Research Publication Date: 14 March 2008 ID Number: G00155835 The Five Competencies of MRM 'Re-' Defined Kimberly Collins This research details the five key competencies of marketing resource management (MRM), including the key capabilities of and expected benefits from each competency area. Clients can use this research to understand the capabilities of MRM, and learn how they can derive value from implementing MRM solutions. Key Findings There's still confusion in the market regarding what exactly MRM is and how it's different from campaign management and enterprise marketing management (EMM). Gartner associates five key competencies with MRM: strategic planning and financial management, creative production management, knowledge management, marketing fulfillment and marketing performance management. Each competency area automates different processes, requires different technical capabilities and delivers different benefits. Recommendations Understand the five MRM competency areas and the associated benefits that can be derived from each. Determine the technical capabilities required to automate each competency area. Select areas of MRM investment based on the marketing processes your company wants to automate to achieve specific business benefits. Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although Gartner's research may discuss legal issues related to the information technology business, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW MRM is a set of five integrated competency areas that support strategic planning and financial management, creative production management, knowledge management, marketing fulfillment and marketing performance management. Each MRM competency area has critical capabilities for automation that provide associated benefits. With maturation among users and vendors in the market, these five competency areas are being redefined. Clients should understand the five MRM competency areas and prioritize investments based on the critical marketing processes and expected benefits from automating each of those areas. ANALYSIS Gartner pioneered the concept of MRM, first defining it and then producing the first MRM Magic Quadrant in 2001 (see "Marketing Resource Management: Key Components" and "First Magic Quadrant for MRM Vendors"). The MRM market has evolved greatly during the past seven years, maturing in each competency area and integrating across the five defined MRM competencies. Vendors have come and gone in the market and new vendors continue to emerge. As consolidation continues, MRM solutions begin to mature, adding depth of capabilities and integration across a broader set of competencies. Despite broad market recognition and adoption of the MRM acronym and term, there's still confusion regarding exactly how MRM is defined, what processes it automates, what technical capabilities it requires and what benefits are associated with MRM solutions. The confusion exists partly because of new terms, such as EMM, and partly because of long-standing terms, such as campaign management, and how these terms are different from MRM. In this research, we'll clarify the definition of MRM, its critical capabilities and associated benefits and use this opportunity to "re-" define MRM as its five competencies mature in the market. MRM is a set of processes and capabilities aimed at enhancing a company's capability to orchestrate and optimize the use of internal and external marketing resources. MRM has five key competency areas: Strategic Planning and Financial Management This competency enables the marketing organization to strategically plan, set goals and objectives, ensure that marketing objectives are aligned with corporate objectives, plan and approve marketing programs, budget for marketing initiatives, manage human and financial resources, and manage vendors (such as creative and interactive agencies, and print shops) used by the marketing organization. Global marketing calendar Objective setting Program and campaign planning Budgeting Reviews of and approvals for planned programs and budgets Publication Date: 14 March 2008/ID Number: G00155835 Page 2 of 7
Comparison of expected vs. committed vs. actual costs/spending (program, campaign and category) Vendor requests for information/rfps (agencies and print shops) Vendor procurement and payment Competitive intelligence Market research Alignment of marketing programs with the marketing strategy, and with corporate goals and objectives Visibility into marketing programs and associated spending Ability to strategically manage resources across marketing programs Ability to manage resources (people and budgets) Ability to track and manage costs Real-time financial decision making Ability to reallocate funds and resources to higher-performing campaigns and channels, or to support new initiatives Reduced duplicate payment processing Spending limited to a select set of authorized vendors to manage vendor costs The following three competencies compose an end-to-end process, from creative idea to fulfillment in the field; however, the fragmented roles and vendors that enable them often support subprocesses in three domains (such as production management, digital asset and content management, and marketing fulfillment), and are considered to be three separate competencies. Creative Production Management This competency enables the marketing organization to automate processes (including working with agencies) associated with creative production cycles for marketing programs, campaigns and product launches. Team setting for creative projects Project management (tasks, timelines and workflows) Activity and task-oriented calendars Automated calendar adjustments with shifts in deadlines Notification and escalation of passed deadlines Reallocation of work based on missed deadlines or time off Publication Date: 14 March 2008/ID Number: G00155835 Page 3 of 7
