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The Power of Integral Marketing

Written by: Corte Swearingen

Article Overview: Many small business owners know they need to have some type of marketing program in place, yet many are unsure just how to develop one that will maximize business profits. This article outlines a simple system to help ensure you maximize the effectiveness of your marketing.

The Power of Integral Marketing

Many small business owners know they need to have some type of marketing program in place, yet many are unsure just how to develop one that will maximize business profits.

This article outlines an easy way to help ensure your marketing program is comprehensive and integrated. The process is called the Integral Marketing System and it helps make sure you are addressing four unique but related areas of strategic marketing.

Marketing can be broken down into five critical steps. They are:

1. Create a product or service that solves a problem.

2. Attract prospects that are looking to solve this same problem.

3. Communicate how your product or service solves this problem.

4. Create trust and an open mindset to purchase.

5. After the transaction, retain the customer for future purchases.

Sounds fairly simple, right? Many companies are good at one or two of the points above, but it's rare to find a company that excels in all five. The Integral Marketing System was specifically designed to address all five of these areas, allowing you to build sustained long-term growth.

The Integral Marketing System is comprised of the Four Marketing Quadrants. Each quadrant addresses a specific role in helping build your business profits. But, when all four quadrants are integrated in a comprehensive marketing strategy, the sum is much more than the individual parts.

Let’s take a brief tour through all four marketing quadrants that make up the Integral Marketing System.

The Tools & Technology Quadrant
This quadrant deals with the tools and technologies that help ensure you deliver the most relevant content at the point of maximum impact. It's really the underpinning upon which your entire marketing program rests. If you don't have the proper marketing infrastructure set up, it will be difficult for you to monitor your marketing programs. This quadrant focuses on setting up your customer database, picking the right business website technologies, designing your monetization models, and market testing your ads and promos for maximum response.

The Content & Delivery Quadrant
This quadrant focuses on delivering high-value relevant content to your target markets through a variety of direct marketing channels. This includes any type of communication to your customers whether it's an email, a direct mail piece, a special report, an ebook or information delivered through CD's, DVD's and MP3's.

The Customers & Image Quadrant
This quadrant deals with defining how you stand apart from your competition by adding unique value to your target markets. This includes creating your value proposition, core marketing messages and defining your buyer personas. Anything that deals with your company's "look and feel" goes here - such as your business website, your logos, and the design of all outgoing communications including email templates, stationary and business cards.

The Growth & Loyalty Quadrant
There are only two ways to grow your business; get more out of your current customers and bring brand new customers into the fold. This quadrant focuses on both. How many of your customers come back to purchase from you a second time? If you're like most companies, you have a high percentage of one-timers. This quadrant deals with programs to help increase customer retention and growth. Examples include using your customer database to build retention programs, creating information that builds trust and confidence, and developing compelling offers based on past customer behavior.

Most companies spend the majority of their time working within a single quadrant or two, ignoring the others. By refocusing and redesigning your marketing program to maintain key activities in all four quadrants, you will increase your response rates, attract new clients, and most important of all, increase your business profits.

Using The Integral Marketing System
The easiest way for you to utilize the Integral Marketing System and the four quadrants is to simply make sure they are all addressed in your marketing plan. It's not necessary to try and split your resources and budget at 25% per quadrant but it's equally important to ensure you’re not top heavy in any particular area.

Start by focusing on one particular area in each quadrant. Pick programs that you feel will have the greatest impact and then add additional programs as you have the time. In the beginning, it's critical you focus deeply on a few areas rather than try and start a dozen programs only to get discouraged when you can't keep all the balls in the air.

With time, you can develop strong and focused programs in all four quadrants. If you would like a systemized step-by-step guide to starting profit-driven marketing programs in all four quadrants, then I highly recommend my book The Integral Marketing System.

Start addressing the four marketing quadrants today and see how an integrated marketing program can quickly deliver additional profits to your business.

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Article Tags: business profits, business website, comprehensive marketing, critical steps, customer database, four quadrants, infrastructure, marketing marketing, marketing program, marketing programs, marketing strategy, marketing system, maximum impact, mindset, prospects, quadrant, relevant content, small business owners, strategic marketing, underpinning



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