Coordinated Message Delivery

Saepio
Learning
Series
Exploding Brand Value at the Local Level
Part 4 of 7
Coordinated
Message
Delivery

Coordinated Message Delivery
AboutThis Series
When we first published the Distributed Marketing Leadership Series guidebook“Exploding
Brand Value at the Local Level,”we had no expectation that it would quickly move to be one
of the all-time most downloaded content pieces from the Saepio library and sustain that
position for the next three years. But we probably shouldn’t have been surprised.
Exploding brand value at the local level is the objective of every distributed marketer. And
it’s not an easy task.
In this DMLS Guidebook series, we both revisit and expand on the concepts laid out in the
first guidebook and the subsequent industry-specific versions of this popular paper. In this
revisit, we find that much has changed since our first publication date. However, we are
frustrated by how much remains the same.
In particular, we are frustrated by the fact that while expansive, innovative distributed
marketing platform solutions are now fully market-tested and proven, many corporate and
local marketers are still struggling with basic relationships.
Thus, we have chosen to provide an expanded take on the Five (now Six) C’s of the win-win
brand marketing strategy. There’s nothing inherently profound about these six C’s. Yet, they
so often remain overlooked or minimized and a less-than-optimal brand value results. We
trust this expanded view will provide valuable insights that will help you build the effectives
of your distributed marketing efforts and truly explode brand value for your organization at
the local level.
Part 1 (available here) explored how to explode your brand’s value a the local level with the
6 C’s of corporate + local marketing.
Part 2 (available here) explored the importance of common objectives between corporate
and local marketers.
Part 3 (available here) explored the unique challenges faced by corporate marketing
managers of distributed marketing networks and outlines why consistency matters.
Part 4 explores the need to have coordinated corporate and local marketing messages at key
“moments of truth”.

Coordinated Message Delivery 1
Introduction
Consumers don’t see brands as corporate or local. Instead, they view them personally, and
in the way they consume them. As a result, they not only expect consistent brand messages,
they want coordinated ones.
To provide this, corporate and local must have complimentary marketing campaign schedules.
Corporate marketers can localize media buys with relative ease, particularly digital buys,
and can“buy”an individual rather than a locale. This is powerful and effective and consumers
respond. However, consumers also react when corporate and local messaging overlay one
another or competes with one another. In such cases, corporate and local also waste precious
media dollars.
When coordinated, however, the blended personalization or localization can have a highly
positive outcome. Both corporate and local marketers have long sought to be in front of the
consumer as close to the key“moments of truth”where purchase decisions are made and
word-of-mouth support mobilized. Organize this well, and strong results will follow.
Coordinated messaging can’t happen without, well, coordination. While it is impractical for
this to transpire in any manual way, it is both possible and probable that it will if the proper
automation systems are implemented.

Chapter One
Revisiting Local Moment ofTruth (LMOT)
For decades, the concept of consumer“moments of truth”was neatly wrapped in a package
with a bow on top. The First Moment of Truth (FMOT) occurred when the consumer was
standing at the point of decision and reviewing the purchase options before him or her. The
Second Moment of Truth (SMOT) followed shortly thereafter when the consumer began to
consume and experience the product and determine if it lived up to the expectations they
had set for it.
Zero Moments of Truth, or ZMOTs as introduced by Google, occur before any product
considerations are given. These happen when an individual utilizes a search engine to begin
research on the types of products or solutions available to them to solve a problem and to
read reviews of customers who have previously used the solution. Search results, customer
reviews and online shopping options all now come into play in an online venue. As implied
in the name, a Zero Moment of Truth typically occurs prior to the First Moment of Truth and
in some cases precludes it.
The Local Moment of Truth is centered on where and when the consumer will take
action (LMOT’s largely involve mobile marketing exchanges). With so many consumer
decisions being impulse or time-limited decisions that are also location aware, the ability to
deliver call-to-action messages hyper-locally and immediately deliver a product or service
hyper-locally becomes critical. It’s at a Local Moment of Truth that the consumer determines
if an immediate action will be taken and if that action will be fulfilled locally rather than
online or at another location and time. It capitalizes on the consumer’s location at the time
of decision and is indifferent to the existence of a ZMOT or FMOT. A marketer’s ultimate goal
is that Local Moment of Truth stimulus equals favorable, immediate response that leads to a
sale and a positive Second Moment of Truth.
In this context, coordination of message cadence between corporate and local marketing
becomes critical. The messaging consumed online, whether from the brand or users of the
brand, must be coordinated with the messages received in store and experienced through
the branded product or service. In particular, corporate brand messaging that creates cate-
gory demand and brand preference must be paid off in the correct time sequence by local
brand messages that are call-to-action focused.
Further, as outlined in the previous paper in this series, messages from corporate marketers
and messages from local marketers must appear as one to the consumer, particularly during

