2. Executive Summary
Marketing collateral is an important element of every business’s marketing strategy. It plays a key role in
brand building. Research suggests people form a perception about a person or product in less than a
minute. This is one reason organizations should finely tune every piece of marketing collateral and
carefully design each customer touch-point. Everything must immediately telegraph the desired
corporate image. This is the core concept behind “branding.” So…in consequence, marketing collateral
creation assumes a high level of importance. However, as companies expand into virtual markets and
focus increasingly on product customization, control of the marketing collateral process becomes a
challenge. This whitepaper discusses how you can effectively address this challenge by deploying AMP.
The Marketing Collateral Mess
Obviously, the creation of memorable marketing pieces requires solid content and creative ideas. However,
there is a practical side to address. The marketing team must also face issues such as resource availability,
branding consistency, tight monetary budgets, and even tighter timelines.
THE “BUSINESS-BEYOND-BOUNDARIES” CONCEPT - Businesses are no longer confined
by geographical boundaries. Thanks to technology, every market is now virtually
accessible. Businesses now have multiple branches within their country and abroad.
More importantly, their web presence takes them everywhere. They face the challenge
of managing their brand correctly across their multiple sites, while still trying to meet
demands for marketing collateral that is personalized for specific regions and market
niches
THE EXPLOSION OF CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINTS - Prospects and customers come in
contact with a business in various venues. These include social media sites such as
Facebook, information sharing portals such as SlideShare or YouTube, and the web in
general. Prospects gather information about the brand from peers online, 3rd party
reviews on the web, and blogs- just to name a few. Businesses have to keep up with the
various arenas of interaction and tailor their marketing collateral to suit the format of
these sites.
SALES vs. MARKETING - This challenge has existed for quite some time. Marketing
collateral is obviously designed by marketing, but it is implemented by the sales force.
In most organizations, there is lopsided resource availability, where the marketing team
is almost always short of people. Studies show that the ratio of sales to marketing
personnel is around 10:1. The marketing team is under constant pressure to deliver
high-impact marketing materials within a stringent timeline for a wide variety of end-
users.
These challenges can be met by using technology to create high-impact marketing collateral. This is where AMP
comes into the picture.
3. How AMP Can Help?
AMP simplifies the process of collateral creation by unifying all of the various facets of brand management onto
one platform. AMP can help in the following ways:
UPDATED RECORDS - AMP brings a high level of consistency to marketing collateral. AMP
recognizes branding patterns and ensures that all marketing collateral embodies the same look
and feel. AMP takes care of design architecture to ensure that all outgoing communication
adheres to a standard that instantly reminds the recipient of the business, reinforcing its brand.
For Example: a company’s headquarters is in Chicago and its sales force is spread across the
country. When the company changes its logo, this change must be replicated in all its marketing
materials generated in offices across the nation. With AMP, once the change is entered into the
system, the new logo is automatically transferred onto all relevant collateral. The sales team
would only have to download the latest copy from the system when they need it. This way,
marketing personnel do not have the laborious task of manually updating every single
presentation or flyer!
LENDS CONSISTENCY - There are various textual and visual elements that go into collateral
creation. These include the logo, color, font, and image standards. Once the standards are fed
into the system, AMP ensures all new collateral is automatically generated according to
required standards.
For example: A company has an advertisement campaign being launched on several fronts:
print, website, e-mail blast, and e-newsletter. While high-resolution images are needed for
print media, download issues require a lower resolution for email. AMP’s intelligent branding
support tools will automatically ensure that low-resolution images are used for the web
campaign while the print utilizes only high-resolution.
CENTRALIZED DATA STORAGE - AMP functions as the central storage for all visual and text
content that is used in the creation of all marketing materials. Once data is entered into the
AMP interface, everything is available for online access.
PERSONALIZATION - AMP allows for fast and easy personalization of marketing collateral. Using
the advanced features in AMP, business can move beyond the mundane acts of personalization
such as addressing prospects by name. AMP allows for parameters to define specific template
colors and font sizes for individually designated recipients. It can even replicate marketing
campaigns in varied languages.
Example – One segment of a company’s target market may include an older demographic. All
materials targeted toward that cohort could automatically use a larger font and more
streamlined visuals.
AMP simplifies the otherwise overwhelming task of marketing collateral creation. It saves time by automating
most of the collateral creation tasks. On an average, AMP can save a company $1800 per year by injecting
efficiency into the marketing collateral creation process. The marketing and sales staff does not have to adjust
the font or update information- in each marketing document- when there is a change. AMP is a one-time
marketing investment that saves precious marketing dollars in the long run. With AMP, users can beat
4. budgetary and time-related constraints that marketing professionals so often face. AMP ensures there is
conformity in all marketing communications—whether the business is reaching out to a prospect in Maryland or
California, or whether it is sending out an e-mail blast or an e-book. AMP will make sure all marketing
communication adheres to its corporate standards.
5. For the past 14 years, MindMatrix has been aligning sales and marketing
functions for over 20,000 sales and marketing professionals across 200
companies, from diverse verticals through its innovative sales and
marketing software and solutions.
Unique to the industry, MindMatrix offers Next Generation Marketing
Automation software on a single unified platform for Sales and Marketing.
Our solutions bring about a seamless integration of the 2 functions helping
our clients derive the maximum benefit from their investment in marketing
and sales automation.
Contact me today to know more about how MindMatrix solutions can help
you align your marketing and sales processes for improved results.