As we’ve (hopefully) drilled into your head by now, integrated marketing is the key to a successful marketing approach. But many business owners still don’t see the point in it. It’s frustrating, understandably, to feel like you’re throwing your money into a process, that for all it’s components, is generating very little ROI. Why wouldn’t you just concentrate on the one or two marketing pieces—like online ads and SEO—that are generating all the business?

Because it’s a trick—a phenomenon we at M-pact Marketing like to call “last ad standing.” The last ad or marketing piece usually gets the credit for the prospect’s conversation, yet no one ever really thinks about the series of multiple marketing touches that led the prospect to the “last ad” and ultimately sealed the deal.

Let’s consider this. A prospect who:

1. Receives a direct mail piece that speaks directly to their pain points could then…
2. Reads an article in a trade publication on your company and remember your company name, which could prompt them to…
3. Searches for your company and/or related search terms on a search engine to get more information and…
4. Clicks on your paid advertisement, which could ultimately lead to…
5. Conversion.

The paid advertisement gets all the credit, while all the steps that led the prospect to search for your company and click on the paid ad are forgotten. Ultimately, it’s like you’re viewing the marketing process with blinders on, making it impossible to get the full picture of what’s really happening. And this was only a short example—hardly an integrated marketing approach. Throw any number of other marketing pieces into the mix (trade shows/events, email campaigns, social media, e-books, point-of-sale displays, videos, flyers, banners, etc.), and there’s no telling the path that led to conversion.

Studies show that prospects are more likely to convert when they have seen multiple ads across multiple “consumer touch points” and across multiple media platforms. What’s more, according to another study, the average customer interacts with a brand nearly twenty (that’s 2-0!) times before deciding to purchase or convert, yet all analytics will assign 100% of the value to the last touch point.

Unfortunately, there’s no 100% accurate and proven way to track this. So what’s a savvy—and budget-strapped—business owner to do?

The Solution

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. All of your marketing pieces are there to support each other, collectively contributing to the final conversion. It’s critical to diversify your marketing approach and effectively use multiple forms of communications in order to maximize ROI. In fact, a multi-touch, multi-media marketing approach can increase conversions by more than half. The more your customers and prospects see you and the more you are able to get in front of them through a variety of targeted approaches, the more they will remember you.

**Quick tip for tracking success of online campaign: Unique phone numbers and dedicated URLs can help provide clarity and track the success of a campaign back to the original source

• 10 Brilliant Marketing Ideas – Entrepreneur
  
  
• Next Generation Business Planning - Best Biz Practice
  
  
• Right and Wrong of PR Pitches - Duct Tape Marketing

1. Diversify your marketing approach to maximize ROI.
2. Don’t automatically attribute conversions to the last touch point.
3. Marketing is about timing, location and repetition. Make your customers remember you!
   
   

Check out our latest website for a local company: Capital Container

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