There are a plethora of innovative integrated marketing platforms in today’s society, with numerous technology solutions and business opportunities that use multiple resources to reach their consumers. This can come in diverse forms in a world driven by consumers, whether it be emails, flyers, blogging, direct mail or social media.
When you bring content creation into the equation, integrating these different channels by maintaining consistent brand communication is key. People need to understand why you are implementing this style of a campaign in your company. Here we explore five reasons why:
WHAT IS INTEGRATED MARKETING?
This type of approach is a decisive method that involves combining multiple marketing ideas to communicate a single, consistent brand message. It aims to create a path between all your strategies where you engage with consumers, both online and offline.
You will find many large companies – such as Coca-Cola, Old Spice and GoPro – use this approach for getting their information out to a range of consumers.
One example is the way you can get good leads from the blog section on your professional website. This can be achieved by feeding into your email campaigns and shared across your social media pages. These, along with flyers and QR codes, can direct your consumers to your website’s landing pages. If you’re hosting a promotional event for your goods and services, this strategy means using social media to promote the event.
HOW TO EFFECTIVELY ROLL OUT INTEGRATED MARKETING
For success moving forward, the brand messaging across all programs must be consistent. That way, your clients can identify your brand easily and respond in a way they desire. This requires four key elements – the four C’s: coherence, consistency, continuity and complementary.
COHERENCE
All your marketing channels should reinforce the same directive. This involves using a consistent design through colours and imagery, the same tone of voice in your copy, and the same call to action. Your clientele will feel more at ease knowing that you have the same voice wherever they engage with your business.
CONSISTENCY
All your marketing channels should reinforce the same directive. This involves using a consistent design through colours and imagery, the same tone of voice in your copy, and the same call to action. Your clientele will feel more at ease knowing that you have the same voice wherever they engage with your business.
CONTINUITY
While the content you share across different avenues does not have to be identical or even the same topic, your direct messaging should continue to build and expand on previous content, and feature the primary marketing message.
COMPLEMENTARY
Your different channels should fit together to create an even stronger message. One piece of content should be strong in itself, but should be made even stronger when read together with others. This means all the campaign considerations need to be bought together to create a cohesive and strong message.
WHY IS INTEGRATED MARKETING IMPORTANT?
Although digital platforms have become the fundamental way that many enterprises reach their customers, it by no means covers all bases.
Traditional strategies remain an approachable, personalised way of building a relationship with your patrons, as they already trust content from you in this way. Additionally, you should be aiming to combine both methods within your marketing strategy. Here we explore why.
1. SPREADING YOUR MESSAGE
According to small business leadership expert Gino Wickman, a potential consumer needs to hear your message seven times before they’ll act on it. What this indicates is that more than one promotional network simply won’t be enough.
An integrated approach sends your message multiple ways, therefore increasing the chances of it being heard. Best of all, customers often engage with multiple channels – and those who do tend to spend more than other buyers. Therefore, spreading your brand’s message can increase your return on investment in quite a significant way.
2. CUSTOMERS SEEK OUT FRESH CONTENT
When you provide fresh content across various platforms, it’s more likely that consumers will find you and rely on you and invest long-term into what you are offering.
It’s essential to understand what influences the modern consumer. We live in a time where people have access to unlimited amounts of information online at the click of a button. They are influenced by what’s trending and, due to this, they will quickly turn to a new source if you doesn’t have the answers they seek.
3. ONLINE TRAFFIC COMES EVERYWHERE
Traffic to your website can come from anywhere – organic searches, social media links, QR codes, email, mobile and blog content – the list is endless. This means there are many ways to encourage potential clients to engage with your website.
However, if you make a choice to only use one of these options for directing customers to your website, you are limiting the number of unique visits to your site and the people you are reaching, which in turn limits your sales. The more media you are engaging, both digital and offline, the more customers you are reaching, and as a result, the higher your conversion percentage.
4. INTEGRATED MARKETING IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING
The digital world is constantly changing, and digital marketers find themselves at the mercy of changing algorithm updates on Google and other platforms, meaning the approaches used need to be continually adapting to change.
Being present across multiple channels means your integrated marketing is adaptable to any changes that come your way. If your strategy for one outreach platform needs work, you can rely on other media in the meantime to keep consumers engaged, and you won’t lose contact with them in the interim.
5. BEATING THE COMPETITION
One of the main reasons to implement an integrated campaign is that your competitors are likely to be already doing it and doing it well. Many businesses are ramping up their multi-channel efforts because they see results, and their customers are further engaging with their resources. This means that consumers come to expect it, and if you aren’t using a number of options, you could be left behind. Nowadays, one of the first actions people take when hearing about a business is to seek out their media channels and websites.
INTEGRATE MULTI-CHANNEL ENGAGEMENT TODAY
The type of media used by your business will ultimately depend on the kind of place you’re running. No matter which method you choose to implement, it’s vital that you have the right type of knowledge to bring them all together for a consistent brand message that ensures you’re reaching the greatest number of potential customers.
Choosing to coordinate your business to deliver seamless and consistent content so you can convert customers will help you work towards improving not only your interactions, but also your sales, too.
Now is the time to move forward and work towards strategies that are unique to your business. When it comes to creating content over several media options, it’s essential to remember that consistency is key to moving forward.
