What is Integrated Marketing?

By Shuting Qi

Integrated marketing is the most important part in the holistic marketing model because integrated marketing contains actual marketing strategies that apply directly to business’s customers. Integrated marketing is a definition of unified multiple marketing activates to maximize customers’ profits and to deliver values. In another word, when a business is designing their marketing strategy, other business activities should also be considered.

There are a great number of marketing strategies could be applied, but all of the marketing strategies could be categorized into four parts, which also called “4P”-product, price, place, and promotion. This term was first presented by E. Jerome McCarthy.

Product:

Business need to find their target customers and focus on main services or products

Price:

Business should list prices for their products, payment methods, and discount rate etc.

Place:

Business should figure out their distribution channel and coverage for products. Logistics and transportation should also be considered.

Promotion:

Most people stereotype only promotion is marketing, but promotion is only partial of marketing strategies. Promotion includes advertising and sale promoting etc.

The 4 Ps above are the basic of simple marketing strategies. Recently, there was another model has been presented by Robert Lauterborn, called “4C”- customer, cost, convenience, and Communication. This 4Cs model is not a replacement of 4Ps. Instead, it is a supplement of 4Ps. Both models need to work with the other one in order to offer the best customer’s experiences.

Customer:

Business should find customers’ preferences first, then apply marketing research findings to design product.

Cost:

Business should know the customers’ willingness to pay before setting the price for a product.

Convenience:

When considering products’ sale channels, business should think about which channel would be the best convenience for their customers.

Communication:

Communication means business need to hear back from their customers instead of the one-way relationship, promotion.

All of the above are must consider elements for business when they practicing integrated marketing.

Kotler, Philip, Kevin Lane Keller, and Taihong Lu. Marketing Management in China. Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.