What is Distributed Marketing?
Distributed marketing is a capability used by corporate organizations with a centralized marketing function and a local marketing function (distributed). These distributed (local level) marketing functions can be their own self-contained business units, organizations, branches, partners, franchisees, or agents. Both centralized and localized functions have marketing responsibilities. Distributed marketing is what allows both corporate and distributed functions to work together.
What is a Distributed Marketing Content Platform?
A centralized marketing organization has brand guidelines, processes, and resources to create and produce content. Distributed teams, not so much. No one knows their marketing content needs better local sales and marketing teams. For centralized marketing to maintain their control over the corporate brand and content while leveraging local marketing opportunities, they need a distributed marketing content platform.
A distributed marketing content platform enables corporate marketing to maintain control over their brand. Centralized marketing creates print, digital marketing materials, including advertising, emails, flyers, direct mail, signage, etc., for distributed teams to use. With a distributed marketing content platform, these assets can be saved, shared, co-branded, customized, and localized. Once the content has been made available in a distributed marketing content platform, the local level (franchisees, partners, distributors, branches, etc.) can version those marketing assets and make them their own.
Real-world use case of Distributed Marketing Content in action
A veterinary health insurance company provides treatment plans to almost 3,000 independent vet practices and practice groups across the country.
The requirement was to provide dynamic marketing collateral that vets could use with their own practice branding and local contact information to promote a range of standardized insurance plans.So the insurance company's design agency created informational and promotional artwork, including posters, leaflets, and social media postings. The veterinarians are then prompted to localize this material with their colors and logos – even selecting animal photography that was the most appropriate for their customer base.
A key factor was to ensure that this production work has minimum admin overhead for the busy, professional environment of the vets' offices, and so database-driven dynamic artwork is used to automate the content and delivery of pre-agreed, accurate information into the finished creative output.
Content is refreshed regularly for seasonal campaigns such as vaccinations and ticks & fleas control, and the system alerts vets when new material is available for re-purposing.
With distributed content marketing, centralized marketing can provide marketing campaigns that are on-brand, professional, compliant, and localized for all of its independent practices.Each practice can then place their branding and colors, then push into the appropriate marketing channel.
Who can use Distribute Content Marketing?
A distributed marketing platform makes sense to any organization with a centralized marketing organization and local business units that need localized marketing materials.
- Franchisees
- Bank Branches
- Sales Teams with field marketers
- Multi-Level Marketers
- Store Chains
- Restaurant Chains
- Healthcare Groups with multiple practices
- Insurance Companies with distributed agents and partners
Think of your distributed network as not only a sales channel but also a marketing function
Providing on-brand and on-message marketing content to the local level can make a big difference to your business's bottomline. Customers use companies they know, especially locally. To maximize your business's reach and take advantage of your distributed network, ask us how a distributed marketing content platform can help your organization.