Companies bombard the typical consumer and B2B customer with thousands of advertising messages daily across digital, broadcast, print and other channels.
To break through that noise, sellers must reach buyers with an average of seven coherent messages to avoid being filtered out before conducting business. Coordinating those communications across all customer-facing channels reduces fragmented and mixed messaging that penetrates the chaos. Some companies try to shout above the noise for attention.
On the other hand, savvy marketing companies are increasing their demand for professionals with advanced expertise in integrating messages across traditional and digital advertising, such as social media, direct marketing, public relations and customer service, including chatbots.
What Value Does Integrated Marketing Return?
Marketo Exchange, Adobe’s digital marketing consultancy, provides an example of integrated marketing that incorporates social media. For instance, potential customers who see an ad on social are more likely to engage with the brand if they’ve noticed coordinated messaging on other digital and traditional channels.
Integrated marketing strategies help create lasting brand impressions that:
- Generate a unified message customers are likelier to remember when researching potential business suppliers or shopping for consumer goods
- Increase return on marketing investment by creating all-channel messaging that is less costly than reinventing the wheel for each customer-facing medium, resulting in narrative consistency and increased brand engagement
- Strengthen brand loyalty as customers become more familiar with its reputation, promise and vision as reliable messaging compounds its impact
“In today’s omnichannel world — with consumers encountering your brand online, on social media, and on their daily commutes — integrated marketing is more important than ever to capture new customers and build brand recognition and loyalty,” according to HubSpot, a marketing services provider.
What Are the Elements of an Effective Integrated Marketing Strategy?
While similar to omnichannel marketing — which focuses almost exclusively on customer experience — integrated marketing emphasizes unified messaging. Southwest Airlines’ integrated marketing uses keywords such as “transfarency” and “no hidden fees” across channels. Its omnichannel marketing focuses on friendly flight attendants, low fares and open seating.
Elements of effective integrated marketing include:
- Audience segmentation that targets potential customers at different points in their buying journeys so they receive consistent brand messages at each stage
- Campaign management that optimizes the time and costs of moving customers through the sales funnel via email, advertisement and social media
- Metrics for success that use sophisticated performance analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of cross-channel messaging from brand awareness to sales
“Instead of relying on individual marketing efforts, an integrated approach simultaneously makes the best use of the multiple channels available to modern businesses,” the e-commerce platform provider AdRoll notes.
How Do Business Professionals Acquire Expertise in Integrated Marketing?
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Marketing Emphasis program, such as the one offered online by Southern Utah University (SUU), equips graduates for marketing roles in the C-suite and senior management through focus in the following topics:
- Marketing analytics that cover effective market modeling and sophisticated data management tools that solve increasingly complex problems
- Market strategies that resonate and provide value of products and services to customers
- Entrepreneurial finance strategies and tactics for creating, running and valuing start-up organizations, as well as entrepreneurial structuring, financing resources and intellectual property protection
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts demand for marketing managers will grow faster than the average of all other careers (10%) through 2031, with marketing professionals earning a national average of $133,380. Business professionals with expertise in integrative marketing will be well equipped to help companies improve their brand equity and break through the noise.
Learn more about SUU’s online MBA – Marketing Emphasis program.
