Integrated Marketing: How To Avoid Compartmentalized Strategies
So many business leaders compartmentalize marketing into silos. This happens for a number of reasons. Maybe you have a large corporation, some people think it is easier to look at things in separate pieces, and others don’t understand the power that marketing can have, they just see it as a necessary function of business because that is what they were taught.
Wherever your thoughts lie on this, the clear message is that you have to stop thinking in silos. Stop segregating your marketing efforts because you are leaving yourself open to a less than stellar marketing campaign. When you look at your marketing strategy as a blue skies big picture, you can see where all of the different pieces fit into the overall strategy. If you look at, say, digital and experiential as two completely separate strategies, you won’t be able to leverage your own successes through multiple channels. And what happens if one tactic falls short of the goals set out, or effort in that area flounders? A tactic can easily be swept under the rug if it is not given purpose in your overall strategy.
The key is integration. Marketing channels all have specific functions, however all should work together to form a multi-channel marketing strategy (I’m not one for buzzphrases, but this seems to fit).Here are a few tips to get rid of marketing silos and avoid potential marketing fails:
If you do all of your marketing in-house, set up regular status meetings with the whole marketing team. If your company is large, then assign key people to attend the meetings and report back to their teams.
If you are hiring an agency, hire one central agency rather than multiple agencies. Only 11% of companies work with a lead agency for both their digital and traditional marketing (SoDA).
If your project or campaign is particularly large and needs to be spread across multiple agencies, then make sure you establish who the points of contact are to keep open communication channels.
Know where your customers are so you can focus your efforts rather than trying to be in all places or in just one place. This will maximize the effectiveness of your efforts.
Talk to your customers on a regular basis to make sure that your strategy is in line with their changing outlook. This includes B2B marketing! Only 5% of B2B marketers actually consider keeping this communication channel open as part of their overall strategy (Forrester)
Generate touchpoint maps to see where you customers are getting their information, where they are interacting the most, and who influences them.
Always develop an overall strategy before assigning tasks to make sure you are not forgetting about any channels that would work for you.
Define metrics to measure the success of your marketing efforts.
Be realistic about your budget. This is a tough one, but it could mean working with a smaller agency where you are not lost in a sea of clients, scaling back outreach in certain areas to targeted influencers who will get your message out, or even taking a more guerrilla or grassroots approach.
Constantly measure the effectiveness of your efforts in all channels against your goals and metrics to see if you need to tweak your strategy along the way.