So, what is MRM? According to Wikipedia, “Marketing resource management (MRM) provides the software infrastructure to support marketing operations management. Marketing operations management is the alignment of people, process and technology to support marketing activities and improve marketing effectiveness.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that paints a very clear picture. I tend to describe marketing resource management by its main benefit:

It helps simplify your marketing workflow.

Marketing resource management can help you:

• Allocate, approve and review local marketing budgets – including co-op and market development funds (MDF);
• Make it easy for local sales teams to get customized, branded materials in front of local audiences;
• Ensure brand consistency;
• Keep local sales teams compliant;
• And help overcome other critical marketing operational challenges.

MRM really can help you, and your department, streamline local marketing efforts so you can work more efficiently and effectively. Here’s how we approach MRM to make sure it delivers exactly what you need – and not empty promises.

1)      Marketing resource management is about meeting YOUR needs.

Bells and whistles are great, if that’s what you need. The best marketing resource management systems help solve your marketing challenges without the added layers of complexity or complication. This is why our critical, first step is to clearly understand what problems your marketing team is facing or what you need to accomplish – whether it’s getting leads to agents in the field, making sure local campaigns meet compliance regulations like RESPA 8, efficiently managing and approving local marketing budgets like co-op or MDF, or another problem specific to YOUR company and YOUR department.

From there, we can make the right recommendations on the services and functionality you need to get things running smoothly.

2)      Training and constant communication is key to adoption and usage.

It’s a simple fact: software has to live outside the box in order for it to work. It must deliver as promised, and employees need to use it so you can meet your goals and overcome your marketing challenges. That’s why regular training and constant communication is a key part of our approach to marketing resource management. We’re not going to build software and set you loose. We’re here to support, manage, train, and answer questions while you use the software – not just the first ninety days or year, but for the entire length of your contract.

We stay in constant contact with the teams we support – from weekly to monthly or quarterly webinars, on-site workshops, in-person meetings, weekly phone calls and much more. We are dedicated to making sure our technology delivers as promised, and do our job so you can do yours.

3)      Use it for all it’s worth.

With the right software set-up, training and support in place, all that’s left is to use it. Again, how you use it depends on what you need. Here’s one example of how it works when your local sales teams wants custom marketing materials:

• The marketing team requests a new template to promote a specific product or service;
• We work with marketing to develop and load the template into the system. Once all parties approve it, it’s made available to local sales channels;
• Local sales contact logs onto MRM system, selects the template they want to use and upload their key information – including name, phone number, email, market and other important information;
• Local sales contact can specify how many materials they need and when they’re needed;
• The template is electronically routed to marketing, and legal if needed, for review and approval;
• Marketing and legal can approve or request changes;
• Once the final file is approved, it’s made available for the local sales contact to download or is sent to printing, and is shipped directly to the contact that ordered it – by the date needed.

This is just one way a marketing resource management system can help solve marketing operational challenges. What’s your biggest marketing hurdle? Let us know, and we can find a way to help.

** Download Gleanster’s Marketing Resource Management Benchmark Report for more information on marketing resource management.