Just a few years ago, integrated marketing was no more than a theory. Today it has gone beyond being simply a fad or a buzzword, and its power to influence targeted audiences and brand businesses is no longer taken lightly. The effectiveness of integrated marketing is a fact, and recent research studies bear this out.

An important example is a 2005 research study of return on investment of integrated marketing performed for FORUM for People Performance Management and Measurement by collaborators Northwestern University, PMA Educational Foundation, Inc. and The Dudley Group, Inc. and its companion study, “Motivating Employees to Embrace Integrated Marketing.” The in-depth study uses a definition of integrated marketing communications from Schultz and Schultz (2004):

The “Motivating Employees” white paper reports, among other findings, that the three strongest factors affecting a company’s performance (defined as increased sales/profits) are brand management, agency management and internal marketing, three vital components of integrated marketing. It further determined that by far the number-one factor in achieving integration was employee buy-in.

Another study relating to integrated marketing, this one done by the National Retail Federation (NRF), shows that consumers prefer using the integrated channel approach when making a purchase. The majority of retail consumers (70.2%) use a combination of catalog, on-line and the physical store to make purchases, as opposed to stores only (17.5%) or on-line only (2.9%).

It’s no surprise, when consumers are surrounded by so many communications channels these days, that they are taking advantage of the multiple messages available to them. “Today, consumers are rewarding retailers that employ a true integrated multi-channel approach to the shopping experience,” the NRF report said.

Another indication that integrated marketing is an accepted practice now is that colleges and universities are offering degree programs in integrated marketing or integrated marketing communication. For example Emerson College in Boston offers a graduate degree program that teaches students “to develop strategic IMC plans within the context of the overarching organization/marketing plans.” The program at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University focuses on integrated marketing as “a customer-centric, data-driven approach to

marketing and branding that stresses communicating to consumers through multiple forms of media and technology.” As a leading-edge provider of integrated marketing, MillerWhite, LLC utilizes its proprietary protected formula, MW Fusion®, to develop integrated marketing plans for its clients and assist them with plan implementation that delivers results. Through the formula’s “Fusion of Influence,” clients are made aware of those external and internal factors that influence marketing the brand or product.

MillerWhite partner Bill White said the MW Fusion® integrated marketing plan recommends external marketing that the firm can perform that ties in with internal marketing that the client primarily handles, both targeted toward positively affecting the performance of the company or the product. For more information about how this can work for your company, contact MillerWhite Integrated Marketing.

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