This document discusses frontline marketing, which refers to marketing done by local franchises and outlets of big brands. It provides advice on optimizing frontline marketing to better connect national and local campaigns. This includes developing targeted, localized approaches; empowering local outlets as marketing experts; and establishing efficient systems for local content creation. Frontline marketing is important for customer retention and growth. The document also profiles an expert who discusses challenges in balancing corporate and local messaging and the need for easy-to-use marketing tools for local teams.
3. FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE THREE
OVERVIEW / 3
FRONTLINE FOCUS:
INTERVIEW WITH
STEPHEN TUCKER
DEALER FOCUS:
OPTIMISING THE
ONLINE MARKET
INNOVATIONS IN
FRONTLINE MARKETING:
RETAIL MOBILE
MARKETING
FRONTLINE FOCUS:
INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN TUCKER
VICE PRESIDENT OF SAEPIO
PAGE 10
5. With most big brands there’s still a real
disconnect between national and local
marketing. The former looks for ways to
establish brand equity, whereas the latter
is far more concerned with hitting targets
– and getting the bonuses.
We use ‘Frontline’ to describe your
franchise network or sales outlets
– inevitably parts of your business with
their own unique set of challenges.
They’re also areas that, more often than
not, are focused on ways to increase sales
and customer retention.
IS FRONTLINE
MARKETING?
FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE THREE
WHAT IS FRONTLINE MARKETING? / 5
WHAT
6. EXPERT ADVICE:
Words of wisdom
This issue’s expert is Anitha Ilangovan, who
heads up Acuity’s local marketing team.
As we step into a world of advancing
technology, increased audience
segmentation and varying definitions of
consumer trends and markets; brands
in turn need to reflect these changes in
their marketing approach.
Many campaigns will begin with a key
insight, which is then broadcast into
large-scale advertising productions from
TV to billboards in the hope of maximising
revenue. However the problem lies in
the relevance of this one key message,
which will most likely be seen by millions
of disinterested punters as well as the
few that you are targeting. At Acuity we
can address this disconnect between
national and local marketing, and ensure
your brand is reaching ALL of your target
audience. The question is how?
IMPORTANCE OF
THE FRONTLINE
APPROACH
7. “Frontline Marketing
approach is
fantastic value”
With audiences varying geographically,
socially and economically, it’s
important to develop an approach that
is targeted and localised, one which
creates its own unique synergy with
each consumer. By adopting the Acuity
Frontline approach, we empower
your network to become your local
marketing experts; allowing brands to
develop closer and more meaningful
relationships with their consumer
as they begin to explore the different
demographics of a target audience, and
the subtle nuances between them.
Creating bespoke ads that are tailored
to each individual might be viewed
as overkill or simply not feasible
financially. But, there are cost-
effective solutions that will provide
effective localisation across a wide-
ranging campaign, including for
example, regional newspapers, digital,
community radio, etc.
This is our area
of expertise! The
operations team at Acuity
has developed various online
marketing toolkit systems built
specifically for businesses which have
a number of outlets needing to localise
global marketing materials.
To stay ahead of the competition,
brands need to get serious about
campaign localisation and constantly
reassess the way they approach
prospects as the channels continue
to evolve and change. And, most
importantly, this Frontline Marketing
approach is fantastic value compared
with the scattergun alternative.
FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE THREE
EXPERT ADVICE / 7
8. 3
FRANCHISE FOCUS:
THE KEY 3 STEPS
One of the most exciting aspects
of business ownership is positive
growth. How does that normally take
place? Good timing? A well-developed
product? Or pure luck? It could be all
these things; however the one thing
that truly sets a company apart from its
competitors is the consistency, quality
and efficiency of its marketing.
Franchise marketing focuses on one of
the most important business relationships,
the one between franchisees and their
own customers. These business owners
work on the ‘Frontline’ for their business
and the brand.
THE
KEY STEPS
9. FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE THREE
FRANCHISE FOCUS / 9
They deal with customers on a regular
basis and in most cases have the
best understanding of what they want
and need. Acuity also works using a
‘Frontline’ approach by understanding the
unique challenges a franchise network
faces and creating the solutions that help
further growth opportunities.
3 KEY STEPS HELP
BRING THIS TO LIFE
Quality is imperative
The theory that high production costs
equate to a high quality campaign is
rarely true. But no matter how broad
(or compact) a campaign plan looks,
it is essential that quality is never
compromised, something that is
easily achieved using our systems that
aggregate and amortise costs across
multiple users.
