When You Don’t Have a Lot of Marketing Resources or Funds, Consider INTEGRATION!

Prior to the late 1980s, communication to consumers consisted of traditional marketing methods such as advertising, radio, press events and printed collateral materials to name a few. Sometimes these more traditional methods would present a call to action but typically involved little customer interaction, and it was difficult to monitor their effectiveness. A costly TV advertisement, for example, could put your message in front of thousands or even millions of “eyeballs”, but there was no way to know if you were reaching those customers you really needed to connect with --- those who were ready to make a purchase. The introduction of the internet in the late ‘90s, followed by the influx of various social media platforms, made it much easier to reach specific customers and develop unique messages speaking to them. With the customer data that was now available, marketers began to understand more about buying behaviors, customer needs and message effectiveness, and there was great enthusiasm to use as many new tools as possible. But were all of these the right tools? And were they reaching the customer at the right time? There was a push to incorporate them even before many understood how best to integrate their messaging, or why it was important to do so. Marketing struggled to catch up with technology and justify their efforts. Campaigns with few touch points to customers, combined with a lack of metrics to track effectiveness, left corporate executives questioning whether they were worth the marketing investment. Although the concept of integrated marketing communications had been around since the late 1980s, it was not widely understood or embraced. Marketing departments were often in separate silos from the other functions of the business. There were also misconceptions about the cost and pricing of integrated marketing, with some assuming that each resource used meant additional cost incurred. These days integration is more widely understood. Many are aware the goal is to integrate all of the available resources and leverage them to do more. An integrated strategy creates a compelling message, and through traditional and digital marketing tools, amplifies it to defined audiences. Done correctly it can help save costs, expedite time to market, increase awareness, increase reach, and build acquisition of new customers. One area of an integrated plan that I believe is essential is an analysis of competitor marketing tools. Understanding how the competition reaches customers with their message can give you strategic insight. This information can help you modify and customize your plan to take advantage of any weaknesses that are revealed. Marketing campaigns should explore as many new digital and updated resources available, such as social media platforms, mobile marketing, content creation and sharing, case studies, user forums, dedicated microsites, email and event marketing. Keep an eye on new, evolving platforms and tools as well. There are new resources being created constantly, and customer behaviors can change almost overnight.

Research has shown that engagement increases almost 25 percent when more than one marketing platform is used to communicate with customers. Being familiar with the platforms will help determine when and how to incorporate them into an integrated plan. Used strategically, they are powerful tools that can deliver your message and product information directly to the customer at key times within the buying cycle. Consistency is also a major key for any marketing plan and campaign. Using many of these new digital tools allow you to develop a message and then customize it and deliver it consistency across multiple platforms reaching more people than ever before. It’s fast, cost-effective and measurable! Customer interaction is the key in any marketing plan today. A successful marketing plan will build in touch points throughout the customer experience, along with metrics to track the campaign effectiveness. Fortunately, with marketing automation tools, tracking effectiveness is easier now than ever before. When working in partnership with sales, service and engineering, marketing can expand brand awareness, enhance market position, open new markets, generate sales leads, and provide customer centric product requirements to the development team using an integrated plan. Altogether, an integrated marketing plan can have very successful outcomes. Using a variety of strategies and platforms to distribute a compelling and consistent message, and making sure the information is easily accessible to customers make it possible to have strong results without adding significant expenditures to the budget. And adding your business partners to increase reach can amplify the message and add to the effectiveness of your campaign. When working with a limited budget and resources, the use of integration in a marketing strategy can contribute to increased success as well. Integrated marketing is constantly changing, just like customer behavior. You need to stay abreast of new marketing tools and determine how and when to incorporate them into your plan. How are you using marketing to help your company achieve its goals? Be BOLD, be BRAVE. Smart marketing can help lead you to success. To get a free copy of my new marketing book and read the case study that used this product planning process, click here.