Integrated Marketing Services Combine the Benefits of Traditional and Non-Traditional Channels
With the growing trend in online marketing, many businesses have to decide how to spend their marketing budget. What’s the best investment for your advertising dollars? Instead of limiting your marketing choices to simple either-or options, integrated marketing services combine traditional and non-traditional marketing channels to promote consistent brand messaging. Rather than having to choose between print or internet, they recognize that different advertising and promotional methods can reinforce each other.
Combining traditional and non-traditional channels
The goal of advertising efforts is lead generation, particularly sales-ready leads. There’s no magic formula to achieve this, but both common sense and best practices suggest a mix of strategies, including brand awareness and development, integrated marketing campaign development, print marketing, online and offline ideation, and digital advertising.
Integrated marketing services can handle your needs for brand strategy, online marketing, Exhibits and displays, and digital and print design. Especially for small to medium businesses (SMBs) that cannot afford to hire a dedicated marketing team, integrated marketing services provide solutions that optimize the use of different channels.
The SEO advantage
Each type of advertising has its advantages. SEO and websites enable businesses to connect with the growing numbers of customers who shop online. Even customers who shop in stores increasingly research products and services online before making a purchase.
Inbound or content marketing relies on SEO or search engine optimization to direct online traffic to your website. Seo is challenging and it takes specialized knowledge to succeed in placing a website high in search engine rankings. However, that’s only half the battle. Once your potential customers reach your website, the site’s design and speed are all-important.
Nearly half, or 46% of internet users surveyed say that they judge a company’s credibility based on the website design. This refers to its overall appearance, and also to the speed with which the site loads. If a site doesn’t load within three seconds, 40% of internet users will abandon it.
Mobile-friendly websites bring results
Further, websites must perform as well on mobile devices like tablets and phones as they do on desktop and laptop computers. Nearly half, or 48%, of internet users say that if a website doesn’t work well on mobile devices, that indicates the business isn’t trying to reach them. A business that doesn’t care about its customers is a red flag. And conversely, 62% of all companies that had their websites optimized or specially designed for mobile devices reported an increase in sales.
As online shoppers become more savvy, the content of your website matters as much as the design. There’s a shift in preferences here as well, and blatant self-promotion doesn’t work as well as well-written, informational content. Customers prefer not to be rushed into making purchasing decisions but to have the information they need to make an informed choice.
Integrated marketing services combine the best of the old and the new channels for optimal advertising exposure. For SMBs with limited advertising budgets, integrated marketing services can allocate funds and effort to achieve the best possible results.