Connectivity and the“Always On”consumer have changed this sequence. In addition to these
First and Second Moments of Truth, the corporate and local marketers now must collectively
also address Zero Moments of Truth (ZMOT) and Local Moments of Truth (LMOT).

a Local Moment of Truth. While the duration of a Local Moment of Truth varies based on
the type of product or service, there is a defined endpoint, and therefore a risk of a lost sale
either from waning interest or a change in location.
To fully explode brand value at the local level, corporate and local marketers must both
understand these moments of truth and have a coordinated plan of attack for interaction
with the consumer throughout each of these moments of truth. While this objective is
relatively easy to address in cases where the corporate and local marketers share a single
brand identity, as explored in the next chapter, it can be very challenging when this is not
the case.

ChapterTwo
SharingYour Brand with Local Marketers
Among the biggest barriers to coordinated messages between corporate and local market-
ers are the questions of who manages the consumer experience and who owns the brand
preference.
If you manage a distributed marketing network where every product or service delivery
channel is within a single brand identity, count yourself lucky and feel free to move forward
to the next chapter. For everyone else, read on.
Clearly, these are challenging questions. In a co-branded environment, it is unfair to ask the
local marketer to solely advocate your brand. It is equally unrealistic to expect that the local
marketer will keep brand messaging coordinated and the sequence of communications with
the consumer coordinated through these moments of truth. Thus, coordinated messaging
and a single consumer experience for your brand will only happen when corporate market-
ing assumes full responsibility for every engagement in every moment of truth.
This responsibility extends far beyond the traditional influences of providing localized
marketing materials or MDF/co-op Funds. Traditional MDF and co-op programs can
certainly help address these questions and guide actions (although, as outlined in Part Six
of this series, spend of these funds is often heavily influenced by“competitors,”the sales

Co-branding with a local marketer is hard. Really hard. Keeping messages coordinated in
these scenarios is harder still…especially throughout all the moments of truth. For example,
• Who’s in charge of ensuring excellent messaging at the Zero Moment of Truth? If it’s
corporate marketing, how do you pass that message forward to the local brand?
• Who’s in charge of being visible and setting the message at the local moment of truth?
And will a local marketer carry your brand message forward into his store or to product
selection discussions during a services delivery (i.e. replacement of an air conditioner)?
• What coordinated messaging and visibility for your brand in a retail environment is
fair to ask of the local marketer when a consumer is choosing between your brand and
another (that First Moment of Truth)? Often, you aren’t the only one competing for this
visibility.
• Who responds at the Second Moment of Truth if a customer shares the experience in a
social venue? Who gets the credit and word-of-mouth marketing win?
• How do your actions differ if you have a stronger brand than the local brand? What if
the opposite is the case? What if most local views of the local brand simply don’t usually
connect your corporate brand to the local brand?

networks focused on helping small businesses help them access your co-op dollars). Histor-
ically, these programs have been heavily about generating local brand awareness in a local
context for the purpose of creating consumer traffic for a First Moment of Truth.
With the arrival of Zero and Local Moments of Truth, however, has come a whole new
hierarchy of importance and complexity for a coordinated sequence of communication.
Consumers are simply making purchase decisions in a different manner than traditional
co-branding marketing strategies and tactics have supported.
Everything the corporate marketer does must be structured around this premise. Corporate
can only win when local wins and the local marketer’s odds of winning increase significantly
when corporate also wins.
Thefollowingexamplesprovidesomepracticalapplication(andtheMomentsofTruthinvolved):
• A corporate brand marketing team may choose to fund a co-branded hyper-local search
marketing campaign that drives consumers to a local store. In exchange for this support,
the local marketer agrees to product placement and point of sale marketing messages
that provide for coordinated messaging throughout the consumer experience.
(LMOT and FMOT)
• A corporate brand marketing team implements a customer experience and individualized
campaign management program that determines the messages, mediums and sequences
of communication to a consumer (loyalty program member or otherwise) to mobilize a
purchase decision and manage follow-up communications. In exchange, local agrees to
incorporate this individualized consumer insight into its in-store customer engagement.
(ZMOT, LMOT, FMOT & SMOT)
• A corporate brand marketing team funds short-tail pay per click search campaigns that
feature the branded product in tandem with a local, co-branded call to action coupon.
In exchange for this service, the local marketer provides placement of shelf-talkers that
visually connect the call to action offer to the product offered. (ZMOT and FMOT)
• A corporate brand marketing team monitors social chatter and rewards positive corporate
brand posts through co-branded“thank you”discount for additional purchases at the local
retail or service outlet. (SMOT)

As a corporate marketer operating on behalf of the local marketer, you must message to
the consumer in a coordinated sequence that enables you to win at these zero and local
moments for both your brand and the local marketer’s brand, including the call to action
that generates a response for the local marketer’s brand. Then, working with and being
dependent on the local marketer, you must continue through to also win at the First
Moment of Truth when the product decision is sealed through a purchase made.

