The JAGWire
Integrated Market Strategies
Integrated Market Strategies
Five Steps to Integrate Communications
By Julia A. Glenister and Rick Crandall, PhD
Multiple customer touch points and communication channels have long challenged corporate giants
since numerous messages are issued each day from PR, marketing, advertising, IR, sales and
By Julia A. Glenister and Rick Crandall, PhD
Multiple customer touch points and communication channels have long challenged corporate giants
since numerous messages are issued each day from PR, marketing, advertising, IR, sales and
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| "Think of integrated marketing as a chess game, and each group as a chess piece." Doug Roseborough, VP, Marketing and Services In-Vision Communications |
customer service. As profit and management responsibilities
have shifted to strategic business units, centralized
communications issues have become more complex, and
outbound messages are often mixed.
In the midst of the chaos, what can companies do to institute an
integrated communications plan? Developing and consistently
expressing an integrated marketing position first requires that
the enterprise know what it is trying to express. Then it must
have shifted to strategic business units, centralized
communications issues have become more complex, and
outbound messages are often mixed.
In the midst of the chaos, what can companies do to institute an
integrated communications plan? Developing and consistently
expressing an integrated marketing position first requires that
the enterprise know what it is trying to express. Then it must
coordinate among units and reinforce them so that implementation is effective. Message integration
cannot be achieved without two other components of quality marketing -- strategic solutions (finding
out what customers want, and packaging products and solutions accordingly) and organizational
integration.
The following five steps can build a foundation for accurate and consistent communications from all
departments.
Five Steps to Integration
1. Set corporate objectives
2. Set marketing objectives
3. Prepare an integrated marketing plan
4. Align compensation plans
5. Draw up an implementation plan
Corporate Objectives
When corporate objectives are set, each business unit must tailor its planning process after carefully
scrutinizing the interlocking role it plays with others. Good customer-centric objectives will encourage
each group to muster its own resources to meet centralized goals.
Marketing Objectives
Marketing has a clear mandate -- to interpret customer needs, package products and services around
those needs, and then communicate compelling features and benefits to customers. The exercise of
matching marketing objectives to corporate objectives highlights the critical role marketing plays in
revenues and bottom lines – a fact often overlooked by other revenue departments.
Integrated Marketing Plan
Some of the worst offenders in terms of conflicting outbound messages reside within marketing
itself. “Think of integrated marketing as a chess game, and each group as a chess piece,” advises
Doug Roseborough, VP, marketing and services, In-Vision Communications, a communications and
event marketing company.
An integrated marketing plan should solicit input across all functions, and make objectives, tactics
and guidelines clear. This process gives diverse units an interest in taking ownership, and will help
constituents understand their roles. When corporate divisions and units have territorial conflicts, a
powerful corporate champion is essential. Buy-in from the CEO, who provides the organizational
support and incentives, is necessary.
Compensation Plans
Compensation plans and budgets must be aligned to ensure that everyone works toward the same
goals. Roseborough, who has held executive marketing and sales positions at Oracle and VERITAS
Software, stresses this point, saying that the alignment must run from the CEO down to the first level
in the organization.
Implementation Plan
Marketing should emphasize an implementation plan, which will provide the roadmap for successful
execution of integrated marketing efforts. Plans should provide strategies, priorities, initiatives,
activities, communications, events, milestones, resources, lessons learned, roles and
responsibilities, and an evaluation framework to measure the effectiveness of all communications.
Conclusion
In competitive markets, corporations need one voice, not a cacophony. These five steps will focus
your marketing efforts. When integrated marketing is absent, divisions and departments can act at
cross-purposes, as well as confuse customers and prospects. Even though integrated marketing is
an enterprise-wide effort, individual departments can make a genuine effort to overcome internal
politics and cooperate with similar units to better communicate.
Fall 2003 Issue
cannot be achieved without two other components of quality marketing -- strategic solutions (finding
out what customers want, and packaging products and solutions accordingly) and organizational
integration.
The following five steps can build a foundation for accurate and consistent communications from all
departments.
Five Steps to Integration
1. Set corporate objectives
2. Set marketing objectives
3. Prepare an integrated marketing plan
4. Align compensation plans
5. Draw up an implementation plan
Corporate Objectives
When corporate objectives are set, each business unit must tailor its planning process after carefully
scrutinizing the interlocking role it plays with others. Good customer-centric objectives will encourage
each group to muster its own resources to meet centralized goals.
Marketing Objectives
Marketing has a clear mandate -- to interpret customer needs, package products and services around
those needs, and then communicate compelling features and benefits to customers. The exercise of
matching marketing objectives to corporate objectives highlights the critical role marketing plays in
revenues and bottom lines – a fact often overlooked by other revenue departments.
Integrated Marketing Plan
Some of the worst offenders in terms of conflicting outbound messages reside within marketing
itself. “Think of integrated marketing as a chess game, and each group as a chess piece,” advises
Doug Roseborough, VP, marketing and services, In-Vision Communications, a communications and
event marketing company.
An integrated marketing plan should solicit input across all functions, and make objectives, tactics
and guidelines clear. This process gives diverse units an interest in taking ownership, and will help
constituents understand their roles. When corporate divisions and units have territorial conflicts, a
powerful corporate champion is essential. Buy-in from the CEO, who provides the organizational
support and incentives, is necessary.
Compensation Plans
Compensation plans and budgets must be aligned to ensure that everyone works toward the same
goals. Roseborough, who has held executive marketing and sales positions at Oracle and VERITAS
Software, stresses this point, saying that the alignment must run from the CEO down to the first level
in the organization.
Implementation Plan
Marketing should emphasize an implementation plan, which will provide the roadmap for successful
execution of integrated marketing efforts. Plans should provide strategies, priorities, initiatives,
activities, communications, events, milestones, resources, lessons learned, roles and
responsibilities, and an evaluation framework to measure the effectiveness of all communications.
Conclusion
In competitive markets, corporations need one voice, not a cacophony. These five steps will focus
your marketing efforts. When integrated marketing is absent, divisions and departments can act at
cross-purposes, as well as confuse customers and prospects. Even though integrated marketing is
an enterprise-wide effort, individual departments can make a genuine effort to overcome internal
politics and cooperate with similar units to better communicate.
Fall 2003 Issue
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