When a company wants to promote something new like a slogan or campaign, integrated marketing is the smartest way to do it. Integrated marketing uses various mediums at the same time to get a message out. There may be marginal differences across all platforms, but the goal is to have the overall message remain consistent. Whether the medium is TV, web, print, or social networks it must be recognizable to your audience and each strategy must support all platforms.
A proven best practice is to meld modern and traditional marketing strategies. It ensures that anyone who should receive the messaging does by taking elements of old school and new school marketing to reach consumers where they are. Though the integrated marketing goals may be different, like building brand awareness or driving traffic to your website, the one thing they need to have in common is having an alliance with one another.
- Integrated marketing campaigns are powerful for several reasons:
- Reach a wider audience
- Brand presence on all platforms
- Keeps your brand top of mind
- Builds trust through familiarity
- Share of marketing assets
- Allows current customers to spread the word
Importance of integrated marketing.
Let’s say you come across a new brand on Instagram and want to learn more about it. The first thing you do normally is go to the brand’s website. However, the website looks and feels completely different, because what they have up on Instagram is a new marketing initiative and is not consistent with the brand you are seeing on the site. If the website has messaging that differs from their social media, the consumer cannot grasp the gist of the brand. The last thing you want to do is confuse potential buyers.
An example of doing integrated marketing correctly is The Wellflower. Their provisioning centers have a sister company cultivation called Scout Cannabis. Both brands have the same color scheme that carries on throughout all of their marketing on all platforms. Whether you are on their Facebook, in one of their three stores, or looking at an internal email signature, the look and feel of these brands flow together nicely.
Audience Targeting for Integrated Marketing Communications.
No matter what your product is, taking time to define exactly who you are targeting is crucial. The demographics of your audience should include current and potential customer profiles. Things to take into consideration are occupation, age, education level, gender, income, family situation, and geographic location.
Things to consider are:
The needs of your target audience.
The wants of your target audience.
What it is that you are doing or offering that is different from your competitor(s)
How do PR and integrated marketing work together?
PR has evolved through the years. Your media relations are still important but there are so many more baskets to put your eggs in these days. Twenty percent of all newspapers in the United States have folded or merged since 2004, so you can’t count on this medium like you used to, but TV and radio news still hold a lot of power and the medium reaches thousands and thousands of people. One of the most important aspects of a media outlet picking up your story is amplification and credibility. Despite issues with the public and media trust nationally on the local level news outlets still have credibility and reach.
Integrated marketing is when your media efforts complement your marketing efforts. Internally and externally, your messaging must be consistent and ubiquitous.
Integrated marketing is not a new concept but it’s an important one. Your brand’s message points pull together as a whole through this marketing concept and competent public relations professionals know this and can assist you. There is a lot of information coming at us these days from different people on different platforms. Integrated marketing delivers one distinct message regardless of where it is going out and that makes it easier for everyone.