It’s long been said that one marketing outreach or one touch point does not a campaign make. That’s a no-brainer. In the past, traditional marketing approaches such as direct mail and advertising represented the bulk of a company’s marketing budget. However, they were often carried out independent of one another. That was known as end-to-end marketing. Today, more companies recognize the need to integrate their outreach initiatives and take advantage of all the opportunities available. This is accomplished by continually tapping into ever-expanding and innovative marketing channels.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise the trend is toward what’s become known as integrated marketing. Simply stated, integrated marketing, according to BusinessDictionary.com, is the “strategy aimed at unifying different marketing methods such as mass marketing, one-to-one marketing and direct marketing. Its objective is to complement and reinforce the market impact of each method, and to employ the market data generated by these efforts in product development, pricing, distribution, customer service, etc.” Depending on the product or service being offered, integrated marketing channels might include the following:

• Television, radio and print advertising in conjunction with SEO
• Social media
• Speaking engagements
• Online advertising
• Publication of books, e-books, articles and other forms of communications.

Integrated Marketing Campaigns

Integrated campaigns communicate the same message in different ways via varied channels. In addition to delivering consistent messages to prospects and customers, integrated marketing programs reinforce central themes by increasing the frequency with which prospects and customers are exposed to the message. Additionally, by using or adapting the same images and content for various channels, marketers can enjoy reduced costs. Integrated campaigns also deliver unified information to prospects and customers in the format they prefer.

As technology continues to change the way companies interact with their prospects and customers, integration of the various components of a marketing strategy becomes even more critical. The goal of integrated marketing is to make sure that every communication is in harmony with the corporate brand, message and strategic objectives. When this happens, the overall result is far more powerful than an end-to-end strategy.