This one goes out to all those who produce great marketing communications. The folks who push for big ideas, reinforce brand attributes and execute to near perfection.

The message is simple: Do more.

In too many instances, these otherwise bright, ambitious marketers stop short of doing what studies show needs to be done to create joined-up brand experiences that influence consumer behavior.

Of course, it’s hard to argue with success, and executions like breakthrough annual reports, incredibly popular desktop widgets or killer Flash applications deserve the credit they receive.

But without follow-up, without continuity, without a larger, integrated plan and the means to implement it, each piece is just that: A stand-alone. A one-hit wonder. A flash in the proverbial pan that burns out as quickly as it sparked up, and is then relegated to the equivalent of a highlights reel. Good for the resume/portfolio, but for the brand? Not so much.

without a larger, integrated plan and the means to implement it, each piece is just a one-hit wonder

What’s needed, instead, are marketing campaigns. Old-school, multi-channel affairs that take an overarching theme and version it appropriately for different customer types in specific media.

Admittedly, tighter budgets and more competition make it more of a challenge to pull off such campaigns, but that’s no reason to avoid them. In fact, there’s a compelling case to be made that smaller investments in ‘mini campaigns’ deliver more bang for the buck and have a greater effect on customer behavior than bigger, one-dimensional initiatives.

The good news is there are more opportunities than ever before to spread your messages around, including social media tools, affiliate programs, product-friendly blogs and more. One of my faves from this past year was from the insurance company Liberty Mutual, whose campaign is based on the notion of responsibility—it’s their ‘policy’ (get it?) to do the right thing, and reward customers who do the same. They got the message across with some nice TV spots, and then carried the theme through to banner ads, real-time surveys that solicited personal stories of responsibility and even a fairly rich blog with some serious digital shorts.

It’s all really good stuff that hangs together well and reinforces the message in a bunch of different ways. All of which suggests that if you still think of marketing as a project-by-project effort, you might want to think again.

(And if you think differently, I’d like to hear about it.)