Total Marketing is about the whole enterprise, its people, technologies and processes being part of the effort to deliver customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, many firms often still have a silo-mentality. TML, although MTM is holistic, therefore looks at its impact in the online environment.

One of the biggest obstacles to becoming a successful online enterprise is often the isolation that exists between company departments due to the shortcomings of the IT infrastructure. Many organisations adopt specific systems to address unique needs such as an accounting package for finance or a customer database for marketing or an order processing system for online sales. Unluckily, these types of 'point solutions' often generate departmental silos which make it very difficult to share information across the company.

Detrimental effects on marketing

This has a detrimental effect on all departments but most impacts most on marketing. Online marketing freed itself from the constraints of departmental silos a long time ago. It has become a function that cannot survive in isolation from other company processes. Everyone in an online organization is involved directly or indirectly with marketing. From tech to finance and from sales to legal compliance, all departments help marketing to achieve one goal: Maximize ROI through targeting the right audience and matching its needs at any given point.

How does an organization start to think in this context? How does each department realize the urgency of breaking down silos? The answer is simple and it lies within the very principles of marketing: For maximum effect on your advertising, marketing must be coordinated to work seamlessly with all departments involved in the creation of your customer proposition. If this synergy is missing, your proposition won’t be reflected in your online communication and you will swiftly fall victim to the laws of diminishing returns.

Metrics: the right ones, in the right way

As Graham Jarvis, Editor of The Marketing Leaders points out, ‘Total marketing relies on using the right metrics in the right way’. In the online world, this can be translated into envisioning and managing online marketing strategies from forecasting through to profiling, tracking, and execution. But the most important thing to consider when implementing an online marketing plan is to keep it simple. There are many initiatives that seem “nice to have” at times, yet you don’t really need them at all. Everything in the online world is demand driven, therefore it should only be demand that drives marketing initiatives. Straightforward as this might sound, it has major implications for many of the philosophies on which conventional marketers base their decision making. The most important of these implications is the approach to brand awareness.

Brand advertising has given rise to an excess of theories regarding the lifetime value of advertising for which there had never been a scientific or remotely accurate method of ROI measurement. As a result, TV advertising had for years cemented a primacy in advertising expenditure. This reality has now been overshadowed by a more sophisticated approach which is no other than direct response marketing in another guise.

How does direct response blend into the concept of total marketing? As total marketing relies on using the right metrics in the right way, so does direct response. Direct response marketing is mainly a process but not a static one. It’s always changing and always evolving and what works now will most likely need tweaking next month. The companies that will lead this course are the companies that follow the process dutifully.

Even more importantly companies need to understand that separation in the online world needs to be tackled from all directions. Distances between company departments will result in a weaker product. Distances between companies and their customers will gradually make your consumer proposition unattractive. In some instances, such as with social networking sites, companies should even monitor their inter-consumer relationships and ensure they eliminate distances between them as well.

Customers: Integral and in control

At the epicentre of all these processes is the customer. The collective target is to understand what your customers really need. A converted visitor is a happy visitor. High ROIs and satisfied customers are inseparable and should always be viewed as such. Take Search Engine Optimization as an example: Optimizing your website for search engines improves accessibility and enhances your site’s usability. Similarly you can multiply your response rates with email marketing by analyzing your customer data and better targeting with bespoke email campaigns. Even in paid search, a highly relevant creative and landing page will not only present customers with precisely what they are looking for but will also boost their likelihood to convert to a sale.

Online marketing involves a lot of testing, meeting customer needs, constantly adapting to changes and rapidly reacting to them. Therefore, departmental reaction to market changes should be well-versed and immediate. You cannot afford to waste time and you cannot afford to drive campaigns with negative ROIs. This signals the end for silos within online corporations. All departments should be striving towards the same goal playing an active role in execution. Testing requires marketing-focused CRM systems and web analytics tools. Customer satisfaction requires data analysis and efficient data profiling. Avoiding bureaucracy and unnecessary delays mandates single platform applications, which integrate all data and business processes into a unified system.

The interactive nature of the Internet means that customers are now firmly in control. Direct response marketing needs to concentrate on what their actual needs are right this minute and not at some vague point in the future. Silos and departmental segregation are now elements of the past, and future activities in the online realm must be organized around consolidated departmental efforts, centralized technology solutions, customer-centric focus and process-oriented decision-making.

By Nick Tsimbidaros
Beatthatquote.com, Marketing Director

Email: nick@beatthatquote.com
Web: http://www.beatthatquote.com/