Select a Marketing Management Suite
A best-fit solution balances needs, cost, and capability.
Member Challenge
- Time, money, and effort are wasted on channels and campaigns that are not resonating with your customer base.
- Email marketing, social marketing, and/or lead management alone are often not enough to meet more sophisticated marketing needs.
- Many organizations struggle with taking a systematic approach to selection that pairs functional requirements with specific marketing workflows, and as a result they choose a marketing management suite (MMS) that is not well aligned to their needs, wasting resources and causing end-user frustration.
- For IT managers or marketing professionals, the task to incorporate MMS technology into the organization requires not only receiving the buy-in for the MMS investment but also determining the vendor and solution that best fit the organization’s particular marketing management needs.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- An MMS enables complex campaigns across many channels, product lines, customer segments, and marketing groups throughout the enterprise.
- Selecting an MMS has become increasingly difficult because the number of players in the marketplace has ballooned. Moreover, picking the wrong marketing solution has a direct impact on revenue.
- Determine whether the investment in an MMS is worthwhile or the funds are better allocated elsewhere. For organizations with a large audience or varied product offerings, an MMS enables complex campaigns across many channels, product lines, customer segments, and marketing groups throughout the enterprise.
Impact and Result
- Maximize your success and credibility with a proposal that emphasizes the areas relevant to your situation.
- Perform more effective customer targeting and campaign management. Having an MMS equips marketers with the tools they need to make informed decisions around campaign execution, resulting in better targeting, acquisition, and customer retention. This means more revenue.
- Maximize marketing impact with analytics-based decision making. Understanding users’/customers’ behaviors and preferences will allow you to run effective marketing initiatives.
Research & Tools
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out how to approach selecting an MMS, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
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Select a Marketing Management Suite – Executive Brief
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Select a Marketing Management Suite – Sample
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Select a Marketing Management Suite – Phases 1-3
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1. Launch the MMS project and collect requirements
Assess the organization’s fit for MMS technology and structure the MMS selection project.
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Select a Marketing Management Suite – Phase 1: Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements
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MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist
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2. Shortlist marketing management suites
Produce a vendor shortlist for your MMS.
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Select a Marketing Management Suite – Phase 2: Shortlist Marketing Management Suites
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3. Select vendor and communicate decision to stakeholders
Evaluate RFPs, conduct vendor demonstrations, and select an MMS.
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Select a Marketing Management Suite – Phase 3: Select Vendor and Communicate Decision to Stakeholders
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Marketing Management Suite Request for Proposal Template
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MMS Vendor Demo Script
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MMS Requirements Picklist Tool
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MMS Selection Executive Presentation Template
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Onsite Workshop: Select a Marketing Management Suite
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Do-It-Yourself Implementation
The slides in this Best Practice Blueprint will walk you step-by-step through every phase of your project with supporting tools and templates ready for you to use.
Project Accelerator Workshop
You can also use this Best Practice Blueprint to facilitate your own project accelerator workshop within your organization using the workshop slides and facilitation instructions provided in the Appendix.
Module 1: Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements
The Purpose
Determine a “right-size” approach to marketing enablement applications.
Key Benefits Achieved
Confirmation of the goals, objectives, and direction of the organization is marketing application strategy.
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| 1.1 Assess the value and identify the organization’s fit for MMS technology. |
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| 1.2 Understand the art of the possible. |
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| 1.3 Understand CXM strategy and identify your fit for MMS technology. |
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| 1.4 Build procurement team and project customer experience management (CXM) strategy. |
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| 1.5 Identify your MMS requirements. |
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Module 2: Shortlist Marketing Management Suites
The Purpose
Enumerate relevant marketing management suites and point solutions.
Key Benefits Achieved
List of marketing enablement applications based on requirements articulated in the preliminary requirements list strategy.
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| 2.1 Identify relevant use cases. |
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| 2.2 Discuss the vendor landscape. |
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Module 3: Select Vendor and Communicate Decision to Stakeholders
The Purpose
Develop a rationale for selecting a specific MMS vendor.
Key Benefits Achieved
- MMS Vendor decision.
- A template to communicate the decision to executives.
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| 3.1 Create a procurement strategy. |
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| 3.2 Discuss the executive presentation. |
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| 3.3 Plan the procurement process. |
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Testimonials
Ben pointed me in the right direction, extremely helpful given my marketing and sales knowledge is limited.
Ben is extremely knowledgeable and communicates in ways both IT and business can consume. Financial impact is hard to quantify just yet.