Know-How Exchange : Social Media

Integrate them.

Dear gina3629,

Let's say you've got ten people sitting at a conference table and they all speak different languages but the lack knowledge of each other's languages.

Now, let's also say that they don't have a translator between them.

What might the result be when they begin discussing ... well, pretty much anything really?

Here, just one translator, just one unifying element that can speak and understand everyone's language becomes the unifying voice. This person becomes the grease on the wheels of communication, and in marketing, that's precisely what integration does.

Integration greases the skids.

Marketing that isn't integrated, marketing that isn't connected across channels, across media outlets, and across its varying messages and audience profiles lacks punch.

But there's more to it than this. Not only does the overall voice lack punch, but it lacks an ability to cut through the clutter and it lacks the ability to connect differing messages across differing markets.

When this happens, the overall context or intent goes to hell in a hand basket and a great deal of time and money is wasted.

Messages (and the benefits and values within them—the things
that solve the client's problem) are driven home through two things: frequency and consistency, and unless someone can prove otherwise I think it's nigh on impossible to achieve either of these things without some form of integration.

Whenever you hear the word "integration", think of frequency and consistency and ask yourself if the addition or subtraction of either frequency and consistency adds to takes away from the whole.

If the frequency and consistency adds something, you'll get an integrated result and a clearer whole.

If the frequency and consistency takes away something (or is totally lacking to begin with) you'll get a NON integrated result and a hole in the whole.

Or so it seems to me.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Were the Beatles better together or as solo acts?

Always integrate everything you can whenever possible. It helps your message resonate better and increases the brand building effects of your efforts.

The only exception would be where you are using different marketing vehicles for different audiences (with different buyer personas) with very different messages. I'll make up an example related to your field - imagine using a direct mail piece to reach seniors about peaceful and relaxing cruises with other seniors, and for another campaign using print ads in Maxim with a message for young people promising loud fun, excitement, and new short-term relationships. It would be a challenge to integrate these with compromising one or both of the messages.

You can also take this to the next level and integrate your message with partners if you have natural combinations and compatible branding. An example of this was JetBlue's co-marketing promotion with Airborne (before they lost the big suit). It was a big boost to both, people who travel worry about catching a cold and it was a nice freebie for the airline to give away.

Good luck!

Integrate 'em! :) Social media is forcing companies to get back to their marketing & PR (not media relations) roots... Integrated Marketing/Communications puts CUSTOMERS at the center of any engagement. The tourism industry needs to understand that people are VERY social and use sites like Yelp!, etc. to share their experiences.

So when it comes to advertising, social media, PR, etc. you can't segregate who sees/responses to what. Too many messages will lead to brand confusion without a doubt. AND, it's a waste of money to not integrate your marketing efforts.

Here are some great resources to help understand why IMC is beneficial ans how to get started with IMC planning:

Communicating Globally: An Integrated Marketing Approach by Don E. Schultz and Philip J. Kitchen

Integrated Branding by Lynn Parker and F. Joseph Lepla

Integrated Marketing Communications: Putting It Together & Making It Work by Don E. Schultz, Stanley I. Tannenbaum, and Robert F. Lauterborn

Developing a Creative and Innovative Integrated Marketing Communications by James R. Ogden

Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications by Larry Percy

Hope this helps,
Beth Harte
Community Manager, MarketingProfs
@bethharte

If you want a higher ROI on each area you should integrate the entire marketing mix. In addition to what everyone has said in regards to customer experience there is a LARGE financial benefit to integration.

In other words you will get better results AND a higher return on your investment by integrating all of the marketing mix.

By integration you can create customer relationships and deploy "trigger" based marketing strategies that will alert sales when prospects are responding to other parts of the marketing mix. Making not only your awareness and lead generation more effective, but also making the best use of your expensive sales resources.

If you currently have these activities managed by different offices in different locations (ie. tourism) it is still important to integrate them...even if they are integrated at the local level. You will still have better results and better ROI. The integration should be based on local market needs and conditions and be very targetted.

Corporate HQ can start the strategy of integration and then roll it out to local offices.

Good Luck!