7 Critical Elements of a Successful Integrated Marketing Strategy

New marketing channels are appearing all the time, thanks to social media outlets and other digital platforms. At the same time, traditional outreach methods such as physical ads still have a big impact.

The growing number of choices gives marketers plenty of ways to reach their target audience. However, it also leaves the door wide open to one of the biggest problems in marketing today: fragmentation.

To make a lasting impact, marketing needs to communicate a consistent message to customers at every point of interaction. But with so many marketing channels, it’s easy to lose control.

To keep communications consistent and prevent fragmentation, here are seven key elements to keep in mind when developing your integrated marketing strategy:

1. Planning

To make sure all channels and communication methods are integrated, you have to start at the beginning.

Start by defining the campaign and its goals, said Frost & Sullivan’s Gary Robbins and Lauren Jaeger during a session at the 15^th Anniversary MARKETING WORLD 2014: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange in Boston. Figure out your company’s identity and the message you want to send, as well who you want to send it to.

2. Buying cycle

Integration isn’t just about making sure different marketing campaigns use similar language or have the same taglines or design schemes. It’s about the sending the same message to customers throughout their entire journey with your company. 

Make sure you consider the entire buying cycle when planning your integrated marketing strategy – including brand awareness, consideration, credibility, and final evaluation. While different types of content will be used depending on which phase the buyer is in, the core message needs to be consistent.

3. Your audience

Really successful integrated marketing happens when companies are able to look at themselves from the customer’s point of view and see if that view is consistent with the message the company is trying to convey. Doing that requires a full understand of your audience and its different segments.

Many companies have taken up the strategy of developing buyer personas for the different types of customers they’re trying to reach. Key factors to consider when defining those personas include title, industry, level of decision-making power, needs and concerns, and preferred communication channels.

4. People

Customers don’t just interact with your company via the marketing collateral that you deliver to them. They’re also likely to speak with a salesperson during the process, or with support staff at some point after they make a purchase.

The message delivered in those person-to-person interactions must also be consistent with marketing communications. To achieve that, marketers will have to work with other teams such as sales, customer support, and others that deal with customers.

5. Content

Content is king in today’s marketing landscape, as buyers have greater knowledge and access to more information than ever. Buyers have already done their research before they contact companies, so marketers need to make sure they’re putting out the kinds of content that resonate with the target audience.

The key – and one of the biggest challenges – is making sure all of those pieces of content deliver a consistent message. Robbins and Jaeger recommended a rubric for developing content that is “ALRITE”:

1. Audience: Who, specifically, does each marketing asset target?
2. Longevity: What is the shelf-life, or long-term value, of this asset?
3. Resources: How will the asset be produced and who will be delegated to execute?
4. Integration: How will this asset integrate with the rest of our marketing campaign?
5. Timing: When is the best time for this asset to be launched?
6. Evaluation: How will we measure the performance of this particular asset?

6. Technology

Technology plays a role in almost every aspect of marketing these days, from analyzing data and conducting to research to publishing content and tracking the success of campaigns. However, it’s important to use technology wisely, warned Dell’s Monique Bonner during her keynote speech at MARKETING WORLD 2014. 

With so much technology available, marketers sometimes act like kids who are excited to play with a bunch of new toys, she said. It’s important to start by defining the goals and then figuring out what technology will help the company get there, rather than the other way around.

7. Measurement

As any marketer knows, the work isn’t done once a campaign is rolled out. You need to track results so you can do better next time – and, ideally, make changes in real time based on the results.

Again, it comes back to the planning. Before implementing a strategy, the company needs to know what key performance indicators need to be looked at and how that data will be tracked. The goal should always be continuous improvement, with a focus on viewing the company from the customer’s point of view.

About the Author:

Sam Narisi is the Publications Editor for Frost & Sullivan’s Integrated Marketing Solutions Practice, which helps companies innovate and deliver original marketing programs for every stage of the buying process.  For more information and insight, visit Frost & Sullivan’s IMS Knowledge Center.  For details on Frost & Sullivan's Integrated Marketing Solutions Practice, contact us today.

