Add Integrated Marketing To Your Marketing Mix

The combination of online marketing and offline marketing can give you a real bang for your buck. It’s pretty common today to find companies running well integrated marketing campaigns that include online advertising like PPC with offline campaigns. This combination is ideal for anyone who is building their brand and driving leads for a particular product or service.

Getting Started With Integrated Marketing

Perhaps you’re running marketing campaigns across multiple media. Even if you’re using something as simple as the Yellow Pages from a print perspective, there’s usually a corresponding form of online marketing that can enhance results.

One of the easiest ways to take advantage of an integrated campaign is use direct mail with a corresponding landing page. For example, I recently worked with a local retailer who was trying to bring more people into their store during the holiday season. My recommendation was to mail out post cards to past customers and nearby prospects that contained an offer.

The post card contained a special offer on select merchandise available in the store. To get a full list of applicable products that could be purchased during the promotional period, users were given a URL to a specially designed landing page. They could print a special coupon by visiting the URL included on the postcard. The web page included additional merchandise, specific information about the promotion, and an opportunity to sign up for special offers. This resulted in a number of outcomes including increased foot traffic and a list of emails that could be used for promotional purposes.

Start Small and Build From There

Creating an integrated marketing program is not an easy thing. All aspects of your campaign need to be well planned and tracked. Often times I see companies working towards integrated marketing only to give it an effort that is partially thought through. When asking consumers to go from an off line piece of marketing (an ad, a post card, a brochure) to an online information or offer, marketers are wise for focus on their audience and product or service benefits.

The best thing you can do is to start with a small campaign. Perhaps your campaign is similar to the retail example above. Or, perhaps you start with a special offer that is communicated via a flyer or newspaper ad. Your landing page needs to be designed with the specific offer in mind. Driving individuals to your home page is a waste of money.

Integrated marketing is only successful is you are relevant. Your messaging must be consistent both online and off. In addition, the look and feel of your offer and landing page should be as consistent as possible. This improves the user experience and enhances conversion rates. When beginning with a small campaign, it’s easier to get the details right and see success.

Split Test and Tracking

Whether you’re running a traditional print campaign or an online marketing program, it’s best to be in a mode of continual testing. Start with a split test. Change your headline, experiment with a different offer, or change your copy. Regardless of which element you choose, split testing sets you up for future winning campaigns.

Track your results using basic web tracking like Google Analytics. To make the most of your integrated campaign, you’ll need a way to track whether your web visitors arrived directly from your promotion. By driving users to a specific URL identified in your direct marketing piece or ad, you’ll be able to measure web traffic. Additionally, require a special promotional code to be entered on your order form. In combination, you’ll have a number of data points that provide valuable information about your promotion.

Integrated marketing can work extremely well if your concept is simple and well executed. Start with a well thought through plan that is easily implemented. The effectiveness of any direct campaign is largely based on the offer and you’re list. Creative has less impact on the overall success of your campaign. So get started and be sure to test your campaign, comparing it to the effectiveness of your other marketing initiatives. You may find that integrated marketing has a better result than other forms of marketing on their own.

Integrated Marketing Improves Results

Integrated marketing is more powerful than ever. Each day, more marketers are mastering the challenges of optimizing campaigns in each online channel, from search to Web sites to e-mail. So now they're beginning to ask why they can't coordinate and optimize campaigns across multiple channels, on and off line?

First, it's important to understand that e-mail now occupies a special place in the portfolio of marketing channels. It is exceptionally measurable and highly targetable, even at the individual level. It is usually the most cost effective channel, the one with the highest ROI.

However, it is also among the channels with the narrowest reach, as compared to online ads, search, mail or television.

Companies still struggle to maintain valid e-mail lists on more than 50 percent of their customer base, and many fall far short of that. In short, e-mail is a great way to communicate with your brand's core online audience.

But integration is a top priority for many marketers right now.

Companies must figure out how to assemble data from external and internal sources to build that elusive single view of the customer. Here are three flavors of e-mail integration.

Expanding messages delivered in other channels to e-mail

This approach is probably the oldest of the three, usually paired with direct mail. There has been evidence for some time to suggest that two related messages delivered in the same time window, one in email and one in direct mail, will drive better performance for both messages than either would achieve alone. But marketers would be wise to test carefully here and consider all options given the additional effort required to coordinate messages.

Extending e-mail messaging to other channels

This technique is newer. Examples include sending an e-mail with a special offer then following up with a mobile message referencing the offer. Or follow up with a physical mailing, but only to those who click on the offer and whose other characteristics make them likely responders.

Have your Web site reference an offer on the home page for customers who opened or clicked on an e-mail. The technology to accomplish all these message extensions is available, although these techniques are not yet broadly adopted by marketers.

E-mail in a more complex communication stream

This technique is my favorite, and the one I expect will someday be the dominant use of e-mail communication. You just visited the Web site, lingering over a particular product. Should you not receive an e-mail that in some manner builds on this behavior? “Time to renew.” “Your warranty will soon expire.” “A new store is opening in your area.” Connect the customer with the brand, and use email to continue the conversation followed by an offer of some benefit. When customers receive pertinent, timely information that extends their relationship with a brand, their attentiveness to future e-mail from that brand increases.

For all of the integration techniques discussed, the critical factor making everything possible is data integration across multiple channels. This challenge is most acute for campaigns that are continuous, not one-off, and based on triggered behavior which also happen to be the type with the greatest potential to drive results.

Michael Gorman is senior vice president of search and acquisition at Acxiom Digital. You can reach him at Michael.Gorman@acxiom.com