Marketing Resource Management How-To Guide

How-‐To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Marketing Resource Management

By David Raab, CEO at Raab Associates
December 2013

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Marketing Resource Management (MRM) systems control the
administrative processes that support customer-facing marketing
programs. This distinguishes MRM from marketing execution systems
that store customer databases and deliver marketing messages through
email, Web ads, and other channels. MRM may be sold independently
or as a component of comprehensive marketing management systems
which also provides execution.
MRM functions fall into two primary clusters. The first involves
functions related to company-level marketing management, including
program planning, scheduling, budgeting, and cost reporting. The
other cluster relates to program management, including task lists,
purchasing media and materials, and content creation, approvals,
storage, and distribution. Some MRM systems specialize in a few of
these functions. Others specialize in additional functions such as
customizing content for local offices or dealers or in marketing
reporting and analysis. Systems may also be tailored to specific
industries or companies of a certain size.
Companies buy MRM systems when their marketing programs become
too complicated to run in a less systematic fashion. This, along with the
exclusively by large marketing organizations with hundreds of
marketers in multiple offices. More recently, the growth of digital
marketing has meant that even small marketing organizations need to
manage many different programs and content versions across multiple

How-‐To Guide
channels, and to introduce new versions more quickly. This expanded
complexity has rarely been accompanied by a corresponding expansion
of staff, adding to the pressure for more efficient operations. At the
same time, costs have decreased as MRM capabilities were added to
integrated marketing suites and as stand-alone MRM products became
available as vendor-hosted services (Software as a Service, or SaaS). The
result has been increased use of MRM systems among companies of all
sizes.

MRM COMPONENTS
Here is a closer look at the main features found in MRM systems.
Program Planning and Scheduling Users are able to set up a
list of marketing programs or campaigns, often building a multi-
level hierarchy such as multiple campaigns within a program and
multiple events within a campaign. Programs are often assigned
to categories based on purpose (acquisition, retention, cross-sell,
etc.), brand, product line, region, and other attributes. These
categories used for reporting roll-ups and to limit access to the
people responsible for a particular type of program. Programs or
their components typically have other attributes such as start and
end dates, budgets for cost and response, and owners. Most
MRM systems let users define these attributes and their labels,
making it easier to adapt the system to their particular
organization. Nearly all systems can produce a marketing
calendar showing programs and their dates, often with options to
display the calendar in different formats and to filter which
programs are included.
Budgets and Actual Costs Budgeting options can range from
a single value per program to detailed estimates by cost category
and time period. Some systems can calculate program cost based
on user-entered quantities and cost per unit. This approach may
extend to standard assumptions, such as postage cost per piece,
that are applied to all programs automatically. Beyond cost
budgets, the system may allow users to enter other estimated
values such as number of messages sent (direct mail pieces,
emails, telephone calls, ad impressions, etc.) and responses
received. Actual costs and other values may be entered manually
by the user or posted automatically from accounting and
customer management systems. Some systems let users enter
over-all budgets for program categories, which can then be
compared with budgets for specific programs to see how much of
the total budget has been spent or allocated.

How-‐To Guide
Task Management Some systems provide project management
features to track the development of individual programs. These
can be anything from simple checklists to templates that
automatically create a project schedule based on the start date
and number of work days between tasks. An advanced system
could include dependencies of one task on others, standard cost
and labor hours, automatic task assignments to roles or
individuals, notification of new tasks to the assigned person or
department head, posting of actual labor time and task status,
workload analysis, notification of completed tasks, approval
tracking, and alerts for tasks that are overdue. The system
might be linked to corporate human resources and security
systems to automatically update roles and responsibilities.
Purchasing The MRM system may manage the purchasing of
marketing materials and advertising. Some can maintain lists of
approved vendors, issue requests for quotes based on standard
specifications, create purchase orders, release payments, manage
physical inventory, traffic advertising materials, and manage
response codes or telephone numbers. The purchasing module
may integrate with marketing budgets elsewhere in the MRM
system, with accounting systems, with specialized media buying
software, or with open advertising systems such as Google
AdWords.
Content Creation and Customization Some MRM systems
provide tools to create materials such as emails or Web pages.
Nearly all, recognizing that many agencies and designers already
have tools they prefer to use, can import materials created
externally. Regardless of how the materials are created, MRM
systems typically provide workflows to track comments and
approvals, manage revisions, and store old versions. In addition,
many offer ways to enhance content by inserting information
about the recipient, such as customer name, or about the sender,
such as salesperson or dealer contact details. Some systems also
create templates with sections that can be modified by end-users
while still maintaining brand consistency in the over-all
presentation. Specialized systems may use templates to create
different versions of the same materials, such as different size
advertisements or email and Web pages with the same content.
Content Storage and Distribution Nearly all MRM systems
maintain a library of content that is approved and available for

How-‐To Guide
use. Most provide security features that limit which users can
access or change which items. These user rights may reflect
management levels or division of labor among functional groups.
They can also give product managers or geographic regions
control over their own materials. Contents are often tagged with
additional attributes such as owner, program, start and expiration
dates, product, offer, descriptions, and audience constraints based
on language, product compatibility, or regulatory rules. Systems
vary considerably in the types of contents they can manage,
ranging from static documents to dynamic print templates, video,
audio, and mobile apps. Some apply a formal taxonomy to further
classify documents and simplify access. On a more practical level,
systems vary considerably in how easily users can find documents
based on title, contents, author, format, and other characteristics.
Reporting and Analytics Because MRM systems capture plans
and cost information, they sometimes provide a platform for
reporting on marketing results. This reporting may extend to
marketing performance but only if the system can import
response information from the customer database or accounting
systems. Typical MRM reports would cover planned vs. actual
expenses, show costs over time, and possibly calculate return on
investment. The systems also provide operational reporting on
functions they manage, such as project tasks, purchasing
activities, and content creation and utilization. MRM analytics
would rarely extend to detailed analysis of program results,
customer profiling, segmentation, or predictive modeling.

