Marketers today must navigate a confusing and disorganised environment. Because of the growth of numerous markets, platforms, and products, people are getting desensitised to advertisements.
So how do businesses cut through the clutter? How can they attract fresh clients while also making time and money savings?
After all, not every company has the resources to invest hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars across a variety of marketing channels in order to reach their target demographic.
A solid strategy and consistent messaging across the user journey are necessary to stand out in a sea of content. This is where an integrated digital marketing strategy comes into play.
What is Integrated Digital Marketing?
Integrated digital marketing is the process of providing a consistent and relevant brand experience to your target market across all marketing channels.
Businesses with an integrated marketing strategy work to present clients with the same visual style, slogans, promotions, and general tone across several platforms. They will notice a consistent appearance and feel whether they interact with your product through a digital advertisement, a billboard, or an in-store experience.
Successful integrated marketing campaigns frequently include the following channels and tactics:
- Content marketing
- Direct marketing
- Email marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Public Relations
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Social media marketing
And more.
Why Should Your Organisation Develop An Integrated Marketing Strategy?
The effectiveness of integrated marketing is unparalleled. According to research, multi-channel integrated advertising can outperform single- or dual-channel advertisements by an astounding 300%.
With a successful integrated marketing strategy, organisations can offer a wide range of benefits, which include:
- Increased brand awareness: You want the customer to receive a consistent message from your brand so they can quickly associate it with you.
- Numerous opportunities to connect: You have several opportunities to convey the same consistent message to your target audience when they come into contact with your business through different channels.
- Cost savings: Your digital marketing budget can be stretched with integrated marketing. It’s like getting numerous campaigns for the price of one because you’ll employ extremely identical creative across various marketing platforms.
- Streamlined management: Many businesses adopt omnichannel marketing, which entails an online presence across all channels, including TV, social media, and Google Ads, in order to succeed in the digital commerce sector. Because you’ll be using the same tagline, colour design, and sales promotions across all platforms, an integrated marketing strategy makes it easier for your marketing staff to manage all these platforms and channels.
Examples of Successful Integrated Digital Marketing
Coca-Cola’s 2014 “Share a Coke” campaign
The “Share a Coke” campaign from Coca-Cola in 2014 is one of the most well-known instances of effective integrated marketing. The Coke bottles themselves were the focus of the advertising campaign. Coca-Cola replaced the bottle’s recognisable logo with 250 well-known names in place of the original logo. After that, customers were urged to look for their names (or the names of their friends) on Coke bottles and write about it on social media.
#shareacoke, the campaign’s hashtag, broke the internet and went viral. Customers of Coca-Cola shared more than 500,000 images with the hashtag #shareacoke throughout the first year of the campaign. Additionally, Coca-Cola gained nearly 25 million additional Facebook fans. The advertising effort is regarded as Coca-Cola’s most successful ever.
Wasssup by Budweiser
The Super Bowl is the occasion for ambitious television commercials. “Wasssup” had the chance to capture the attention of hordes of football fans in the year 2000. And it most definitely did not blow the chance!
In the advertisement, two friends are seen repeatedly saying this line while drinking Budweiser and watching a football game.
The greeting “Wasssup” entered the pop culture of the time and inspired spoofs and memes. Media personalities including Katie Couric and Howard Stern parodied the advertisement.
Apple’s Immersive Website and Stores
Apple is consistently regarded as one of the world’s top brands. It has mastered brand integration to the point where even its physical locations, Apple stores, are instantly recognisable and have a comparable look to its goods and website.
Apple wants to offer customers a consistent user experience throughout every step of their journey. Products, advertisements, and even physical locations all have a distinctive appearance and feel. Consistency increases brand recognition and loyalty.
The 4Cs of Integrated Digital Marketing
The “4 Cs” are the greatest method to keep in mind integrated marketing ideas when creating a campaign.
1) Coherent
Your campaign’s various components should all communicate a unified message. Your campaign will have elements that consumers can view on their phones, TV, billboards, and the internet. You want those elements to flow into one another naturally so that customers can visualise them clearly.
2) Consistency
Your integrated marketing campaign’s various elements should all have a consistent visual style. This does not imply that they must be exact replicas of one another. But the components of your campaign should be similar, much as the Apple shop and Apple website have the same appearance. Make sure to employ your phrase, colour scheme, and logo consistently across every aspect of your campaign.
3) Continuity
Your marketing campaign must flow naturally. Consider your campaign as a storytelling exercise. The campaign’s components must all convey the same message. They don’t always have to deliver the story in chronological sequence; after all, flashbacks and fast-forwards are entertaining. However, each new element should build on the previous ones.
4) Complementary
When your messages are combined, they perform better. The whole will be bigger than the sum of its parts in a successful campaign. Each new entertaining, thrilling, or visually spectacular element will increase the appeal of your campaign as a whole.
How to Start with Your Integrated Marketing Strategy
1) Identify the artistic direction
This is the aesthetic of your brand or the overarching concept of a certain campaign. It incorporates voice, colour, and typography.
Consider whether each of these elements can sufficiently appear on all of your platforms when your marketing team chooses each one. Make sure you plan to use the same font wherever your brand appears, for instance, if you use a unique font to represent your brand name. Ensure the font is supported on all the platforms you’re using, including your website.
2) Establish channel strategies
For each channel, you must choose distinct creative executions, and decide how you will distribute the creative.
Your design team can work on giving your business website a new look or creating a new landing page for an integrated campaign. Your social media team can create materials with a unique spin for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Your performance marketing team can create different Google ad copy iterations.
Regardless of how many channels you employ, each one must contribute to the same end result: expressing your brand identity consistently across all platforms.
3) Plan for your launch
It’s time to begin your campaign now that all teams are in place and working together under a single integrated marketing plan. Your website, social media accounts, and advertisements all feature your fresh creatives. Although it’s not as easy as turning a switch, launching should appear that way to your customers.
Step-by-Step Guided Training To Help You Build Your Integrated Digital Marketing Strategy
Ready to learn how to develop an integrated marketing strategy for your organisation? Check out our 2-day course – Professional Certificate in Integrated Digital Marketing.
This practical and intensive integrated digital marketing course provides you with a complete overview of the digital marketing landscape including the latest tools, techniques, and best practices. You will learn how to create, implement, and analyse an integrated digital marketing strategy. By the end of the digital marketing course, you will be able to understand and implement specific digital strategies to produce better results.
For more information, kindly contact us at 6720 3333 or training.aventis@gmail.com
