Systems for integrated marketing management

The marketing requirements have changed dramatically in recent years. In the past, established communication channels had to be successfully used for years. Today, people in charge of social media are faced with a dynamic environment that requires more flexibility and responsiveness.


In constant dialogue with the customer


Under these conditions, marketing is faced with a number of challenges: in spite of growing budgetary pressures, marketing is expected to take place across the organization, driving campaigns, channels, and messages across all areas.


Recommendation marketing on the rise


Modern Analytics software makes it possible to reconcile the various communication interests with the individual customer requirements and, at the same time, to act in the sense of superior corporate objectives. Analytical systems for an integrated marketing management create a sustainable added value along the entire marketing process chain, as they support strategic planning as well as the operational control of concepts and campaigns, as well as the success of advertising control.

Integrated systems are in demand


The Internet, the digital media and the social networks have brought marketing to the customer's attention. Facebook and Co., but also blogs and forums, are increasingly calling for marketing to react in real-time - the customers reward this with a lively participation. It is precisely media that allows an immediate response, whether via commentary, like-button or call-me-option, are growing in popularity.


Three main tasks


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The communication strategy has to take this development into account: the theory of understanding marketing as a dialogue has long been a reality. Cross-channel interaction is becoming increasingly central to the demands of modern marketing organizations.


This costs time and resources. Although the social channels are becoming more and more generous in terms of budget planning, their active support is rapidly becoming cost-intensive and complicated in the interlocking of conventional channels.


More than ever, successful marketing is a question of the right marketing mix, but the path to success is highly individualized. If it is still possible to reach the right customer with the right message via the right channel, more influencing factors must be taken into account and sources of information should be taken into account.


In order to initiate the dialogue, intelligent systems are needed, which enable an active and differentiated recording of the feedback from communication and market events. This creates the basis for optimizing product and service strategies and aligning customer engagement with real needs.


Customers' self-image and expectation have also changed. The more nonspecific the advertising approach is, the more indifferent the reaction is. In addition, consumers are increasingly oriented on the opinions and experiences of other product users. That's why the recommendation marketing is growing in importance.


This is also borne out by a study by the high-tech association BITKOM, which surveyed more than 1000 inhabitants in the United States from 14 years. 23 percent of the respondents are motivating product recommendations in online shops to buy. After all, 19 percent said they would base their purchasing decision on the recommendations of network friends. E-mail advertising at twelve percent, and other Internet advertising formats, such as banners and pop-ups with less than ten percent, have a look.


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The study results only confirm what has been going on for a long time: Consumers are exchanging experiences, contacts with companies or consumer experiences with their personal environment. The Internet, in particular the social web, not only opens up new channels, but also provides a considerably broader range and faster spreading speed.


A profit for all pages


What companies often appear as a threat creates transparency for all market participants. The opportunity for companies is to listen to customer voices and thus to learn what needs, interests or concrete wishes their target groups have. The insights gained allow companies to tailor their marketing, customer management, and offerings to their customers' needs.


In theory, an easy-to-use approach, a customer-oriented approach in practice proves to be a highly complex task in the effort to seamlessly integrate and efficiently control the diverse communication paths, directions and media

Sophisticated analytics solutions, such as those offered by SAS, help professional users in marketing, for example, in social media analyzes, campaign management in the inbound and outbound, structured customer data analyzes or real-time scenarios. They analyze existing customer, business and transaction data and thus facilitate specific decision-making processes.


Analytics software makes it easier to select optimal customer offer constellations for advertising measures, assess risks such as loss of reputation, cancellation or credit loss, and processing service requests and offers. In addition, it is possible to make forecasts that considerably simplify budget planning as well as the design of sophisticated communication scenarios.


Integrated Marketing Management, which has all the channels in view and brings together the existing areas on a common information and decision-making basis, is designated by the market research company Gartner as the central challenge for marketing organizations. The analysts postulate that companies with an advanced degree of maturity can achieve a return on marketing investment of up to 50 percent.


The concept of Integrated Marketing Management covers three main tasks:


However, this concept only leads to success if it is possible to bring knowledge gains and information continuously into the overall control.


Analytical marketing ensures a pronounced win-win situation. Strategic marketing planners can use communication channels in a targeted way, and can also campaign and pursue activities in the sense of marketing and corporate objectives. In concrete terms, this means that all marketing can be managed more efficiently.


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Analytics solutions also highlight the impact and value of marketing initiatives. A modern advertising control system must show which outputs lead to which results and how results can be systematically improved.


Operational processing also benefits from analytical "intelligence" in the marketing process - through shorter decision-making processes, faster implementation times and more implemented measures. The customer is consequently the focus of the entire marketing organization and at the same time marks the starting point and end point of the process chain.