› Assessments
The Centermark platform is designed to meet the unique needs of marketers in a franchise network by collaborating data from each location to create stronger connections between all locations. To facilitate this communication, Centermark by Web.com focuses on enhancing marketing efforts by strengthening the web presence on both national and local levels, optimizing the web experience across devices, and bolstering both paid and organic search across franchisee networks. With clients like Miracle Ear, Merry Maids, and 200 other brand networks, Centermark is quickly becoming a go-to platform for data-driven marketing automation.
– Amanda Brief, Corporate Marketing Manager, Centermark
When Amanda Brief joined the Centermark team, she identified the need to find an intuitive platform that would help her collect inbound leads. At the time, Centermark was occasionally using an online survey system, but responses to the surveys weren’t providing trackable data the company could use to target new audiences. Brief had worked with ion at a previous employer with positive results, so she thought of the company’s platform again as she moved into her new role at Centermark.
“I worked with ion in my last job,” Brief says. “And when I saw we were missing stats and insights, I knew we needed something more interactive than surveys to not only collect data, but to get inbound leads.”
Centermark and ion partnered to create a Franchise Leadership Assessment that would help new leads self-identify pain points within their franchise network and inform Centermark of the influence respondents already had over their franchisee networks. The five-question assessment is based on questions Centermark Sales Directors already ask new clients, such as “Do you have influence over the operational and marketing behaviors of the franchisees?” and “Do you currently have an automated way to gain location compliance or adoption of recommended marketing investments?”
Responses to these questions gave Centermark the information it needed to build relationships with new leads as well as cultivate a data-driven marketing strategy moving forward.
“The assessment was an easy way to collect data and understand the influence CMOs have within their organizations,” Brief says. “When someone said they didn’t have a lot of marketing support, the sales team knew this was our target audience.”
After a strong response to the assessment, Centermark used ion’s Sell-Side capability to put data from the interactive journey into context for the sales team with a visual timeline of each buyer’s journey. Using Sell-Side, the Centermark sales team had access to each new lead’s assessment responses, challenges and marketing wish list. Responses were contextualized in simple infographics to quickly get marketing, sales, and the buyer on the same page, which allowed the Centermark sales team to meet the buyer at their point of interest, quickly picking up the dialogue where interactive content left off.
“Sell-Side goes right into what audiences have viewed, and what they’ve filled out,” Brief says. “It gives the sales team all their responses, so we know what their pain points are.”
Centermark is also using their data to create more interactive content and target new audiences. For example, the company used responses to its assessment to create an engaging interactive infographic that allows CMOs to see how they measure up against the competition. The infographic also includes social sharing buttons next to each stat, giving readers control over how they interact with the information. A link to the original assessment at the bottom of the infographic creates an informational feedback loop between the data, assessment, buyer, and brand that both generates new leads and gauges interest level.
“We have a lot of clicks,” Brief says. “And the infographic is a good way to showcase the data we have. It’s awesome that once someone fills out the benchmark, they can immediately see how they’re doing against people in their industry.”
The benchmark assessment and infographic are just the beginning for Centermark, according to Brief, who is using interactive content for both event marketing and for longer format content in the future.
“There’s still so much room to grow,” Brief says. “We’re not just using interactive content for prospecting. We’re starting to use it for event marketing, too, by creating event invite forms that track all the people signing up. We’ll use our assessment data for white papers down the road and also for longer ebooks.”
The company has also started incorporating personalized quizzes into direct mail campaigns. For example, a mustard connoisseur might get a quiz titled “Bet You Can’t Guess the Mustard.” Moving from static to interactive content has created a pathway for Centermark to build more robust, meaningful engagements with digital audiences, which leads to better data and, ultimately, better customer service.
“Interactive content is a more personal way to target,” Brief says. “Before this, we had no way to drive inbound leads. Now, we’re not only using these tools for prospecting, we’re getting leads based on data and we’re giving our customers key recommendations for marketing strategy. It’s a two-way street.”
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