Integrated marketing is a very broad view of marketing as a circular ecosystem that integrates people, processes and technologies in a process from concept/idea, through planning and resource allocation to execution, evaluation and analysis that feed back into ideas and planning. That definition comes from Gartner's "Magic Quadrant" report on Integrated Marketing Management.

At first glance, it's hard to imagine an actual focus on such a broad view of things simply because of its vastness - it's an entire ecosystem after all! But it's not only possible, it's quite necessary for one simple reason: the customer. Today's customer likely engages with your organization on multiple channels, and sometimes simultaneously. It's digital, mobile and sometimes in-person, and pratically 24x7. Social media influences their buying process, and they actively return the favor to their communities. So customers and the data they generate are a big reason "big data" is a part of our vocabulary today.

It's that broad, dynamic backdrop that makes next week's Integrated Marketing Week conference in New York City so compelling.

Billed as the global event for cross-channel marketer, its focused on gathering the people and processes for marketers develop and implement a fully integrated marketing strategy to consistently boost ROI by optimizing the full range of marketing tools – from data-driven multichannel communications and social media to SEO, mobile, video, blogging and beyond.

SAS is platinum sponsor of Integrated Marketing Week, which includes:

• Keynote speaker Brian Solis, sharing his views about how the future of business is shared experiences,
• A session on fan engagement strategies with Charlie Shin of Major League Soccer, and
• Integrated Marketing Clinics, which are appointment-driven one-on-one sessions that attendees can request at the conference (a bit like “speed dating”).

This is the first year for Integrated Marketing Week, and we'll be there with bells on. Come see us, or check back for updates after the show. We plan to capture the content and share it on Youtube, in whitepaper formats and in posts to this very blog.  As always, thanks for following!