The term “integrated approach” gets thrown around heaps in the digital world, and especially within the agency sphere.
While many agencies offer full service digital, there are some that display little interest in an integrated approach. While these agencies may excel in their specific area, they are undoubtedly restricted in the overall impact that integrated approach could have. Just in case you’re asking yourself, but what is an ‘integrated approach’? Essentially, an integrated approach to digital marketing is one which charges multiple channels / marketing disciplines to work towards the same goal. The DMA describes it as: “an approach to creating a unified and seamless experience for consumers to interact with the brand/enterprise; it attempts to meld all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and social media, through their respective mix of tactics, methods, channels, media, and activities, so that all work together as a unified force. It is a process designed to ensure that all messaging and communications strategies are consistent across all channels and are centered on the customer.”
As you now may be starting to understand, hitting users all over the internet, as opposed to limiting your efforts to just one platform is most definitely beneficial. So why take this approach to your digital marketing campaigns? As mentioned, there are a number of advantages to taking this approach to digital:
Providing each marketing platform is being used effectively, and by effectively we mean; ensuring that targeting is refined and accurate, the messaging and branding of each platform is coherent, and that messages are being delivered at the right time in the right way, then your marketing efforts will prove consistent and powerful.
To state the obvious - the more digital platforms you use, the greater the probability that the brand is seen by the target audience. Now this doesn’t mean you should dilute your marketing efforts by literally using every platform, but the more valuable and well thought out touchpoints people have with your brand, the more likely they are to recognise your brand and service offering.
An integrated approach encourages internal team collaboration. Whether that’s between various teams in an agency, for example the SEO and PR teams working closer together, or whether it results in greater collaboration between an agency and the clients internal marketing team. Having more members of the team work together increases the potential for more creative ideas and digital solutions.
With everyone pulling in the same direction, and with the same goal in mind, your budget is likely to go further. Costs are likely to be lower doing things on a bigger scale, you’re less likely to duplicate workload and in addition to this, with more touchpoints with your customers, they’re more likely to buy from you too!
It goes without saying that with an integrated approach, you’re more likely to see better results. Going back to touch points and using traditional media as an example, think of this; would you be more likely to buy a product from a company whose you saw one advertisement on TV - or on the flip side, would you be more likely to empathise and buy from a brand of whose you had seen 2 seperate billboards, a TV advert, magazine ads and a friendly POS stand in your local shopping centre? The latter, right?
Well the same goes for digital. Not every platform is made to convert a user. You may want to increase awareness on social media, so that three weeks later, when someone Google searches “black Jacket” your search appears and they instinctively select you because they have built some form of relationship with your brand. It’s all about hitting the customer / user in every part of the decision making funnel!
At Tuskany, we deliver integrated digital marketing campaigns and aim to find the channels which work together well and deliver the desired results quicker than traditional digital agencies.
