Integrated Marketing Communications: How to Employ IMC

An integrating marketing communications strategy, also known as IMC for short, conveys a consistent message across a brand’s various channels. This approach streamlines public relations and marketing efforts, so companies can tour new products across multiple marketing channels to maximize engagement and sales promotion. Companies can employ email marketing, billboards, social media channels, and other mediums as part of IMC to increase brand awareness and engage consumers.

IMC marketing campaigns can be beneficial initiatives in several ways. IMC can:

1. 1. Coordinate efforts: Companies can analyze how direct marketing performs against digital marketing, and this knowledge helps inform integrating marketing campaigns. Marketing managers can coordinate efforts to time and deploy messages strategically so specific demographics receive information or sales at unique times.
2. 2. Inform customers: If marketing messages go out via different channels, consumers should be able to go to any page—a company’s homepage or press releases web page, or social media profiles, for example—and discover the information they need. An integrated marketing communications strategy improves the brand experience by offering clarity around pricing, products, and content marketing on each page or profile.
3. 3. Reach more customers: Consumer behavior is ever-evolving. A customer may follow a brand on social media but not be on their e-list, mail list, or live near the company’s storefront. By sending out messages on all platforms, companies can reach more of their target audience and increase subscribers.

This marketing approach also has some drawbacks because of the time and resources it requires. Among the cons are:

1. 1. Cost: Juggling multiple communication tools comes at a higher cost as each channel will need its own team.
2. 2. Time: An IMC strategy is time-consuming. More channels require more time to schedule, plan, and execute communications.
3. 3. ROI measurement: Measuring ROI (return on investment) can be more challenging with an integrated marketing strategy. With more ways for consumers to engage with a company’s brand, it is harder to track which marketing tools lead to sales.

With an integrated marketing campaign, you can improve your bottom line. Here’s how to create your own plan:

1. 1. Articulate key messages. Conduct market research to identify customer needs and keywords for search engine optimization (SEO). These efforts can help inform a company’s central messaging.
2. 2. Customize language for each channel. Consumer behavior will vary from channel to channel, and brands can tailor their copy to each audience segment to increase engagement rates.
3. 3. Segment your audience. Know which audiences engage on which channels and where they are most likely to lead to a conversion.
4. 4. Stay consistent. Core details and content should remain consistent across channels to avoid confusion and present a unified front from a company.
5. 5. Track success. Study engagement, conversions, open and click-through rates, and other metrics to better understand the most effective tactics.

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