Should Your Business Embrace Integrated Marketing?
Integrated marketing—also known as
multi-channel or cross-channel marketing—is the practice of reaching
customers via multiple platforms or channels to increase the likelihood of
reaching your audience for engagement and conversion. A typical integrated
campaign may include various digital methods (email, paid and organic social
media, and Google AdWords), as well as traditional marketing tactics (direct
mail, magazines, old-fashioned networking, and events).
So, does this kind of outreach on multiple channels
impact your company’s marketing performance? As many integrated marketers and
analysts have found, it does—and in a big way.
Why Companies Use Integrated Marketing
Integrated campaigns have a better
chance of finding
customers where they are—some prefer to receive email, some direct mail,
while others may be spending all of their time on social media. A
customer-focused approach allows you to provide consistent messaging to your
target audience regardless of their preferred methodology or marketing
platform. It is also an opportunity to dig deeper into targeting
specific people based on demographics, psychographics, age, or geography.
Benefits of Integrated Campaigns
According to Mashable,
72% of consumers prefer that marketers take an integrated approach toward
reaching out to them. If that’s not reason enough, how about these?
Attention
Gets Boosted – when you are using so many channels to reach people, more
people are going to see your brand and messaging. And when you are targeting
them from several channels, you are compounding your outreach to each person.
Customers
Get Your Message, Regardless of Where They Hang Out – Your audience can be
wherever they prefer, keeping them in their comfort zones when you are
messaging them.
More
Touch Points = More & Better Data – You will get more accurate results
on your campaigns when you can track across several platforms instead of
filling in the blanks on one or two.
Consistency
– You are managing your message across several channels and can be sure that
the audience is always seeing/hearing what you want them to.
Build
Better Relationships – Again, because you are reaching your audience where
they are comfortable, they are more likely to engage with you, and you can more
effectively nurture relationships. And because you know more about them, you
can ensure that you appeal to what interests them.
Better
Retention – Customers tend to stick around, and you can build loyalty
through repeated outreach and rewarding engagement experiences.
How
Effective is Integrated Marketing?
Here is where things get
interesting. Zoom Info compiled several statistics on its blog
that exhibit the power of integrated marketing.
- 98% of Americans switch between devices on the same day
- Mobile devices, computers, and tablets are each better suited
to specific types of marketing, so take advantage of multiple channel
- 90% of customers expect consistent interactions across
channels
- The best way to ensure this is by being available on many
different channels
- 86% of shoppers regularly channel-hop across a minimum of two
channels
- Again, your messaging will need to be available in multiple
locations
- 72% of consumers say they would prefer to connect with brands
and businesses through multi-channel marketing
- So, you don’t have much choice!
- Nearly
64% of technology buyers say that they read between two to five pieces of
content before making a purchase
- Companies that use integrated marketing experience 3x higher
effectiveness rates than those that use non-integrated campaigns
- So why wouldn’t you?
Conclusion
As the saying goes, “The whole is
greater than the sum of its parts.” So too is an integrated campaign with
multiple channels and touchpoints more compelling than one channel or
touchpoint. What is critical for a truly effective marketing campaign is
consistency, accessibility, and the building effect that comes with seeing your
messaging in many different places. Only by using the integrated or
multichannel marketing approach can you ensure that you are making your
audience outreach accessible and consistent while amplifying your message.