By driving the process and structuring it as co-branded and local call-to-action oriented,
corporate marketing can help ensure that message delivery is coordinated. Unfortunately,
none of these efforts will guarantee the local marketers’acceptance, adoption, or interest in
coordinating with the corporate marketing programs that are needed to explode brand
value at the local level. This is especially the case if they don’t easily see how marketing
efforts benefit them. To that end, the first target audience for the corporate marketer must
be the local marketer network. While this topic is addressed in detail in the final part of this
series, the following four key considerations are most relevant to attaining coordinated
communications between corporate and local brands.
1. Know Your Role
Objectively evaluate how to best partner with the local marketer to lift the value of both
the corporate brand and the local brand. Understand that to carry a coordinated message
sequence through the moments of truth to assure a consumer purchase, corporate market-
ing must find creative ways to educate the front-line marketers at the store or in the service
encounter. Point of sale and product literature can play an important role in providing this
education.
2. Show Off the Local Brand“Win”
Getting local marketers to coordinate messaging begins with them clearly seeing how their
local brand wins. Strong graphics, shared brand emphasis, and call to actions restricted to
their retail location or service will help them see and appreciate the investment corporate
is making with them. A remarketing campaign focused on local marketers and front-line
marketers can help.
3. Make it Profoundly Easy for Them to Co-Brand With You.
A lot of brand marketers, local marketing sales organizations and media outlets will constantly
be competing against a corporate brand marketer for the attention of the local marketer.
These other entities could care less about whether messaging to the consumer is coordinated
between you and the local marketer. Win through ease of use and innovative solutions.
Make both DIY and DIFM co-branded marketing campaigns PROFOUNDLY easy for the local
marketer to implement or opt into.
4. Be Very Visible and Make Them the Hero
Everyone wants to be associated with a winner. If the corporate brand has a strong consumer
awareness and preference, use that brand position to lift the local marketer’s brand value. If
the corporate brand equity isn’t as strong, use creative applications that both enhance the
corporate brand and reinforce the local brand’s leadership position.
In summary, when local marketers see that you have their local brand’s interest at heart,
they reciprocate. Gaining this alignment is hard work, but is critical to attain if consumers
are to experience coordinated messages between corporate and local marketing, which, in
turn, is essential for brand value to explode at the local level.
6

ChapterThree
Applying the Omni-Channel Concept to Blended Marketing
Always-on connectivity and changing consumer habits are rapidly driving the adoption
of omni-channel marketing. To explode brand value at the local level, corporate and local
marketers alike must address this challenging reality.
Omni-channel marketing by definition forces coordinated messaging. Omni-channel implies
a single consumer experience and communication progression across time, medium, location
and the purchase decision stage. The communication sequence is heavily informed by the
consumer’s actions and media consumption habits.
Given these parameters, omni-channel simply can’t happen if two customer engagement/
analytics platforms are involved, two marketing campaign management systems are in play,
or two dynamic content creation platforms are utilized. The corporate and local marketer
must work in tandem regardless of whether one or two brands are involved.
Further, while omni-channel is about simplicity for the consumer, it is steeped in complexity
for the marketer. Multiple, and often disconnected, systems and processes must be inte-
grated together to begin to offer omni-channel experiences. As a result, most omni-channel
efforts today stop at the corporate marketing level. But that approach doesn’t work for a
distributed marketing organization. The call-to-action communication has to be local and
locally influenced. And, the non-digital, point-of-sale marketing content that continues the
customer communication through the First Moment of Truth product selection must be
included.
7

For this blended pathway to omni-channel marketing for distributed marketing
organizations to occur, a trinity of technology platforms must be in place:
• Customer Data/Big Data Analytics – A single record of the consumer’s interactions in
tandem with predictive analytics derived from a broader data set.
• Real-Time Decision Engine/Campaign Management – The ability to engage with a
consumer in real-time in order to call on predictive analytics insight and determine
next step messaging.
• Dynamic, Multi-Channel Content Creation and Delivery – The ability to create and
serve localized, individualized marketing content to the consumer and provide local-
ized, coordinated point of sale content for the local marketer.
(See the Saepio Distributed Marketing Leadership Series guidebook “The New Technology Trinity
for Real-Time Consumer Engagement” for an in-depth exploration.)

