Critical Checklist for Integrated Marketing

Critical Checklist for Integrated Marketing

Marketing can be hard, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. All your efforts and investments can go down the drain with ineffective campaigns that don’t align.

As a marketer, you need to send a consistent message through every communication channel. This is how you can create strong brand association and loyalty.?

So, in this post, let’s look at the important components of integrated marketing communication.

What Is Integrated Marketing?

Before we move ahead, let’s understand the core concept behind an integrated marketing strategy.

Integrated marketing campaigns involve seamless strategy integration so that the viewers can find coherence in the messages. For instance, if you are using a specific hashtag over your social media platforms, you can mention it in your television advertisements, blog content, and newsletters to convey the message uniformly.?

Similarly, the visual impact of the campaigns should be consistent across all platforms; for instance, you should use the same design, color palette, or cartoon character everywhere. Fido Dido from 7Up's 1990s commercials is a good example.

Critical Checklist for Integrated Marketing

Integrating your marketing strategies to provide a combined solution can be overwhelming, especially if you're a beginner. So, here’s a checklist explaining all the important elements of integrated marketing communication.

1. Seamless Drip Campaigns

You do not need to create a “one-size-fits-all” solution for your drip campaigns. Sending the same message to customers in different parts of your sales funnel will hardly elicit a positive response.?

You need to divide your drip campaign into smaller segments so that each customer receives specifically curated content depending upon where they are in the funnel. Integrate these segments to form a master plan for your drip campaigns.

Take, for example, someone who has just purchased from you. It is a good time to show them complementary products and services or similar items they might like. Doing the same for new sign-ups will not have the same impact.

2. Linking Email Campaigns with Social Media

Your email campaigns do not merely have to be integrated as a whole; they should also mention other channels. One such method is adding your social media buttons to your weekly newsletter or asking people to follow your social media accounts.

You can also do it the other way round, asking people to sign up for your newsletter. In this way, you can gather a large audience in both your contact list and your social media.

3. Repurposing Content for Social Media

Everything you publish on other channels can eventually make its way to your social media. Have you uploaded a new blog post? Create an excerpt and share it on your social media.?

You can create multiple social media posts from one blog post, from excerpts and teasers to checklists and summaries.?

Similarly, implementable lists such as dos and don’ts from your crash course or short behind-the-scenes videos of your new campaign can work well in attracting your followers.

In 2022, content never goes to waste. You can repurpose everything—even if it’s a video of your pet ruining your workflow—and post it on social media.

4. Events on Multiple Channels

Your online or offline events should not go unnoticed. You need to create a specific strategy for each communication channel to promote it.?

For giants like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, nothing happens without a social media hashtag, games to generate user content and related television ads. Similarly, you can leverage different communication channels to garner more registrations.

Use pop-ups on your website to promote the event, mention it in your drip emails, spread the message through SMS, and boost the interest using social media. In such cases, it is wise to create a single link for registration or a QR code to lead the users to one place.

When people hear about something multiple times, it tends to reside in their minds, and more often than not, they will try to learn more about it.

5. PPC Campaigns and Blogging

As a content creator, your crash courses and e-books need to get the correct spotlight for good sales. You can do this by mentioning them in your blog posts and running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

Every time someone engages with your ad, they can land on your blog post that explains what your product or service is, which can then take them to the checkout page.?

In this way, integrated marketing can put together different portions of your marketing strategy in the same color palette and present a strong message that pushes people to take action. So, if you have not yet integrated your marketing strategies, you are missing out on a huge opportunity!