What is Integrated Marketing?
What is integrated marketing, campaign examples, and how it can work for you.
Let’s start with the basics. What is integrated marketing?
Integrated marketing- A marketing strategy that uses several different forms of media, called channels, to convey one unified message or campaign.
For example: You own a chiropractic practice and want to push a discount for first time visits. You use billboards to reach local drivers and increase brand awareness. You also promote the special by using digital channels like Youtube ads, and Facebook organic posts. This way you are promoting a single message (discounted first appointment) using different media channels (billboard, Youtube and Facebook) to reach your audience at different times in the sales cycle. “Integrating” your channels helps to create a cohesive campaign for your brand.
Examples of real brands using integrated marketing:
➡️Domino’s- AnyWare Campaign
Pizza restaurant chain, Domino’s, created the AnyWare campaign to push easier & more convenient ways to order. Domino’s AnyWare allows customers to order with a tweet, a text, Ford Sync, smart televisions, smart watches, and many more channels.
Domino’s published a national television campaign, deployed a press release for every channel that can be used to order, used celebrity testimonials, deployed various print ads all over the US, added AnyWare verbiage and promotion in Domino’s locations and used even more channels to push this campaign.
According to the Shorty Awards, here’s the results from the Domino’s pizza “AnyWare” campaign.
- The AnyWare campaign generated 2 billion cross-channel media impressions, including segments on Jimmy Fallon, Ellen and the Today Show.
- The AnyWare website received over 500,000 visits.
- The AnyWare television campaign generated 10.5 percent year-over-year sales growth.
- The AnyWare campaign helped Domino’s achieve its goal of having half of all orders be made digitally.
➡️Dove- Campaign for Real Beauty
The beauty company, Dove, used multiple channels to send out a campaign that questioned social norms and what “beauty” is to different people.
The campaign began as a series of billboards that asked passers-by about the women on the billboards itself, asking questions like “fat or fit?” to spark engagement with the brand. Votes were texted in from motorists.
Dove created several short films to be presented through mixed channels. Some were played on TV, one was entered in the Sundance Film Festival, some were posted on YouTube. They also pushed this campaign by advertising on magazines and pushing an Instagram hashtag, #iamrealbeauty.
According to the Digital Marketing Institute and Think With Google, Here’s the results from the Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty”
- Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty increased sales from 2.5 billion to over 4 billion
- Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty started a new trend in which advertisers portray women differently
- Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has generated overall 4.6 billion PR and blogger media impressions
- Over 11M views on YouTube video sketch “Dove real beauty sketches | You’re more beautiful than you think”
Why integrated marketing works.
➡️Viewers aren’t ready to buy the first time they see your ad.
Customers move through different stages of consideration before buying a product or service. Audiences start at the “top” of the marketing funnel with the awareness phase (when they become aware of your brand), then move to the interest phase (when they show interest by clicking on your website or an ad). Proceeding the interest phase is the consideration and finally the conversion phases.
Stages of the
marketing funnel
Integrated marketing allows you to cater to your audience based on their stage in the marketing funnel.
There’s a multitude of marketing platforms available on the internet. Integrated marketing uses specific channels and platforms to retarget the audience based on their stage in the funnel- that way, people who are aware or interested but didn’t convert continue to see messaging about the brand until they are ready to convert or purchase.
➡️Using several media channels increases the frequency of ads and helps keep your brand top of mind.
Can you think of a brand you feel like you’ve seen everywhere? Chances are, most of you said yes. Using many media channels helps keep your brand top of mind because the amount of times the audience sees your brand online or in person increases. For example, you may see an ad for a clothing brand on facebook, then see their website on Google search, then see a poster for them at your mall, and on a social media influencer page. Chances are, you’ll remember that brand name more than a brand that you’ve only seen appear on one channel. Integrating several marketing channels like this can help increase ad retention and brand awareness.
Keep in mind:
You don’t have to spend millions to run a successful integrated marketing campaign.
There are a multitude of small businesses, medical practices, and companies that use integrated marketing strategies but on a smaller scale than the examples above. Out of the hundreds of marketing platforms available online, chances are, you’re already using one. Do you have a Facebook or Instagram account? What about a business email system? We suggest setting aside a budget, using the platforms you have at hand, and working with a professional marketing agency. An agency will suggest advertising channels that you should add into your strategy as well as ways to integrate your messaging on each channel to ensure you reach your audience at every stage of the marketing funnel.