Potential Impact

Look at the potential that emerges :

• Customer analysis--Capture customer trends and behavior, and apply the data to marketing strategies.
• Personalization--Develop online and offline marketing communication directly targeted to individual customers.
• Customer feedback--Design efficient and effective online surveys to gather feedback from customers.
• Community building--Develop an enthusiastic community of customers around your products or services.
• Customer relationship management--Assess and integrate the right tools for your organization and customers.
• Affiliate marketing--Create a network of Web sites and customers who resell products and services, and recommend to their friends and customers.
• Communication--Develop and implement previously untapped channels.
• Permission-based marketing--Build a clean, "opt-in" list of interested customers and prospects who want to hear the company's message.
• Intranets/extranets--Improved communication and automation of work flow between internal and external stakeholders.

There is no question that a wise organization leverages the process and power of IT and the strategic vision of marketing. Clearly, any of these strategies will have an effect on the bottom line.

Significant Barriers

However, significant barriers exist in most organizations, particularly those with an established history and organizational structure.

• Miscommunication--Marketing and information technology have differing terminology and jargon which leads to an inability to discuss the intentions, needs and common aims of each group.
• Different perspectives--Marketers and information technologists naturally have a unique frame of reference for what they bring to an organization and where the organization is headed.

Marketers are focused on the results of their efforts, while technologists are more focused on the processes required to make it happen.

• Politics--Depending on the history and age of the company, there frequently is a contentious relationship between marketing and information technology staff.

This can range from general distrust to complete compartmentalization.

• Competition--Closely related to internal politics, many marketing and information technology departments are competing for budgetary and staffing resources.

Frequently, "ownership" of a project, and the glory that comes with it, can be a point of conflict.

Strategies for Bridging Marketing and Technology

What types of things can an organization do to minimize the barriers and harness the power of technology in its marketing?

In a competitive business environment, knowledge often is used as a weapon.

A company might consider creating educational meetings where employees on each side have the opportunity to educate their co-workers about their terminology, as well as perspectives.

Establish an environment where employees are encouraged to ask questions of each other, and are rewarded for efforts that educate outside their department.

The added benefit is that the "us versus them" mindset crumbles when an effort is made within the company culture for the marketers and technologists to interact.

In some organizations, an individual who acts as a bridge between marketing and technology will facilitate the fusion.

Depending on the type and size of the organization, this facilitator may be a single employee who speaks both IT and marketing fluently, a hybrid department led by a marketing technologist or technology marketer, or an outside third party bridging the chasm between both.

People have become wary of technology for its own sake.

By appointing a neutral person who shares the knowledge and perspectives of both sides, the organization can explore the ways that it can build technology-driven solutions that actually generate new business and make money.

It is possible to communicate an objective to both marketing and technology staff in a way that will engage them in supporting each other.

Take, for example, the goal to improve Web traffic and increase orders and revenue.

Once the common goals are communicated, and the challenges are known, marketing can redevelop the content of the Web site so that it speaks to the audience in clear, action-oriented language.

Meanwhile, IT can explore ways to capture the traffic that comes in and organize it in ways that marketing can use.

There is a common objective for every employee in an organization--the efficient and profitable growth of the company.

With strong leadership and deliberate education, employees can be guided to understand the increased power and effectiveness that come with it.

Eileen 'Turtle' Parzek is a veteran marketing designer and online communications consultant who has been working from home and virtually since 1995. Her business, SOHO It Goes! (www.soho-it-goes.com) specializes in providing technology driven design, marketing and communication services to small businesses and organizations.