Integrated Marketing Campaigns: Traditional And Digital Media Success

Integrated campaigns call for a blend of consistent and complementary communications. For digital marketers today, there's a plethora of platforms to choose from to develop your multi-disciplined approach and it's not something that you can ignore, with 72% of customers wanting to connect with brands through integrated campaigns.

Not sure where to start? We've gathered some best in class examples to inspire your strategy and help you leverage the best of both traditional and digital techniques.

Traditional Versus New Media and Their Relationship

Today we see an unprecedented shift in marketing, and as consumers and professionals in almost any sphere, we have no choice but to go along with it. This is probably not a problem for millennials and younger generations who have been raised in a digital age, but digital marketing may not work so well for an older demographic.

Given this basic fact about the two different interfaces, is there much of a need for an integrated or blended approach? The answer is yes. This is because consumers still crave variety. Many still watch regular TV, still get the papers delivered, listen to the radio on the drive to work, and still pick up flyers at community events.

Do What Works

So, is it possible to still use traditional and digital marketing at once and if so, what type of balance is appropriate? A great rule of thumb is that, if traditional advertising is still working, don’t drop it -- but you can still start to incorporate digital media elements to let those consumers know about your online presence.

It’s important that consumers tap into new media forms because they are excellent places to conduct consumer research inexpensively. However, the trick is to get your audience to a digital platform of their choosing and have them engage there as well.

Generally, digital marketers need to choose a good balance of traditional and new media that matches your budget and goals. New media is much less expensive, but you may just not have the audience there (yet). Using a mix strategically can still be extremely successful.

What is an Integrated Marketing Campaign?

Globally some markets are now devoting over 40% of their marketing budget to digital activities according to bcg.com, which leaves 60% that’s likely being devoted to traditional forms of advertising. But it’s not just one or the other; the idea of creating an integrated campaign is one that blends several elements of each, including public relations, direct marketing, social media, TV ads, YouTube, and so on.

An integrated marketing campaign can take on many forms, but the idea behind them is that they typically result in more than one outcome – so for instance, an x% boost in followers plus y attendance at a certain event.

Case Study Examples of Integrated Strategies

Here are some digital and traditional media case studies that demonstrate just how effective an integrated approach has the potential to be when strategically executed.

Clorox

The Clorox Company has been around since 1913 and thus has a deep history of using radio, television, and newspaper ads to sell their products. A few years ago, they started an online community with the assistance of social media that corresponded with the start of the school year. Their Twitter page that weekend was trending, and the blog was recognized for its useful information by social media moms across the globe.

Apple

Apple does a great job of offering a consistent, integrated marketing strategy that combines beautiful storefronts with a heavy web-based business, each matching the design of the other. There’s a consistency here that is not only recognizable but comforting: when you walk down the street, you know what it is, and when you go online, you know where you’re going.

Old Spice

The “Old Spice Man” campaign took off online shortly after the TV ad first came out. Combining brilliant copy and quirky social strategies, the timing was priceless and well targeted. The company had previously relied on mainly TV and movie ads, which gave it a certain level of visual familiarity. It was only after it started to integrate various social strategies as well as banner and video ads that it started to bring plenty of attention back to the brand via the website.

Porsche

Whether we’re “car people” or not, most of us can’t resist admiring the smooth lines of a beautiful and high-quality car like a Porsche. And in the past couple of years, they’ve been moving away from traditional marketing and using an innovative integrated approach via social media to bring people together in real life.

Porsche used a combination of events, social, video, and radio to generate a buzz around their products. They were extremely active on platforms like Instagram and Twitter to create real-time experiences for their fans, and they even included streaming after the event alongside 360-degree video to connect.

Lidl Surprises

European discount supermarket chain Lidl still bases a lot of its marketing in TV ads. In an ingenious move back in 2014, they started the #lidlsurprises campaign, which promoted an exclusive farmers market event. The event was advertised in the food blogosphere and via promotional flyers at stores. Samples were given out at the event, and the whole thing was topped off by paper – not plastic – bags for them to take home their low-cost goodies.

This combination of eco-responsibility, multi-channel marketing and offering free samples of tasty goodies appealed especially to the foodie and green-focused population of London’s East End. One of the keys to this campaign really was using social media to bring people together face-to-face over a meaningful but still practical purpose.

Why Internet Marketing Should be a Focus

Here are a few of the key reasons why online marketing rules:

Digital Marketing Casts a Wide Net at a Fraction of the Cost

Large companies back in the day used to spend millions of dollars on advertising campaigns (more if they were global) that may or may not pay off. Today, it’s possible to reach a global audience essentially for free and in a matter of seconds. So, companies who are wondering how much of their budget they should put towards digital marketing probably don’t need to worry too much since it’s generally a low risk, high reward type of transition.

Interactive Engagement

Today there are more and more opportunities to interact with audiences from any location through social marketing but also through innovative personal messaging techniques such as chatbots. VR is another example of experiential marketing that can work wonders for brands.

Accurate Tracking of Customer Metrics

These types of digital campaigns allow so much data to be tracked easily which can inform future business plans as well. So, you not only get to measure how successful the campaign is, you get to collect a whole bunch of customer information as you do it. Back in the day, there was no way to do this as accurately or quickly.

Conclusion

There’s a common theme between these campaign examples, and that’s bringing people together and offering them something of value. Many of these brands incorporated innovative event-based techniques with social media and product giveaways or trials. There are plenty of different angles you can take, but the main themes here seem to be:

• Timeliness
• A real-time experience
• Some sort of social media support before, during and after the events
• An incentive to participate, such as free samples

If you are a marketing specialist who wants to get a better grasp on digital marketing strategy, you’ll want to explore the ways that traditional advertising can integrate with new media as soon as possible. Finding a solid strategy that works for your business as well as a sustainable balance between the two will be key to your overall ROI and brand loyalty.

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