The importance of integrated marketing for small businesses

For many businesses spending on marketing and advertising can seem like a gamble when budgets are tight. This month Paul Cross, Head of Retail at thomsonlocal.com, looks at how an integrated marketing campaign can benefit small businesses and their budgets.

The arrival of the digital age has meant that it is easier for businesses to measure the impact of their marketing campaigns and this has meant that return on investment has become a crucial metric for marketing performance, particularly for smaller businesses.

However, integrating marketing efforts can increase the likelihood of a positive return on investment.

"Conducting an integrated direct marketing campaign can be as simple as following up your direct mailing with a courtesy call to check the information was received," according to Paul Cross, Head of Retail at thomsonlocal.com.

Although a lot of time is devoted to using technology to improve our marketing Mr Cross reminds small businesses not to underestimate the impact that personal contact can have when it comes to winning new clients.

Before you decide which marketing channels to integrate, some time should be spent discovering which channels work best for your business. Trialling and tracking the effectiveness of different channels will show you where your marketing is providing the best return on investment – focus on these areas and prioritise them.

Of course cost is always a factor in the process, for example implementing a direct mail campaign is more expensive than email, and some businesses may be drawn to focusing their marketing in one tried and tested channel.

However, Mr Cross believes that "by investing in the channels that work cost effectively together to generate a positive return on investment, a business will not lose out."

It also appears that more and more businesses are now seeing the value in combining their offline and online advertising with many looking at their website and its content as a key part of their strategy.

"A professional website is an essential marketing tool for any business, no matter how small and video can be used effectively to help increase search engine rankings," attests Mr Cross. 

Businesses that are interested in developing integrated marketing campaigns may wish to enlist the help of thomsonlocal.com which has a number of product offerings that have been specifically developed for this kind of marketing.

Those thinking of kick-starting an integrated campaign should first consider using an integrated business data list. Mr Cross recommends the Business Search PRO online business database from thomsonlocal.com because it "is unique in that it enables you to be able to customise your business data list for either a direct mail or telemarketing campaign".

The Head of Retail sees this as an easy way of compiling an integrated data list and suggests customers send their direct mail campaign first to warm their prospects up, and then follow this up with a call.

As mentioned earlier, email is a very powerful marketing tool and thomsonlocal.com provides businesses with an effective email marketing solution.

With its bespoke email broadcast tool, thomsonlocal.com can email Senior Decision Makers and then provide businesses with the offline data for a targeted follow-up call.

Businesses will be able to tell from the data which recipients opened and clicked on the email campaign, and see which recipients didn't open the email at all allowing them to build a profile of potential leads.

Once up and running, businesses need to measure and improve on the impact their integrated campaigns are having because it is essential you understand the value it brings to your business.

"Use campaign specific phone numbers, URL's and quoting codes on your communication pieces to track the number of leads generated by each campaign and channel", advises Mr Cross.

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