Marketing resource management software: An overview

All businesses face challenges, and as marketers we need to be prepared for any changes that come our way. And one of the ways we can do that is through marketing resource management.

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about challenges like inflation or war, the challenge we actually face as marketers has to do with resources. It could result in shortages of raw materials, workers or even finished goods. But in the end, it's all about resource management and allocation. But the question is, how do you organize and optimize your resources to deliver the best possible results over and over again?

What is marketing resource management?

MRM or marketing resource management. is the act of organizing, optimizing and automating resources and resource allocation in connection to projects, campaigns and promotions. 

Marketing resource management is often carried out through the use of marketing resource management software and helps optimize processes like strategic planning, budgeting, project management, production, tracking, reporting, compliance checks etc.

The primary component of most MRM software is a workflow tool that helps map and optimize workflows across departments by helping allocate employees' resources, time, and tasks to optimize the team's overall output.

Why you need a marketing resource management software

Today, automation and software solutions are essential to running your marketing department as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

The best marketing resource management software has features that helps optimize all steps in your workflow, covers all stakeholders in your value chain, and ensures your ability to get the most out of your marketing efforts.

MRM software could, for instance, increase your production speed by automating workflows and easing collaboration with freelancers, customers, and suppliers.

Since many MRM solutions are sold as a service, marketing resource management has become accessible to companies of all sizes.

How to choose the right MRM software

Considering that everything from time and workforce numbers to locations and tools can be considered a resource, the task of choosing the right marketing resource management software can appear massive.

And even before you start looking at solutions you need to consider whether you want a custom built solution that addresses every single need you have or something more simple with a lower price tag and fewer risks, that can be implemented faster.

But whether you go for something tailored or something simple we’ve got a couple of tips on what to ask yourself when you are looking to invest in a new mrm software.

What can you get out of the box?

When you’ve compiled a list of potential mrm solutions the first thing you need to consider is how far you can get with out-of-the-box features. In some cases you may be able to solve all the challenges you have that are related to marketing resource management from a standard solution. Often, though, you will be looking at additional costs if you want your mrm solution to include every single feature that is important to you.

How user-friendly are the different options?

The core of your marketing efforts is always going to be people. Even with the amount of AI that’s made its way into our daily work, people aren’t going anywhere, and they are the ones who will be using whatever marketing resource management software you choose.

Employees, suppliers, partners, freelancers—they will be using the software, and if your goal is to speed up their processes, you need them on board. Which is, naturally, much easier if the solution is user-friendly.

A couple of questions to ask yourself to quickly assess the user-friendliness of a solution are:

• Is it easy to navigate the solution?
• What does the interface look like?
• Can you adapt the interface/access to different users to accommodate disabilities, for instance?
• Is training material and instructions readily available online?

How easy is your solution to scale and adapt?

If there’s one thing you know for certain, it is that things are going to change. Whether it’s because of layoffs, business growth or technological advances, the way your teams work today will be different a year from now, two years from now, ten years from now. And you want your MRM solution to keep up with these changes. 

It is almost guaranteed that you will need to scale your marketing resource management solution up or down to match the number of customers, employees, freelancers, or suppliers. So you need to know how easy this is to do.

Similarly it’s a good idea to figure out which of your existing tools, software, and systems the MRM software integrates with—or can replace—as this could help you tip the scale in favor of one option over another.

How do you grant users access to the marketing resource management solution?

While it’s not necessarily the first thing you’ll think to ask yourself, you need to know how to grant access to your system. Depending on your business there’s a good chance you will need to give freelancers, partners, customers or agencies access—in addition to your own employees—and this is where you would need something like role-based access.

This essentially solves the problem of needing to provide access to external collaborators without giving them access to the entire system.

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