The Changing Role of Marketing – And What You Need to do to Keep Up

An interview with:

Michael Williams
Chief Marketing Officer
The Grand Prix of America, Formula 1

Interviewed by Sam Narisi

Michael Williams has had the chance to work for several of the most admired brands in the world, including Disney, the National Football League, the National Hockey League as well as with the global advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, where he managed a $50M annual portfolio for Ford Motor Company. In his current role as Chief Marketing Officer for The Grand Prix of America, Michael is responsible for running general business operations including all sales and marketing matters, event programming, and customer experience and engagement, as well as establishing the brand position and strategic business model that will guarantee long term growth for the Grand Prix and Formula 1 in North America and throughout the world, a job he says allows him to use all the skills and experience he has gained throughout his career.

Williams is joining us at this year’s 15th Anniversary MARKETING WORLD 2014: AFrost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange, this week in Boston, to share his expertise and insight around the future of marketing. We caught up with Michael to talk about some of the ways the role of marketers is changing and what CMOs and others must do to stay ahead.

As marketing’s role changes, what are some of the key skills marketers need to stay relevant?

I think those skills are always changing. Successful marketers are the ones who are able to realize how the landscape is evolving and apply their skills to what is needed at the time. For instance, the challenges we’re going to face with Formula 1 in the first year are going to be vastly different from the challenges we’ll face in years two through fifteen. In year one, it’s mostly about awareness building and creating a platform to deliver this race, while in years two through fifteen, it’ll be about customer engagement, the value proposition, renewal and retention of consumers, and ultimately creating a clear, effective, and engaging communication channel to interact with people on a continual basis.

Nowadays, marketing isn’t just about creating a single interaction with a consumer. It’s about relationships. For instance, when you use social media now, it’s not a one-way conversation. We’re talking with customers, rather than to them. I think that’s one of the biggest evolutions within marketing. It’s not just blindly throwing blanket statements out there and hoping it resonates with people. You need to create relevant, topical, and engaging content, deliver it in a strategic manner, and make sure that once you have that engagement, you never do anything to discourage it or break up the relationship. You have to nurture the relationship and deliver on what you promise and what your brand represents. More so than ever before, you have the ability to do that in a very clear and concise manner.

As organizations continue figuring out the best ways to use social media, what do you think marketers should be doing to change their approach?

The role of a CMO is changing from just a traditional marketer to someone with the skill set of a marketer, but also with the ability to be a good listener. You have to listen to your consumers and what the market is telling you, and then you have to be nimble enough to go back and change your strategy and how you’re delivering your messages to people, if necessary.

Never before has the power been so strongly in the hands of the consumer. The speed with which things are done now forces you to be concerned with listening and engaging the consumer. But it also forces you to do the traditional work of recognizing a problem, devising a solution, and then figuring out the best way to communicate that solution.

What other trends within social media and technology do you think will impact marketers moving forward?

I think consumer-developed content is going to make up a larger portion of how companies communicate the positive attributes of their brand. Before, marketers used to think they were the ones managing and dictating what was happening with the brand, but now you need to realize that there are conversations about your company that are happening constantly, whether you’re involved or not.

A lot of times, depending on what your product is, if you’ve gotten people emotionally invested in your brand, then they’re going to voice their own stories. You’re going to see a big shift where brands will embrace those stories and give customers a platform to speak on behalf of the brand, which is different from what has happened before.

How can companies create that emotional investment?

You need to recognize the difference between creating a brand and marketing a commodity. Those both might be the same product or service, but the difference is in how you go about doing it.

Take a company marketing bottled water. In one case, it may be a commodity where the company sells it on price and that’s how they compete, and in another you could find a company that creates a story – for example, a charity water, where a portion of the revenue goes back to deliver clean water to someone else. In doing so, you’ve created an emotional connection where people may be willing to spend more to do something because of the story and what the brand represents. You’re actually selling the product based on the brand attributes and the core value, rather than the tangible product itself. Tat makes you different from everybody else.

What are some of the challenges around these areas you’re facing with Grand Prix of America and how are you overcoming them?

One factor with Formula 1 is that it’s not well known in the U.S., so there is going to be an educational and awareness-building component. But bringing a race to the New York and New Jersey market offers a tremendous amount of opportunity that you may not have elsewhere. There’s a large percentage of the population that reside throughout the northeast that are either from another country, have some kind of international influence, or do international business of some kind and already know the value of F1 and have an enormous passion for it.

