Admation blog

It's reported that between 5 to 7 per cent of the workforce are affected by burnout due to changes in the work environment. 2022 has been a challenging year off the back of two exception years.  Currently not a day goes by where I do not hear a colleague, teacher, client or friend refer to their fatigue. The burnout is real, and it does not seem to discriminate across gender, age, industry or occupation. 

According to an ABC article on burnout, three experts identify several changes in the way we work that may be increasing burnout - shrinking job stability, mounting workloads, fewer resources to tackle that workload, an erosion of work-life balance, and so on.

In our previous blog How to avoid burnout in a creative ad agency we provided an overview of burnout and what the individual and ad agency can do to combat the problem. This week we want to expand upon the point of marketing resource management software and how it can help creative teams feel more in control of their projects and workloads. We created admation with many inbuilt features to do exactly that. 

You know you have an issue when your marketing resources are flat out on the desk again bemoaning too much work. Is it because of the seemingly endless rounds of artwork changes? Is it never knowing which project to focus on first? Is it the fact that your resources can never catch a break? One thing?s for certain, your marketing campaigns are nearly always over deadline and budget which is costing your brand money.

It appears you?re not alone. According to Capterra: ?Fewer than a third of all projects were successfully completed on time and on budget over the past year.?

But you?re no longer satisfied working in perpetual chaos because you know now that MRM software can bring ease to your marketing campaigns. Marketing Resource Management (MRM) software is now your new secret weapon to best practice task management and resource planning. So what now? The next step is to create a business case to take to senior management.

Recommended reading: Best Practices for Selecting and Implementing MRM Software

According to the 2017 Global CMO Study, 41% of respondents expected to implement marketing resource management (MRM) software in the near future. And while the benefits of investing in this tool are manifold, as we?ve discussed previously you need to ensure you select the right MRM software for your business. Once the selection process is completed, there are a few things you can do to optimise your investment.

Marketing resource management (MRM) software is becoming a critical tool for marketers needing to resource and manage larger campaigns with complex approval levels. Today?s comprehensive MRM software enables users to effectively manage more aspects of their creative projects with the following integrated features:

• Resource management
• Project management
• Approval workflow management
• Digital asset management (DAM)
• Reporting tools 

Visibility, reliability, ease ?. not exactly the words that come to mind when you?re elbow deep in marketing campaigns, especially in the absence of a tool that can help lighten the load. Like cutting down on the crazy amount of admin. Like easing the burden of resourcing your marketing projects. Like finding a way out of the ever-increasing artwork changes.

It's one thing to sing the praises of MRM software and its multiple features, but how does it impact your bottom line? As previously outlined, today's comprehensive MRM provides a one-stop shop to manage marketing resources and projects, from briefing all the way through to final production. Let's take a look at how implementing MRM software can save you money and boost your profits.

The 2016 State of Agile Marketing Report  found that the top challenge for 24.4% of marketers was ?doing more with fewer people and smaller budgets?. Fast track to 2018 and the frustration lingers. In fact, the pressure for marketers to churn out more content with less hands on deck is even more pressing. The good news: marketers are beginning to see the light.

Marketing Resource Management (MRM) software was cast back into the spotlight recently with a Gartnerreport that resounded new MRM capabilities to meet the growing demands of marketers. And brands are coming to the party. According to SiriusDecisions? 2017 Global CMO Study, 41 percent of CMOs expect to implement MRM software in the next couple of years.

The Dilemma and The Fix Series - Part 3:

The Dilemma
Jenny is a marketing manager who oversees a team of ten people, four of whom make up the creative team. Most days she feels like she?s managing 50 people with so many marketing projects on the go and never knowing who?s doing what. Her project resource spreadsheet desperately needs updating, but for now she?s winging it by delegating tasks verbally. Now her boss needs a progress update for budgeting purposes and she?s got two team members off with the flu. The pressure is 0n. Jenny is on her fourth coffee for the morning and currently googling ?career counsellors?.

Running a profitable advertising agency relies on a number of critical factors: great leadership, results-driven marketing, a strong client base and talent who deliver on brilliant ideas. The way you manage creative projects and resources is often overlooked in the bigger picture. Still, they remain vital to your bottom line.

?Optimizing the utilization rate (the percentage of time spent on billable work) of your employees, essentially creating more productive and efficient team members, will have a major impact on your profits -- especially if you do mostly project-based work.? Hubspot

Let?s take a look at project management and resource management to understand how important they are to running a proficient and, therefore, profitable ad agency.

The Dilemma & The Fix Series - Part 1:

The Dilemma
Serena is a Brand Manager for a global business with stores in five countries and an online sales portal. It?s only morning time but she has a good feeling about today which is forecasted to be bright and sunny. She?s already received news that the latest product catalogue has been printed and is ready to be dispatched. Sure it?s the same catalogue that went through endless rounds of changes and is nearly two months overdue, but it?s all good now.

Suddenly one of her team members appears at her door looking anxious ? Errr ? there?s been an oversight. Somehow the wrong logo ended up on the front cover of the catalogue. In the previous catalogue, it was the wrong CMYK colour! Last month, the wrong tagline on an ad campaign! Seriously, what could go wrong next? Serena's day just went from bright to very gloomy.

Like Serena, are you tired, perplexed, at your wit?s end about the wrong branding being used across a range of marketing campaigns? Seeking an easy fix for this never-ending dilemma?