6 Basic Rules for Building and Integrating Your Brand

“Integrated Marketing is an approach to creating a unified and seamless experience for consumers to interact with the brand/enterprise; it attempts to meld all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and social media, through their respective mix of tactics, methods, channels, media, and activities, so that all work together as a unified force. It is a process designed to ensure that all messaging and communications strategies are consistent across all channels and are centered on the customer.” The Direct Marketing Association

Sound overwhelming? Sound like a lot of work? In an age of savvy customers, an integrated marketing campaign is a must. A simple but integrated branding approach can make all of your marketing collateral memorable and effective.

The keys to a successful integrated marketing campaign

Target Audience

The more you clearly define your target demographic, the more you can customize the look and feel of the various collateral pieces and channels you’ll use to reach your desired audience.

Channels

While it’s ideal to utilize all channels, begin with the basics. Branded business cards, stationery, a customizable capabilities folder, email signature, etc. Once you’ve determined the look and feel for these essential items, those same branding standards can be applied to your website, blog, and social media accounts.

Consistency

Once you’ve established branding guidelines be sure that they are applied consistently across all channels. Guidelines include logo in a range of sizes, preferred color pallet and font. Taking a clean simple approach will make applying standards across channels much easier.

Flexible content

In order to reach new customers and maintain contact with those who’ve closed you’ll want to have informative content that can be repurposed for each of the channels you’re using to market your services. Whether you create your own content or are using any of the many content providers, your presentation should be consistent across all channels.

Call to Action

Perhaps it goes without saying, but all marketing must contain a call to action along with your contact information and links to make connecting as easy as possible.

Track Results

In order to determine the effectiveness of your marketing efforts you’ll want to track responses and conversion. Based on results you can refresh your branding and your message.

Taking the time and going to the expense of building a recognizable brand is worth the cost and effort. Whether it’s a logo, a tagline or both, developing a professional and integrated brand will help you stand out.