Managing your national AND local marketing campaigns: child's play!

The distribution sector (trade in products and services) is undergoing profound change. Your company/network is growing, you are increasing the number of points of sale and you have to deal with different contacts and their varied demands. Your marketing strategy needs to adapt and change the way it works.

How can you analyse these changes and continue to manage your national campaigns while allowing your local teams to get involved and make suggestions?

There are distributed marketing solutions that allow you to effectively manage your local and national marketing campaigns.

See all software Marketing

What is distributed marketing?

It's important to define the concept of distributed marketing before going on to explain and present the tools.

Distributed marketing is a system for managing and distributing marketing actions between a national entity (e.g. a company headquarters) and local entities (e.g. sales outlets, agencies, establishments, etc.).

Distributed marketing can be summed up as "Think global, act local".

Based on this definition, we can ask ourselves the following questions: how can national and local strategies be brought together? What tools should be used? How should the teams and users proceed?

The aim is to define a strategy for managing your marketing campaigns: allocating the roles, areas of intervention and prerogatives of the players so as to have a clear framework in which everyone feels involved and knows what they have to do.

National marketing: the system strategist

This is generally embodied by the head of the network or the company's head office.

Also known as centralised marketing, the role of national marketing in the implementation of distributed marketing is only half-truthfully revealed. It takes on the role of manager for subsidiaries, franchises and sales outlets, and carries out the following tasks:

Task 1: Strategy and project management

Head Office is in charge of the whole process, from defining the strategy (roles and involvement of stakeholders), to implementing it and ensuring compliance. It ensures that the marketing strategy is always in line with general management or company policy.

As a manager, central marketing is responsible for defining the specifications and selecting the tool to be used.

Task 2: data collection, analysis and segmentation (DATA)

Head office centralises all data. It can then study and segment the data collected with a view to improving customer knowledge and personalising direct marketing campaigns: "The right message for the right person".

Mission no. 3: player and referent

In a distributed marketing system, it is common for central marketing to retain control of high added value actions/campaigns. It is also responsible for involving and training the local teams, and this is a key factor in success.

Task 4: Harmony and control

The multiplication of contacts increases the number of messages. The head office is therefore responsible for monitoring and ensuring that the messages are consistent: compliance with the graphic charter, brand image, advertising pressure and customer communication habits. They can also arbitrate in the event of disputes.

Task 5: Analysis of results and budget monitoring

Less operational than the local players, central marketing is responsible for analysing campaign results: performance, ROI, KPIs, etc. It can then propose corrective actions and share best practices to improve the effectiveness of campaigns while carefully monitoring the budget.

National marketing also makes it possible to achieve economies of scale, since a single team handles the creation and distribution of campaigns, taking charge of design and production costs. Using a single multi-channel tool to manage the entire direct marketing strategy is an advantage appreciated by marketers, enabling them to save time and improve efficiency.

💡 Examples:

• Head office validates and shares a marketing operations calendar, allowing local entities to adhere to and complete it

• The network head creates marketing operations for the local entities, which can use them, duplicate them and/or customise them according to their specific needs.

Local marketing: the differentiator

It is embodied by the points of sale, the banners, the shops, etc. These are the real stakeholders in the system, and must be integrated as partners.

While central marketing is free to determine the level of involvement and autonomy it wishes to give to local players, the successful deployment of distributed marketing is often a question of integration.

The advantages of local marketing are numerous:

Advantage no. 1: territorial coverage

Customers are local, and their priority is to find local information: shop opening times and addresses, opinions on products or services, social networks of independent shops, etc. To ensure total coverage, but also targeted coverage, local marketing can complement or relay local messages (relaying your national operations).

Advantage no. 2: proximity

Sales outlets are places where customers interact with each other. They are more attached to their shops and the people who work there than to a brand. Local contact is something that today's consumers are looking for, and remains an advantage in the face of online sales.

Example of an SMS: "Come and try on our new collection in your Lyon shop, which will be open this Sunday from 9am to 5pm".

Advantage no. 3: personalisation

Interaction is more engaging when it is personalised and individualised. It reinforces the feeling of belonging and makes customers feel valued.

Example of an answering machine message: "Hello, this is Mr DUPONT, the manager of your Fashion shop in Lyon, I would like to invite you...".

Benefit no. 4: responsiveness

In a context where consumers are looking for connectivity and immediacy, it is very important to enable local players to react quickly to a specific situation.

For example: "30% off in your Lyon Fashion shop today from 5pm to 7pm, come and take advantage!

Local teams can therefore play a role in proposing appropriate and relevant campaigns, since they are in direct contact with consumers. They can be a driving force in stimulating sales and are familiar with the specific characteristics of their catchment area, boosting the effectiveness of campaigns.

💡 Examples:

• The outlet uses an "instant promo" marketing campaign provided by head office to promote a product arrival in its geographical area
• The outlet supplements a national campaign with a local campaign tailored to a geographical event in its catchment area

See all software Marketing

Things to remember

Deploying distributed marketing is an inescapable challenge for companies (networks, franchises, concessions, etc.) seeking to continuously improve customer relations (and the customer experience).

Defining a specific strategy and an appropriate methodology is an essential first step in implementing this project. Selecting a single, functional tool will then enable you to test and validate how it works. Finally, training and practice will enable you to achieve success with your distributed marketing.

Spot-Hit and its online mailing platform will support you in your distributed marketing project. You can configure your system in the blink of an eye and according to your wishes, thanks to its ease of use and adaptability. The tool at the heart of your system will meet your day-to-day needs and those of your customers:

It's up to you, but don't lose sight of the goal: to manage your national AND local marketing campaigns with ease!

Sponsored article. The expert contributors are authors who are independent of the appvizer editorial team. Their comments and positions are their own.