Multi-location brands have a plethora of technologies to choose from to help their distributed network of franchisees, dealers or salespeople run effective marketing campaigns in their local areas. Some of these tools assist with things like reputation management or updating online listings, while others let brands target messages through geolocation data.
While many of these technologies are essential aids, there is another category of local marketing automation platforms that deliver the marketing tools major brands need to be most effective in the marketing domain which is essential to their success: branded creative.
Local Marketing Automation Tools for Brand Compliance
For brands to remain effective at capitalizing on the brand equity they've built up through investments in creative and advertising, local campaigns have to be in lock-step creatively with their national counterparts. Local marketing automation platforms that focus on branding and creative can help brands realize the returns on those strategic investments at every level.
Here are the 8 types of local marketing automation features that are critical to ensuring that marketing campaigns at the local level are efficient, effective and always brand-compliant.
Digital Asset Management
At the core of every brand's marketing operations is a library of brand-owned images, graphics, documents and other rich-media assets which are just as crucial for executing local marketing programs as they are for national campaigns. Local marketing automation platforms that enable brands to distribute marketing assets quickly and efficiently to those that need them in the field generate much greater adoption by users and, hence, return on investment.
Digital asset management features for local marketing allow brands to feed assets to field marketers intelligently.
Content Management
Marketing content management features keep branded content accurate and consistent:
- Brand standard controls keep fonts and colors in marketing designs on-brand
- Automatic location information means local marketers don't have to waste time entering standard data
- Product content database distributes product information efficiently into every marketing media type
Print Advertising Templates
For local marketers under multi-location brands, traditional marketing tactics have a very important place – they extend the potential scale of messaging, lend credibility and, in many cases, are still the most effective way to attract customers. In order to supply franchisees and dealers with marketing materials that speak volumes for the brand, local marketing automation systems must offer excellent print templating options.
Print templates in local marketing automation systems make advertisements that would otherwise have cost thousands to make a breeze to create.
Digital Marketing Templates
As digital marketing becomes ever more important, delivering digital templates that are effective and flexible is key:
- Landing page design and publishing tools make publishing local content online easy
- Brand-controlled SEO configurations mean consistent performance across the entire brand
- Templates for animated banners put the power of next-level design in local marketers' hands
Email Marketing Templates
Connecting with customers through local email marketing is a high priority for brands, and even more so when each conversion means a local purchase:
- Point-and-click editing helps local marketers create emails they're proud of, quickly
- Global contact list oversight means brand marketers always know which customers local marketers are engaging
- Inbox testing tools help local marketers be sure the emails they send are spot-on
Reporting & Analytics
Knowing what local marketing tactics are working can be a huge competitive advantage for brands, and local marketing data and reports provide that insight. Giving field marketers access to locally-relevant data leads to more intelligent executions. At the same time, having an overall view of local marketing activity means brands can pinpoint under-performing regions and make adjustments.
Workflows & Approvals
Every brand has a unique relationship with its marketers in the field, which is why local marketing automation systems offer flexible workflow configurations that can fit a variety of business models.
System Integrations
With all of the marketing systems brands are using, being able to integrate them into local marketing workflows is essential. From DAM to CRM, brand marketers work with an alphabet soup of technologies to run campaigns. Connecting these to local marketing automation systems means field marketers can take advantage of the brand's work in other areas for local needs.
Download the full local marketing automation report to learn more about how local marketing automation features can help multi-location brands leverage their branded creative and content in the field.
