HOW INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION HELPS YOUR BRAND

Brand recognition is more than just a name and a logo. Your brand is the holistic perception of your company. It’s the recognition of your business entity that helps you to stand out from your competition.

In today’s over-saturated, and overwhelmed marketing environment, building the right reputation for your brand is more difficult than ever. There are so many communication channels to choose from, apps, online content, radio, and print. That means if you want to access the largest chunk of the market, and develop a truly effective brand, then you need help from marketing agencies to know about integrated marketing 

 

The answer to the question “What is integrated marketing communications?” 

Integrated marketing communications is just about making sure that all the information your brand puts out into the world is consistent with your brand identity.

People approach integrated marketing communications from different angles, but three of the key points you’ll need to address when preparing to construct your plan are:

 

  • Your branding and brand message

 

Your branding needs to be the same across all channels, from your social media voice to your website backstory, and your offline brochures. Whatever marketing communications you use, you need to support the same image. That doesn’t mean that you can’t create segmented marketing campaigns for different audiences and products. Rather, it means that no matter what you create, everything links back to the fundamental experience that makes your brand unique.

 

  • Relevancy and personalization

 

Integrated marketing communications naturally connect with personal and relevant marketing communication solutions. If you’re targeting a particular group on social media by crafting a personalized advertisement, you can also ensure that wherever you direct your customers after they click on that ad speaks the same language.

 

  • The customer journey

 

For the most part, an integrated marketing communications plan can simplify your branding efforts by ensuring that you provide a seamless experience for your customers. However, that means that you first need to understand exactly where your customer is coming from, and where you want them to go. Deep knowledge of the customer journey is crucial for your integrated marketing communications definition.

                                                  

 

What is your integrated marketing strategy?

Delivering the right message at the right time to the right audience is what defines your marketing communication strategy best. But integrated marketing communication is a little more than that

 

The 4cs of Integral Marketing Communications 

  • Complementary: Every element of your brand communication plan supports the others.
  • Continuity: Marketing communications are consistent and connected through all spaces.
  • Consistency: Multiple messages within your brand reinforce and support each other.
  • Coherence: All Marketing communications are logically connected.

 

                

 

  • Identify and understand your target audience
  • Define your selling point
  • Figure out your competition
  • Regulate your channels
  • Implement your plan wisely
  • Evaluate and adapt

Why are integrated marketing communications important?

Integrated Marketing Communication helps with brand-building. Communicating consistently and recognizably is a big part of brand-building. You want people to join the dots between all your Marketing campaigns to build and strengthen the set of associations they have with your brand.

It should now be obvious that you should strive to deliver the right message at the right time. But the key to brand-building lies in accompanying all your marketing communications with brand codes to increase distinctiveness. 

A brand code, or distinctive asset, is anything that you consistently use in your communications. See how this intertwines with Integrated Marketing Communication? Codifying your communications should be part of integrating it. That way, you can better link together all your marketing campaigns, maintain salience, and bolster your brand image.

The most common brand code is a logo. Every company has one. The logo alone doesn’t cut it, though. Most companies also have certain visual styles, but that’s about it. You should strive to have three to five brand codes in total.

 

To summarize the essence of Integrated Marketing Communication and its best practices, with these four points:

  • Be consistent with the message you send out to the world
  • Make all your marketing channels work together in the long term
  • The more channels you use, the better—as long as you can find your audience there Basically, if you have a good marketing strategy based on solid market research, you’ll be great at IMC without even knowing you do Integrated Marketing Communication.