Holistic Marketing: The new way of doing business in which the areas of internal marketing, integrated marketing, relationship marketing and social marketing are integrated.
What is Holistic Marketing?
In the midst of the maelstrom of the digital age that we are going through, changes are generated every day in the demands of consumers who become more autonomous every day when investigating and comparing the products or services they want to obtain.
These changes in consumer dynamics generate changes in companies, and these changes in companies necessarily have to generate changes in the way of doing marketing. Everything is connected in this process.
The term holistic marketing was coined by the so-called ¨father of marketing¨, the respected American economist Philip Kotler, a graduate of the University of Chicago with a PhD from MIT in Economics.
Professor Kotler is the most successful marketing specialist of the last 40 years, distinguished with countless prizes and awards, among which we can highlight:
- Chosen Leader in Marketing Thought in 1980 by the American Marketing Association.
- Paul Converse Award Winner 1978
- Winner of the Distinguished Marketing Educator Award in 1995 in 1995
- Doctor Honoris Causa at the Universities of Stockholm, Zurich, Vienna and Athens, among others.
Philip Kotler defines the holistic marketing as "the development, design, and implementation of marketing programs, processes, and activities that recognize the breadth and interdependencies of today's marketing environment."
It is, then, about conceptualizing marketing holistically, that is, seeing it as a whole, integrating the areas of exploration, creation and delivery of value in an organization.
El holistic marketing, also called 360° marketing, can be understood as a new way of doing marketing that considers the company and all its parts as a single entity.
The term holistic, which comes from the Greek hólos, means a total vision. The holistic approach is usually applied to terms such as approach, thought, approach, concept or program to mean that an integral and complete vision is used in the analysis of a reality.
Holism is a concept created in 1926 by Jan Christiaan Smuts, a South African soldier and naturalist, who described it as "the tendency of nature to use creative evolution to form a whole, which is greater than the sum of its parts." ”.
This vision gives a shared purpose to each activity and to the people who carry it out, fostering an interrelation between these elements in the search for better and more efficient results.
What differentiates holistic marketing from other types of marketing that exist in the business world, are its objectives and the ways used to achieve them.
All activities are carried out in an integrated manner, with the commitment of everyone who is part of the company and not just the teams that are directly responsible for the accounts or customers.
Companies that use holistic marketing conduct all their activities in a unified way and focus on a specific objective, to provide customers and consumers with the best possible experience.
El holistic marketing It originated as a response to the changes that are taking place in the business world.
Aspects that comprise holistic marketing
El holistic marketing includes the following aspects:
- A common goal. The business and all its parts must work in coordination, focused on the goal of providing the best possible customer experience.
- Aligned Activities. All activities, processes, communications and services must be directed towards the achievement of the common goal.
- integrated activities. All activities must be designed and integrated in such a way that a unified and consistent experience can be presented to the customer and the consumer.
The following video summarizes very briefly what holistic marketing is. Don't stop watching it!
The four dimensions of holistic marketing
In the pursuit of achieving its objectives of integrating the company as a whole and offering the customer the best possible experience, the holistic marketing It rests on four dimensions:
Internal marketing
In Kotler's opinion, we have to make sure that all members of the organization adopt the holistic model, especially the top management of companies.
In this way we can satisfy the requirements of the company's workers, which allows them to feel satisfied with the organization, with the activities they carry out and in tune with the philosophy of the company as a whole.
Internal marketing focuses on the internal public of the company, that is, its workers. The worker is the base of every company because without them it is not possible to achieve any objective.
Therefore, it is necessary to manage that they feel appreciated and satisfied with their work, because a happy employee is much more productive and creative. In the long run, the customer will also be satisfied.
Integrated Marketing
Regarding Integrated Marketing, Kotler emphasizes that we must ensure that we combine, in the best possible way, all the means in our hands to create, communicate and deliver value.
To make this possible, companies strive to make the most pertinent marketing decisions, aimed at creating value for stakeholders, making the best and best effort to make the message clear and concise.
All integrated marketing processes move in sync to ensure that customers and business partners have the same experience and perception of the company.
For integrated marketing to work, we have to be very clear about which sector of the public we are going to target. From this premise, we can begin to plan our strategies of the 4-P of the marketing mix, that is, product, price, point of sale and promotion.
Knowing our target audience will make it much easier for us to define what product we want to offer, at what price, where we will market it and how we will promote it.
Once this strategy is defined, the last thing will be knowing how to adapt it to the different distribution and marketing channels.
Relationship Marketing
The entire universe of components that surrounds the organization, customers, employees, banks, suppliers, business partners and even competing companies, have an impact on the success or failure of the company.
The links and interrelationships between these components must be solid, long-lasting, sustainable over time and with the certain possibility of continuing to grow and strengthen in the future.
Social Marketing
We must try to create decisions, in terms of marketing, based on business procedures based on ethics and soundness.
Within these decisions, one of the most important is social and environmental ethics and interaction with the community in which we carry out our activities.
By building strong and close relationships with stakeholders and shareholders, these activities create a positive environment that affects the organization's stakeholders.
In social marketing, customers are the fundamental asset of the business. This is why you have to treat them very well and achieve their satisfaction so that they are always loyal to the products and the brand.
What are the main practices of holistic marketing?
As we established previously, companies are made up of the different departments that make them up. Some of these departments work in coordination in the marketing activities of products or services.
An example of this is the direct relationship that must exist between the company's Sales and Marketing departments, which necessarily have to work in coordination.
When the organization adopts the philosophy of holistic marketing, all the departments of the organization begin to carry out their activities in an organized manner.
It is no longer limited to the natural alliance of Sales and Marketing, but Human Resources, Administration and Accounting must also join the synchronized work.
In this way, each department must make strategic contributions according to its sector and capabilities, in order to achieve the objectives that the company has set for itself.
There are various activities that can be carried out to convert the company's environment into followers committed to the excellence of the products and services offered by the company:
- Promotions and discounts to reward consumer loyalty.
- Personalized attention to customers and suppliers.
- Periodic surveys to assess the degree of customer satisfaction.
- Offers and promotions on special dates such as Christmas.
Holistic Marketing Benefits
The fundamental benefit in applying the doctrine of holistic Marketing, it is that it has the potential to put the organization in an unbeatable position to be able to compete in today's market.
This work methodology gains more followers every day in the business world, as it generates positive changes in the image that customers and consumers have of the organization.
By strategically applying the principles of holistic marketing, we can keep customers and consumers aware of our innovations in products and services and create a loyal and committed customer base with the company.
If you have found this post interesting, and you want to know the characteristics of the green marketing and all its ecological impact strategies do not stop reading this article.
