Successful IMC on Budget

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

– Maya Angelou

There are tons of options for marketers to promote their business. Besides traditional channels like direct marketing, billboard ads, there’s digital marketing like email marketing, mobile marketing, social media channels such as Instagram and Facebook.

On my first semester as a marketing student, I took Marketing Communication as one of my module. It was rather interesting because my lecturer used to work at Mediacorp as a Vice-President, she would share a lot of her experiences and it inspired me a lot.

One of the thing I learnt during IMC planning in my Marcom module is that traditional marketing uses a lot of money and it is definitely not affordable for startups and SMEs.

IMC could be way off-budget for some businesses, therefore Forbes has come up with 7 marketing campaign ideas that’s inexpensive and suitable for small businesses.

1. Social Media – It’s inexpensive and some can be free!
2. Website – Effective website with clear business information, also improve the chances of showing up in search results through SEO.
3. Business Partnerships – Try teaming up with other local businesses and promote each other’s businesses.
4. Vehicle Branding – If you have a company vehicle that you regularly drive around, consider branding it with your company logo and information.
5. Sidewalk Signs – If your business is located on a main street where a lot of pedestrians go, try putting a sign on the sidewalk outside your business. 
6. Local Media – Sending out press releases and networking with local reporters.
7. Marketing To Existing Customers – Turn them into Repeat customers

Apart from the cost factor, I’m pretty sure that both traditional and digital IMC are still being highly used in the current market. The next question is, how do we create a successful IMC? MediaSpace Solution has come up with steps on how we can create successful IMC.

6 Steps to Creating Successful Integrated Marketing Campaigns

Step 1: Know Your Target Audience

You have to understand who your target audience is. Understanding their needs and wants will help you choose the right channels and develop effective messaging that is appealing and addressing target market’s need.

Step 2: Select Your Channels

Don’t pollute your marketing efforts by selecting 12 channels when you could have equal or greater success with only 4. If your target audience isn’t on Facebook, then don’t bother with Facebook just because social media gurus tell you you HAVE to be on there. Don’t sink ad dollars and time into channels that aren’t going to be effective or give you the ROI you’re looking for.

Step 3: Pay Attention to Brand Consistency

While messaging should be tailored to each individual channel, you must be certain your visual brand identity remains consistent across all. This goes beyond having a logo present and entails having an overarching design. Are your colors and fonts the same? Style of graphics and photography consistent? Overall, does your content on Twitter have the same look and feel as your printed brochures? Prospects should be able to make an immediate visual connection when seeing your ads, no matter where those ads live.

One of the example would be Dropbox, a could-based file sharing platform. It is great at consistent design and personalization across channels. You won’t find any Dropbox communication or platforms without their signature logo.

Step 4: Develop Content with Repurposing in Mind

Creating content for one channel on a consistent basis is challenging enough, creating for multiple channels consistently can feel diabolical. To get the best results (and make your life much simpler) make sure that every piece of content you develop can be used in multiple places. For instance, a white paper could be broken down and made into 6 different blog posts. You could take the content from a popular blog post and turn it into a script to create a more engaging video hosted by your CEO.

Remember to think of your audience on each channel to determine the best kind of content to develop.

Step 5: Get All Team Members on Board

If you have multiple people working on different projects within the same integrated campaign, you’ll want to be sure all team members are on the same page so messaging and band image stays consistent. This could be as simple as having weekly meetings.

The same is true if your company is using an outside marketing agency for your integrated marketing campaigns, make sure all members are on the same page and understand what is going on. This helps to ensure that the campaign is consistent and helps to manage company brand standards throughout all platforms.

Step 6: Track and Adjust

As with any campaign, an integrated effort requires the right analytics to determine whether or not you’re hitting the mark and seeing enough conversions. You might use a specific tracking platform for your social media channels and a simple 1-800 number for your print campaigns. If you’re not getting the ROI you had aimed for, adjust and try again.

With the steps above, I’m sure that you will be able to excel your Integrated Marketing Campaign successfully with as little budget as possible. I hope you have learnt some useful tips from my blog! Your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated 🙂