Let’s Make 2013 the Year of Integrated Marketing

Of all the marketing challenges we face in the business and nonprofit sectors, there’s one that is “fixable.”  Integration.

What is marketing integration?

“Integrated marketing is the combination of marketing tactics to help deliver one marketing strategy and more quickly build know, like and trust.”
John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

Breaking down silos and working cohesively with all functions that are involved in the marketing process may seem daunting, especially for larger organizations. But, it is not impossible. In fact, your organization’s success depends on it.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) “is a strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand communication programs over time with consumers, prospects, and other targeted, relevant external and internal audiences”.
Don E. Schultz, professor emeritus-in-service of integrated marketing communications at Northwestern University

According to Schultz, organizations that are doing integrated marketing right today have done the following:

1. Changed their focus from their products and services to their customers and prospects.
2. Designed a structure that aligns the entire organization, internally and externally, to service customers.
3. Developed a process that puts a value on customers by investing the “right” organizational resources in communicating with customers over time.
4. Created a process that measures the returns on consumer communications investments.
5. Done this for a large organization with a multitude of customers and generated substantial financial returns.
6. Accomplished the aforementioned with an affordable number of people and external resources.

Is integrated marketing a feasible goal for YOUR business or nonprofit this year?