Logistics, in its simplest form, involves getting materials to market in pristine, undamaged condition in a timely manner. Amazon's latest attempt to do this involves drones that can get products into customers' hands in less than one day (they are trying to work out the logistics of doing this, including air space restrictions and cost, etc.).
In brand logistics, marketers need to get marketing assets into the hands of local franchisees and dealers without any damage occurring along the way. Damage to the brand message will reverberate through the rest of the brand and throw everything off, eventually impacting the brand's bottom line as customers react negatively to the inconsistency.
The Logistics Problems of Brand Deployment
A military deployment analogy can help to explain the problems of brand deployment, albeit in a limited way, of course (customers are not the enemy, and local marketers who make mistakes in delivering the brand message are not typically traitorous in their intentions. Analogies are always limited by definition, as opposed to allegories, in which each aspect and character must fit perfectly into the story.)
An effective military deployment strategy seeks to ensure that all the right assets are in the right place at the right time. Often, the success of the initiative depends on the logistics of deployment. Too few assets and success becomes far more difficult. The wrong assets are useless to the strategy in play and do no good. Assets that arrive too early to be used effectively or too late to be of any use at all end up being a waste of resources.
Getting the logistics right will help your brand be more agile in its marketing.
The parallels to brand marketing are obvious and don't need belaboring. Where they end is with local marketers, who are not mindless drones nor soldiers obeying orders, but business people with creative minds and a great deal at risk if deployment doesn't go as it should. When local marketers take matters into their own hands and deploy their own marketing assets, they do so because they must market their franchises or dealerships if they don't want to go down in defeat, another failed business.
Related: Deploying Your Brand's Fonts Without Needing a Law Degree
Deploying Brand Assets Effectively With CampaignDrive by Pica9
Brands can clearly see the vital nature of deploying appropriate brand assets to local marketers at the right time and in an easy-to-use format. CampaignDrive does this effectively in the following ways:
- Makes every aspect of design and content controllable by the brand, so the brand can decide what local marketers can edit, and how.
- Allows brands to structure their workflows according to the natural structure of their local marketing network. This means less sifting and sorting through irrelevant or inappropriate materials and more executions that are well-targeted and well-executed.
- Provides feedback and reporting mechanisms that allow brands to improve delivery, reduce turn times, and make local marketers more and more agile over time.
CampaignDrive by Pica9 helps brands solve the logistics problems of brand deployment. Request a demo to watch brand asset deployment in action.