Ernest Hemingway said that “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” The Grand Prix of America has the unique opportunity to do something truly spectacular. We will deliver an exceptional race experience that is grounded in creativity, innovation, safety and the highest standards found in live event production around the globe. The genesis of our brand may have been born from racing, but the DNA of who we are and what our brand represents is so much more.

It’s our responsibility to deliver a compelling story alongside an incredible product. After all, we are creating moments that will forever change the way that people look at Formula 1.

Segmentation is Critical for Successful Content Marketing

Content marketing is quickly becoming the key area of focus for marketers right now. As customers become more informed and hungry for information, providing relevant, valuable content will be a critical way for businesses to stand apart from the competition.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s 2014 Global Marketing Priorities Survey, 64% of companies expect to spend more on content marketing, even while the majority of respondents expect their overall budgets to stay flat.

However, despite recognizing the need for great content marketing, creating content that delivers value for customers was listed as the top challenge for 2014. In fact, the majority (65%) of marketers surveyed by Frost & Sullivan rate their content marketing efforts as average or worse.

Content Must Be Relevant

One key obstacle businesses face is getting the right information to the right people. Content must be relevant for the audience so it can drive action.

While customers have access to more information than ever, it’s becoming harder to find relevant information. That’s why buying decisions are actually more difficult now than in the past despite the increase in information.

A study conducted by Princeton and Stanford University shows how irrelevant information can cloud decision making. Participants in the study were asked to imagine they were loan officers deciding whether to approve a new customer. One group was told the customer had failed to pay $5,000 in credit card debt. Those in another group looked at the same hypothetical individual but were told the amount of the debt could be either $5,000 or $20,000. Most in the second group asked to wait for more information, and it was revealed that the debt was $5,000.

So all participants ended up with the same information, but the two groups came to very different decisions. In the first group, 71% of participants rejected the applicant, compared to just 21% in the second.

The bottom line: More information isn’t necessarily helpful when it comes to making decisions. The same idea applies to your customers. When it comes to content marketing, you need to make sure you’re delivering not just great content, but great content that is relevant to the audience.

Segment Your Database

One challenge is that companies must deliver content to several different types of customers and prospects. There are many different groups the company will be trying to reach and each need their own dedicated content in order for it to make an impact.

The first step for a successful content marketing strategy is to define the audience, said Suzanne Schultz, Digital Media Marketing Consultant with Frost & Sullivan, during a recent eBroadcast. That means considering factors such as:

1. Industry
2. Vertical
3. Role within the company
4. Geographic location

Prospects vs. Customers

Another question to keep in mind is what phase of the buying cycle the audience is currently in. Marketers should give prospects different content from what is delivered to current customers.

For prospects, the focus should be on providing valuable information relevant to the person’s role in order to build trust and establish credibility. With customers, that work has already been done, so the focus can be more on educating the audience about the company and its new offerings.

Current customers can also be segmented further based on how recently they’ve made a purchase, how often they buy, and how much they’ve spent.

Persona

To give people relevant content, marketers also need to think about the personas that they sell to, based on the customer’s role within their business. For instance, if you’re marketing Human Resources software, you’re selling not just to HR Directors, but also CFOs, purchasers, and others. Each of those personas needs to see different kinds of information.

To avoid hitting people with irrelevant and counter-productive information, it’s important to segment your database according to job titles and thinking about what content each list would like to see.

Other Factors

Marketers can segment their databases based on any number of factors, and a lot of that will depend on the company’s industry and its customer base. Here are a few other areas to think about:

• Lead source – Seeing how leads first connected with the company will offer clues about which stage of the buying cycle they are in. For instance, someone downloading price information is likely to be at a different stage than someone reading an educational white paper.
• Level of activity – Knowing information such as how often a lead is visiting your site, how many pages they visit, and how often they open emails will help decide how best to interact with them – for example, how often they should be contacted.
• Location – If your customer base is global, it’s important to understand the cultural differences that may come into play for leads located in different parts of the globe. In addition, knowing where people are located can allow the company to better personalize offers.

About the Author:

Sam Narisi is the Publications Editor for Frost & Sullivan’s Integrated Marketing Solutions Practice, which produces and markets independent third-party content for companies across the B2B spectrum.  For more information and insight, visit Frost & Sullivan’s IMS Knowledge Center.  For details on Frost & Sullivan's Integrated Marketing Solutions Practice, contact us today.

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