How Do Marketing Automation and MRM Interact?
March 20, 2014 | By Jay Famico
A minority of b-to-b organizations have both a marketing automation platform (MAP) and a marketing resource management (MRM) solution, however we're often asked how these platforms work together. Here are four key points of integration between these platforms:
A minority of b-to-b marketing organizations that use a marketing automation platform (MAP) also have a marketing resource management (MRM) solution (according to a 2011 SiriusDecisions survey). We’re often asked by these organizations, and by organizations that have one of these platforms and are considering the other, how the two work together. Here are four key points of integration between these platforms:
Budgeting. Organizations often want to measure the costs associated with individual MAPs and related initiatives. In most MAPs, this is addressed by one field called “cost” that does not provide details about types of costs and is frequently inaccurate, since budgeting is done outside the platform. The MRM is often used to manage the budgets and costs associated with each marketing automation program tactic, since MRMs can distribute budget across multiple campaigns, programs, activities and quarters, can reallocate unused funds and can tie back into company financial systems.
- Project management. Most MAPs don’t have strong workflow management capabilities in the areas of redlining, approvals and resource allocation. If the entire marketing organization were to leverage MRM for its daily operating procedures, it would be best served by having marketing automation program requests and the tasking of work packages assigned to individual resources managed within the MRM.
- Asset management. The primary way MAPs interact with MRMs is in relation to the asset repository. We recommend that all assets (e.g. white papers, analyst reports, images) be managed within the MRM, not in the MAP. The MAP can then leverage these assets in the production of marketing automation programs and tactics (e.g. emails, forms).
- Planning. The dashboarding of marketing automation work requests and budgeting activities should be executed through the MRM. Both applications should be used for email touch governance – use the MRM to display what is planned and the MAP to display what occurred.
Note: Several vendors (e.g. IBM, Adobe, Teradata) have solutions that offer both marketing automation and MRM capabilities/modules.