• by Dave Ragals , Op-Ed Contributor, March 27, 2013

It's not just about doing things the easiest way possible. It’s about removing all waste from an equation. When we talk about making marketing more efficient, it is about making sure that every dollar is being spent where it can get the greatest return. And when you and your marketing organization are most efficient, they can be considered “optimized.” But how do we get to an efficient and optimized endpoint?

It doesn't look like this: the search team is asked to deliver a 20% lift in Q2 ad spend return; the display team is required to drive more clicks with its current budget; and the social team is prevailed upon to double their likes. The arbitrary nature of this scenario is inefficient. This is not optimized. One primary reason is the complete lack of integration.

A large part of integrated marketing is bringing together teams, budgets and goals. To succeed with integrated marketing, the more budget that can be reallocated to a central point and used in ways that are best suited in a channel-agnostic manner by aligned teams results in a reduction of waste and inefficiency. It’s simple marginal cost to marginal return -- at a holistic marketing level. What this means is that every dollar is being spent in ways that best reach your goals. But where do you start?

• E pluribus Unum: Latin for "Out of many, one" -- this should be a mantra. A successful marketing organization isn’t a loosely connected group of channel-focused fiefdoms. The marketing team should be channel-agnostic and aligned on the same goals. This isn’t just the media team, either. This central team should include all marketing functions as well as site experience teams.
• Reduce waste: Bigger budgets aren’t necessarily something to be proud of. Sure, many in our business want to lord over vast sums of money. But if that money isn’t being spent efficiently, you’re just part of the problem. Just because a specific channel is getting the best returns does not mean the next marketing dollar should be spent on that channel. It may seem like a misnomer, but  improved results should not always be rewarded with additional budget. What matters most is the ultimate overall channel-agnostic win -- so the measurement of success should be based on the reduction and elimination of wasted media. Efficiency should win the highest accolade on the team.
• Reward the best role for media: Understand the interactions between various media and interactions. The different types of exposures may work together or even end up blocking each other from achieving the overall goal. By having a clear grasp on cross-channel attribution, you can optimize your efforts to focus on the most-likely-to-convert combinations of media.
• Reinforce and repeat messaging: The customer’s position in the conversion funnel will determine how strong the call to action is, but the creative, tone and voice need to be consistent to build the brand. Integrated marketing includes both data and art. Marketers are rewarded for consistency in communications that is appropriate for the position in the purchase funnel.

Through incentives, marketing leaders can get their teams excited to change their mentality. Yes -- it might be difficult to initiate that change as history, inertia and protectionism will attempt to block it. By bringing together teams, combining budgets, and aligning goals, you can begin to integrate your marketing. The payoff? Elimination of waste, the increase in efficiency and the satisfaction of optimization.