The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Today marketers and businesses find themselves in incredibly complex circumstances due to the upsurge in competition and unexpected economic downfall. Traditional marketing’s are no longer completely reliable and digital marketing is highly aggressive. So, how do you get the most of your marketing? Straight answer – Integrated Marketing. But, how do you build an integrated marketing campaign? What is it even?
We are connected by technology and mobile now more than ever. Integrated marketing is a marketing strategy that emphasizes the importance of consistent brand experience for the customers. In other words, marketing across all channels such as the internet, radio, television, and radio. Don’t confuse integrated marketing with multi-channel marketing as there is a thin line difference between them. It is quite similar but integrated marketing is where you deliver the same message/content and customer experience on all those channels.
But Why Are Integrated Marketing Campaigns Effective?
Long story short, they are super effective and rewarding with promising results. Integrated marketing has the upper hand compared to other campaigns for the following reasons:
The possibility of reaching a wider audience as you are not sticking to a single marketing channel. The more, the better.
Lets you leave your mark. When you implement integrated marketing for business, the customers have a great chance of being seen on multiple channels. That is, the targeted customers get to see the same ad on Facebook, Instagram, and Websites etcetera.
They are cost-effective since you focus on a single message and run different campaigns. For instance, if you publish a blog on your website, you can share the same on social media channels and send the same in your newsletter to the subscribers.
How to Build an Integrated Marketing Campaign?
Determine the Campaign Goal(s): Having a goal helps you focus on what you work towards. Defining the campaign goal helps you target the right audience and when you choose the right and effective channels, you can increase engagement and expect a good return on investment. Take a deep breath and outline your bottom line because every campaign is subjective. One campaign’s purpose could be brand awareness and the other one could be lead generation. Whatever it is, make sure it syncs with your overall marketing objective.
Choose Your Marketing Channels: Once you lay out your goals, don’t dive right into the marketing. You need to have a clear picture of the channels that work for your product/service. Without a clear direction, it is more like getting on a random train and expecting it would take you to the ideal destination. That’s why you should know the effective marketing channels for your business beforehand. For instance, email marketing and retargeting ads on social channels work wonders to target existential customers while radio ads or billboards can be more powerful for new geographic markets.
The major integrated marketing channels are direct marketing, email marketing, print, sales promotions, digital marketing, social media, events, and sponsorships.
Create Buyer Persona: Like every channel has its purpose, every channel has its own buyer persona. In layman terms, instead of a wide persona for the campaign, you need to determine your audience by channel.
Create Adaptable Content: By this point in building an integrated marketing campaign, we hope you have the campaign goal, target audience, and marketing channels in hand. It is time for the big step now. Creating content for the campaign. Let your creative juices flow. Throw some humor. Be relevant because this is the place where you get to use the maximum of your creativity.
However, the major component to keep in mind while creating integrated marketing campaign content is adaptability. That is, the content needs to be reusable and can fit any channel you plan to market.
Let It Roll: Now, it is the time to run your integrated marketing campaign but not to just wait and watch for the results. Because integrated marketing for any business is an iterative process and you should always be on your toes. You need to monitor the KPIs you have established to track all subsequent metrics every week or month to measure if the campaign you have launched is meeting the objectives.
Best Practices for Integrated Marketing
The point of building an integrated marketing campaign is not just about rolling the same ad on every platform. It is all about how well you connect with your target audience and how you well your dynamic storytelling reaches. So, how do you design a successful integrated marketing campaign? You can always follow the old school trial and error method, but it costs time and money. Therefore, we bring you the tried and true methods and strategies for your next integrated marketing campaign:
Internal Alignment and Collaboration: To get the most from your marketing campaigns, you should let the teams talk. If you are running multiple integrated marketing campaigns that are operated by multiple channel managers, it is ultimately your duty to ensure they all resonate with each other. The collaboration between channel managers could unleash insights that can be beneficial to another to attune the campaign for maximum results.
Note the Channel Transition: The major benefit of integrated marketing is that you get traffic from multiple sources. You should consider how a visitor experiences/views every marketing channel such as if it is organic traffic or the visitor has been redirected from another platform.
Cross-Promote Your Channels to Avoid Overlaps: The point of integrated marketing is to connect with customers and be known. Here are a couple of places to be taken care of to avoid any kind of disturbance during the campaign:
➔Add your social media handles in every promotional emails and newsletter
➔Including your website URL on all social media channels
➔Integrate all the major share buttons on the website
➔Embed your social media posts on the website as in testimonials or in blogs
The best examples of well-executed integrated marketing campaigns are Transfarency by Southwest Airlines, Smell like a man, man by Old Spice, You are not you when you are hungry by Snickers. Take inspiration from these brands and build an integrated marketing campaign right away.
In today’s world, where the day begins and ends with mobile, technology, and social media, integrated marketing is more important than ever to grab the attention of visitors and retain the existing customers.
