Marketing Supply Chain, part 5
Launching Your Marketing Supply Chain
“This should be an exciting experience, so share it.”
– Eric Stern, CEO of Almaden
Launching your MSC.
Ready – Set – Go!
With risk comes reward. As you make a change, it can feel like a great risk. But the reward is oh-so sweet. Once you have finished all the prep work to build your marketing supply chain, now you get to participate in the launch of your MSP. Your MSP partner should be along with you, assisting and guiding the extensive work to qualify suppliers, creating your custom portal, ordering materials, and then, testing the process. When that day arrives and you can say, “Go!” – you have created the long-needed accessibility to your key marketing materials to those who need it.
Time to Celebrate!
This newly-created process will increase not only the effectiveness of your teams – but also, a new sense of enthusiasm! From day 1, custom sites can launch with as few as four or five users or with hundreds of users.
Now, it’s time to share your vision and introduce your marketing supply chain. Internal marketing and process advocacy are great ways to excite marketing, event management teams, as well as employee onboarding and employee engagement & retention teams.
Progress and Change
Create Documentation of the business rules and ordering process to share and then, celebrate the benefits of using a marketing supply chain to assist users, and also excite them. This is an event of progress and change – it is an exciting time, filled with possibilities and opportunities.
Ways to Celebrate
- Share the Vision: remind marketing, event, and HR teams of the purpose behind your marketing supply chain, how it solves a problem or bottleneck and then, improves the process and experience. Then, embrace the vision – this generates enthusiasm for the change.
- Explore the Process: share a deep dive of all the available features and who they are available to. Identify how this improved process helps the organization to stand out and how it adds value. Utilizing the new process from Day 1 increases its strength – more reasons to celebrate this launch.
- Creativity and Brainstorming: explore innovative ways to use your supply chain to its fullest ability. Generate buzz, connect with sales targets, and engage with employees or partners. The marketing supply chain allows teams to get back to what they love about marketing: creativity.
- Visualize Success: what does it look like? Easier process with identified team members with access to the MSC, plus showcase changes and/or updates as they happen. What comes next will be happy recipients of the work process your marketing supply chain streamlines.
- Spread the Enthusiasm: share this invigorated and streamlined process with teams, colleagues, and stakeholders. Create a positive internal buzz by highlighting the MSC’s potential.
- Plan a Launch Event: plan a luncheon or host a virtual event to celebrate the unveiling of this new process, creating a sense of fun and anticipation!
- Interact with Users: this can be done through communication tech, group texting, or email threads to continue the excitement. Send out teasers of new marketing materials and now-available swag, further developing your internal MSC community.
- Ask for Feedback: the great thing about a marketing supply chain is that it is flexible and changeable. Listen to the feedback given to alter and improve the process. Keep refining.
And then, Continue Celebrating
Throughout this journey, celebrate milestones and achievements associated with your marketing supply chain – like, new clients/customers, new or promoted employees, as well a better partner relationships. Recognize the hard work, dedication, and collaboration that went into setting up the MSC. Celebrations foster a sense of belonging and accomplishment. Everyone loves to be recognized for their contributions.
Excitement is contagious, and when you genuinely believe in your marketing supply chain and its potential, others will catch that enthusiasm. Embrace the positive energy and channel your excitement into impactful and creative marketing activities that lead to even more brand awareness and success.
This is Part 5 of a 5-part series, Do You Need a Marketing Supply Chain?
Part 1 Marketing Objectives: Revenue and Growth
Part 2 The Three Elements of a Marketing Supply Chain
Part 3 The Value of a Good Marketing Supply Chain Partner
Part 4 Simplified Process
Part 5 Launching Your Marketing Supply Chain
Full article, “What is a Marketing Supply Chain and Do You Need One?” by Eric Stern in Integrate Magazine
About ALMADEN
Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, Almaden is the leader in providing Marketing Supply Chain Services to corporate marketing, sales, HR, recruiting, and event teams. Comprehensive branding capabilities include offset and digital printing; promotional products; large format printing and wall graphics; direct marketing analytics and mailing services; and technology-enabled distribution, kitting and fulfillment.
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For additional information, please contact ALMADEN at info@almadenglobal.com