Business rules and workflow for creative reviews and approvals Ability to support compliance reviews and approvals Integration with agencies for sharing work and supporting review process Decreased production cycle times for programs, campaigns and product launches Improved resource allocation Increased productivity of marketing staff Improved reconciliation of contradictory comments during reviews Reduced time to market Increased "time in market" Improved auditability of projects and tasks Improved compliance (brand, legal and regulatory) Knowledge Management At a basic level, this competency provides a central marketing repository for marketing assets, content and collateral. In the future, this competency will be expanded into a knowledge repository of "what works and what doesn't" in terms of marketing programs and assets, and into a repository of available skills and intellectual knowledge to match personnel competencies with program assignments. Digital asset management Content/literature management Search and version control Brand usage guidelines Localization and customization templates Knowledge repository to share knowledge of project teams, program success and asset/content use Skills repository to provide information on each marketing associate's competencies, skills, past projects and areas of work Collaboration (such as chat, wikis and blogs) Increased reuse of assets/content/collateral Reduced agency fees associated with rework of assets and content Publication Date: 14 March 2008/ID Number: G00155835 Page 4 of 7
Improved brand control and brand management Increased knowledge sharing in marketing across products/brands and geographical regions Decreased rework of programs and campaigns, particularly those that aren't as effective Increased ability to find and source the right resources for different marketing roles, projects and activities Marketing Fulfillment This competency gives the field (such as field marketing, and sales and distribution partners) immediate access to required marketing content and collateral for local marketing, sales calls and meetings. It supports global brand management, while providing the ability to localize and personalize content and collateral. 24/7 access to marketing assets, content and collateral Print-on-demand capabilities for marketing content and collateral Download marketing content and collateral from portal Online procurement of marketing content and collateral Guidelines to use brand and marketing assets Templates for localization and customization of marketing content and collateral Reduced paper waste Decreased shipping costs Decreased physical storage costs Improved accuracy of marketing materials used in the field Increased availability of content and collateral required for sales calls and field marketing Ability for local support and personalization, while maintaining global brand standards Increased effectiveness and revenue conversion in the field Marketing Performance Management At a basic level, this competency gives metrics and information regarding the other four MRM competencies based on marketing role. At more-advanced levels, it supports decision making by enabling business users to perform their own data mining to determine root-cause analysis and make performance improvements. At the most-advanced levels, it supports simulation that enables scenario planning based on potentially different market conditions. Optimization is the most-advanced form of MRM analysis. Media mix optimization helps media planners and buyers make better media decisions. Marketing mix optimization helps the marketing organization Publication Date: 14 March 2008/ID Number: G00155835 Page 5 of 7
determine the best mix of marketing programs and campaigns, and how best to allocate resources (human and financial) among the mix. Reporting on the other four MRM competencies (such as financial analysis, resource analysis, campaign analysis, cycle time analysis and content use) Competitive analysis Market analysis Dashboards with key performance indicators based on marketing roles Point-and-click data mining Simulation of "what if" analysis for scenario planning Media mix optimization to support media planning and buying Resource optimization of all marketing programs and campaigns Improved strategic and tactical planning Data-based "decisioning" on marketing programs and campaigns Ability to track costs and revenue associated with marketing programs, campaigns and activities Ability to reallocate funds and resources to higher-performing campaigns and channels Agility toward changing market conditions and competitive threats Increased media success and return on investment (ROI) on media spending Increased marketing program/campaign success Improved marketing performance and ROI The first and fifth competencies support the marketing organization's process of closed-loop strategic planning for programs, campaigns, human resources and budgets. RECOMMENDED READING "Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management, 1Q08" "Use Marketing Resource Management During Economic Uncertainty to Cut Costs and Manage Resources" "Determine Your Approach to Marketing Resource Management" "Develop a Phased Approach to Marketing Resource Management" "Marketing Resource Management: Key Components" "First Magic Quadrant for MRM Vendors" Publication Date: 14 March 2008/ID Number: G00155835 Page 6 of 7
This research is part of a set of related research pieces. See "CMOs Can Transform Marketing Into Profit Centers" for an overview. REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS Corporate Headquarters 56 Top Gallant Road Stamford, CT 06902-7700 U.S.A. +1 203 964 0096 European Headquarters Tamesis The Glanty Egham Surrey, TW20 9AW UNITED KINGDOM +44 1784 431611 Asia/Pacific Headquarters Gartner Australasia Pty. Ltd. Level 9, 141 Walker Street North Sydney New South Wales 2060 AUSTRALIA +61 2 9459 4600 Japan Headquarters Gartner Japan Ltd. Aobadai Hills, 6F 7-7, Aobadai, 4-chome Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0042 JAPAN +81 3 3481 3670 Latin America Headquarters Gartner do Brazil Av. das Nações Unidas, 12551 9 andar World Trade Center 04578-903 São Paulo SP BRAZIL +55 11 3443 1509 Publication Date: 14 March 2008/ID Number: G00155835 Page 7 of 7