We’ve talked recently in this blog space about the concept of integrated marketing, which involves the use of multiple digital marketing channels that are all coordinated for maximum effect. Deciding to use integrated marketing is just one key step; however, another major one in this process is determining which integrated marketing channels to include in your campaign.
At BWP Communications, we’re here to help clients around Salt Lake and nearby parts of Utah with all their integrated advertising needs, including integrated marketing channel selection based on our years of experience in this field. Here are some of the chief areas we’ll help you evaluate when making this important decision, ensuring that your integrated advertising programs are targeted for maximum effectiveness within your budget.
Laying Out a Budget
Like with any other major online marketing campaign, an integrated marketing setup will begin with an analysis of your budget. We’ll work closely with you to determine how much flexibility we have in terms of cost when constructing a comprehensive integrated marketing strategy, and then use this information to help guide our channel selection process.
Now, keep in mind that more money doesn’t necessarily mean more channels. While a greater budget certainly leaves room for more options, it’s important to focus on the channels that will best reach your target audience and yield the highest return on investment (ROI). This is where other elements of research come into play – read on!
Analyzing Audience Behavior and Time Spent
Using any existing digital marketing campaigns or services you’ve conducted in the past, examine audience behavior and time spent on different channels. This can give you insight into which channels are most effective in engaging your target audience and which may not be worth investing in.
Another helpful tool is Google Analytics, which can provide data on website traffic sources, bounce rates, and conversion rates. By analyzing this information, you can determine which channels are driving the most traffic to your website and ultimately leading to conversions.
Matching Channels to Stages of the Buyer Journey
A great approach to choosing integrated marketing channels that many businesses follow is to match these channels to the different stages of the buyer journey. This helps ensure that your marketing efforts are targeted and effective at each step of the journey.
- Awareness Stage: In this stage, your target audience is just becoming aware of their problem or need for a product or service like yours. Channels that are useful in this stage include social media platforms, content marketing (such as blog posts and guest articles), and display advertising. These channels allow you to reach a large audience and introduce your brand and its solutions to them.
- Consideration Stage: Once your target audience is aware of their problem, they will start looking for potential solutions. This is the consideration stage, where they are actively researching and comparing different options. Channels that work well in this stage include search engine marketing, webinars or live demos, and email marketing. These channels can provide more detailed information about your products or services and help convince potential customers that you have the best solution for their needs.
- Decision Stage: In this final stage of the buyer journey, your target audience has narrowed down their options and is ready to make a purchase decision. Channels that work well in this stage include product demos, case studies, and testimonials. These channels can showcase your products or services in action and highlight the benefits and results that previous customers have experienced.
Balancing Short-Term (Paid Ads) and Long-Term (SEO, Content) Channels
When choosing integrated marketing channels for your business, it’s important to strike a balance between short-term and long-term strategies. Paid ads, such as Google AdWords or social media advertising, can generate immediate traffic and leads, but they require a continual investment in order to maintain results.
On the other hand, SEO and content marketing are long-term strategies that take time to build up, but can have lasting effects on your website’s visibility and credibility. By creating high-quality content that is optimized for search engines, you can attract organic traffic from potential customers who are actively searching for information related to your products or services.
It’s important to consider both short-term and long-term channels when developing an integrated marketing plan. While paid ads can provide immediate results, content marketing can create a sustainable impact over time.
Test Small, Measure Results, and Expand Successful Channels
As your integrated marketing campaign evolves, it’s crucial to test different strategies and channels to see what works best for your business. This can include A/B testing different ad creatives, experimenting with different content formats, or trying out new social media platforms.
Once you have collected data from these tests, analyze the results and prioritize the most successful channels for your business. From there, you can expand and invest more resources into those channels to continue driving growth.
As you can see, there are a number of robust ways to choose integrated marketing channels that fit your budget and help you maximize your visibility and consistency as a brand. And at BWP Communications, we’re here to help clients around Salt Lake and nearby areas with all their integrated marketing needs – contact us today for help with choosing the ideal channels, or any other solution!