Your Keys to Marketing Integration

Hello! My name is Sara Kathryn King, and I am super excited to have the chance to share with you in the SMI. Now, a little bit about myself – I live and breathe marketing. When I am not at work, I am constantly checking out what other businesses are up to. Even though I love marketing, Fall starting to creep up on us reminds me that I am close to having to do an end-of-the-year in-depth look at my marketing plan and start planning for 2019. If you are anything like me, the panic and procrastination are starting to set in.

Knowing what to focus on is vital because you can’t afford to misplace that hard-earned money in a strategy that doesn’t make your business profitable. Fret not – I have gathered a list of 2019’s top trends to be on the lookout for and to start using in your business to make this your most successful year yet!

The first, albeit obvious, tip is to make sure that your website is fully responsive and looks the same on a smartphone and desktop. Your customers are trying to grow with the digital demand, and they want a company that can support them in that aspect. If your website isn’t keeping up with the times, ask your Coach about our latest software release, AMP.

Our theme for this year is “Integration.” While it is known that digital marketing is on the rise, it is most important that you are not investing your entire budget in digital. Integration enables you to create more touchpoints in your customer’s day-to-day activities than ever before. Integrated marketing is a method of creating an experience for consumers to interact with your company in a seamless manner. It is an attempt to combine every marketing aspect, such as advertising, Social Media, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing, so they all work together as a whole. This ensures that you are sending a consistent message across all channels! (The biggest mistake we see is inconsistent marketing, which often leads to people thinking you are multiple businesses, because you are shouting multiple messages.)

The biggest insight our Coaches have to offer is using funnel marketing to track your future customers from your website to their email, and then target them with a Direct Mail piece or newsletter to really hit it home. A general marketing rule is that you have to see an ad seven times to remember it. While you may assume that your money is best spent on digital ads because millennials are dependent on technology, you may want to reconsider. Millennials are not constantly connected, but when they are, they are so used to online ads being pushed into their subconscious that they have adapted to ignore and block them. Studies show that almost half of millennials ignore internet ads, email ads and text ads.

Print is becoming a huge player in motivating millennials to purchase products. Many millennials need to feel a real, emotional attachment to the brand to feel connected. Studies show that digital marketing and advertising works, but it will not fully satisfy your customers emotional needs. With the integration of print, you are able to connect with your target customer from every aspect and allow them to have a personal connection with your company. They are able to hold, feel and pass along the information you are sending them.

The addition of print and digital into your integration strategy allows both to build off of each other. This provides trackable data, advanced reporting and ultimately helps you reach your target audience more efficiently.

I believe that with the use of digital advertising, in addition to the use of Direct Mail and newsletters, you will be able to make your customers feel truly engaged with you and, therefore, more likely to buy into your company. If you have a great integration strategy, you are one step above your competition!

If you are a normal person and don’t have 40 hours a week to invest in things like digital marketing, funnel marketing or marketing in general… That’s what we’re here for! My advice: Get your Coaches to set you on the right track. They are the ones who will be able to decide what will help you best!

Now that I’m done using big words and marketing jargon, feel free to ask me any questions; I promise I can break it down into actual English. Shoot that email over to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading, and until next time, have a blast in your business!