ACTION PLAN
The goal of MRM is to control the internal business processes of a
marketing department. This means that any MRM deployment must
focus on process change first and technology second. It also means that
MRM is only adopted by organizations whose leaders recognize the
need for process change and, in most cases, are willing to make the
investments needed to ensure success.
Because MRM is about process management, your action plan can draw
on the extensive body of techniques developed to improve
manufacturing and other production processes. Your organization may
processes. If not, there are many external resources including services
staff at the MRM vendors.

How-‐To Guide
In general, the stages in process improvement are: understanding the
process; identifying sources of problems; and making changes to
eliminate the problems. Problem areas are identified by setting
standards for the cost and outputs of each step in the process and
comparing the standards with actual costs and outputs. Managers then
research the causes of major variances and make changes to reduce
them. The long-term goal is to continuously improve performance by
removing problems and finding improved approaches that allow you to
raise the standards.
Where MRM projects diverge from generic process improvement is that
most MRM projects are triggered by a specific problem the organization
needs to solve, such as better control over budgets or easier access to
content. This makes MRM more focused than an approach that looks at
the entire process and addresses the most costly problems first. The
action plan combines standard process improvement methods with the
unique requirements of MRM. Follow these steps to implement your
MRM plan:
1. Define goals. Most MRM projects start with an identified
problem. But because so many marketing processes are
interrelated, addressing this one problem can easily lead to a
project that touches nearly every marketing operation. The
challenge at this stage is to define a specific set of goals that can
be achieved without disrupting the entire marketing department.
Your definition should include metrics that can be translated into
business value such as reduced expense, higher staff productivity,
or faster project delivery. These will show whether you have
achieved your goals.
2. Document existing processes.
project goals, the next step is to analyze the existing processes
related to those goals. This assumes these processes exist: if
things are really out of control, the relevant tasks may be
performed without a consistent process at all. Even in this case,
conditions. Once you identify (or for the first time define) the
process
helps you to understand the implications of any future changes.
3. Set priorities. Even a constrained set of goals may include more
prioritize the project components based on a combination of
factors including the value of each improvement, the number of

How-‐To Guide
people and processes affected, and dependencies among changes.
later knit them together. But this may not be possible in practice:
even small changes often impact large numbers of people across
multiple groups. This would mean that even your first change
has a major impact.
4. Define future processes.
the first processes you want to change and to define how the
improved processes will work. This will require specifying the
steps in the process, and then the inputs, tasks, and outputs of
define the criteria that determine when each step has been
completed successfully, such as checklists to evaluate when a
piece of content has been properly approved. Test the new
processes by running through them manually to be sure they
make sense and are truly complete. Assign measures to each
correctly and whether costs are in line with expectations.
5. Find software.
look for software that fits your desired process flows and captures
consider revising your process designs to fit what the software
supports; after all, the software was probably based on successful
processes at earlier users. Beyond support for your desired
processes, consider ease of learning, ease of use, compatibility
with organizational and planning structures, control over which
users perform which tasks, numbers of users and languages
supported, and integration with other systems. Be sure to look
beyond your initial changes to ensure the system is compatible
with your long-term needs for additional functions. Of course,
standard software purchasing considerations including price,
support, technology, and vendor stability will also play into your
decision.
6. Execute, modify, and improve. Plan your actual deployment
carefully, making sure to allow enough time and budget for
good idea to start with pilot projects that ensure the system
works correctly before you switch everything over from your
previous processes. Provide ample support to ensure that new
users understand the changes and are using the system correctly.
Measure performance at each stage of the process and make

How-‐To Guide
adjustments as you uncover unexpected problems and
opportunities. Use the metrics you defined up front to measure
cost, time, and quality across the entire process to document the
value of your improvements. Once the initial changes are in place
and running smoothly, move on to additional changes in the
planned sequence.

BOTTOM LINE
The complexi -channel, highly segmented marketing
programs means that nearly every company needs a systematic approach
to managing its marketing processes. Marketing resource management
supports this approach, whether it is delivered in a stand-alone MRM
system or embedded in a larger marketing management suite. But
marketers must realize that MRM technology is only as good as
the processes it manages, and ensure they devote enough effort to
defining the processes they want and training the staff to
implement those processes correctly.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH ANALYST
With an MBA from Harvard, David is an expert in both B2B
& B2C marketing strategy & technology. He has advised The
Gap, JC Penney, Lowe's, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Williams-
Sonoma, Scholastic, Unisys, Sprint and Verizon Wireless.
He also publishes the Raab Guide to Demand Generation
Systems and the Marketing Performance Measurement Tool-
Kit.

Marketing Resource Management How-To Guide

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