Integrated marketing - the interdependence of all marketing activities, with a common focus on the marketplace or a customer segment - is an effective way to optimize the use of limited marketing resources. With an integrated marketing approach, market research, program planning and development, advertising, promotions, and publicity are all planned and executed under common guidelines and practices. The goal of marketing is to generate attendance and all marketing, promotion, and publicity should enforce/reinforce the meeting's and the organization's brand identity. All pieces of the marketing plan should be consistent, support each other, and communicate a common message. Content should be tailored to different attendee/exhibitor segments, but not have a different design/theme/ content for the same market segment in different marketing pieces.

For direct mail pieces, the organization's own membership list should be used. When purchasing, renting, or "trading out" for other organizations' lists, keep in mind that the error factor may be as high as 20 percent. PCMA's Professional Meeting Management Fifth Edition outlines the objectives for a direct mail piece on pages 68-69.

Positive press about your meeting, written by objective sources, carries a lot of weight with potential attendees/exhibitors - and doesn't cost anything. Refer to pages 240-241 of the Convention Industry Council Manual for strategies to deal with the press.

The best time to start marketing an annual meeting is at the previous year's meeting. Marketing timelines are dictated by registration and housing deadlines, the scope of the meeting, and your budget. You need to start early if the meeting is international (whether held domestically with large international attendance or held out of the country).

° Vicky Betzig, CMP, is president/owner of Meetings Industry Consulting and has more than 20 years of experience in managing meetings, conferences, conventions, trade shows, and events. She has extensive experience in the development, production, and facilitation of CMP study programs and is a nationally recognized trainer, presenter, and author (the co-recipient of PCMA's 2004 Author of the Year Achievement Award) on a variety of meeting management topics. She can be contacted at vabetzig@mindspring.com.

The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation, the foremost certification program of today's meetings, conventions and expositions industry, recognizes those who have achieved the industry's highest standards of professionalism. Established in 1985 by the Convention Industry Council (CIC), the CMP credential was developed to increase the proficiency of meeting professionals in any component or sector of the industry.