Importance of Integrated Marketing

The key driver for implementing integrated marketing is that when everything works together, you have a higher chance of delivering successful outcomes on your marketing and business goals. Having several different departments who don't talk to each other does not send a unified message to your audience and can wreak havoc with your branding. You are also wasting resources by not pooling ideas or having a cohesive unit that is strong and manageable. Unfocused marketing efforts are ineffective and wasteful.

Integrating all aspects of marketing into one department ensures that your company's strategic marketing plan is being followed because it can be led, driven, monitored and championed by one or two individuals. If each department does their own marketing, it's difficult to measure and evaluate the results effectively. Also, why leave the marketing up to accountants, assistants, and IT people? Marketing should be done by marketers. Accounting should be done by accountants. It just makes sense to get certain professionals to do the jobs they are trained for.

This new strategy of having integrated marketing set up, where all aspects of marketing are clubbed under one department ensures that there is one common strategic marketing plan which is being followed. Since there is one marketing department for all the divisions, the marketing plan will be driven, led, monitored and the responsibility of few select professionals. In a scenario where each division of the company has its own marketing plan and activities, it is difficult to measure and evaluate the results and effectiveness of each divisions plans. At times in these kind of scenarios, it is difficult to hire marketing professionals, specially if the amount of marketing activity for that division does not permit the hiring of an extra professional. In these situations say for an accounts division, an accountant will be given the additional responsibility of handling the marketing activities for that division. There is no point in getting marketing activities handled by the accounts people and vice-versa. Marketing should be done by marketing professionals and Accounting should be done by accountants, period. It makes good business sense to get certain professionals to do the jobs they are trained for.

For good and an effective marketing program it is important that all your marketing resources should work together each complementing the other. This is important to keep your brand identity strong. Don't make the mistake of scattering your resources and saying one thing to the press and another in the print ad. All your messages to the people should say the same thing. Otherwise, you will end up with a weak, unproductive marketing program with thinning resources.