VANTAGE POINT: Using Marketing Technology as a Competitive Advantage
By Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, chief marketing officer and vice president, Kodak
As Kodak's Chief Marketing Officer, people often ask me what it takes to achieve marketing success in the digital age. Two things are critical: speed and relevance.
Kodak is a new company, what I call Kodak 2.0. Eleven digital product lines provide two-thirds of our revenue; more than half of those products didn't exist five years ago. Digital means we must be fast and innovative. We have to get products to market quicker than our competitors and ensure those solutions make a difference in the lives and businesses of our customers. For example, our teams brought one of our newest consumer products -- the KODAK Zi6 Pocket Video Camera -- to market in just four months.
People receive up to 5,000 marketing messages per day -- from traditional print and broadcast media, the Internet, cell phones, BLACKBERRY Devices and more. As a result, marketers must continually find new ways of breaking through the clutter. That often means multimedia campaigns driven by one-to-one communications, such as personalized print materials and personal websites, or PURLs.
Automating for Speed, Relevance and Competitive Advantage
The demand for highly relevant communications, produced quickly, is a key factor behind a new discipline designed to make the marketing process more efficient and productive: marketing automation. The trends driving the need for marketing automation technology include the rise of "customer-centric" marketing, the rapid pace of innovation in product development, and the demand for continuous improvement in process efficiency. At the same time, greater scrutiny of marketing budgets, and the need for transparency and accountability, have spurred the integration of financial tools into Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) systems and other marketing automation platforms. Marketers, in short, must constantly enhance speed, relevance and effectiveness of their programs while reducing costs, gaining a competitive advantage, and quantifying results.
According to Marketsphere Consulting, marketers have suffered at the executive table due to a lack of credible data on financial return on marketing investment (ROMI). An Enterprise Marketing Management System with financial management tools can provide the necessary information to quantify ROMI. What CMO isn't interested in that?
Making it Work
As CMO, I want to optimize marketing spend, eliminate redundant processes, and leverage our speed as a competitive advantage. Last year, we began implementing an Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) and Brand Content Management (BCM) system. EMM software from Aprimo provides the financial planning, campaign management, and marketing workflow backbone. Those functions will fully integrate with BCM tools such as KODAK DESIGN2LAUNCH Solutions to maximize one-to-one targeted messaging and improve campaign response rates.
Combining EMM and BCM solutions gives us the ability to achieve true process excellence by effectively managing the marketing planning process, as well as the full content creation and execution phase. Through this technology we have the ability to:
> Manage multi-channel campaigns from campaign planning (management, workflow, and project management) through segmentation design and execution
As Kodak's Chief Marketing Officer, people often ask me what it takes to achieve marketing success in the digital age. Two things are critical: speed and relevance.
Kodak is a new company, what I call Kodak 2.0. Eleven digital product lines provide two-thirds of our revenue; more than half of those products didn't exist five years ago. Digital means we must be fast and innovative. We have to get products to market quicker than our competitors and ensure those solutions make a difference in the lives and businesses of our customers. For example, our teams brought one of our newest consumer products -- the KODAK Zi6 Pocket Video Camera -- to market in just four months.
People receive up to 5,000 marketing messages per day -- from traditional print and broadcast media, the Internet, cell phones, BLACKBERRY Devices and more. As a result, marketers must continually find new ways of breaking through the clutter. That often means multimedia campaigns driven by one-to-one communications, such as personalized print materials and personal websites, or PURLs.
Automating for Speed, Relevance and Competitive Advantage
The demand for highly relevant communications, produced quickly, is a key factor behind a new discipline designed to make the marketing process more efficient and productive: marketing automation. The trends driving the need for marketing automation technology include the rise of "customer-centric" marketing, the rapid pace of innovation in product development, and the demand for continuous improvement in process efficiency. At the same time, greater scrutiny of marketing budgets, and the need for transparency and accountability, have spurred the integration of financial tools into Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) systems and other marketing automation platforms. Marketers, in short, must constantly enhance speed, relevance and effectiveness of their programs while reducing costs, gaining a competitive advantage, and quantifying results.
According to Marketsphere Consulting, marketers have suffered at the executive table due to a lack of credible data on financial return on marketing investment (ROMI). An Enterprise Marketing Management System with financial management tools can provide the necessary information to quantify ROMI. What CMO isn't interested in that?
Making it Work
As CMO, I want to optimize marketing spend, eliminate redundant processes, and leverage our speed as a competitive advantage. Last year, we began implementing an Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) and Brand Content Management (BCM) system. EMM software from Aprimo provides the financial planning, campaign management, and marketing workflow backbone. Those functions will fully integrate with BCM tools such as KODAK DESIGN2LAUNCH Solutions to maximize one-to-one targeted messaging and improve campaign response rates.
Combining EMM and BCM solutions gives us the ability to achieve true process excellence by effectively managing the marketing planning process, as well as the full content creation and execution phase. Through this technology we have the ability to:
> Manage multi-channel campaigns from campaign planning (management, workflow, and project management) through segmentation design and execution
> Track marketing budgets, manage spend and calculate return on investment by campaign
> Manage all aspects of marketing by viewing a full dashboard of organizational marketing activities to ensure they are in alignment with key business objectives
> Efficiently track and manage creative projects with up-to-the-minute status information
> Retain metadata and rights usage management
> Improve productivity with an online streaming review and approval process
> Simplify data exchange via comprehensive file sharing
> Secure files with control over multiple authorization levels
In just a few months, we have simplified and streamlined the production of marketing materials. Assets used in their creation are stored for fast and easy online access, at any time. We also are increasing our time-to-market speed and have the ability to adjust messages and send more targeted, relevant messages as we get feedback from customers. For example, we will implement a direct mail and e-mail campaign system that includes templates for creating personalized pieces and links to a lead management program. These can be adjusted and customized quickly and efficiently.
Organizations that have adopted marketing automation report improved performance in productivity and revenue growth. In today's competitive consumer environment, marketing automation can make a real difference in maximizing efficiency and effectiveness, and achieving results.
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Jeffrey Hayzlett serves as the chief marketing officer and vice president, Eastman Kodak Company, reporting to Kodak Chairman and CEO Antonio M. Perez. As CMO, Hayzlett is responsible for the company's worldwide marketing operations including the design and implementation of all marketing strategies, investments, policies, and processes. He leads the company's efforts for Strategy and Planning, Marketing Programs, Marketing Network Operations, Brand Development and Management, Business Development, and Corporate Sponsorships. He is also responsible for the company's Corporate Communications, Public Relations and Public Affairs organizations. Kodak's Board of Directors elected him a corporate vice president in October 2007. For more information go to http://graphics.kodak.com/US/en/Product/Enterprise_Marketing/default.htm.