Integrated Marketing: The Magic Formula for Success

Ever wondered how some businesses seem to achieve success overnight?

A year ago, they may have been a company that no one has heard of and then all of the sudden that same business is everywhere you look — in the newspaper, on social media, on a billboard and from your friends.

It’s mind-blowing, isn’t it?

And, if you’re like most business owners or company leaders, you wonder how in the heck that company made it happen.

You want to know what’s the magic bullet? What’s the secret formula to their success?

The answer is likely integrated marketing.

No, there is not one singular tactic that will help you achieve results. Sorry, folks!

However, when implemented properly, integrated marketing can FEEL like magic because you see the same key messages across all marketing channels.

How Integrated Marketing Works

So, what does integrated marketing look like?

Integrated marketing is when all of your marketing channels are working together to deliver a powerful, consistent message.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that you’re a physical therapist office that works with athletes. Although you help athletes recover from injury, what they really want to know is how to prevent injury in the first place.

So, you create an integrated marketing campaign around that key message.

Here’s how that could work:

• Content Marketing.
   You could write a blog, film instructional videos or hold classes with exercises and tips for injury prevention. You could even create downloadable guides with exercises and warm-up instructions.
• Media relations. Share compelling success stories of people who have recovered from injury and stayed injury-free by using your exercises. Or, offer up top injury prevention tips in a bylined column.
• Advertising.
   Create a targeted online advertising campaign that could promote your other marketing efforts, such as your free classes, online videos or downloadable guides.
• Search Engine Marketing.
   Target keywords around the injuries people are searching for and build content around that. You could even create landing pages that address the questions people are asking with an email capture to download free materials (videos, guides, etc.).
• Social Media. Build an online community of athletes to discuss workouts regimens, favorite products and answer questions about common injuries. Twitter chats or groups through Facebook, LinkedIn or Google Plus would be great for this.
• Email marketing. Send an email tip of the week a recommended exercise, favorite exercise products and best articles about healthy living for athletes.

Do you see how this could work?

Keys to Successful Integrated Marketing

If you’re getting excited about this idea, that’s good! But, before you run off and get started, there are a few things you must do first if you want a successful integrated marketing campaign:

1. Build strong brand messaging.
    If you want to stand out in the sea of competition, you absolutely must know who you are as a brand and what makes you different. In other words, what’s the one thing you want people to know about your brand? If you can’t articulate that clearly, all of the marketing efforts in the world won’t help you.
2. Make your messaging consistent.
    Once you’ve identified your brand messaging, you must keep it consistent across all of your marketing channels. Everything you do has to come back to that key message.
3. Implement it across your entire organization.
    In addition to your marketing efforts, your entire organization must understand the messaging and buy into it. That way, your clients or prospects will feel like they are getting the same brand experience no matter whom they talk to within your organization.

Do you see how this could work for your business?
 

Image credit: Alvin Katek