Change Isn’t Coming; It’s Here
Mobile search reached a tipping point a couple years ago with smartphones accounting for more than half of searches in 10 countries, according to Google. Its mobile-friendly search algorithm known as “Mobilegeddon” arrived, finally making mobile-friendly sites a must. The Interactive Advertising Bureau reports search as the number one mobile phone function worldwide.
How Most React to Change
What does this overwhelming pace of digital change mean for your business? Successful integrated marketing strategy can still seem as daunting a task as ever. With so many channels and the need to create campaigns based on a deeper understanding of big data’s audience insights, many are trying to bite off more than they can chew. Our clients often tell us, “Let’s be on everything!” Because the changes and options are so vast, people can tend to think that if they aren’t doing or using everything, they won’t be noticed.
How We Should React to Change
Unless you are Coca-Cola, Nike or Apple (i.e. a billion-dollar-brand), it’s time to take smaller bites. Assess what you really need to do and the manpower/tools you have to do it with. Grow your audience (and your budget) to higher levels of integration and success one level at a time. Below are three main starting points we use with our clients. As long as you have a solid foundation, the rest will fall into place.
- Know your audience and invest in the research to know how they like to receive information. In some instances, it is important to know if they even can receive information through certain channels. Let’s not forget—almost everybody has a smartphone and high-speed Internet, but almost doesn’t count. Don’t utilize communication channels your audiences don’t tune into.
- Distribute your eggs across strategically chosen baskets. It is time to accept that single-channel communication went out the door a decade ago. You have to take the time to choose two or three core channels that you can handle within your resources (both budgetary and human) in order to make sure your message is heard. Once you’re sure they work for your audiences, make sure they work with each other so you can see exponential results.
- Integrate your online and offline marketing efforts. One of the biggest challenges we have found with our clients’ integrated marketing is that the message is not consistent across all channels. Your messaging needs to be crafted for both online and offline audiences. While it is critical to be in both spaces, it takes an organization-wide effort to ensure consistency and integration across all channels. This way you’ll avoid diluting your brand and its tone of voice.
One final note: track everything! Don’t just integrate your marketing, but track all of it. Place short links or QR codes with dedicated URLs on printed leaflets. Track the number of PDF downloads for a printed sheet shared in a blog. When you track it all together it’s cohesive and you lessen your risk of being unable to see the forest for the trees. Need help? Contact us to see how we can partner with you on your marketing efforts.
Related Content
Mobile Friendly is Now Make or Break