Marketing professionals, particularly those in the B2B space, talk about integrated marketing but it is surprising how many marketing activities are still not ‘integrated’ with the whole of marketing.
I recently had a discussion with a non-marketing professional who reminded me that many of his colleagues do not understand what integrated marketing is.
For these 2 reasons, I thought this topic worthy of a blog posting. To succeed in a Demand Generation 2.0 world, integrated marketing is an absolute must.
Without looking up (or linking to) any other definition of integrated marketing, let me define integrated marketing based on my own experience.
What is it?
Integrated marketing (also referred to as Integrated Marketing Communications or IMC) occurs when every activity and communication within a marketing organization is a part of, and blended with, a larger plan or superset plan over a specific product, solution, topic, audience, target, message, etc. To understand this, let’s first describe the major segments of a marketing organization. I’ve also included a high level list of their charters (which is not meant to be a complete list):
a) Corporate marketing – branding, messaging, corporate events, analyst relations, public/media relations, website, SEM, collateral, success stories, etc.
b) Product marketing – product requirements, product positioning, product launch, messaging, targeting, product collateral, etc.
c) Demand marketing – lead generation, events, seminars/webinars, trade shows, targeting/segmentation, SEO, social media, analytics, etc.
d) Channel marketing – co-marketing with partners, partner promotion, partner events, partner collateral, lead generation, etc.
e) Field marketing – field support, lead generation, targeting/segmentation, local trade shows/conferences, local events, etc.
As we can see, many marketing activities can overlap. For example, demand generation, channel marketing and field marketing can all execute lead generation. Likewise, adjacent activities can be performed by different parts of marketing. For example, SEM can be handled by Corporate Marketing while it’s ‘brother’ activity, SEO, can be handled by Demand Marketing.
This is why integrated marketing is important. If an organization does not integrate their activities across the whole of marketing, we see multiple messages, gaps in messaging and targeting, duplication of efforts and most importantly – a substantial increase in marketing’s failure rate.
Why Integrated Marketing
As a first step, let me provide an example of what integrated marketing is not. I once worked with a client who focused their demand generation budget on 3 product lines, which we will call Product A, Product B and Product C. All marketing activities for Product A and Product B were integrated – perhaps more by accident than by design – so that the message to media, customers, marketplace and analysts was consistent (e.g., ONE message) and the branding, website content, positioning, targeting, lead generation, partner management and field marketing were all aligned.
Product C was a different story. Product C was developed by Engineering who thought it was a good product but unfortunately, it did not fit in with the company’s message or target audience. It solved a completely different business problem for a completely different audience. In spite of this, Sales viewed Product C as a tactical revenue opportunity, dedicated 3 full time sales representatives and required Demand Marketing to run lead generation activities. Corporate Marketing was not supporting any activity over this product line other than requiring the Product Marketing Manager to independently develop web page content, presentations and collateral without any oversight to ensure brand or messaging consistency.
The results? The team barely generated leads and the cost per lead was way out of line in and of itself and compared with the other product lines – over $9,000 per sales lead – 300-400% higher than the cost of a sales lead for Product A or B.
There are books written about how to integrate marketing but let me just add a few sentences as to what integration looks like.
An integrated marketing approach includes a Go-to-Market (GTM) plan that incorporates and aligns all marketing activities and assigns tasks and timelines across the ‘whole of marketing’ in an organized, self-supporting way. It identifies the 3-5 key marketing themes for Product C and articulates the key message(s). It includes a plan to approach the analyst’s and media as an initial step. It also includes a plan to (a) align the website and collateral with the themes, (b) publish press releases and articles and (c) create a “buzz’ in the marketplace. It identifies one or more ‘compelling events’ (e.g., product launch, major conference/show, webinar series, industry event, etc.) which demand marketing can use as a centerpiece activity for lead generation campaigns (not isolated lead generation activities).
Marketing integration is fun because a relentless focus on it will generate results. If you agree (or if you don’t agree), I welcome your comments.
Other relevant links:
Tags: integrated marketing, IMC, communications, marketing communications, demand marketing, go-to-market plan, GTM
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