Integrated marketing campaigns are tricky to perfect, but if properly executed the results can be rewarding for your brand or company. To execute a successful campaign, there’s several aspects that need to properly implemented; budget, content, tools, events, social, emails, advertising, sales, and media… just to name a few.

With so much content and “noise” out there, what is the best way to get your voice heard? When creating an integrated marketing campaign remember these key things to help guide you.

1. Research. So you want to create an integrated marketing campaign – now what? Doing your research is the first step to help guide your entire strategy from gauging what has previously been successful to what content will most effectively relay your messaging.

2. Consistency. This goes further than determining what hashtag you’re going to use and making sure you’re using the proper logo. The proper look and feel needs to be established, followed by key messaging as its support to guide the campaign.

3. Clear & Concise. Speaking of messaging, having a well-defined voice is a must for making sure you are getting your message across. Simplistic, well thought-out messaging that conveys your strategic goals and objectives for the campaign to be executed properly must be in place. With so many ways to share content, you want to also make sure that what you’re creating can be repurposed for additional forms of sharing and integration to drive results.

4. Audience. So, who are you targeting your campaign to? Defining your audience helps to create the messaging and how to best promote the content. Thinking on a global scale is not an easy task, and as much as we would all like for our target audience to be “everyone”, research can help determine what demographics you should be targeting.

5. Content. You know what you want to say and who to say it to, so now you have to decide what kind of content to produce that will be most successful. Is it a commercial? An event? Online? Create the most effective content based on who and how you want to engage audiences – and it may be a combination of a variety of platforms.

6. Measurement. How are you keeping track of how your campaign is doing? Tracking results not only helps you establish what is successful, but also what is not working for you. Did you reach your original goals? Proper analytics are key to ensuring how you are achieving this success.

What other components do you implement for an integrated campaign? 

Marcy McMillan is the Marketing Communications & Events Coordinator for York University’s Campus Services and Business Operations department. When she’s not working, you can find Marcy discovering new restaurants in downtown Toronto, attending and writing about events or spending some time at the public library. Find her on Twitter @marcy113 or visit her site.