How Procurement Can Impact Marketing

Change is the overriding fact of life in every business today, but the ability to master change has become the most sought-after management skill. This is particularly true in marketing, where the very pace of change is constantly quickening. This is leading companies to search for new ways to increase and monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing dollars while preserving value.

Recently, we have seen a shift from traditional marketing to digital. The digital revolution is however, causing turbulent times for marketers as it is transforming the consumption of media. In the US, more than a third of all video content is now viewed online, with much of it being on mobile devices. Animoto states that 4X as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. For marketers, the rise of digital media is creating new opportunities to engage with consumers, but is leading to new challenges along the way.

Marketers understand that they must offer an integrated brand experience across both traditional media and the fast-changing network of digital devices and channels that their consumers are using.  They want to make better use of digital resources by tailoring and targeting messages more precisely and providing real-time feedback on customer preference. And they want to innovate by making most of new approaches as they emerge. To achieve this, marketers need to make the right choices about what they buy, how they buy and whom they work with.

To understand these important choices, marketing needs the robust, fact-based analysis and decision-making capabilities that a high-performing procurement function provides. They need sharp analytical skills to pull useful insights from data sets in order to evaluate the potential of new channels and new service providers. The support of a procurement function can help marketing fulfill key marketing needs. An example of three major ways procurement can impact marketing is listed below.

·        Manage suppliers: The procurement function can help marketers manage suppliers by negotiating competitive rates and robust contracts to ensure that suppliers deliver what they promised. These activities are what the procurement function does every day across all categories.

·        Create more value: Marketing efforts must focus both on quality and on cost. It is important to deliver maximum value without over-spending. This entails working with the right supplier. Using marketing data, the procurement team can run analysis on current purchasing and give recommendations for suppliers that will not only provide quality, but be competitive in the market.

·        Move Quickly: Marketing is continuously changing and the digital revolution is a key driver. Marketing teams need to respond in order to stay competitive. Working with procurement can allow them to develop rules of the road that permit flexibility and responsiveness while controlling risk.

Companies need to reevaluate the role of procurement in marketing and the impact that it can have. Creating a working relationship with procurement and marketing can allow for major cost savings, while delivering optimal value. Marketers can maintain the creative end, but when it’s time to make purchasing decisions and reduce cost, procurement can help the marketing team understand where there is savings opportunity without substituting current value.