03 The problem with change
04 The integrated way
05 Why it’s worth it
07 Howtomaketheswitch–fivetipstoplanasuccessfulintegrated marketing campaign
10 Yourcampaignevaluationchecklist
11 How Talisman can help
Integratedcampaignsmakelifesimpler,saveyoumoney,andpackonehellofapowerfulpunch.Haveyoumadetheswitchyet?
Thedivideandconquerapproachtodistributionchannelshasmademarketingunnecessarilycomplicatedandunderminedmanybusinesses’goodefforts.
Integrated marketing campaigns are the way tokeepyourmarketingsimpleandstrong.
Inthisguide,we’lltalkyouthroughwhyanintegratedapproachisimportant,whatyoushoulddodifferently,andgiveyousometipsandcheckliststohelpplanandevaluatefuturecampaigns.
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The problem with changeMarketing our businesses can feel hugely complicated. Chances are, that
complexity has come about as a result of a very natural learning process.
Because digital has changed so rapidly and unpredictably, marketing has
changed, too. You’ve probably had to run after those changes in fits and
starts to try and keep up. Working life is pressured and there’s rarely a
chance to tackle everything at once.
You get your website looking great, and then a few months later you
tackle your email mail-outs. Then you decide to strengthen your
presence on social media, experimenting with new platforms and
channels. Maybe you decide to host an event or two, or publish guides,
develop apps. There’s always something new to try.
It’s a good thing. You’re growing and learning. But change doesn’t come
without its problems.
When we split our marketing, digital and non-digital, into lots of separate
projects and energy drives, we fragment it and weaken it.
Under pressure to manage the rest of our workload and keep the costs
down, businesses often end up drawing together help from a number of
sources, using multiple agencies alongside in-house design teams and
other external resources.
Multiple individuals may be working on what is essentially the same job.
They may have similar, overlapping roles, but diverse expectations,
budgets, and creative control.
No wonder marketing feels so complex.
Becauseofrapidchangeandthegradualadoptionofnewtechnologiesandtools,marketinghasbecomefragmented.Thisleadstounnecessarycomplexity,intermsofbudgetandorganisation,andweakensmarketingefforts.
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The integrated wayIntegrated marketing campaigns encourage us to stop, simplify, and
find a better way. It’s not about trying to do everything at once; it’s about
doing one thing well, in a variety of joined-up ways.
> An integrated marketing campaign presents a consistent brand message across both traditional (e.g. direct mail) and non-traditional (e.g. social media) marketing channels to reinforce each other.
> It recognises the added value of a unified plan that includes a variety of relevant and timely communication channels and combines them to provide clarity, consistency and maximum impact.
> Previously, marketing was thought of as a one-way funnel, using communications and advertising to push customers towards making a purchasing decision, as quickly as possible.
> Instead, by unifying your strategy and approach, an integrated marketing campaign provides multiple, cohesive touch points, designed to give customers rewarding interactions with your brand and a clear sense of your brand’s identity at every stage of their buyer journey.
Integrated marketing is aboutconsistent,joined-upthinkingacrossmultiplemarketingchannels.Consistent messaging doesn’tmeanuniformapproaches–it’saboutusingmultipleplatformssensitivelyandcreativelywhile working to a unifiedstrategy.
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Why it’s worth it
Key stats
72% ofconsumerspreferanintegratedmarketingapproach
86% ofmarketingprofessionalsagreethatusingasingleintegratedmarketing strategyiscrucialtotheirlong-termsuccess
24% Contentpublishedon2or3channelshada24%increaseinengagement
300% Leadmanagementcampaignsintegrating4ormoredigitalchannelswerefound tooutperformsingleordual-channelcampaignsby300%
Sources: BrickStreetSoftware and HubSpot
Anintegratedcampaignoffersapersuasivelistofbenefits > It builds trust: Consumers are sceptical of advertising claims and resistant to feeling pushed into buying things by people they don’t know. The more often they can encounter a consistent, relevant message, the better they’ll feel they know you, and trust what you have to say.
> It gets your message through: With thousands of marketing messages fighting for consumer attention every day across an ever-growing variety of media, consumers are bombarded and bewildered as they try to work out what to pay attention to.
The businesses that communicate a calm, cohesive message across the right channels give audiences something tangible to latch onto – a way of recognising ‘this is for me’. Like one clear, sustained note among a jumble of clamouring melodies, you have a better chance of cutting through the noise and reaching the people that matter.
> It’s more effective: Your marketing is more powerful when every advertisement, every email, and every marketing piece communicates consistently. Each time a customer or prospect sees your message, it’s reinforced without confusion, building greater awareness and trust over time. That way, when they’re ready to contact you or purchase a product, your message is already strong and clear in their mind.
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> It’s personal and responsive: A good integrated campaign recognises that unified doesn’t mean uniform. It allows you to tailor your communication to different channels, knowing the right ones to choose, who might access each one, and how an audience might move between them. Integrated campaigns give audiences the freedom and opportunity to engage with your brand in different ways, but unify the message they’ll experience when they do.
> It will save you money: Businesses with different departments or multiple agency contracts – all with separate plans and strategies – run the risk of working against each other to achieve the same thing. Without a cohesive campaign, fragmented messages are unlikely to stick in prospects’ minds. Each individual department or agency has to work harder and often spend more to try to get their slice of the message to cut through, increasing their respective costs while weakening the overall impact. Integrated marketing will always offer a much more efficient use of your budget.