This marketing communications infrastructure is only now beginning to emerge at the
corporate marketer level and is clearly outside the capabilities of local marketers. However,
the development of an omni-channel, customer engagement marketing platform at the
corporate level does not and should not preclude the involvement of a local marketer.
Engaging Local Marketers in Omni-Channel Marketing Sequences
While distributed omni-channel marketing is clearly an emerging field and far from definitive,
several key distributed marketing principles can be applied as programs are designed, built
and implemented.
First,therecanonlybeonereal-timedecisioning/campaignmanagementengine.
However, the data sets used to determine the proper next-step communication with the
consumer can be both corporate and local in nature. Developing an early understanding of
what local data is available is an important step for the corporate manager of a distributed
marketing organization.
Second,contentcanbelocalizedaswellasindividualized.
Existing distributed marketing management platform technology such as Saepio’s
MarketPort solution already enables this. However, be careful not to confuse ad builder
technology with distributed marketing platform technology. A successful solution will
require advanced, multi-channel dynamic content creation and marketing fulfillment auto-
mation technology.
Third,localmarketerscanandshouldparticipateincontentcreation.
Corporate insight, no matter how advanced, can never overwrite the value of local knowl-
edge and intuition. For example, an omni-channel distributed marketing platform won’t
know about the local marketer’s presence at a local festival. Or know that the local high-
school team has made the state championship. System design must be structured to take
advantage of this local intuition.
Fourth,engagelocalmarketersinoffermanagement.
Current local inventory, especially expiring inventory, is often an overlooked consideration
when corporate offers are created. Build an omni-channel marketing system that gives the
local marketer the ability to manually participate in what product is highlighted based on
current inventory.
Fifth,usethelocalmarketingrelationshiptocontinuethecoordinatedomni-channelexperience
tothepointofsale.
This may still primarily include digital marketing content creation such as digital shelf talker
displays but may also include traditional point of sale/point of service materials. As an ex-
ample, a service technician could hand a fully personalized product sheet or upsell offer to a
homeowner upon arrival.

As these five examples show, an omni-channel approach to marketing can work fully in
tandem with a distributed marketing approach. Further, as consumers’expectations to
receive omni-channel communications grow, a blended corporate and local marketing
effort will become increasingly important if brand value is to be exploded at the local level.
9

Chapter Four
Four Steps for Message Coordination
While many tactics can be applied to creating coordinated messages between corporate
and local marketers, most can be organized around the following four steps:
Step One:
Revisit how consumers want to engage both the corporate and local brands.
The manner in which consumers want to engage with both corporate and local brands is
changing rapidly. The desire for an omni-channel, personalized and localized experience
across all the moments of truth necessitates a new approach to coordinating marketing
messages. The corporate marketing manager of a distributed marketing network should
proactively revisit how consumers want to engage both corporate and local brands:
• Map out your consumer’s omni-channel journeys to determine which engagements
should be corporate marketing’s and what elements are best served locally.
• Develop a phased roadmap from your program today to the end destination. Identify
the key marketing process or infrastructure changes that will be needed at the corpo-
rate level and identify the types of supportive actions you’ll want from local marketers.
• Look for natural transition steps that feel simple and logical to your distributed marketers.
Step Two:
Win the hearts of the local marketers by rethinking how/where you support them.
Moving a call to action through to brand selection at point of sale or service (a traditional
first moment of truth), will require a coordinated, blended sequence of messaging from
local and front-line marketers. However, there’s no coordination of messaging for the
corporate brand at this critical point of decision if there’s no interaction between the local
or front-line marketer and the consumer. Such a critical moment can’t be left to chance. To
create engagement with local and front-line marketers, the corporate marketer must:
• Win the hearts of the local and front-line marketers by making them the heroes. The
local brand must be strongly blended with the corporate brand at the zero and local
moments of truth. Local and front-line marketers seeing this blended branding is
almost as important as the consumer seeing it as these individuals help influence the
still critically important first moment of truth when and where purchase decisions are
made.
• Provide graphically compelling content for point-of-sale or service display. Front line
marketers are consumers too and want to be associated with cool stuff.
• Create brand awareness campaigns focused on local and front-line marketers. Digital
display remarketing technology makes focused ad placement easy. Create a campaign
designed to keep corporate brand awareness high with this critical audience. Keep ad
content fresh, interesting and educational.

