Why Traditional PIM Is Limiting Your Marketing Abilities

Product Information Management (PIM) has come a long way since the days of documenting inventory on paper - yet surprisingly 94% of companies still keep track of their products on spreadsheets or isolated software with severe limitations. Unsurprisingly, over half of those companies continue to find errors using this approach. How do you ensure your PIM keeps pace with a growing product list and the varying ways consumers can make a purchase?

Integrating your product information

The answer is an integrated product information system that keeps better inventory, provides richer product details to customers and can tie into your marketing initiatives. Imagine a scenario where product data from every point of sale is tied into the same solution capable of showcasing these very products in search engines and on your website. As an added bonus, the best PIM solutions leverage their extensive product data to segment marketing across various channels - allowing you to easily create and manage multiple campaign iterations for different channels and audiences.

While the benefits of an integrated PIM solution are enormous, with the number of companies still using archaic systems, it’s no surprise that many of the benefits are unknown. The problem is significant and affects both businesses and customers; companies lose valuable resources correcting errors and combating incomplete product details while customers are unable to find information they need to make a decision and risk moving to a competitor or giving up the search altogether. Consider a mail-order product catalog with incorrect prices and missing product details. Adding insult to injury, the catalog wasn’t sent to the one persona most likely to buy your product. Many principles to successful product management remain the same - only magnified in the digital age as both products and consumers experience exponential growth.

Relationship-driven PIM

Companies need to avoid these pitfalls with a modern and relationship-driven approach to product inventory management. From making bulk updates to effortlessly re-organizing product collections, the host of advantages has a trickle-down effect on every product-related decision and initiative. It starts with getting new products to market more quickly and with more details than much of the competition; the products are visible on the world’s leading search engines and stand out from the crowd. Fast forward to a happy customer who receives targeted marketing in the form of a coupon code to build brand loyalty - all accomplished with the same PIM solution.

Flexibility and scalability

This ability to target audience segments at a granular level is crucial as customer bases become more diverse with each passing day. We know the challenges of communicating with people from all over the world who speak different languages and respond to different marketing messages. Sending one message in a single language isn't the answer to fully realizing your product’s potential. Finding a marketing solution to address a global audience is a big win for any business; wrapping that solution into a fully integrated PIM package makes this complex problem easily manageable and scalable.

The odds are that your current PIM is outdated and hindering your abilities in several different ways. You can continue with the status quo or you can start the process of researching how a real PIM will propel your company where you need it to go.

Find out more about how a fully integrated approach to digital marketing can set your company apart from the rest in our whitepaper A Modern Approach to Marketing Product Information.