SeetheresultsWe proved that an integrated campaign never needs to be repetitive
or boring and can offer surprisingly creative opportunities to draw
together digital and traditional platforms. We had a big, fun idea, and it
worked. Come and read about our 28% conversion integrated direct mail
campaign for BLP Insurance.
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Howtomaketheswitch–fivetipstoplanasuccessfulintegrated marketing campaignWe recommend that you use the following integrated marketing
techniques as a foundation for your next campaign.
1. See the blurred lines between traditional and digital ad formats
Usually, traditional and digital platforms are presented as two different segments, similar to the diagram from Nielsen below. They still feel very different to many of us, so it’s no surprise that we feel the need to divide them up when considering our marketing plan and budget.
But this segregation is misleading when put in the context of our modern lifestyles. How relevant is this divide when we read the newspaper on our laptop, watch YouTube on the TV, or listen to the radio on our phones?
By cross-comparing all formats and seeing them as a cohesive whole, we’ll get a better idea of the real value of all the channels at our disposal. From there, we can work out how best to deliver the right messages in a way that matches the viewing, reading and listening habits of a modern audience.
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2. Integrate your budget
Dividing up our budgets into digital/non-digital pots represents another old fashioned way to think about marketing. Why restrict your spending according to digital/non-digital allocations when both formats carry the same overall objective? If the goal is to use marketing to help your business succeed, you only need one budget to achieve that.
Having one budget helps you to focus and prioritise. Multiple channels need to prove themselves worth a chunk of that single budget so you’ll likely think harder about what channels to choose. Let go of the format a channel fits in, do your research, and simply invest your money in the channels that offer the best chance of connecting with your audience. Both your shareholders and your customers will benefit.
3. Understand your audience
Crucial to all campaigns, integrated or not, is the importance of establishing exactly who your target market is and what they’re looking for. You can’t pick the right channels or the right approach without knowing your customers, having a relevant product to offer, and thinking about the messages they might respond to.
4. Know your brand positioning
Knowing where you fit in the market, who your competition is, and how you offer something different will go a long way in helping you develop a targeted, effective approach. Being sure of your value and your niche means you can better play the field and hone in on potential customers.
5. Create, plan, track and analyse
The channels you choose are only tools – the material that’s going to do the hardest work is consistent and strategic content. Good content is organised, so define your messages, set goals, plan your broadcasts, schedule times, set up tracking, and compare channel performance to see what people are responding to. Well-managed delivery of content makes it easier to track performance, opening up the opportunity to analyse the big picture and quickly eliminate the channels that aren’t working for you.
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ProvenresultsDesigning and integrating direct mail, email marketing and personalised
websites into one campaign for a private banking client helped us to
achieve a 50% email open rate and a 25% email click through rate when
targeting a previously hard to engage, neglected client base – far higher
than the rates we typically see from segregated campaigns.
> ReadmoreaboutthisPrivateBankingcasestudyhere
Exampleofasuccessfulintegratedcampaign
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YourcampaignevaluationchecklistStill not sure that you’re using integrated marketing well? Run your
project through our quick checklist first to see if you’re on track.
1. Doyouhavesegregatedorintegratedmarketingbudgets?
2. Doyouhaveconfidentbrandguidelines,andaretheyconsistentlyadheredto?
3. Areyourmarketingeffortsinstantlyrecognisableascomingfromthesamebusiness?
4. Dotheycommunicateyourvalue,yourpositioningandyourbrandimageconsistentlyacrossdifferentmedia?
5. Aretheyfocusedonachievingthesamegoals?
6. Areyouusingbothtraditionalandonlinemarketingchannelstogether?
7. AreyoucomparingtheirROIonalikeforlikebasis?
Do moreIntegrated marketing works hand in hand with content or inbound
strategies. To find out more about how you could grow your business
through inbound marketing, download our free guide.
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How Talisman can helpAt Talisman, we work on better integrating individual aspects
of campaigns for our clients right through to managing full,
all-encompassing integrated projects.
We can deliver any or all aspects of an integrated marketing campaign
through our multi-discipline in-house team. What platforms could we
get working together for you?
> Emails
> Events
> Digital banners and signage
> Social Media
> TV
> Websites
> Apps
> PPC
> Videos
> Printed collateral
> Magazines and newspapers
> Postal mail
> Promo items
> Radio
”We commissioned Talisman duetotheirexperienceandknowledgeofthis[StructuredProductsmarket]sector.Theycurrentlyhandleallmarketingelementsoftheplanlaunches...andhavebecomeanintegralpartofourmarketingandplanningteam.”
AlexandraWilson, MarketingManager, InvestecCapitalMarkets
> Readmoreaboutourintegrated campaigns forInvestechere
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Contact TalismanTelephone: +44(0)2037355530Email: [email protected]: www.talismansolutions.co.uk/#blogs-and-white-papers
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Hayley graduated from University in 2013 with a BA (Hons) Business and Marketing degree. As an Account Manager she works closely with Partnership Assurance, Thomas Miller and Investec Private Bank. Her focus sits with inbound and content marketing, managing and implementing integrated campaigns and optimising the online presence for clients and Talisman.
Whitepaper by Hayley DawsonAccountManageratTalisman