How to Create an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

As mentioned in our recent strategy-focused blog, there’s a risk in simply publishing content with no consideration of the audience or ideal results.

In taking such a random approach, you may fail to connect and lose out on business.

You can achieve much more through integrated marketing communications planning.

Rather than treating each channel as a standalone, this means joining the dots and consistently reinforcing the same core idea.

It makes for more impactful marketing, building audience recognition and trust. 

Read on as we explore the value of such a strategic approach, highlighting the key planning stages and brand experience support offered by De Bono Marketing Communications.

Why Integrated Communications Planning Matters

From your website to your newsletter and social media, you’ll likely have the opportunity to connect through various channels.

If there’s any disconnection or inconsistency, then your brand’s credibility is likely to be weakened.

This can be solved through integrated communications planning for a consistent and unified experience. 

With a focus on your audience, it means communicating the right message, in the right place, at the right time.

Research by Lucidpress has shown that such an approach can increase a brand’s revenue by as much as 23%.

Other benefits of integrated marketing include:

• Memorability - with consumers being exposed to a huge amount of advertising each day, consistent messaging makes for greater recognition and impact

• Efficiency - it’s faster and easier to create content when you are familiar with the goals and intended audience. Duplication can be avoided, with more opportunities for repurposing and greater return on investment

• Loyalty - consistent brand experiences make for stronger affinity and long-term customer relationships.

Common Approaches to Integrated Communications Planning

You’re advised to follow a series of steps in developing and implementing an integrated communications plan.

The process should begin with audience research, gathering insights that can be used to shape your messaging, choice of channels, and campaign direction.

Anybody expected to create content for your business should be involved in the planning stage, ensuring shared awareness of your communications focus.

There’s value in partnering with an agency for expert support with research, experiential marketing strategy, and execution of your plans.

Building The Integrated Communications Plan

Identifying Your Audience

Building on the audience research, it’s worth thinking about the behaviours, needs, and preferences of the people you’re targeting.

This will lead nicely into the creation of audience personas, with pain points and motivations that can be addressed in your marketing.

You should be targeting the kinds of platforms where your audience spends the most time.

Assembling the Right Team

Your marketing and sales teams should be on the same page when it comes to the integrated communications plan.

This might mean arranging meetings, including your go-to PR, communications, and media experts.

Roles should be clearly explained, and collaboration actively encouraged.

Setting SMART Goals

Clear goals should be set, based on the impacts that you’d like your communications to have.

The SMART acronym is a helpful reference, ensuring that such communication goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) should also be established to track campaign success.

Creating Your Marketing Assets

From the tone of voice to the use of visuals, every aspect of your marketing should be considered and planned for consistent appeal.

This should allow for the creation of easily recognisable content that can be repurposed for engagement across different channels.

The messaging should be clearly connected with your brand identity, with a focus on making an emotional impact.

Social media posts, blogs, and promotional landing pages may all be created with a focus on different stages of the customer journey.

Launching, Measuring, and Iterating

Regular time should be set aside to check in with the KPIs that you’ve set for your marketing communications.

The content performance should be measured against your goals, identifying any changes that you can make for better results.

The Isuzu Partnership

Appreciating the value of integrated communications planning, our expert team promises support every step of the way.

Focusing on distinguishing your brand and building audience engagement, we can help with everything from customer journey mapping to the creation of targeted content.

Partnering with us, you can expect the delivery of a cohesive and consistent brand experience that makes for greater loyalty, recognition, and trust.

Such benefits were realised in our partnership with Isuzu, the Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer.

Focused on the launch of a new pick-up truck model, we showed that we could talk the torque through the creation of consistent promotions.

Our creative team came up with the “Big Pull Challenge” to highlight the vehicle’s towing credentials. 

This was followed up with a CRM pre-launch, in-showroom activation, and YouTube PR stunt to set the tone for the event.

Everything was kept distinctively on-brand, with social media content and dealership marketing kits personalised for prospective customers.

The campaign results included:

• A 62.3% rise in the CTO rate

• More than 78,000 views on their YouTube channel

• 162 new car sales in a single day

Connect with De Bono Marketing Communications

There’s no denying the challenge of developing and executing an integrated marketing communications plan.

But the right support can make all the difference, as reflected in the Isuzu example.

With our specialists in experiential marketing strategy, delivery, and execution, you can expect communications that engage and drive the best results.

Get in touch to find out more.