We know from our work with distributed organizations in industries like banking and financial services, franchising and insurance, that corporate marketers often look for ways to make marketing easier for their frontline operations. Automated marketing campaigns and services – like managed social media, set-it-and-forget-it direct mail campaigns, and lead transfer programs – are great examples. These services make it easier for frontlines to execute locally customized, recurring marketing campaigns. But managing and administering these services can be a drain on corporate marketing resources.

This is why Vya recently introduced a new feature of our marketing resource management system called Campaign Automation and Subscription Services. This feature enables corporate marketing teams to easily enroll frontline users and manage their participation in automated, recurring marketing programs. 

With Campaign Automation and Subscription Services, Vya handles the hard part of managing and administering all the little details, like subscription enrollment, renewals, changes, and cancellations, payment and sales tax processing, and more. Vya can also provide end-to-end campaign and service execution – making it even easier on your corporate marketing team and your frontlines.

Since the launch of Campaign Automation and Subscription Services, I’ve had the opportunity to demo the new feature to our clients and prospects across the industries we serve. The response has been enthusiastic and meaningful. What has been striking during these discussions is all the creative and valuable applications we’ve been able to identify for this new feature. 

I’d like to share with you some of the most compelling ways this feature can help you make locally customized marketing programs easier for your corporate team to administer and easier for your frontlines to participate.

5 Applications for Campaign Automation and Subscription Services 

1.    Life-event-triggered direct mail

A great deal of consumer buying behavior is triggered by life events, such as having a new baby or buying a new home. And now you can more easily align your business with these events by enabling your frontlines to provide relevant, timely information to consumers, which can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates. 

Here’s how it works. By combining Vya Data services with our Campaign Automation and Subscription Services feature and direct mail services, corporate marketers can enable their field teams to subscribe to have mailings sent to consumers that are timed with life events. The mail campaigns pull lists of consumers that have recently experienced the event. These consumers are new to the list since it was last pulled, ensuring you only send mailings to those who will find the information relevant. The cadence of mailers can vary based on what is most appropriate for the situation. The situation will vary, depending on the life event (e.g., moving or just married) and the type of business that is serving the consumer.

Moving: Likely-to-move, pre-mover, new mover

For a “moving” life event, a bank could use Campaign Automation and Subscription Services to enable their mortgage loan officers to subscribe to regular mailers to consumers that are likely to move. Or a home services franchisor could enable franchisees to subscribe to regular mailers to consumers who have listed their homes for sale. Most industries will benefit from mailers sent to consumers that have just moved in – think insurance companies that can suggest a new policy for a new home, and other businesses that support and serve the newly moved, like nearby bank branches, restaurants, home services, personal services, and more.

Just married

Marriage leads to lots of changes in a couple’s daily life and is therefore an opportunity to provide a wide range of products and services. The need to reconfigure bank accounts, insurance policies, and even home service providers represents an opportunity for your frontlines to gain a new customer. Help your frontlines use relevant mailings to tap into the customer needs and business opportunities following this life event, when newlyweds may be looking to save, invest and spend as they begin to build their new life together.

2.    Milestone-triggered direct mail

Milestones, like a birthday or service renewal, provide a valuable opportunity for your frontlines to engage local customers. With Campaign Automation and Subscription Services, corporate marketers can enable frontline teams to subscribe to send direct mail birthday, anniversary and thank you cards, as well as renewal notices and appointment scheduling reminders. These campaigns, which help customers feel valued and appreciated, can be used by most industries, as part of a retention strategy or to generate incremental business.

3.    Cross-sell continuity direct mail

Another way to use Campaign Automation and Subscription Services is for cross-sell continuity direct mail. With this approach, your field teams can subscribe to send direct mail to customers that promotes products and services that complement their previous purchases. The feature makes it possible for frontlines to combine the power of customer data with direct mail services to increase revenue per customer and improve customer satisfaction. Examples include banks targeting existing customers for savings accounts, insurance companies targeting home policyholders for auto insurance, or a restaurant trying to entice customers to try new menu items.

4.    Seasonal offers direct mail

Many industries are seasonal. Even industries with year-round value propositions can align with seasonal contexts. This is why specific offers often vary by season. Knowing which products and services are seasonally relevant makes it possible to plan and schedule campaigns in advance. 

With Campaign Automation and Subscription Services corporate marketers can enable frontlines to sign up at the beginning of the year for mailers to reach consumers with the appropriate offer at the right time of year. For example, a home services franchise can enable franchisees to sign up for seasonal campaigns like lawn fertilizing in spring, pool maintenance in summer, or holiday housecleaning specials. Banks can give branches the chance to sign up for direct mail campaigns to promote savings accounts for seasonal goals, like summer vacations or holiday gift shopping. These set-it-and-forget-it direct mail campaigns give frontlines the ability to market strategically by planning ahead and scheduling marketing over a longer timeframe.  

5.    Managed digital marketing services

There’s a trend we’ve noticed in the franchise industry when it comes to trying to make it easier for frontlines to participate in marketing programs. A growing number of franchisors are offering managed digital marketing services to franchisees for an annual or monthly fee. These services include social media, digital advertising and SEO management, and they are delivered either by the franchisor’s in-house team or by a contracted third-party provider. 

Vya’s new feature is ideally suited to administer the subscriptions that enable frontlines to sign up and participate in these types of managed marketing programs. Vya handles the often-frustrating and complex work of administering the little details related to subscription-based marketing programs, including subscription enrollment, renewals, changes, and cancellations, payment and sales tax processing, and more. This frees up your corporate marketing team to manage the marketing aspect of these programs.

We see opportunities for other industries to benefit from this feature. Insurance companies for example, could use the feature to enable agents to subscribe to managed digital marketing services provided by corporate or a third party. Corporate could make local social media easier for agents by executing organic posts and social media ads. MLOs or wealth managers in banking and financial services could use a similar service, especially if local marketing budgets are used to purchase the services and track expenses. And corporate can be the hero without taking on the headaches associated with administration, like enrolling frontline participants, processing program payments, subscription changes, renewals and cancellations.

Closing

I hope these examples have provided some inspiration on how you might be able to make local-level marketing easier for your corporate marketing team and your frontline operations. I look forward to continuing to participate in discussions and uncover new ways to use this new Campaign Automation and Subscription Services feature. 

Are you in the franchise industry and attending FCXC in Atlanta? If marketing resource management is a “hot-button” topic for your marketing team, be sure to visit us at table #39. Come learn more about Vya’s new Campaign Automation and Subscription Services feature and exchange ideas for how it could be applied to your business.