Integrated marketing, multi-channel or ‘omnimarketing’ are terms that all mean basically the same thing, which simply put, means marketing across several channels offering similar user experiences or targeting audiences with similar messaging – so consumers see consistent messaging in several places, and ideally, recognise your brand and get on board. They may see an ad in a magazine, read your blog, engage with your Facebook competition, browse your site for options and pricing, all before walking into your store to buy what they need.
While some argue there’s a technical difference between all these terms, for most businesses, the terms and technicality don’t matter, the results do – so the focus here is that having a consistent user experience, brand, and campaign style across all channels is the key.
Also, using an integrated approach is the best way to maximise your investment, especially as it’s getting harder and harder to get cut through and engage with your target audience.
Integration, in today’s savvy-consumer age, needs to be at the forefront of all marketing strategy and planning. It’s this consistency on all brand and product messaging across each channel, that builds recognition, familiarity, and ideally, trust.
Of course, the style or tone may differ slightly to suit the channel, for example, you can really get on a roll in long-form channels such as Medium or LinkedIn, but you’ll need to make it short and sweet via Twitter. This will be different again for digital display ads which are creative and visually rich, however, each of these will tie into a core campaign message, and align with the brand, regardless of channel.
The intent is that your customers will see your brand at multiple touch points and quickly recognise it, regardless of channel. By understanding and embracing this too, you increase your bang for buck, we all know the old adage “the sum of the parts is much greater than the whole” which is completely true for your marketing activity.
We’re all rapidly adapting to new and changing buyer behaviour and market places, and we’re overwhelmed with choice. “15 years ago, the average consumer typically used two touch-points when buying an item and only 7% regularly used more than four. Today consumers use an average of almost six touch-points with nearly 50% regularly using more than four.” (Source: Marketing Week)
A really good example where this is done well, across the globe and engaging diverse audiences, is the All Blacks. They use multiple platforms and channels – in person, TV, radio, Twitter, Instagram etc and when you see their brand, imagery, content on any platform or channel, when you hear the players speak in interviews, there’s consistency with their message and style. Yes, there are variances for individuals and the medium, but you could see a certain logo, or hear key phrases and know exactly what brand that’s tied to.
However, not all of us in business have the resources, reach and star power the All Blacks have. Recently I worked with a Christchurch-based business who wanted to grow their brand awareness, at the same time launch their refreshed brand, and drive revenue. They know that in their industry, over time, a recognised and trusted brand leads to revenue growth too.
By establishing a strategy, and a longer-term goal to start with, decisions were made in the short term to run a campaign that would drive revenue growth in the current financial year and set the platform for ongoing campaigns – an integrated approach was taken and brand awareness grew over 10% points in less than 3 months. It actually all started with an internal brand launch and training, so the teams that directly engage with customers were delivering the brand promise also and the customer experience was consistent online, offline, and across all channels. That’s a really powerful outcome, and achieved with clear strategy, a realistic budget, regular reviews and fine tuning, all leading to a great result.
That example shows it worked well in that case, but research by The Aberdeen Group supports this and reiterates there’s real reward for getting it right. Their research shows that companies with omni-channel customer engagement have strong revenue growth year-on-year, and a decrease in the cost of acquiring new customers. Compared with a 2% year-on-year decrease for those with single channel, or non-integrated approach.
This is a simple way to get the best bang for buck, reduce the cost of acquiring new customers and increasing sales, who doesn’t want that?
