I am on a soap box today - about marketing.

For various reasons, some business professionals - particularly the internet marketers - tend to isolate and differentiate between online marketing, off-line marketing, social media marketing, and mobile marketing. And, whatever comes next?

I recently had a conversation with a well-known online marketer. To my chagrin, she disregarded all off-line marketing as irrelevant. Her total focus was on internet marketing - a rather myopic view for her business.

But the truth is that it is all marketing. And, to succeed, businesses need to bridge seamlessly from one form of marketing to the next using principle-based marketing strategies.

Throughout 20 plus years of marketing, I have taken the approach that it is all marketing. Traditional off-line marketing is not old marketing - it is just marketing. If principle-based, off-line marketing strategies are still viable and should be included in every businesses marketing plans. When the internet was first introduced, I incorporated online marketing strategies into my master marketing plan. It was not considered new marketing, it was marketing. With each new marketing platform comes the challenge of how to blend and bridge the new technologies with what already exists.

The best marketing-driven organizations focus on developing relationships with their target audience ensuring that it is easy for their customers, students and prospects to interact with and purchase from them no matter which marketing format and medium the customer prefers. In other words, let the customer consume your products and services on their terms - be it radio, tv, newspaper, magazines, internet, email, social media sites, iphone, blackberry, texting, video, direct mail, word of mouth, etc…

Perhaps, the question should be "Are these marketing formats, stand alone marketing business', or are they marketing strategies?" More on this to come.

This is a controversial topic so let me know your thoughts about this issue.