Consistency is key
When a franchisee purchases a
franchise, they are buying into the brand.
Maintaining and strengthening that brand
identity is fundamental to success and
will help accelerate business growth.
If a brand’s message is not consistent
amongst franchisees, things become
confusing. But balancing consistency
with franchisee independence is always a
tricky job. Acuity is equipped with ideas,
tools and systems to overcome these
obstacles and provide a smooth transition
to success.
Efficiency is crucial
As the market becomes more saturated,
franchises need an effective strategy
to stand out from the crowd. Ensuring
the same, high quality marketing output
from one location to the next is one of the
critical roles a franchisor has to tackle.
So, it’s important to establish a cost-
effective solution that can be replicated
efficiently, targeting the core audience
locally and reducing significant wastage.
This way, the message stays clear and all
parties are happy.
10. What are some of the unique challenges
big brands face in localising their
marketing strategy and how do you
help them overcome them?
Big brands want their target audience to
have a single brand experience whether
the communication is coming from the
brand or a local marketer. Accomplishing
this requires strong coordination and
communications. With so many local
marketers involved, the brand marketer
needs a platform that creates the corporate
and local connection.
What is it that national brands typically
ask you for? What are they expecting? How
do you manage that?
National brands want an easy-to-use
marketing resource for their local
marketers. They want consistent brand
messaging in all markets at all times and
they want quality campaigns that perform.
Often, their “local marketers” aren’t
marketers at all but restaurant managers,
HVAC shop owners, parts store managers
or some other front line manager or leader.
Saepio designs its user interface for these
individuals so they can create very robust
marketing campaigns that are fully brand
compliant in very little time and with very
little expertise required.
What do you feel are the biggest struggles
for new local outlets who are trying to
build their client base whilst still trying to
maintain their brand identity?
The biggest struggle is staying focused on
the long-term business drivers after the
initial launch campaign has concluded.
New local outlets often feel like they must
keep investing in awareness advertising to
leverage the strength, value and goodwill
of the corporate brand. However, how your
early customers experience the brand’s
promise through exceptional service and
communications is far more important at
this stage. These experiences will drive
word-of-mouth marketing and establish
the new outlet as the “face” or preferred
access point for the brand in the local
market. In order to focus on providing the
exceptional service and communications
at this early stage, it is critical that any
advertising materials be extremely easy
and quick to create.
How can local outlets of big businesses use
social media platforms to enhance their
local search visibility (directly or indirectly)?
We’re a big fan of a “strategic social”
approach for large brands. Social
engagement on behalf of the local outlet
FRONTLINE FOCUS:
INTERVIEW - SAEPIO
Saepio Technologies, from Kansas City, has been delivering industry-leading
technology for over 13 years while serving more than 150 brands. Saepio’s singular
focus is on creating technology and services that allow companies to deliver
distributed marketing campaigns that are easy, engaging, and effective. As Acuity
is the exclusive European reseller of Saepio technologies, we decided to speak to
Stephen Tucker, Vice President at Saepio to find out his thoughts on the Frontline
approach and the challenges big brands face today.
WITH STEPHEN TUCKER, VICE PRESIDENT – SAEPIO
11. FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE THREE
FRONTLINE FOCUS / 11
can be powerful but can usually be
completed just as effectively by an astute,
disciplined corporate team without the
risk of a misstep by a well-intentioned
local marketer that does a lot of harm
across multiple markets.
Strategic social – the inclusion of social
posts, blogs and published news releases
as part of a broader campaign – can occur
in a much more controlled manner via a
local marketing management platform
and still effectively drive business traffic
and support local search marketing.
In the Marketing & Advertising world,
there’s always a lot of talk about KPIs
– are there any KPIs that are uniquely
local that encourage growth of
national brands?
There are some interesting KPI potentials
around local involvement in marketing
content selection. It takes some discipline
to monitor the impact of blending corporate
insight and local intuition but
the findings can really help motivate the
right level and type of local involvement.
What local brand campaign has
inspired you recently?
Audi’s introduction of the A3 in North
America has been nothing short of
spectacular, but then what would you
expect from Audi? What people didn’t
see was the just-as-impressive manner
in which Audi used a dealer marketing
online storefront and a dynamic content
creation platform to automate content
creation for the local market versions
of the multi-channel campaign.
How have you worked with Acuity to
address the disconnect between local
and national marketing?
