As you and your team gather at the end of the assembly line to take a look at the first finished product that you sketched on paper almost two years ago to the day, you can't help but being overwhelmed with the sense of joy and relief. This sense of accomplishment is short lived-you are already thinking about preparing the product for its commercial launch. Suddenly your feelings change to fear and anxiety.

Today, these are common feelings for many entrepreneurs, product managers, and brand managers as they consider and start to develop an integrated marketing campaign for their product or service. As the marketing world continues to become more digitally focused, blending digital marketing channels with traditional print advertising has never been more confusing and challenging for business leaders. Due to the uniqueness of each product or service and the multiple considerations regarding target audience, price, functionality and service offerings, marketing campaigns will and should be different each time you approach one. Offering further insight into this, a recently published article on CIO.com provided seven key insights and steps that business leaders should follow each time they start working with a marketing agency to develop a campaign.

Step 1: Have a clear understanding of who your target audience is.
Prior to the launch of your product or service, ensure that your target audience has been defined, tested and that you've identified, through formal market research, the best communication methods to reach them.

Step 2: Pick your channels.
Be truthful with yourself when selecting your marketing channels; depending on your product/service, you might not need social/digital marketing. Being truthful will not only prevent money from being wasted but reveals you as a business leader that truly comprehends the marketing industry.

Step 3: Have a consistent look.
Your brand messaging must look and feel consistent across campaigns and mediums, and be instantly recognized no matter what the marketing channel. Finalize your brand messaging and core brand elements before you decide on the marketing channels you want to use.

Step 4: Create clear, consistent content that can easily be adapted or re-purposed to suit different media or channels.
When discussing marketing messaging, Justin Honaman partner at Teradata (Consumer Goods, and retail national practice leader), advises clients to follow the three Cs "Communications", "Compelling" and "Consistent".

Step 5: Ensure that your messaging is integrated.
Do not consider or think that you are running two separate marketing campaigns-(1) Digital and (2) Traditional/Print. You can easily integrate by simply keeping both in mind; for example, on printed materials, include your products' Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Step 6: Make sure your marketing teams/agencies are working in sync.
Selecting the right marketing agency will be one of the most important decisions you make. Requiring marketing agencies to present their experience and capabilities at your company's location is a great way to determine if they would be a good cultural fit and work well with your internal team.

Step 7: Don't forget to track your campaigns.
At a minimum, require your marketing agency to provide monthly service reports that track and capture your digital marketing channels interaction with customers. Any additional report/metrics that might be of value to your business should be expected from a best-in-class agency.

Selecting an agency to provide a best-in-class integrated marketing campaign for your company's product or service can be challenging. However, knowing these seven steps will provide you a significant advantage as a business leader when making marketing decisions.


Share To:

Unknown

Post A Comment:

3 comments so far,Add yours

  1. You provided some extremely important information in a short and concise format. My company could save thousands of hours and dollars if we followed your format. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. great work, This is what we should be teaching our marketing grads...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great article, nicely written and informative. Looking forward to future posts!

    ReplyDelete