Integrated Marketing

Integrated Marketing

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Integrated Marketing - Linking it all together

Integrated marketing is essential to getting a better return on investment (ROI). By integrating all marketing materials you can increase profits at very little expense.

What is Integrated Marketing


Integrated marketing is more than just having a consistent look and feel to all of your marketing materials. Integrated marketing is the process of interlinking all marketing materials to enhance their effectiveness. For example, lets say that Larry's Widgets just spent $XX,XXX.XX on a new website. Larry then sits back and waits for the money to roll in. Jerry's Widgets, Larry's biggest competition, follows suit and spends $XX,XXX.XX on a new website. Jerry then adds the new website address to his letterhead, business cards, brochures, t.v. commercials, radio ads, flyers, t-shirts, billboards, golf balls, direct mail ads, etc. Which company is more likely to get a better return on investment from their website? (BTW, Larry just went out of business).

What does it cost


Now, lets look at the costs involved with integrated marketing. How much more did Jerry have to spend to get that extra return? The cost is minimal. Adding your new website address to the next batch of business cards, letterheads, brochures, etc. probably won't cost much at all. However, the increase to the effectiveness of the website went up exponentially.

Integrated Marketing - A Necessity


Increasing return on investment should be a major goal for any organization. If your marketing isn't consistent and integrated, you are losing money. Look at your current marketing plan. Are you integrating all marketing materials, or are there places where you could improve. The place most businesses fail is in integrating their marketing materials to their sales people. Let me explain. If the salesperson can't capitalize on the marketing, you've wasted money. Furthermore, if the salesperson doesn't know about the marketing plan or specific deals that are running, you have not integrated your marketing. You must integrate your marketing from conception to sales receipt and beyond for any marketing plan to succeed.