Digital Marketing Integration, or Integrated Marketing it goes by a few different names, it is all about pulling together your marketing effort to work efficiently. It still surprises me that companies that have split marketing functions continue to split the effort, or worse still end up competing! It’s time to get rid go those silos and integrate.
More often than not integration stops with the digital channels, integrating SEO & social with email campaigns and the website, full integration needs to include wider areas of the business to truly be effective.
My favourite example is the firm who had separate department for on and off line marketing, both with their own KPI, demands and strategies. The print ads would never even mention the website and would only give a phone number, by using reference numbers in newspapers, magazines and billboards they tracked customers by what reference number they quoted, or over all just the number of people who called. The reason for not mentioning the site? The department was only setup to count the calls. If more people came via the website the other department got the credit.
A continual issue with digital marketing is that many digital marketers do not have much education or experience in traditional marketing and communications. If you mention the 4 Ps or ask about the promotion mix you will receive blank stares in response.