I’ve been preaching the value of an integrated marketing strategy for some time now and while my focus has been mainly on US-based companies and consumers, it would appear the idea of integrated marketing is catching on everywhere as consumers Down Under want an integrated message just like the rest of us.
Results from a survey conducted by the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) revealed that 58% of Australians now shop in a multi-channel way. The results of the study also suggest that retailers and companies who engage consumers effectively across multiple channels, and new technologies such as the iPad, smartphone and mobile applications, and social media, will be more successful than those retailers and companies who don’t.
Please spare me the “But Steve, this survey is about Australian consumers. I don’t market to them, why should I care?” comments. This is not about one particular country or continent. People are people the world over and they want an integrated marketing message. They want the same message delivered across all the channels advertisers and marketers decide to include in our integrated marketing strategies. Why is that so hard to comprehend?
Back in June, I told of how Shoppers Want Integration, Retailers And Marketers Not Delivering It. In that post I told you of TWO separate surveys which showed that 72% of consumers WANT an integrated marketing approach yet only 39% are ACTUALLY getting one. Re-read that again. Nearly 3/4 of people want to see the same message across all platforms and mediums but less than 40% are in actuality getting just that.
Earlier this month I wrote CMO’s To Increase Spending On Social Media But Integration Still Lacking. In that particular post I made reference to a survey done by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business – the twice a year survey “collects and disseminates the opinions of top marketers in order to predict the future of markets, track marketing excellence, and improve the value of marketing in firms and society.” That survey revealed “…marketers admitted they have a ways to go toward integrating social media in their strategy. On a scale of 1-7, with one being “not integrated at all” and seven being “very integrated,” almost a quarter of marketers (22.3 percent ) selected “one” to describe how well their company’s social media is integrated with the firm’s overall strategy.”
And as far as integration within the marketing strategy as a whole, the numbers were only slighlty better as “only” 16.9 percent selected “one” for this question.
Let’s go back to the findings from the ACRS survey. Nearly 60% of Australians now shop via multi-channel, assumably because they want to and because they can. See where I’m going here? These folks are shopping via multi-channel because it is made available to them. How many more would do this if it were made available to them?
And what about the other 42% who don’t shop via multi-channel? Is it by choice or is it because they simply don’t know where to go for a multi-channel experience because their favorite stores and brands are not delivering it currently. But, if these same 42% get wind of another retailer, AKA a competitor, offering multi-channel, integrated marketing, would they shift their allegiance?
Obviously there’s more to this than just providing the same message across multiple channels but… See where I’m going here?