Roadmap to Digital Excellence: Integral Marketing

It is becoming increasingly important to steer all marketing activities in one direction and to operate comprehensive, holistic or integrated marketing (integral marketing) in the sense of total marketing management (TMM) or market-, customer- and employee-oriented corporate management. Comprehensive or holistic implementation means that the coordination and networking of all measures forms the central marketing philosophy, with the customer at the center.

Holistic orchestration of marketing instruments

The aim is to coordinate all marketing activities in the sense of a holistic orchestration of marketing instruments and to manage the overall behavior of the company in a sustainable manner after evaluating all business-relevant impulses and perspectives of the stakeholders. To achieve this, the company must harmonize all activities, speak with one voice and make optimal use of synergies, which means that all employees in the company must act as one unit, convey a uniform image of the company and the brand and pursue the same goals. The aim is to coordinate the impact of all departments on the customer and to create a "Customer thinking" as a central pillar. To achieve this, all of the company's functions must be subordinated to marketing.

Successfully shaping the marketing mix

All marketing activities require a clear framework, target formulations and a coordinated strategy. The more stakeholders and target groups that need to be taken into account, the more complex the process from positioning to strategy development and the implementation of integrated marketing through to (brand) controlling. In the marketing mix of "4P" (product, price, place and promotion), the question of how social media can be integrated in the sense of a sustainable dialog must be answered; this continues one level below, for example in the communication mix (see integrated communication). In an integrated marketing approach with social media, particular attention should be paid to relationship marketing. This opens up numerous new opportunities for customer acquisition, customer care and customer recovery.

Customer Relationship: Management of customer relationships

The starting point for successful customer relationship management (CRM) is the four basic objectives of customer management, because even in a digital or data-driven company, the focus is on customers and managing the customer relationship:1. customer acquisition by identifying potential customers (leads) and systematically leading them to purchase.2Customer retention by emotionally establishing the customer relationship of the first customer to become a fan or ambassador.3. Customer expansion by promoting second and regular follow-up purchases.4. Avoiding churn by identifying customer loss and preventing churn.

Data management: central platforms and multi-channel experiences

Today's customers want a personalized, uncomplicated shopping experience that works consistently across all channels - mobile, online, on the phone, in-store. This is why companies today need a central, end-to-end platform for personalized customer experiences, on which all data from social networks, emails, apps, customer conversations, etc. converge. This data is the basis for effective personalized marketing campaigns, because only then can companies reach the right customers at the right time via the right channel with the right content.* Marco Englert (MBA) is a manager, consultant and coach and focuses on management innovations for the sustainable control of increasing dynaxity and digital transformation. As Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Executive Director, he is responsible for modeling and implementing management strategies at Motodox GmbH. He has excellent research and leadership know-how and is a certified specialist for brand communication, online marketing manager, digital sales manager, employer brand manager and manager for agile organizational development (Quadriga University).

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