By A10 Digital. Published .
Integrated marketing is planning all of your marketing channels against the same objective and message, so that each supports the others. The website, search, advertising, social media and email are treated as one campaign, not as separate projects.
How is it different from running channels separately?
Most businesses add channels one at a time, often with a different supplier for each. Each supplier works to its own goal. The search work chases one set of terms, the advertising another, and the website was built before either was planned.
In an integrated campaign the objective comes first, and it comes from the marketing strategy. Every channel is then given a job: one brings in new enquiries quickly, another builds visibility over time, another keeps in touch with people who are not ready yet.
What does an integrated campaign look like in practice?
- One message, adapted to each channel, so people recognise you wherever they meet you.
- Advertising that sends people to pages built to receive them.
- Search work informed by which advertised searches turn into business.
- Email that follows up the enquiries the other channels bring in.
- One set of measures covering all of it.
What are the benefits?
Less waste, because channels stop duplicating each other. Clearer measurement, because the results sit in one place. And a more consistent impression on customers, who rarely use just one channel before they get in touch.
When is it not worth it?
If a business only needs one channel, there is nothing to integrate. A new business with a small budget is usually better served by doing one thing well. Integration matters once two or more channels are running and the question becomes how to share the budget between them.
Related service: integrated marketing campaigns from A10 Digital.