One of the top questions we are asked (right after, “Where’s Jimmy?”) is, “What exactly is integrated communications?”
Which is fine because we LOVE talking about integrated communications, and not just because it is a part of our company name. We enjoy helping others understand that the world of communications is constantly changing, and having a firm that understands how the various parts of a communication strategy interact and affect each other is a very (very!) smart investment.
Around here, when we say “integrated” we mean just that: true integration. Every section of your marketing, PR, digital, web, advertising, and other communications strategies, impact each other. It also means that these efforts can’t just be linked, they must be coordinated to create real results.
In action, that means that even though we might be working on “just” a digital advertising campaign for a client, we are going to also be thoughtful about their website and social content to ensure that everything is cohesive. Meanwhile, a company’s online presence impacts its physical one, so we need to ensure that what we create digitally aligns with other communications strategies.
All that to say: we are never really working on just one communication channel, even if that’s what we are focused on in that moment.
So, how do we create this kind of multi-layered strategy? We like to think we make it look easy, but we do have a few tricks up our sleeve that support our ability to create measurable success for our clients:
- Our whole team loves to learn
Because our professional world is changing all the time, each member of our team keeps their finger on the pulse of communications trends, no matter what their day job is. We use tools like Feedly and have learning sessions as a team to stay on top of new ideas, best practices, and more, to ensure that we are leveraging every tactic, every time, for maximized integrated impact.
- Sometimes, we say no
We love what we do, and we want to do it for everyone. That said, we also know that for us to be successful, we have to use our integrated communications approach. That means that sometimes businesses come to us asking for a very specific deliverable that we know will impact other initiatives within their communications strategy. If what they ultimately want is going to negatively impact their efforts in the long run, we say no.
- We don’t have a lot of walls
Hopefully, you’ve been in to see our new awesome office, but if you haven’t, one of the keys to our success is that we have a very open working space. This is very purposeful. An integrated approach means that our team approaches opportunities for our clients collaboratively…this sometimes means that someone overhears another team member sharing an update that allows for an impromptu brainstorm. It’s incredible. Our creative, hardworking team always puts our clients first, with our very special approach.
So, there you have it.
Integrated = cohesive, connected, results-oriented, strategically focused.
To learn more about us and our integrated communications approach, hop on over to our website.
