Integrated digital marketing is a strategy that combines multiple marketing channels to scale businesses effectively. It’s easy to understand why integrated digital marketing has grown in popularity in recent years.
Pretty much everyone has a smartphone and the internet at their fingertips, and every brand wants a slice of the action when it comes to being at the forefront of the customer’s mind.
Although traditional marketing methods such as TV, radio and print advertising still have their place, it’s the world of digital marketing that is catching the eye of many business owners across the globe.
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So, what is integrated digital marketing, and how can it help you scale your business? Read on to find out more.
What is Integrated Digital Marketing?
In digital marketing, integrated marketing refers to a unified approach.
It means combining various online marketing channels (such as social media and paid digital marketing strategies) to deliver a consistent brand experience for customers.
Mick Essex
That means synchronizing brand messaging across multiple digital platforms, including the brand design and tone.
Essentially, it aims to ensure that customers receive a cohesive message regardless of whether they’re viewing a company’s .co.uk domain or their .us one, and no matter which channel they’re using.
Why is Integrated Digital Marketing Important?
You may be wondering why integrated digital marketing is so important. Well, it’s all about consistency.
Many people are attached to their smartphones and tablets, so marketing to them through these makes sense. But why limit this branding to one platform when you can spread it across all?
For instance, someone may walk down the street and see one advert on a digital billboard. Later, they may see the same messaging as an advert on social media. It all counts.
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Maintaining a consistent message when consumers nowadays interact with brands across websites, social media, and emails is highly important.
Projecting the same visual identity and tone of voice everywhere helps in building trust and recognition. This consistency reinforces the brand's values and creates a lasting impression.
So, when people think of a product they need, they may be more likely to remember your brand, since they’re used to seeing your brand presence.
It’s essential to use integrated digital marketing throughout the sales funnel. That’s because it doesn't just focus on delivering a consistent message; it's also driven by data and insights.
This approach enables a deeper understanding of audience behavior and preferences, which, in turn, can help you increase sales and scale your operations.
What are the 3 Types of Marketing Integration?
As we've covered, marketing integration involves aligning different marketing strategies and tactics. There are three main types of marketing integration:
1. Horizontal integration
Horizontal integration is when marketing efforts are coordinated across multiple channels within a specific stage of a customer’s journey.
For instance, if the customer is considering making a purchase but they haven’t just yet, they may see more of your brand messaging across social media, through email marketing, and on your website.
All with the goal of enticing them to make a purchase. It ensures a consistent message and brand experience is delivered to customers at the same stage of engagement, regardless of the channel they use.
Horizontal integration helps create a seamless customer experience and avoids confusing or contradictory messages.
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2. Vertical integration
On the other hand, vertical integration focuses more on marketing efforts in different stages of the customer journey.
The idea here is to guide customers smoothly through each stage, providing them with relevant content and information.
For instance, if a customer signs up for your email newsletter, a vertically integrated approach would involve sending them a welcome email, perhaps followed by a discount code, before then gradually introducing them to your products or services.
This approach ensures customers receive a cohesive, relevant experience as they progress from awareness to conversion within a single marketing channel. It can be a cost-effective way to increase conversion rate and sales.
3. Diagonal integration
Diagonal integration combines horizontal and vertical integration.
Basically, it wraps everything together into a digital marketing bundle. Customers are targeted at various stages of their journey and through multiple channels simultaneously.
What’s appealing about this type of integration is that it acknowledges the complexity of customer interactions in today's multi-channel environment.
This is the type of integration that you would consider when you’re developing a content distribution strategy. It’s a holistic approach that offers an excellent way to increase your brand recognition.
Real-World Examples of Integrated Digital Marketing
- Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola uses integrated digital marketing by combining social media campaigns with video content, influencer partnerships, and email newsletters to ensure a consistent brand message across multiple channels.
- Nike: Nike uses a blend of social media marketing, influencer collaborations, email marketing, and content marketing to create a cohesive customer experience that helps drive engagement and sales. One notable example is their "Just Do It" campaign, which leveraged multiple platforms, from YouTube ads to Instagram posts.
- HubSpot: HubSpot utilizes integrated digital marketing by combining its blog content, webinars, email newsletters, and social media channels, promoting HubSpot deals to engage with potential clients and drive conversions.
These real-world examples show how effective integrated digital marketing can be in scaling a business by creating a consistent message and experience across all touchpoints.
How to Use Integrated Digital Marketing to Scale Your Business
Using integrated digital marketing to scale your business requires a strategic approach. Here are ten steps outlining what you need to do to make this work:
1. Set clear goals
Now is the time to define your business objectives and KPIs.
