry. Marketing professionals need to work smarter to free up time to master these new tools.

The “Web” and “Print” interact, compete and are integrated to create some of the fastest growing companies in the print industry. Jennifer Matt works at the intersection of the new online dominated world and the traditional manufacturing workflows of print. 

After leadership positions at several major Web-to-print technology companies and direct involvement in many of the largest Web-to-print projects in the U.S. and Europe, Matt founded Web2Print Experts, Inc. The company partners with printers and technology providers to create new revenue streams by leveraging a combination of innovation and technology expertise. Services include sales/ business development, strategic consulting, software development, integration, training and project management.