Integrated marketing: is that another cool sounding term that only large companies can afford? Nope. Integrated marketing makes sense for companies of all sizes and is especially wise for smaller businesses where marketing investments should be integrated to drive measurable results.

What integrated marketing does not look like:

When marketing activities are not integrated, you will have many puzzle pieces as shown. The problem is there is not a cohesive picture. Each marketing element (e.g., website design, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), sales brochures, advertising, email marketing, social media posts etc.) is its own unique puzzle piece. The efforts are not coordinated and no matter how hard you try, they are not going to present a cohesive view of your company. Each puzzle piece is a point solution with an overarching strategy and plan loosely defined at best. For most wise business owners, going the random, disparate route is not a solution. It’s a nightmare. There is no accountability, the left hand does not know what the right is doing and typically little to no measurable impact is achieved. Get the picture?

What does integrated marketing mean?

It means the pieces of the puzzle interlock. The marketing experts in their respective areas of marketing are working together for common and defined goals; working in a coordinated timeline and as a cohesive team. The overall picture (e.g., strategy) is defined and clear. There is a clear purpose for the marketing activities measured in terms such as increased awareness, thought leadership, educating and informing, generating leads or retaining customers..

What does integrated marketing look like?

It looks like a well-oiled machine. It looks like a symphony. It’s well choreographed and executed. Below is an example of For Marketing Matters’ (FMM) integrated marketing approach from this past week.

Step 1: Client case study. I am a huge fan of the power of case studies. Storytelling is a powerful marketing tool, especially in B to B marketing. For this particular client, I worked with account management to identify client stories that best exemplified our client’s value proposition. A great example emerged and I worked with the account manager to capture the story. The FMM proof reader then proofed all content while client approval was being secured. The new case study content was ready to be added to the website.

Step 2: Update the website. With the content completed and approved, the FMM graphic designer and developer worked together to design an expanded case study layout, testing responsive designs for mobile and desktop experiences. This latest case study was a shift from past case studies as it was a relationship focus with four projects completed to date for the same client. Images were carefully selected to enhance the content and make the page layout appealing. Check it out here.

Step 3: Writing a blog about the case study. We leverage blog functionality as a mechanism to add new content to a client website regularly. The FMM writer wrote a blog highlighting aspects of the case study, driving people to the new web content with consistent imagery. Timing of the blog post was sequenced with the website updates. Tracking mechanisms are in place as standard operating procedures to report number of readers by blog post.

Step 4: The social media team then kicked into gear to leverage the blog post and the case study on the website to reach our defined target audience by social media channel. For this client, we leverage LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. We find that case study content can be an effective way to reach our defined target audiences with interesting content that promotes engagement. Referrals to the website are tracked as are other key social media metrics including impressions and engagement.

Upcoming: Email marketing will be next in the integrated efforts to reach our target audience for whom we have emails (nearly 100%) to increase awareness of our client’s capabilities, keep the brand top of mind and encourage setting up a call or meeting.

This is integrated marketing.

Multiple marketing team members leveraging their individual talents and expertise, working with each other in a coordinated manner to go live in a synchronized manner. Success metrics by work stream are defined in advance and will be tracked and marketing ROI reported to our client starting in early December. With For Marketing Matters as your outsourced marketing team, we are working in an integrated manner to convert strategy to plans to implementation with metrics defined and success reported monthly.

Our client’s reaction to our integrated marketing efforts from this week:  “Looks Great!!! Reads very well and is extremely detailed. I love it!

Integrated marketing is powerful stuff. Don’t waste time and money with random pieces.