Why Print Advertising Has a Share in the Success of an Advertising Campaign
The Power of Integrated Marketing Campaigns
Increasing competition is one of the reasons businesses are constantly seeking ways to reach their target audience and stay in their minds. One of the ways to achieve this goal is through the integrated marketing campaigns.
But what exactly are integrated marketing campaigns, and how can they benefit your business?
Integrated marketing campaigns, often referred to as IMCs, are comprehensive marketing strategies that combine various promotional methods and channels to deliver a cohesive and unified brand message. The core idea behind IMCs is to ensure that all marketing efforts work harmoniously, providing a consistent brand experience to customers across different touchpoints.
How can you build and structure an Integrated Marketing Campaign?
Building an Integrated Marketing Campaign involves the utilization of certain principles.
- Consistent Messaging: The heart of an IMC is a consistent brand message. Whether a customer interacts with your brand through social media, email, or a physical store, the messaging remains uniform. This makes the message memorable for the audience and keeps the brand identity consistent.
- Multichannel Approach: IMCs incorporate multiple marketing channels, including online and offline mediums. This includes the using them simultaneously – social media, content marketing, email campaigns, print advertising, radio, TV, and more.
- Synchronization: All marketing efforts are coordinated and timed to ensure maximum impact. This includes synchronized launches and messaging consistency.
- Data-Driven: Data analytics play a crucial role in IMCs, allowing businesses to track and measure the performance of each channel and optimize strategies accordingly.
Print Ads as part of the Integrated Marketing Campaign
In the ever-evolving landscape of advertising, where digital platforms seem to dominate, the role of print is still impactful – from towering billboards or eye-catching posters in outdoor advertising to smaller ad prints and retail displays. All these combined form a big weapon for your campaign in order to reach the goal.
1. Outdoor advertising
It takes the most significant part in the print channel. It helps your campaign achieve some important goals.
Maximizing Visibility: Outdoor print advertising has an unparalleled ability to maximize visibility. Large-format billboards strategically placed in high-traffic areas ensure that your message reaches a vast and diverse audience. Whether commuters on a busy highway or pedestrians in a bustling city center, outdoor print ads command attention and provide an unmissable presence that contributes to brand awareness.
Create localized and broad Impact: Outdoor print advertising could be a local campaign or brand image campaign. Placing ads in specific neighborhoods or regions allows businesses to target local audiences effectively. This localized impact is especially beneficial for businesses looking to establish a strong presence within their community, as well as for those running location-based promotions or events. On the other hand, a lot of major brands are using the outdoor advertising channel as an important part of their image campaigns.
Giving 24/7 Exposure: Unlike other forms of advertising that are limited by time or budget constraints, outdoor print ads offer 24/7 exposure. Billboards and posters are always “on,” ensuring that your brand is continuously in front of the audience, day and night. This consistent visibility contributes to long-term brand recall and recognition.
2. Smaller print materials
Image and credibility: Print ads in specialized magazines help develop company image and drive credibility.
Reach new audiences: Leaflets, catalogues, and explainer brochures can be used wisely in certain advertising campaigns, depending on the goal and type of product.
3. Branding premises and vehicles, constructions with prints for events and promotional boots
Reach to a new audience: The campaign message on your company vehicles can widen significantly the reach to the audiences.
Brand image and perception: All these things add a higher value to your brand image and your product. They work on the way customers perceive your product and service and how much they evaluate them.
Pricing: A pleasant visual perception of your product and brand affects your pricing process. Usually, people are prone to pay much for products that look better and have a better image.
The Benefits of Integrated Marketing Campaigns
What advantage will an integrated marketing campaign give you?
It will enhance your brand’s consistency. If you aim to grow your company over time, you should definitely pay attention to how customers perceive your brand. By presenting a consistent message and image, businesses establish a strong, memorable brand identity. That’s a long-term strategy that serves the business in times of market fluctuations or when customers have to choose the right brand for a type of product that they have already decided to buy.
IMCs increase the possibility for your business to reach customers where they spend their time.
Integrated Marketing Campaigns increase ROI. Coordinated efforts across multiple channels are more efficient, leading to a higher return on investment.
Tips for Implementing an Integrated Marketing Campaign
Try the following tips in the order below.
Set Clear Objectives. Define your campaign’s goals and what success looks like.
Know Your Audience. Understand your target audience’s preferences, behavior, and preferred communication channels. Find the Insight, the Idea that lies behind the audience and
Create a Central Message. Develop a clear, concise, and compelling brand message that will resonate with your audience.
Choose the Right Channels. Select the marketing channels that are most relevant to your audience.
Coordinate Your Efforts. Ensure that all elements of your campaign work together and are synchronized.
Timing: Set the right timing for starting the campaign. If your campaign is a launch – for a startup or a new product, don’t initiate it too far in advance of the product/service release. There’s a risk that, by the time the product is released, you may have descended from the peak of consumer attention. Ensure that you have a clear plan of which channel to activate when and after which other channels in the campaign. Consider events that are beyond your control – championship leagues, election campaigns, major holidays, Black Friday, and others. If they are not part of your campaign, they will divert attention away from you, and you will need a much larger budget for advertising campaigns because competition during such periods is high, leading to higher advertising costs.
Measure and Adjust. Continuously monitor the campaign’s performance, collect data, and make necessary adjustments to improve results. Use the data for upcoming campaigns.
Examples of Successful Integrated Marketing Campaigns
Let’s have a look what the big brands and so popular ones do in the terms of Integrated Marketing Campaigns. Even if your business doesn’t have that marketing budget and still not so much image you can always get a bit of their experience that will suits the business most.
Dove’s “Real Beauty Campaign”:
Channels Used: Print ads, TV commercials, social media.
Principle: Embracing diversity, challenging beauty standards.
Success: Dove’s campaign challenged traditional beauty norms by featuring real women of various body shapes and sizes. It received widespread acclaim for its positive messaging and authenticity.
Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?”:
Channels Used: Online videos, social media, print ads.
Principle: Humorous content, product demonstration.
Print Component: Print ads were used to showcase the durability and blending capabilities of Blendtec blenders, complementing the online videos where the CEO blended unconventional items.
Success: The campaign went viral, significantly increasing brand awareness and blender sales.
MailChimp “Did You Mean MailChimp?”
Channels Used: Online videos, social media, print ads.
Principle: Brand awareness, quirky humor.
Print Component: The “Did You Mean MailChimp?” campaign included print ads with creative designs, extending the quirky and playful brand persona into traditional media.
Success: The campaign increased brand recognition and emphasized MailChimp’s role in email marketing.
Saddleback Leather
Channels Used: Social media, print ads, influencer marketing.
Principle: Quality craftsmanship, storytelling.
Print Component: Saddleback Leather utilized print ads in niche magazines to showcase the durability and craftsmanship of its leather products.
Success: The campaign resonated with a specific target audience, and the brand gained a reputation for high-quality, long-lasting goods.
Glossier
Channels Used: Social media, influencer marketing, print ads.
Principle: User-generated content, simplicity.
Print Component: Glossier, known for its minimalistic beauty products, occasionally features print ads in magazines that align with its aesthetic, emphasizing the simplicity and efficacy of its products.
Success: The brand has cultivated a dedicated following through its integrated approach, combining digital and print strategies.
In a world where consumers are bombarded with marketing messages, integrated marketing campaigns stand out as an effective way to create a cohesive brand experience, engage customers, and achieve meaningful results. By understanding the core principles and implementing them strategically, your business can unlock the full potential of integrated marketing campaigns and stand out in a competitive marketplace.
