A lot of people would like to believe that famous phrase, “If you build it, they will come.” As romantic as it may sound, that line of thinking only works in Field of Dreams or Wayne’s World.
In order to plan and execute a successful integrated marketing campaign in the real world, you can’t rely on the Luck of the Irish or some line from an 80s movie (That’s right. Field of Dreams came out in the 80s. Don’t you feel old?). You need to rely on experience. Luckily, we’ve been doing this for a long time, so we’ve got a lot of knowledge to share.
What is Integrated Communications?
For starters, it’s important to know what we mean when we talk about integrated communications. After all, we’re so passionate about it that we included it in the name of our company. Integrated communications is the blending together of multiple messaging tools and marketing strategies to reach a desired goal.
This should go without saying, but that goal you’re trying to reach needs to be reasonable. If you just started utilizing a website, getting 10 leads a month through that website is not going to happen right away. Think about what goals can help you achieve that larger picture over time.
Confused? Don’t worry. Here are some steps to get you started.
Determine Your Goals
What do you hope to accomplish? Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goals. To garner success, you must start at the beginning.
When you’re thinking of goals, remember to stay focused. Keep this in mind:
- A goal is a broad primary outcome.
- A strategy is the approach you take to achieve a goal.
- An objective is a measurable step you take to achieve a strategy.
- A tactic is a tool you use to pursue an objective associated with a strategy.
Creating a campaign with no clear direction is setting yourself up for failure. Determine the end goal and begin working backwards.
Know Your Target Audience
Who are you trying to reach?
Understanding who you are speaking to is key to the success of an integrated campaign. You have to understand their interests and motivators. Who are they and what do they want? Once you know that, you can customize the messaging and tactics to reach them.
Create Your Implementation Plan
Implementation is often the most difficult element of any campaign, but it’s something we excel at (are we bragging again? Oops!). To make progress, you need an organized execution plan that documents what is going to happen, when it needs to happen, and who is responsible for making it happen.
Remember, luck is not a strategy. Let’s be real. You all watched the Fyre Fest documentaries. How well did relying on luck work out for Billy McFarland?
Speaking of, did you prefer the Hulu or Netflix documentary? We have so many opinions about them both.
Want to avoid ending up as the subject of the next documentary, but not sure where to start? Contact our badass team; we’d love to walk you through it.
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