Businesses who have an integrated marketing strategy have an opportunity to expand their reach, achieve greater brand visibility and deliver clear and consistent messaging. Despite those benefits, nearly 40% of marketers have limited or no integration strategy at all.
Building a cohesive marketing strategy that incorporates both traditional and digital channels doesn’t have to be a challenging task. Below are a few tips that demonstrate how to build an integrated marketing strategy.
1. Set clear goals
You won’t know where you’re going until you set a goal to get there. That’s why setting clear marketing goals should be one of the primary tasks when developing your integrated strategy. The key is to create SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) goals that support broader business objectives. For example, you may aim to drive 500,000 website visits within six months to help build brand awareness.
2. Select your channels
Selecting the channels that are positioned to help you reach your marketing goals is also important. These channels can include traditional and digital mediums such as radio, social media, digital advertising, search engine optimization (SEO) and other platforms that cater to your intended audience.
3. Focus on brand consistency
It’s important to have consistent branding across all channels when implementing an integrated marketing strategy. Consider big brands like Pepsi, LinkedIn, Nike and even Oreo. Their branding is consistent in everything they create, from video to social media. Your integrated marketing strategy must incorporate specific elements such as your messaging, calls-to-action (CTAs), brand colors, logo and other front-facing elements every time the brand is displayed. The main factor is keeping the brand recognizable no matter what platform is being used.
4. Bring team members on board
Bring all the team members together to execute the integrated marketing strategy. This helps keep them on the same page with messaging and brand consistency, gives them opportunities to provide feedback or brainstorm ideas, and promotes collaboration and communication throughout your organization. Holding regular meetings and appointing someone to coordinate all these efforts will keep things organized. The best strategy is one that has complete buy-in from the entire team.
5. Draft your plan together
Having the entire team collaborate on the strategy allows you to leverage each team member’s expertise while maximizing each channel. This ensures that the right tactics are used, keeps everyone accountable and makes certain everyone has a vested interest in the strategy’s success.
6. Track and adjust
With any campaign, an integrated strategy requires ongoing measurement to ensure you’re on the right track and hitting your key performance indicators (KPIs). Taking the time to analyze those metrics should provide the information needed to make changes.
An integrated marketing strategy is instrumental in helping you reach your goals, whether you aim to increase brand visibility, expand your reach or drive sales. Follow these steps to build an integrated strategy that maximizes the channels you use while combining their efforts to boost marketing results.