These might be as simple as increasing revenue, expanding market share, or reaching a new audience. Alternatively, they may be more complex, such as launching a new product to an existing audience.
Either way, your goals will guide your integrated marketing strategy.
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2. Understand your audience
Gain a deep understanding of your target audience's preferences and typical customer behavior.
Do they often add items to their cart and then abandon the purchase? Do they tend to buy ‘recommended’ products alongside their main purchase?
Utilizing this knowledge will help you create more relevant and effective marketing campaigns across the board.
3. Identify key channels
The next step is to choose which digital channels you believe will be most relevant to your audience.
You can then align these decisions with your business goals. Which channel combination is right for your intended audience?
4. Create a consistent brand identity
It’s crucial to develop a strong and consistent brand identity across all channels.
Ensure that your logo, colors, brand messaging, and visual elements are consistent across your platforms to build brand recognition.
5. Develop a content strategy
Now the marketing team can get to work to create valuable and engaging content that addresses your audience's needs and interests.
Plan well-thought-out content for each stage of the customer journey, from awareness to conversion.
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Keeping them separate will give you much clearer results to help inform your future content.
6. Integrate channels
Coordinate your marketing efforts across different channels to deliver a consistent message. For instance, if you're running a social media campaign, align the content with your email marketing and website messaging.
7. Leverage data and analytics
Monitor and closely analyze data from your various channels to gain insights into customer behavior and the campaign’s performance.
Make the most of these insights and use them to develop creative strategies of your own to optimize your marketing efforts.
You can now begin streamlining your processes and personalizing customer interactions. Automation can help deliver timely messages and nurture leads effectively.
To power such a level of automation and personalization, marketers increasingly rely on real-time business intelligence from a companies data API.
It enables them to enrich customer profiles, segment audiences more accurately, and connect marketing efforts directly to verified firmographic insights.
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8. Run cross-channel campaigns
Launch integrated campaigns that span multiple channels.
For example, if you're promoting a new product, create content around it, share it on social media, send targeted emails, and run PPC ads to expand your reach.
Research the best keywords for SEO and use them strategically in your content.
9. Personalize experiences
Customers value a personalized approach. So use data-driven insights to tailor your messages to each customer's preferences.
Segment your audience and create content and marketing campaigns that speak to the individual. It’s also vital to ensure that your website and other digital touchpoints provide a user-friendly experience.
Include a business phone number on your website so customers can get in contact with you anytime. A seamless, intuitive interface encourages visitors to explore further, making them much more likely to convert.
10. Adapt and evolve
Stay updated with industry trends and emerging technologies.
Be ready to adapt your strategy to capture new opportunities and address changes in customer behavior. You should also track the performance of your integrated marketing campaigns to measure their impact on business growth.
As you start to see positive results, you can gradually scale up your integrated digital marketing efforts. Invest more resources in channels and campaigns with the greatest growth potential.
FAQ
1. What is integrated digital marketing?
Integrated digital marketing is the practice of using multiple digital marketing channels—such as social media, email marketing, and content marketing—in a cohesive strategy to create a seamless customer experience and scale businesses effectively.
2. Why is integrated digital marketing important for scaling a business?
Integrated digital marketing ensures all marketing channels work together, creating consistent messaging that improves customer engagement and leads to better conversion rates, ultimately scaling your business.
3. How does integrated digital marketing differ from traditional marketing?
Unlike traditional marketing, which often focuses on a single channel at a time, integrated digital marketing coordinates multiple channels to deliver a unified, efficient customer experience.
4. What are the key components of integrated digital marketing?
The key components include email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and paid advertising—all working together in harmony.
5. Can integrated digital marketing be applied to small businesses?
Yes, integrated digital marketing is highly beneficial for small businesses, helping them maximize their reach through a combination of low-cost, high-impact channels.
6. How do you measure the success of an integrated digital marketing campaign?
Success can be measured by tracking metrics like website traffic, lead generation, conversion rates, and customer retention across all integrated channels.
Conclusion: Why Integrated Marketing is the Future
Integrated digital marketing is essential for the modern advertiser.
Finding a way to create a cohesive brand across multiple platforms is a skill, and one that organizations need to focus on in order to keep up with competitors.
Scaling up through integrated digital marketing requires consistent marketing efforts.
Whether across social media, billboards, digital ads, paid search, or organic SEO, your presence should feel seamlessly linked.
That way, your potential customers will find it easy to recognize and remember your brand – and that’s great news when you’re looking to grow your business.
