Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Marketing is or should be an integrated process, once in which all your marketing tactics, such as advertising, telemarketing and direct mail, should work together to drive sales, whether your sales occur at cash register, over the Internet, or at table at lunch.

Example: Your ad should contain your website address. Your brochures should feature visuals of your ads.

About CRM & KM. Lots of software out there to enhance this. Do a search on Google and you will find more info than you know what to do with.

Hope that helps.

Marketing Communications starts with 'the company's product or service.'

Integrated Marketing and Communications begins with 'the customer.' It starts by collecting customer data. Without a data base you can't have integrated communications - you simply have communications. In addition, IMC requires the entire organization - sales, marketing, operations, logistics... to determine their objectives and tactics. Once customer info is gathered and tracked, the relationship with the customer can be measured by 'lifetime value' and not just a single response to an ad.

Only once this is in place, IMC is about consistency of brand, message and design elements - both inside/outside the organization and across all media.