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Marketing Software Smackdown: Product Suite vs. Individual Solutions

© Copyright 2014 Bridgeline Digital Inc. | Bridgeline.com | 1-800-603-9936

Bridgeline Digital Whitepaper © 2014 -10 Reasons iAPPS Commerce Should Be On Your Commerce Shortlist Connect with Us: 1

INTRODUCTION

Marketers are continuously asked to accomplish what feels

like an insurmountable, almost unattainable, goal: Do more

with less. There is nothing tautological about this task; you

don’t do more with less, you do less with less.

So, marketers look outward to fill holes causing inward

inefficiencies – mostly in the form of business software.

Perhaps, that’s where we’ll begin. Before going any further,

here’s a brief overview of common enterprise-grade solutions

necessary to help marketers, of all kinds, fight the good fight:

Marketing software can be the ace up a digital strategist’s

sleeve. More specifically, the most innovative software

will empower non-technical users to meet organizational

objectives; in effect, allowing marketers to be marketers again,

all while proving out ROI.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Sure it does. But “Business Utopia”

doesn’t exist, because technology is … well … complicated.

So, the truth is, as a marketer, you’re forced to infuse your

creativity within your company’s technology, and challenged

to understand the complexities of how software can -- or

cannot -- integrate with one another in order to steer your

team toward success. In the end, you’re faced with a choice

while creating a digital engagement strategy: Should you

select individual products or an all-encompassing product

suite that combines the aforementioned capabilities to power

your Digital Marketing initiatives?

A Content Management System to power a

company website

eCommerce capabilities to manage your digital

storefront.

Email Marketing software to execute highly

personalized campaigns that capitalize on every

client communication.

Web Analytics that peel back the curtain and

provide insight into what web content is working,

what’s not, and suggestions on how to improve

overall effectiveness.

Social Media tools that allow marketers to engage

with customers and measure sentiment.


1. Assured Implementation success

2. Easier Adoption & Usability

3. Modules That Speak The Same Language & Play Well Together

4. Streamlined Troubleshooting

5. Easier & More Efficient Selection Process

After examining use-studies, industry research reports, and more, we’ve identified

5 reasons why a product suite puts your organization in the best position to

succeed in both the immediate and long-term future.


1. ASSURED IMPLEMENTATION SUCCESS

It’s no secret that a product or service fails to perform to its

potential without initial implementation success. If you go

the route of disparate solutions, your business is taking on

considerably more risk. There is a troubling history, particularly

within the CMS community, of thousands of cautionary tales

that bemoan failed technology projects which were derailed

long before even going live.

The primary cause?

Companies outsource their implementation processes to third-

party vendors. Instantly, red flags emerge: Do these third-party

vendors know the software? What’s their track record with

meeting deadlines? How about staying within the project’s

budget? These questions, among others, are important to ask

during your selection process.

By selecting a product suite, your company avoids these risks.

More often than not, vendors touting multi-module platforms

perform thousands of implementations every year. They’re

experts at this process since they know the product better

than anyone else.

The takeaway: With a product suite, you’re dealing with

one, holistic product. Therefore, one implementation …. and

mitigated risk.


2. EASY ADOPTION & USABILITY

Let’s fantasize, just for a minute, and live in Business Utopia.

Suppose your implemntation partner comes through; without

any mishapps, your solutions are each properly installed.

Unfortunately, even if this is the case, knowing how each tool

will integrate with one another gets real hazy, real fast. This

dynamic plays into what the consensus of industry analysts

consider to be the most important factor to consider when

weighing which methodology to take on at the outset of a

business software selection -- a product’s usability.

From basic properties – like a single sign-on login screen

– to more important aspects, with a product suite, Digital

Marketers are only dealing with modules that work in tandem

and conjunction with one another.

Usability, over any other intangible, is what separates a

product suite from disparate solutions. Think about one

navigation pane, serving up an a la carte menu, featuring the

components and capabilities every digital marketer needs.

Here, users can jump from content editing capabilities on

their website, to examining their most recent A/B email test, to

measuring conversion rates and other KPIs through reporting

mechanisms embedded within their eCommerce solution, all

the way to monitoring customer sentiment on Social Media

websites.

And guess what? Not only do you have a 360 degree view of

your digital marketing progress, but by leveraging a product

suite, the learning curve is reduced. After mastering a product

suite’s CMS, core components of the email management,

analytics, social media, and eCommerce modules should

come naturally.

