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What is Marketing Resource Management? Why are Marketers Investing in this Software?
Marketing organizations around the globe spend upwards of $239 billion on direct and Internet marketing each year. Yet most still manage these projects via a hodgepodge of spreadsheets, word documents, email, and a myriad of other disconnected applications.
Imagine managing and planning these efforts through a single, integrated marketing application! Enter marketing resource management or MRM as it is often called.
MRM has emerged to address marketers' requirements for better planning, budgeting, process management, and tracking of marketing initiatives – ultimately streamlining processes and freeing up marketers to spend more time on strategy and understanding customer needs.
By Unica
Details
(average from 2 users)
Thanks for your comments. I can certainly appreciate your desire for more, and you’ve noted some good areas for focus. This CMC feature focused on MRM, a type of software which is specifically aimed at the operational side of marketing (heavily used by Marcoms actually). However, MRM is part of a larger category of software often called Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM). EMM encompasses a broader vision and today offers many capabilities such as analytics to identify new opportunities within customer bases, which are critical to some of the strategic areas you noted. Marketing, as the last function within most companies to adopt technology for better managing its operations, needs to start somewhere. MRM provides a missing foundation for capturing and making more visible marketing plans, campaigns, and results. Without the foundation of a “system of record” for marketing, it can quite difficult for marketers to make fact-based decisions around the 4 Ps and to demonstrate their ROI and value to their organizations. While reducing time to market may seem rather mundane, it provides incredible value on two fronts: 1) creating more time to focus on the strategic by reducing time spent on tactics, and 2) making marketing organizations more agile and able to respond to competitors, changes in their markets and opportunities identified. Benefits abound from the strategic use of technology in marketing, including those you desire.
When you quote as a benefit a reduction in the approval process of some campaign as if this was amazing - I despair of MRM.Why doesn't it provide tools for the marketeer to identify new or emerging market opportunities?
Why doesn't it deal with the rest of the marketing mix - products, place,pricing etc.
I think there is a missed opportunity here to provide far more profound strategic support. Instead all we get is a bit of discipline around marcoms budgets and performance.
That doesn't excite me and it looks like Gartner doesn't have much vision in this area either.
encouraging answer
kindest regards
Jeremy