Today, people are talking about the world being engulfed by the digital forum wherein all communications are at the digital era. All shouts of communication seems to be of the “digital” kind and the favourite word in everyone’s vocabulary — digital marketing.
Then, why do we still see print media out in the market? Why is there a display of ads on dailies, periodicals and outdoor billboards and TV channels? The answer is complex... and yet a simple one.
For marketers today, the understanding of the choices and integration of traditional methods as well as nontraditional methods is the bulls eye. Many businesses and institutions have learned it the hard way: what works for traditional print marketing does not work as well on the web and social media sites, or in the television arena. The same is true vice versa.
There is no perfect formula to creating a successful integrated marketing campaign. However there are steps that you can take to maximise viewership:
1.It is important to identify the target, precisely, both in demographic and psychographic terms. This will help you develop the key message and identify the best communication channels for the reach. For example: Who are the target audience? What motivates them? How best can we communicate with them?
Which newspaper or magazine do they read or subscribe to? Which television channel do they regularly tune in to? Which sites do they visit regularly? If they are using social media, what are the other ways to reach them? This needs to be cross-examined before even getting started with the marketing strategy.
2. Once the research is covered, you may pick the channel/channels. Remember that everyone need not be on Facebook or be reading a magazine or watching TV. You need to find the channel based on are the strengths and weaknesses and how it will help reach the business objectives. You need to be firm and reject channels that prove doubtful. It is always better to be on the more effective channels than trying to be everywhere at all times.
3. Maintaining the visual identity is necessary for impactful communication. The visual identity is far more than the logo. It entails having a common overarching design, graphics, and consistent logo indulgence with common colours and fonts. Everything should look as though it came from the same company. A person reading a newspaper or watching an ad on TV should see an immediate visual connection when visiting the website or the company’s Facebook page.
4. Creating clear, consistent content that can easily be adapted or repurposed to suit different media or channels is vital as it can take more than five impressions for an individual to recognize a brand or specific marketing message. The key is to follow the three Cs for marketing messages — Clear, Compelling and Consistent throughout all platforms.
In addition, every piece of content you develop should be usable in as many places as possible. For example, you should be able to take a case study and use it in your blog post or as an excerpt on LinkedIn or Twitter.
5. Ensuring each element of your marketing campaign is set up to drive traffic to your ultimate target, whether your target is a website or a social media platform, should be a top priority in integrated communication.
6. Make sure your marketing teams and the agencies work in coordinated. The connection should be more of a bond then a business relationship with the same outlook for success in their minds. It is important to monitor and coordinate efforts within the organisation as well as with agencies, to ensure your branding has a consistent look and feel across all platforms.
7. The most important aspect of any campaign is putting the proper analytics and methods in place to understand and summarise how you are achieving conversions and/or results. For example, those looking to use digital to drive in-stores sales with coupons, using a tracking platform that generates unique barcodes with every coupon printed and then allows you to receive data back from retailers and coupon clearing houses about which corresponding campaign segments are performing best from an RoI (return on investment) standpoint.
The writer is the CEO of Venturecom at Verse Group.