Acuity can apply best-practice knowledge
to local marketing in a way very few others
can. They truly understand how important
a solid technical foundation is to blending
corporate and local marketers into a single
brand marketing team. We work with
them on that front. But they also know,
as do we, from dozens and dozens of
program implementations that technology
alone won’t lead to corporate and local
bliss. It’s process + technology + people
that come together to make brand value
explode at the local level.
Looking a couple years down the
road, what developments do you
think are most likely to influence
the way people find information about
local outlets/franchises?
Word of mouth and search. We’ll have
different ways to optimize it, different ways
to promote it, and maybe different names
for it. But word of mouth and search will
help us find what we’re looking for.
Once we’ve connected, the convergence
of big data, real time decision engines
and real-time dynamic content assembly
technology will keep us coming back
and spending more.
Is there a local marketing tool you feel
that national brands are overlooking?
Or is there anything that they do or
use that makes you want to say, “STOP!
Don’t do that anymore.”
It’s painful to watch brands that are stuck
in traditional localization processes. The
days of one production artist, one machine
and one output should be WAY behind
us, but they’re not. We have one client
that REALLY gets this. Through a really
intelligent application of marketing asset
management philosophy, they have slightly
more than 50 core templates that enable
more than 7 million ad permutations.
But most aren’t like them. Rethinking how
content gets done seems too big a mental
mountain for them and in those cases,
yes, I want to scream STOP! There’s a
much better way.
For more information about Sapeio,
call Anitha now on 01923 244 241
or email anitha@weareacuity.com.
13. FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE THREE
DEALER FOCUS / 13
As customer and product loyalty
progressively declines across various
sectors, it’s key for automotive dealers
to continue to fine-tune their online
marketing strategy. The refinement
of internet search and the ease of
accessibility to local content make it
simple for car dealers to connect with
customers in their local area.
The early days of online automotive
shopping led to dealers jumping on the
internet bandwagon to expand their
market share. Many of those dealers were
from rural areas without the resources
to compete and often found themselves
‘lost’ in broadcast commercial
messaging. Many of these early adopters
have become internet megastores due
to the expertise they have acquired in
capturing long-distance customers.
Recent studies have shown that although
customers will visit an average of six
dealerships in the purchasing process,
they will visit only one of each brand.
Today’s dealers need to position their
business to be the ‘one’ they visit.
A few key frontline initiatives allow this
to be done efficiently:
• Ensure dealership website is optimised
to capitalise on local business.
• Ensure website is optimised for local
keyword searches (e.g. use your
loacation in your offer).
• Provide easily accessible content that
satisfies consumer needs.
• Allow consumers to interact with
dealership staff easily online.
Ultimately, the ‘deal’ will be
instrumental in the final decision, but
the dealership’s website is a vital step
on the journey, so make the experience
relevant, localised and reassuring.
14. INNOVATIONS IN FRONTLINE MARKETING:
MOBILE MARKETING
The retail sector has seen a huge
shift to mobile marketing due to
the continuing trend of consumers
being constantly connected to their
smartphones and tablets.
Retail brands have begun to capitalise
on sthis trend as mobile technology
creates a more fluid path to purchase.
However, product inventory can be
a major hindrance.
For example, suppose you are looking
to buy a specific sports shoe and would
like the latest version in a certain
colour... there may be a number of
retailers carrying it, but do they have
the exact model, colour, size, fit and
style preferred?
The usual ways to find out is to either
phone up stores or go check in their local
branch. But what if the consumer could
immediately be directed to the right
store? Or get that information after
they express interest in the product by
clicking the ad in their mobile device?
Through the combination of product
inventory data and location-based mobile
ads allowing consumers to engage not
only with clicks, but also with physical
movement along the path to purchase,
the shopper, the brand and the local
retailer will all be satisfied.
New technologies and mobile marketing
platforms help integrate with retailer
inventory systems, allowing product
marketers to advertise products based
on real-time availability. Consumer
brands can now develop and implement
a truly hyper-localised marketing
strategy to increase product awareness
and drive sales significantly. Creating
access to the real-time availability of
products and brands across stores can
help make this possible, encompassing
everything from clothing to electronics
to health products and beverages.
The result is a win for brands,
retailers and consumers:
• Brands benefit from increased local
awareness of their existing and new
products combined with product
availability data that motivates
consumers to engage and become
regular customers.
• Retailers get more local traffic
in-store and increase sales.
• Consumers quickly and easily
find exactly what they want at a
convenient location where they
can buy their product.
Call Anitha now to find out more
on 01923 244 241 or email
anitha@weareacuity.com
RETAIL MOBILE
MARKETING
A SHOPPER’S PARADISE?