Integration helps you create smarter content that works harder. It also builds trust with your target audience, fights fragmentation, saves you time and money, and unifies your team. Here are the 8 steps you’ll need to take to make it happen for your next digital campaign.
1. Know your audience.
In order to build an integrated digital marketing campaign, you need to identify your target audience. Once you’ve identified them, get to know their demographic their interests, and behaviors. How do they like being communicated to? What sites do they visit regularly? What are they talking about on social media? Which networks are they active on? You can look at past behavior, and you can ask them directly. Translate the data you collect into a documented, usable format.
2. Identify prime channels.
Which channels do your target audience use? Which channels help you reach your business objectives? Which channels convert? Which channels bring the most engagement? Answer these questions in order to identify the most important channels for reaching your target audience.
3. Identify key content types.
Similar to #2 above, this step involves looking at your analytics, your customers’ behaviors, and answering several questions: What kinds of content does your target audience resonate with most? Which kinds of content help you reach your business objectives? Which kinds of content convert? Which kinds of content get higher engagement for your target audience?
4. Devise an integrated strategy.
Once you’ve nailed down your target audience, prime channels, and key kinds of content, you’ll want to put together a plan that includes the creation, repurposing, amplification, and distribution of content that will work across all your digital channels, including organic search, search engine marketing, social media, your blog, website, webinars, podcasts, and email marketing. Each element should be set up to drive traffic toward your primary objective, be that purchases or email signups on your website or engagement on a social network.
5. Establish a unified identity.
Consistency is the name of the game. In order to create consistency, you need to create a visual identity with a logo, colors, photography and graphic style. At the same time, be sure to institute a strong and unique brand voice. It could be conversational and clever, cheeky and fun, or professional and smart.
6. Create content that can be repurposed.
With the information you collected in the first three steps, a plan in place and an established brand identity, you’re ready to create flexible content that can be used in as many places as possible. Whatever kind of content you create, make sure it follows three guidelines: 1) clear, 2) compelling, and 3) consistent. Use the same keywords and phrases throughout your campaigns.
7. Align your marketing teams.
Whether you need to restructure your team or create a weekly meeting, get everyone on the same page to ensure they’re branding all digital campaigns with your consistent look, feel and voice. If you’re using an outside agency to create content, have a dedicated person in place to monitor that content to be sure it fits with your brand identity.
8. Track & optimize.
As you roll out content, measure its performance across channels. You want to understand how your content is achieving conversions, however you define that, so you can tweak your campaigns in the future and stay in the know about your audience.
Integrated marketing is both an art and a science. Residing happily at the intersection of data, technology, creative, and strategy, it takes time and perseverance, but it’s well worth the effort. Check back with us over the next several weeks as we go deeper into each step above.
Need some help developing an integrated marketing plan for your business? Let Filament light the way.
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