A revolution is beginning in the world of print. For decades, direct mail campaigns have been a major player within the realms of advertising. Anyone with a residential address could always expect some form of direct mail any given day they checked their mailbox. In today’s fiercely competitive business environment, however, customers are king. Personalization and relevance is a must, and with generic direct mail campaigns, messages become lost in the clutter of complex media channels. This is where the revolution begins: Marketing Asset Management.
What is Marketing Asset Management, or MAM? It’s a suite of technologies, production capabilities, and fulfillment services that streamlines and automates the marketing materials supply-and-distribution chain. One-size-fits-all marketing is out, and personalized messages are in. By combining powerful online document customization tools with the ability to produce custom materials in quantities as small as a single item, MAM makes relevant marketing possible all while reducing both loss of time and materials.
All too often is the supply and distribution chain a cumbersome ordeal. What should be deemed a cut and dry project can be long drawn out by unnecessary steps in the fulfillment process. Communication can be slow, and inefficiencies scar the project. But marketing asset management tools step in and streamline the process used to receive, manage, and fulfill requests for marketing materials from outside salespeople and sales channel partners. These tools also make it quick and easy to update marketing materials, ensuring that all channel partners are on the same page.
Marketing Asset Management, while being slowly adopted by major corporations, has yet to break in to the mainstream marketing world. Sometimes a legacy system is hard to topple, with followers of the system unwilling to change their ways. But slowly are more and more eyes opening to the possibility of a world where the chain of direct mail, from ordering through fulfillment, will become a smooth, seamless process.
