Implementing Marketing Integration

You want to do it, Integrated Marketing. It sounds like it is the right way to go about doing a good strategic synergistic marketing plan but what do I do?


You might want to start out by not getting lost in doing a Situation analysis, establishing Marketing objectives and putting together your Marketing budget. At this point you would most likely be pulling your analysis ideas, and money out of thin air like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But isn’t that what you are doing anyway. If you’re a small business I expect that is your plan. Open the check book, look at how much money is in there and go spend some of it.


If you are really serious keep reading.


To implement a good solid Marketing Integration plan you need to shack up your entire organization thinking on what you want to achieve and have the message, one message, a consistent thought patter permeate down through the ranks.


So grab a chain and sit down at the kitchen table, pour yourself a good hot cup of coffee and . . .


1st start by establishing your strategic goals and set financial projections in each product or service you have. Then pick which marketing channels using both direct and indirect, online and off line, you are going to use. Remember less used at a high level of involvement is better than more used a lesser amount.


2nd, make a list of all customers, prospects and other leads you have. How did you find them, How are you touching them in your on-going follow up now?


3rd, capture and assess all the data you have.


4th, Find the gaps in your system. Where do your customers and prospects get lost or fall out? Then put plans together for sales and marketing that address customer selection, acquisition, retention and growth initiatives. Draw these out (on paper) and prioritize your tactics on importance and roll out, with detailed steps to responsibilities, budgetary obligations and timing.


5th is to plan and start roll out (if you are a large company with a big budget you would do a test market at this point rather than a complete roll out) the offers of your campaign. Keep track of any results in real time and pounce on any results in a prescribed manor.


6th Push any results to your bottom line and assess performance of all marketing channels used. Identify correlation between them while identifying the gaps you find in implementation. Go back re-plan, re-budget and reload your timing gun while comparing them to your ROI projections you set out in your initial goals. Factor in any inconsistencies that you might have experienced.


7th re-launch plan towards your reworked plan pushing towards a higher level of expectation with the knowledge you have achieved and gained.


Larson Notes & Satire: Sometimes I look at this stuff and think what is really new here except a new buzz word for Marketing Directors and People to start throwing around to cloud good marketing practices in fog of jargon. Good marketing with a solid plan is the same. So what is new here? To be honest I am not sure.


All Marketing Integration is, is really taking the marketing process and the marketing message and permeating it throughout your organization. New? Hardly. Back in the ‘80s I went and had company business cards printed up for every one of my employees, even Hank the janitor. They might not have completely understood what was happening. I don’t know if I did either, but just for fun they would pass them out to their friends and acquaintances and low and behold for a period of 4 years straight we picked up 1 new account a week. This “Integration” stuff is about getting your consistent message out to all your employees to all your marketing channels to all your customers and prospects to everyone knows and understand what you and your company is all about.


What I can say is that if you sit down with a cup of coffee (ok tea if you must) and plan out your marketing and define the results you want to achieve you stand a better than average chance to succeed and isn’t that why we are in business?


Remember our 3 new programs for 2011
1st is our Virtual Sales Manager Program.
2nd our Sales Function Outsourcing Program
3rd our Virtual Business Consulting Program


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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