3 reasons to invest in integrated marketing

Are you sitting on the fence when it comes to the question of whether or not you should implement an integrated marketing solution in your business this year?

We completely understand. Weighing up the pros and cons and considering the learning curve involved to take your marketing to this elevated level of sophistication can be quite daunting.

That being said, we’re firm believers that integrated marketing software solutions are well worth the investment if you want to scale your business.

Here are the top three reasons why we’re advocates for investing in integrated marketing solutions.

1. Streamline Your Efforts

Speaking with organisations who don’t yet have an integrated marketing solution in place, we often find that their marketing and sales departments are siloed and unaligned. In many cases, we also see that different specialists within these teams aren’t genuinely working in harmony to achieve ‘the bigger picture’ business goals either. 

With an integrated marketing solution in place, your marketing and sales teams can become more streamlined and efficient. A single solution that offers full data tracking, management and reporting also enables every team member to understand how their area of concentration impacts upon the business as a whole. In turn, this encourages them to take a more holistic and collaborative approach which facilitates growth.

Furthermore, the real beauty of an integrated marketing solution is that it can allow you to finally bridge the gap between marketing and sales within your organisation - something that has been a bone of contention in the business world since time immemorial.

2. Save Time & Money

The time that an integrated marketing solution can save you and your team shouldn’t be underestimated.

While the learning curve can be off-putting, most solutions offer comprehensive training and excellent onboarding support to get you up and running with minimal disruption.

After undergoing initial training in the software, you will have everything you need to manage your marketing efforts in one place. Having a centralised marketing and sales 'hub' can save your business a significant amount of time, as you’ll be able to reclaim hours and hours that would have previously been spent carrying out data admin work and subsequently trying to ‘connect the dots’ between different marketing channels.

While an integrated marketing solution is likely to be one of the more costly line items on your expenses list, it will actually save you money in the long run too. With one tool to rule them all, you’ll be able to phase out other solutions that no longer serve your needs.

Also, you could potentially save money on staffing because using one integrated system will increase staff productivity and reduce the need for training in multiple tools. In fact, DataCaptive recently reported that marketing automation could drive a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead.

3. Get Better Results

Finally, the most prominent benefit of integrated marketing solutions is that when used to their full potential, they can empower your business to achieve better results.

Did you know that as many as 78% of marketers claim that marketing automation is responsible for increasing revenue within their organisation?

Automated systems allow you to reach the right person, with the right message, at the right time and truly nurture your relationship with them in a personalised manner throughout the customer lifestyle. The primary benefit of this is increased loyalty and maximised lifetime customer value.

Instead of communicating to the masses, each customer can receive content that is tailored to them exclusively, based on the data you’ve built up about them throughout your interactions with them to date.

Integrated campaign data is tracked granularly from end to end, allowing you to better understand your customers, their behaviours and their sales triggers. With deep insights into the finer details, you can pinpoint where you should be focusing your efforts and react accordingly.

All in all, this puts you in a powerful position where you can make data-driven decisions regarding your future marketing and sales activities, rather than crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

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Will you be investing in an integrated marketing solution this year? If you’re already using a tool, which one did you select and why? Tweet us @DMA_Partners and let us know your thoughts!

If you’d like to have a chat about how integrated marketing solutions could support your goals for business growth, please contact our Managing Partner, Philip Martin: philip.martin@dma-partners.com.