We’ve talked about the benefits of using a MRM tool such as Admation but it’s equally important to understand the risks of not using one. Here’s a deeper look at the risks and their impact marketing projects as well as marketing or creative teams when marketing resource management software is not utilised.
Marketing Resource Management (MRM) is a comprehensive approach to managing and optimising marketing resources, including people, processes, and technology. It involves the use of software and tools to streamline marketing operations, improve resource allocation, and enhance collaboration among marketing teams. MRM software solutions provide a centralised platform for managing marketing resources, including digital assets, projects, budgets, and workflows. By implementing MRM, marketing teams can improve their ability to manage marketing resources effectively, reduce costs, and increase productivity.
Without an MRM software solution, project management and scheduling is a nightmare. Using spreadsheets or manual methods means you don’t have a clear view of who’s working on what at any given time. This means:
Inefficiency: Time spent on manual scheduling could be used on strategic planning or creative work.
Confusion: Without a centralised system, overlapping schedules and miscommunication become the norm, resulting in missed deadlines and project delays.
Burnout: The constant juggling and re-juggling of schedules can cause stress and burnout among team members, impacting their overall productivity and morale.
When a team member is suddenly unavailable, reassigning tasks without effective workflow management and resource management software is a logistical nightmare:
Delayed Projects: If tasks can’t be reassigned quickly, project timelines suffer, resulting in delayed launches and missed market opportunities.
Increased Workload: Other team members may get overwhelmed with extra tasks, resulting in lower quality work and errors.
Less Flexibility: Without a streamlined reassignment process, the team can’t adapt quickly to changes, impacting their ability to respond to market demands.
Manual resource management of marketing assets leads to errors like resource duplication where multiple people are assigned to the same task:
Wasted Resources: Duplicate work results in wasted time and resources as multiple people do the same work.
Inconsistent Output: Different team members working on the same task can result in inconsistent output, affecting quality and brand consistency.
Frustration: Team members may feel frustrated and undervalued if their work is duplicated or ignored.
Email approvals are prone to miscommunication and conflicting feedback, resulting in delays:
Misinterpretations: Without a centralised feedback system, reviewers can misinterpret comments, resulting in incorrect revisions and wasted time.
Delayed Approvals: Conflicting feedback requires additional rounds of revisions, delaying the final approval and project completion.
Inefficiency: The back-and-forth of email approvals eats up valuable time that could be used for productive work.
Poor briefing means projects get off on the wrong foot:
Misaligned Expectations: Without clear briefs and effective marketing resource management solutions, team members may not fully understand the project scope, resulting in misaligned expectations and deliverables.
Wasted Effort: Vague or incomplete briefs cause confusion, resulting in wasted effort on the wrong or irrelevant tasks.
Increased Revisions: Projects may need multiple revisions to meet the actual requirements, resulting in inefficiencies and delayed timelines.
Marketing managers play a crucial role in resource management to prevent teams from becoming too reliant on freelancers to meet deadlines:
Higher Costs: Freelancers can be more expensive than in-house staff, blowing the budget.
Inconsistent Quality: Freelancers may not be familiar with the brand guidelines and expectations, resulting in inconsistent output.
Less Team Cohesion: Overreliance on external resources can break the team’s cohesion and morale, impacting overall productivity.
Without marketing resource management software, tracking asset performance and project outcomes is hard:
No ROI Measurement: Can’t track performance, can’t show ROI, can’t get budget approval and strategic planning.
Missed Improvement Opportunities: Without data on past project performance, can’t identify areas for improvement, can’t improve.
Inefficient Resource Allocation: No performance tracking means resources are not allocated efficiently, resources are not being used optimally by the team.
Compliance Risks: Without an audit trail, can’t ensure marketing guidelines and regulations are being followed, exposes the organisation to legal risks.
No Accountability: Without documented records of who did what and when, can’t hold team members accountable for their work, leads to conflicts and inefficiencies.
More Errors: No audit trails means errors go unnoticed, affects quality and integrity of the output.
Without a digital asset management system, time is wasted searching for assets:
Less Productivity: Time spent searching for assets could be used for creative and strategic work.
Inconsistent Branding: Without easy access to the latest assets, team members may use outdated or incorrect assets, affecting brand consistency.
Frustration: The constant search for assets can cause frustration and low morale among team members.
One of the common challenges faced by marketing teams is the inability to scale marketing operations. As marketing campaigns become more complex and the volume of marketing activities increases, it can be difficult to manage resources effectively. MRM software solutions can help marketing teams scale their operations by providing centralised project management tools for managing marketing projects, marketing resources, automating workflows, and improving collaboration among marketing managers and team members. With MRM, marketing teams can easily manage multiple marketing projects, allocate resources effectively, and track performance metrics in real-time.
Poor brand consistency and compliance can have a negative impact on a company’s reputation and bottom line. MRM software solutions can help marketing teams maintain brand consistency and compliance by providing a centralised platform for managing digital assets, brand guidelines, and marketing materials. With MRM, marketing teams can ensure that all marketing materials are consistent with the company’s brand identity and comply with regulatory requirements. Additionally, MRM software solutions can provide audit trails and version control, making it easier to track changes and ensure compliance.
The risks of not using an MRM tool are huge and far reaching. They impact not only the marketing and creative teams but the overall output of marketing assets and marketing projects. Admation’s MRM tool mitigates these risks by providing a centralised, efficient and transparent way to manage marketing resources. Get Admation - marketing project management and marketing resource management tool and avoid these pitfalls, streamline your processes and focus on creating marketing campaigns that deliver results. If you’re still stuck in manual processes and inefficiencies and still utilising spreadsheets it’s time to experience the power of Admation’s MRM.