The cardinal goal we bring to every campaign is to reach and engage your customer meaningfully in the many places they play. Reaching the right consumer in a multitude of creative and relevant ways is critical to cutting through the clutter and driving action. Enter Integrated PR and Marketing Strategy. But what exactly is Integrated PR & Marketing? Simply put, it’s synergized outreach through multiple streams of connection points. It’s knowing where your customer is consuming content and speaking to them authentically across a variety of channels in a variety of impactful ways.
There are MANY places a consumer has the opportunity to interact with your brand, and as the old rule of thumb goes, it takes seven interactions to prompt a consumer’s consideration. The catch is, those seven connection points should occur through a variety of touch points. To really move the needle with today’s consumer, you need to do more than hitting and re-hitting the paid ads on social, or strictly telling one kind of story to one kind of media. If your marketing and PR strategy is linear, we challenge you to pause, analyze, and pivot. We highly recommend thinking about new, strategic, and engaging channels to reach and convert your customer.
Ok, but how do I do it? What does Integrated PR and Marketing actually mean for my marketing mix?
Whether we’re talking PR, social media, XM, or advertising – outreach of any kind cannot be linear. You can’t issue a press release and call it a day, or simply rely on Facebook ads to do all of the heavy lifting. In order to move the needle, and I mean really move the needle, as in taking your customer from top funnel to bottom funnel – you must integrate. That means employing a clever mix of tactics designed specifically for your customer. If you want to resonate, engage, excite and drive action, you will need to employ more than one standalone tactic.
At atomic, we craft integrated programs that answer your business need, leveraging a variety of tactics to maximize success – from media relations and influencer marketing to mailers, events and sampling, content marketing, social media, paid digital, and everything in between.
It doesn’t have to be costly. But you can’t afford to ignore an integrated PR approach.
Why is Integrated PR and Marketing so important?
- It Reaches & Engages Consumers Effectively – We’ve talked a lot about this already, but we can’t say it enough – an integrated approach is most effective because it reaches your customer more effectively through a variety of touchpoints, increasing your brand relevancy and connection.
- It Employs a Unified Approach – An integrated approach is driven by an overarching brand strategy that creates thoughtfulness, cohesion, and effectiveness that one-off campaigns and tactics just won’t yield. It ensures that your message and values are deployed, and remain consistent, across a multitude of mediums to enhance your brand identity and recognizability, ensuring consumers have a clear understanding about who you are, what you offer, and why you’re different.
- It Builds Trust and Legitimacy – Consumers are more skeptical than ever. Building your credibility is critical and for this, your brand needs the endorsement of other trusted resources – be it media, tastemakers, experts, or influencers – to agree that your brand is indeed worthy of their hard-earned dollars. By employing a mix of tactics, consumers will see your brand in a variety of mediums endorsed by their trusted network, and this will reinforce your credibility and must-have status, all but guaranteeing the coveted add-to-cart click.
- It Generates Better Results – Tap into more customers, more efficiently, by reaching them on a number of platforms with a unified message. You quickly create curiosity, generate brand recall, establish legitimacy, and will more likely drive a path to purchase as a result.
The goal is to create a program that pulls on different levers to ensure your brand breaks through – if you don’t get through on the first lever, you will with the next. It builds awareness, credibility, trust, and brand love simultaneously, and will be important for long term growth and customer loyalty. Integrated marketing sets your brand up for success by helping you convert hesitant consumers into loyal customers. And it doesn’t have to break the bank. PR, media relations, influencers, social media, and user-generated content has made integrated marketing more approachable for small and mid-size businesses than ever before, helping them compete successfully with major players. It’s your turn to jump in and reap the benefits.
Until next time,
Your friends at atomic