Survival Guide

It occurred to us that a lot of marketers (including us) use the “I” word but often in very different ways. We use the word so often that sometimes we don’t realize we are using it. I asked around for a definition of Integration and heard the following: “It’s all marketing functions working together”; “It’s a communication that works across all channels” and perhaps my favorite “I know it when I see it”. Let’s have some integration and everyone will be happy…YES!..integration.

I don’t claim to be the integration expert, but after a lot of years of trying to integrate digital within campaigns, I feel that I can share some observations and try to develop a single vernacular. In my humble opinion, it all boils down to two areas.

1)To produce integrated work, think about the consumer and how they interact with you.

Today, consumers are determining HOW and WHEN they want communication. One click and they’re gone. A poor disconnected user experience – whether on your website, in a mobile campaign, or at POS – and you may have lost them forever.

2) Get to the idea and get there together.

Keep in mind that this is coming at this from a digital marketing standpoint; the same approach may hold true for all marketing today, but let’s take a look at digital and the role that it plays within the larger marketing picture. There truly is no other medium that exists today where Media planning, Creative/Messaging, and Production are so closely tied together. Be bold. Think of an idea and then figure out how to do it. This is the age of invention, still.

Interactive marketing can play such a key support role across all other consumer touch points. Direct mail drives users to a website. Banner advertising can complement a larger television branding effort. Interactive CDs can be included in a direct response piece. A wonderful online experience can drive an entire PR campaign, or vice-versa. Or, not to be too crazy - your entire marketing effort could be online.

Whether you do your marketing in-house or partner with one or more agencies, the process to bring your big idea to bear should be the same. Don’t send each discipline off into a silo and expect them to come back with anything breakthrough. Once in a while you might get lucky, but it won’t hold up over time. To put a positive spin on this, select one strong leader to be your “conductor,” and, much like an orchestra leader, he or she should make sure that your media planner, your business strategist, your PR representative, your e-marketing strategist, your creative partner, and, finally, your interactive production team are all involved at the outset. We have seen this approach work time and time again.

Integration isn’t easy. It’s easy to talk about, but it’s not easy to define and it’s even harder to implement. Practice makes perfect, and with a team of dedicated, unselfish and open people it won’t take long to see the results.