Integrated marketing checklist for beginners

Why integrated marketing matters

With the rapid rise in digital channels now available to marketers, and smartphone usage a daily norm, customers are leading far more integrated lives when it comes to how they consume information. As they move seamlessly between different platforms, online and offline, they expect a unified, cohesive experience wherever and however they encounter your business.

Customers no longer have to wait to be marketed to, they’re proactively going out to find the information they’re looking for. They have more choice in how and when they consume marketing content, which means it’s simply not feasible to run an entire marketing campaign on one channel successfully.

Individual marketing channels that work in tandem to promote an offer, promotion, or even a full-blown campaign, can give you the ‘oomph’ you need to generate good results.

To give your customers the continuity they expect, taking an integrated approach with your marketing is a must. The customer can get to know your brand a bit better each time they interact with it, allowing you to lay a foundation for better relationships, and ultimately more sales.

Our ‘Integrated marketing checklist for beginners’ looks at some quick wins to help you get your marketing on the right track:

Integrated marketing checklist for beginners

Pick your tactics

A successful marketing campaign requires a handful of different marketing tactics. From blogging, social media, email, SEO, PPC, events, PR and more. With so many to choose from, ensuring your marketing strategy calls for each channel to work together to deliver a cohesive message is a must. Don’t keep your marketing contained in individual silos – integrate it!

Focus your efforts

With more marketing channels available now than ever before, it’s important you don’t try and juggle all channels for every campaign you run. If you have limited time and budget to spend on marketing, it’s better to start small with a clear targeted campaign than try and do too much and watch your efforts flop. Select the channels to focus on based on where your customers hang out. For example, if your target audience isn’t on Facebook, don’t waste your time on it.

Brand consistency

Consistency across all marketing channels you use will help create more trust and brand awareness. If you give your customers a different impression every time they interact with your brand, you’ll struggle to build this trust. Do your social posts and blogs posts gel with your email campaigns? Does your LinkedIn page look and read in a way that is consistent with your website? Your employees aren’t exempt from this; your message is the voice of your company and should be communicated throughout every department. Are your employees and colleagues aware of and communicating your message in the right way?

Tailor your message

Consider how you should tailor your campaign messaging through different marketing channels. For example, how would you address your Instagram and LinkedIn followers differently? Avoid copying and pasting the same post out. Instead try and think of creative ways to communicate through different mediums while maintaining the original message.

Campaign ideas

The world is full of marketing noise. With thousands of brands shouting over each other to be heard, you need to stand out with a consistent and memorable message. But creating quality content that engages the reader can be really time intensive, from coming up with ideas to researching topics to putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). As well as learning from previous campaigns you’ve run yourself, there’s no harm in taking inspiration from others. Here are some examples of what a successful integrated marketing campaign looks like.

At Gamma, we’ve done the hard graft for our partners and created a whole library of integrated white label campaigns. These can be accessed through Accelerate, our online partner marketing portal; a simple and secure platform that’s designed to make it easy for our partners to customise white label marketing material, generate new leads and engage with prospects and customers. Gamma Channel Partners can access Accelerate through the Gamma Portal: Gamma Portal>>Help and Support>>Gamma Accelerate

See Accelerate in action!