Step Three:
Redirect your MDF/co-op fund management to LMOT and FMOT.
If MDF or co-op funds are available as part of the corporate marketing’s local marketing
support, begin to shift the focus of these programs to the local and first moments of truth.
These are the critical call to action and product/service selection points and the points
where the local brand is most relevant.
• Structure programs to incent a strong, co-branded point of sale/service presence.
Strong creative will be key to local participation as the local marketer’s first inclination
will be to utilize funds to drive traffic, not product or service selection.
• Support local search campaigns but require messaging control through to a co-brand-
ed landing page. This will help manage the influence of sales advisors from local media
outlets, agencies or marketing sales organizations.
• Make assurance of compliance and reimbursement easy by providing a resource library
of MDF/co-op eligible marketing resources.
Step Four:
Provide systems that jointly manage marketing activities to ensure proper message cadence.
Coordinating marketing messages between corporate and local marketing efforts becomes
massively easier when a single distributed marketing management platform is involved.
This goes well beyond simple ad building technology. Advanced platforms, for example,
will control cadence of media placement such as when a corporate or local email is sent to
keep consumers from receiving overlapping messages. Advanced platforms will also enable
joint list management, again for coordination purposes, and allow for easy updating of both
corporate and local content. When considering a distributed marketing platform, look for
solutions that:
• Provide all of the local marketing resources in a single location. Coordinated messaging
is much easier to attain if digital display, landing pages, email, point-of-sale printed ma-
terials, store signage, print ads and all other ad content is created in one location.
• Automate the marketing fulfillment process. Media buying and marketing fulfillment
is too complex for corporate marketers or agencies, let alone local marketers. Look for
solutions that automate these processes, facilitate the coordination of messaging, and
integrate with MDF/co-op if relevant.
• Automate local market versioning across all channels. An effective distributed market-
ing management platform will provide dynamic content creation across all channels
that makes participate easy for local marketers and message management easy for
corporate marketers.
11

Summary
Coordinated brand messaging – the cadence and sequence of messages – when combined
with consistent brand messages can lead to powerful marketing results for corporate and
local marketers alike.
Coordinated marketing, however, often isn’t easy, especially in cases where the corporate
and local brands equally influence the consumer’s decision process. The addition of Zero
Moments of Truth due to search and Local Moments of Truth due to mobility adds even
more complexity for coordinated marketing messaging. The emerging consumers’desire of
an omni-channel brand experience further challenges the blending of corporate and local
brands and the coordination of messages.
In response, corporate marketers must implement marketing systems that coordinate
the consumers’experience with the corporate brand messaging throughout a decision
sequence but in a manner that also values the local brand and creates local call to action.
Engaging local and front-line marketers in the process is critical, as they must carry forward
a coordinated message at the point of sale, the traditional First Moment of Truth where
purchase decisions are made.
Traditional corporate-to-local support programs often aren’t focused on these new realities.
The savvy corporate marketer will start today to:
• Revisit how consumers want to engage with both the corporate and local brands
• Develop programs designed to win the hearts and support of local marketers
• Restructure MDF/co-op resources to help ensure coordinated messaging
• Implement platforms that support coordinated, blended marketing messaging to con-
sumers from both corporate and local marketing
12

About Saepio
Saepio makes it easy for corporate and local marketers to build and run effective and
engaging all-channel marketing campaigns. Saepio’s powerful MarketPort marketing
platform starts with easy …
• Easy to Build and Run Cross-Channel Campaigns because everything – email,
landing pages, social, mobile, digital banner ads, signage, print ads, direct mail, and
much more – are all managed in a single, integrated digital marketing platform.
• Easy to Maximize Brand Value at the Local Level because local and corporate
marketers share a single platform but experience the same platform differently based
on their roles. Brand control, speed to market, and content localization is all easily
accomplished whether messages are for local, national or global audiences and
corporate marketers can easily assign campaign tasks to local marketers.
• Easy to Engage Customers with personalized, relevant messages because corporate
intelligence gleaned from CRM data, customer analytics, consumer actions and more
can determine what content is served when, where and how.
• Easy to Automate Marketing Fulfillment because robust workflow enables every
cross channel customer touch point to happen automatically whether launched by
corporate marketing, initiated by a local marketer or triggered by a customer’s action.
This robust yet simplified approach to today’s complex marketing challenges is in use at
hundreds of leading companies and organizations, including many of the world’s most
powerful brands. It is transforming the way corporations focus and manage their marketing
efforts in a world that introduces new channels, new competitors, new regulations and new
opportunities at every turn.
Visit Saepio.com, email sales@saepio.com or call 877-468-7613 to learn more.
For More Information
Contact Us
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Kansas City, MO 64105
Email
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