I’m utterly convinced that if marketers were more organised, a lot of the world’s waste wouldn’t be produced in the first place. Big call?

Not really. If you agree that integrating all the elements of a promotional mix can maximise cost-effectiveness and reinforce a consistent brand message or image, then you’ll also agree that the integration of these elements is wholly dependent on the ability of the brand team to coordinate multiple different communications tools and vehicles – often all at the same time. This, in turn, requires careful planning.

Unfortunately, it’s a rare brand manager who has the necessary foresight and organisational skills to pull off a truly integrated marketing communications campaign. Accordingly, the reputation of marketing is marred by brand managers who simply can’t complete (or think about) more than one element of the promotional mix at once. This means that many brands are missing out on the potential ROI that can be gained from enabling marketing communications to act synergistically.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to develop marketing strategy with ‘ordinary mortals with average skills’ in mind. I would suggest that keeping in mind a specific brand manager – and the organisation’s internal processes and philosophy – is also useful. This approach will ensure that your recommendations play to the strengths of the product, the individual and the organisation. As Steve Waugh once said: ‘Your strategy revolves around the bowlers you’ve got.’

Or if you prefer the advice of a Prussian soldier and German military theorist to an Aussie cricketer, Carl von Clausewitz once said: ‘Effective strategy derives from tactics that are implementable.’ That doesn’t mean not setting stretch targets or proposing ideal-world, even ‘out of this world’, scenarios. It simply means taking the time to really understand your client, warts and all. After all, personal idiosyncrasies have led to the downfall of more than one great creative concept. So if your client or organisation is procedurally challenged (i.e. disorganised), show them the way by providing detailed timelines, prioritising tasks, and including recommendations such as ‘if you only do three things out of this entire document, do this, this and this’. To steal another line from Carl von Clausewitz: ‘If a strategy only works when it is superbly implemented, it is a flawed strategy.’

Some of the most positive feedback we get from clients is about our ability to ‘hold their hand’ throughout the life of a project and guide them from A to Z. This becomes particularly important with integrated campaigns, when you need to be able to think several steps ahead in order to see how all the pieces of the puzzle will work together. Clients may not always be able to see the bigger picture or be mindful of the need to do so. Some just won’t be capable of seeing it – ever. Others won’t have the time. Whatever the reason, you have a role to play in bringing your big ideas to fruition.

By not setting your clients up to fail, you’re much more likely to move their brand closer to what is really meant by ‘integrated marketing communications’. Do that and you’ll help rid the world of one-off direct-mail pieces that end up in the rubbish bin, advertising that’s off-message, sales aids that can’t be sold from, etc., etc. Do that and you’ll help say goodbye to inefficient and ineffective marketing communications, i.e. you’ll produce less crap and reduce a large part of the world’s waste. Need more convincing? Check out the following video by Melbourne-based agency GreenMonkeyDesign showcasing the very best and very worst of print advertising.

Candice O’Sullivan is Head of Strategy at WellmarkPerspexa, a business-to-business communications agency where integrated means less is more (less waste, more ROI).

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