Planning an Integrated Advertising Campaign
Advertising is one of a series of interrelated marketing activities that can be used to support each other. When integrated with other approaches advertising becomes a much more flexible medium and can be used in many effective ways.
Results indicate that an integrated marketing approach can save money, making better use of the marketing budget. The cost savings result from leveraging the same planning and creative work across multiple projects. Another big advantage is that integrated activities support each other, improving the efficiency of individual campaign elements against overall objectives.
This may be because they do not have the skills or experience to handle the other marketing activities that fall outside the traditional realm of advertising. To execute a successful integrated campaign, choose an agency that exhibits a good understanding of how the various marketing activities work together.
Some agencies offer all marketing services from within one organization. Others may be part of a larger group which offers the other, non-advertising marketing services. An agency which fits either of these descriptions is suitable for handling integrated campaigns. If advertising is not a major focus of the integrated campaign, it may be more appropriate to talk to a marketing services company which offers the relevant services.
Advertising is not a separate activity; always view it as one of a series of interrelated marketing activities. In an integrated approach, the various elements being employed are designed to support each other. For example, an advertising campaign with reply coupon can be integrated with a direct mail program, and followed up by telemarketing. Each of the individual advertising, direct mail, or telemarketing programs alone could achieve results, but together they reinforce each other to achieve a higher impact.
Although marketing campaigns take many different forms, there are core elements that are crucial to the successful development of an integrated marketing strategy. The most important of these elements are:
- advertising
- direct marketing
- publications
- public relations
- relationship marketing
- sales support
- telemarketing
The potential role of each of these marketing activities is discussed below.
With an adequate budget and effective media planning, it is possible to use advertising alone to launch and market a new product. The success of the campaign would be directly related to the size of the advertising budget and how efficiently it is used. In this situation, advertising objectives would include:
- raising awareness of your new product;
- explaining the comparative benefits of the product;
- generating initial requests for information.
By integrating advertising with other marketing activities, a company can use advertising for specific tasks within the overall program and make more effective use of the available budget. With this integrated approach, advertising is just one of the marketing tools utilized, and it can be used in whatever capacity is most effective. Available options include:
- a national direct response medium, to generate leads for a direct marketing or telemarketing campaign;
- a regional direct response medium, to generate leads for follow-up by local representatives;
- part of a selective regional sales promotion that offers incentives to prospects for providing database information.
When used in conjunction with other marketing activities in this way, advertising becomes a much more flexible medium.
Direct marketing activities deliver a focused message to a specific, targeted audience. This category comprises one of the most flexible elements of an integrated marketing program. Direct marketing can be used to reinforce the effectiveness of other marketing activities, or used alone in a variety of different ways. Direct mail advertising, for example, can be a viable alternative to press or broadcast media as a means of reaching specific sectors of the market. In an integrated campaign, it can also be used to follow up with specific prospects who request further information. In addition, direct mail advertising can be employed to maintain contact and build long-term relationships with customers.
In an integrated campaign, direct marketing strengthens the overall effectiveness. For example, it can be integrated with consumer advertising campaigns in several ways:
- to make differentiated offers to prospects who respond to an advertising campaign;
- to supplement an advertising campaign's coverage of certain target markets;
- to reach sectors that cannot be reached efficiently by the primary advertising media, or to simply provide increased reach or frequency;
- as a follow-up mechanism to a direct response advertising campaign—the responses supply information on qualified prospects, and this information can form the basis of future direct marketing programs;
- to reinforce the impact of an advertising campaign through selective follow-up.
Telemarketing can be used to supplement advertising and direct marketing campaigns through inbound and outbound programs. It can be used to handle a number of different tasks, such as:
- direct sales over the telephone;
- maintaining contact with current customers, perhaps as part of a relationship marketing program (see Relationship Marketing, below);
- leveraging the customer relationship to launch new products;
- generating leads from unqualified mailing lists;
- performing follow-up for direct marketing programs;
- winning back lapsed customers by introducing them to new products that may be of greater interest;
- following up leads generated via partners, other marketing programs, etc.;
- conducting market research—for example, using surveys to establish consumer response to products or sales incentives.
Telemarketing can also provide a point of response for inquiries generated through advertising or direct marketing campaigns, or to obtain information from respondents as a basis for future database marketing.
The objective of a public relations program is to create and promote a strong public image. In the context of an integrated marketing campaign, public relations activities can bolster and reinforce the public's perception of a company and its message or products. Sponsorship of sporting or entertainment events, for example, can increase awareness and build a higher profile, leaving advertising and direct marketing to focus on direct response and brand-building strategies.
In an integrated campaign, advertising and direct marketing are effective lead-generation tools; using telemarketing to handle routine customer communications can help improve sales force productivity. To truly enable higher sales volume, however, it is essential to fortify the sales force with information on both the products and the marketplace. This requires an effective sales support program, which might include:
- standard and customized presentations for different market sectors;
- product or sales guides to improve product knowledge;
- information on the advertising and direct marketing support available in each territory;
- competitor profiles;
- support for the direct sales force as well as distributors and other third party channels.
Relationship marketing is the practice of building persistent relationships with existing customers, with the ultimate goal of maximizing customer retention. This practice builds on the leads generated by advertising and direct marketing, typically after those leads have been converted into sales. It also enhances the direct contact of the sales force by increasing customer loyalty. The primary functions of relationship marketing in an integrated program include:
- maintaining an existing customer base;
- increasing account control;
- issuing a regular, planned flow of information that provides value to the customer;
- increasing customer loyalty and retention.
Typically, product publications do not comprise part of an integrated program. They do, however, form an important part of the overall communications program, which in turn supports the true elements of an integrated program. Publications are used to:
- reinforce overall branding;
- provide benefits-led information;
- supply detail on key product features, uses, etc.;
- communicate positioning messages;
- act as sales presentation guides.
One of the key benefits of integrated marketing is that the client interfaces with a single agency for all the various marketing activities. Dealing with multiple agencies on an integrated campaign can lead to problems such as differing creative approaches or duplicated costs. It is essential that a single agency or organization plans and produces the entire integrated campaign.
One of the key elements of an integrated campaign is the data on which it is built. Information which supports or is generated by all campaign activities should be consistently captured and leveraged. This data is crucial for managing the current campaign, as well as for planning future campaigns. The marketing database can be used to identify communications needs as well as to target individual communications. It can also be helpful in profiling prospects, measuring campaign effectiveness, and tracking customer responses. Without a powerful database as its foundation, a campaign cannot achieve maximum impact.
Advertising, sales promotion, and direct marketing are viewed as the primary elements of an integrated campaign. However, sales support, telemarketing, public relations, exhibitions, relationship marketing, and many other activities can have a key role. Avoid limiting the impact of an integrated campaign; consider a broad range of potential programs.
Smith, Paul, and Jonathan Taylor.
American Marketing Association: www.marketingpower.com