Brand Management Platforms Level Up Multi-Location Marketing

[UPDATED FOR 2024]

Amazon. Love it or hate it, we can all agree that their system works. They’ve aggregated millions of products that can be ordered with the click of a button and delivered from different locations, usually in a matter of days and sometimes mere hours. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that type of convenience for your marketing assets?

Keep It Simple

Brand management platforms do just that. Also called online ordering portals, e-commerce portals, web-to-print portals, or simply W2P, they collect your marketing assets across multiple locations and make them easily accessible through one secure and tidy online repository, leveling up your marketing. Brand management platforms corral digital and printable assets, including business cards, location signage, brochures, letters, forms, trade show signage, digital assets, branded merchandise, and more. They have one location, where you can control access to give different managers the freedom to customize each piece.

And the best part? You’ll save significant time and money managing these assets while ensuring their accuracy and consistency.

Related: Drive Franchise Foot Traffic With Predictive Analytics

So how does it work?

1. Brand Management Platforms: How Do They Work?
2. Master Marketing for Multiple Locations
3. What Have Brand Management Portals Done for Multi-Location Marketers Lately?
4. How Ignition Helps You Master Your Marketing
5. Level Up With Ignition

Brand Management Platforms: How Do They Work?

These platforms are a game-changer. No more storing marketing assets on various computer hard drives or even cloud-based drives. Brand management platforms give you absolute control over all of your marketing assets, so they stay accurate, consistent, and secure. You level up your marketing, and you save money, time, and headaches.

Although the technology has existed for a number of years, brand management platforms are just now gaining steam as multi-unit business owners recognize their tremendous benefits. Our own proprietary platform, Ignition, has a number of important benefits. It’s a secure, centralized, customized website that stores marketing assets. It’s cloud-based and accessible from anywhere, any time. The interface is intuitive without the need for heavy training. You can control each user’s level of access. 

Related: Streamlining Your Franchisee Branding With Web-to-Print 

Master Marketing for Multiple Locations

Whether you have multiple healthcare offices, restaurants, franchises, or other locations, you have many cooks in the marketing kitchen, and they most likely add their own flavors. Since consistency is key with marketing messaging, an online ordering portal keeps your cooks in line. Each piece can retain the overall look and feel, but still showcase the “flavor” of the individual office or location, since users can only change the assets you approve. 

What Have Brand Management Portals Done for Multi-Location Marketers Lately?

 We are BIG believers in the portal. Our proprietary solution, Ignition, can help marketers achieve efficiencies and ROIs that would be difficult to achieve without it. By cutting costs with consolidated print runs, less waste, and greater coordination, you can realize them too. Here’s how the platform boosts your business:

1. Minimizes Training: Since they’re customized for your needs, brand management platforms are easy out-of-the-box. They’re organized for specific marketing assets, with dropdowns that drill down. Where applicable, they provide fields (many times with dropdown suggestions) that can be customized for specific print items. For example, business card templates automatically populate fields for “name,” “title,” and other contact information, but keep the same pre-approved logo and design for each.
2. Streamlines Communications: Locations leveraging a central repository work better together. They can also see what other locations are doing to harness best practices.
3. Eliminates Printing Guesswork: Your franchisees or office managers don’t need to worry about preparing files for print because they’re already press-ready, professional, and error-free.
4. Updates Printing Status: No need to check in with your print service provider (PSP) since everything is managed and tracked in the portal.
5. Automates: With alerts for low inventory and options to automate shipping, users can “set it and forget it” when it comes to regularly ordered items.
6. Guarantees Consistent High-Quality Marketing and Printing: By unifying brand standards and eliminating inconsistencies across locations, your marketing and printing consistently reflect high quality.
7. Increases Efficiencies: Each location can handle their own ordering, so you’ll skip bulk ordering, warehousing, and increased delivery fees. Since all assets are press ready, turnaround times are exceedingly quick.
8. Generates Smart Savings: Without an online ordering portal, stacks of forms, bushels of brochures, and signage specific to each location incur separate setup fees, printing costs, and shipping costs. Consolidated work means you achieve excellent cost savings for all three. You can earn volume discounts, and users will see transparent, preset pricing so they know and track costs precisely.
9. Does More Than Print: Platforms go beyond print to offer finishing and kitting services too. You’ll have everything shipped directly to you.
10. Elevates Everyone’s Experience: Set up your merchandising options and franchisees or customers can easily customize within pre-approved items. Since customers are used to ordering online, this is an easy way for them to get your merchandise.

How Ignition Helps You Master Your Marketing

 Your custom website has everything you need to manage your marketing assets. Both the technology and the team stand ready to assist! Here’s a brief overview of some of the most important features:

1. Streamline for Success: The professional site interface is graphically pleasing and easy to navigate.
2. Get Seamless Updates: We can make changes as you need them.
3. Download It: Digital downloads are a must-have!
4. Brand With Your Logo: Your branding makes it look and feel like an official repository.
5. Pick the Way You See It: You can organize by geographic region or by product category depending on which is more suited to your business.
6. Customize a Little or a Lot: The system lets you customize many features, including colors, photos, and fonts that have been pre-approved. Users can tailor each piece to their location and their target audience. They will see a proof before hitting print.
7. Control Access: Secure password-protected access ensures that only those authorized to use the platform will. They can access from self sign-up or from a pre-approved list of users. You can also control what products they can order.
8. Authorize Approval: Set the approval process up so it goes through the correct chain of command.
9. Go Beyond Print: Use it for everything branded, from apparel and accessories, to promotional materials, to your printed products.
10. Use Sales, Marketing, and Start-Up Kits for a Great Start: You can create sets of materials for your franchisees or location managers so they have the correct pieces to get started.
11. Get Transparent: See the status of production, shipping, and invoicing in real-time.

A brand management platform like Ignition changes the game at all levels of the organization. From your location managers, to the home office, to your customers, everyone benefits from the level of connectivity and collaboration. By harnessing this technology for your marketing and merchandising, you’ll create efficiencies and reap the benefits of a cohesive marketing strategy.

Level Up With Ignition

We know this because we’ve seen it happen, again and again. We’ve been setting up and supporting Ignition for clients in a variety of industries. With the advanced tool backed by the white glove service of our expert team, clients enjoy greater efficiencies and higher ROIs. Level up your marketing with this game-changing platform.

Ignite Your Brand