Furthermore, the software is typically taught through detailed

training classes offered by the vendor, who (again) know the

technology better than anyone else.

All told, compared to understanding the ins-and-outs of

individual products that have completely different mainframes,

dashboards, and user processes, the adoption cycle of a

product suite is significantly curtailed.


3. MODILES THAT SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE AND PLAY WELL TOGETHER

Still not convinced? We’ll stay in our Marketing Nirvana, the Business

Utopia, for aguement’s sake. Let’s pretend you survive multiple

implementation processes unscathed and manage to

get all your technology live. You even learn how to

leverage each separate solution’s feature-set.

Believe it or not, despite these efforts, your

Digital Marketing processes could still easily

become fragmented by using disparate

solutions. How?

Individually speaking, disparate

solutions may work just fine, but

when combined together, there’s

no telling whether a data point

in each software will speak the

same language as the other(s).

For instance, instead of easily

extracting reports that measure

your efforts, your team could be

stuck struggling to piece data

of a massive, multi-campaign

puzzle together. Reconciling

information and dealing with

unnecessary headaches is the last

way your team should be spending

its time.

With a product suite, you’re guaranteed

that the software will seamlessly flow to

execute your digital marketing strategies as

well as measure success. Customer journeys are

(accurately) documented on your website. A conversion

through an email campaign is automatically reflected in your

analytics and eCommerce solution – meaning, not only are your

processes streamlined, but the integrity of important data is maintained.


4. STREAMLINED TROUBLESHOOTING

We’ve all been there: You’re trying to record your favorite

television show and come up empty handed. The next day,

you call the cable to company to address the shortfall, but they

tell you the problem is your internet connection, while your

internet provider cites a malfunction on your TIVO. Suddenly,

you’re dealing with five different companies, who each have

plenty of excuses, with little accountability... Or answers.

With a product suite, you’re dealing with one company who

knows their solution better than anyone else. Given that

expertise, there tend to be less broken promises, and if errors

do occur the root issues are easier to resolve and manage

going forward.


5. EASIER & MORE EFFECTIVE SELECTION PROCESS

Our last reason helps this whole debate

come full circle. Before any implementation

is even discussed, training time allotted,

or stakeholder interviews occur, your

organization must initially deploy a team –

or committee – of employees to decipher

the pros and cons as well as total cost of

ownership for every tool you plan to utilize in

order to meet your objectives.

An onerous selection process may seem like

a foolish reason to revamp your approach to

digital marketing software; however, keep in

mind, each capability has a specific market

that needs to be examined – which ultimately

drains resources. On the other hand, only

researching one, all-encompassing suite

alleviates the selection process.


These five reasons are just some of the benefits of choosing a

full-scale product suite, replete with all your digital marketing

needs, including website management, versus individual

products. At Bridgeline Digital, we’ve developed the iAPPS

platform, an award-winning product suite with capabilities in

content management, eCommerce, email marketing, analytics,

and social media.

In its 2013 Vendor Landscape report,

Info-Tech Research Group recognized

the iAPPS platform as a “Champion”,

touting its ability to equip enterprise

businesses with easy-to-use tools that

optimize digital assets and capitalize on growing trends in

Digital Engagement.

If your organization is in the process of selecting a digital

marketing solution, you’re undoubtedly sifting through copious

amounts of research and analyst reports about various

products. If your business is considering a .NET-based solution

and SaaS licensing options, the iAPPS platform should be on

your shortlist.

For more information on the advantages of using a full-scale,

end-to-end product suite, to power your businesses web

assets, please visit bridgelinedigital.com, email info@bridgeline.

com, or call 1-800-603-9936.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BRIDGELINE DIGITAL’S INTEGRATED IAPPS PLATFORM

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Contact Bridgeline Digital

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1-800-603-9936

Award Winning iAPPS Product PlatformA Digital Marketing solution that deeply integrates Web Content Management, eCommerce, eMarketing, Social Media management, and Web Analytics to help marketers deliver online experiences that attract, engage and convert their customers across all digital channels. Bridgeline provides end-to-end Digital Engagement solutions and boasts an award-winning team of interactive services professionals across our 11 offices worldwide.

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Marketing Software Smackdown - Bridgeline Library/Whitepapers...Bridgeline Digital Whitepaper © 2014 -10 Reasons iAPPS Commerce Should Be On Your Commerce Shortlist Connect with Us: