Integrated marketing is about combining different marketing activities and delivering the same voice across different channels.

When done well, integrated marketing creates a seamless, consistent experience. This strategy helps achieve marketing goals and increase a company’s bottom line.

Keeping the perfect balance between an array of marketing activities is a real challenge: from PR and branding to responsive design and SEO, there are many areas to nurture at the same time. Brands can reap excellent rewards by maximising brand exposure and reach.

We’ve written about integrated marketing before, but in the previous article we focused on the challenges of integrating digital and traditional marketing in the current landscape (2016 to be specific).

In this article, we look closely at the workings of integrated marketing and SEO, and why both of them are worthwhile.

Integrated Marketing

Marketers strive to make the most of every platform at their disposal, while maintaining the same tone of voice across all of them. Making different channels work together can bring out the best in each of them and strengthen the marketing campaign as a whole.

The following figures, gathered by Gartner in 2012, shed further light on the topic.

Companies spend approximately 2.5% of their annual revenue on digital marketing. On average, 10.7% of companies’ digital marketing budget is spent on search marketing, but only 8-9% would include search marketing in their top three most effective marketing tools. This suggests many organizations don’t see the value of search marketing.

Nevertheless, armed with the right facts and research, challenging this perception of search marketing is straightforward. SEO is linked to other crucial, successful endeavours, such as content development, UX/UI of websites, and commerce experience. Integrated marketing campaigns can be a lot more successful with the aid of search marketing.

Marketers are also faced with the task of changing the perception of marketing channels as single units. Instead, they should be seen as complementing one another, with each marketing activity having the potential to impact the others.

PR & SEO

The link between SEO and PR is so important that it can’t be overlooked. Using them together is a great strategy, whether for a small or large enterprise.

There’s great potential to unlock when SEO and PR are used together. The disciplines complement each other and make for a much stronger campaign. This is because the advantages of each approach work together to create an effectiveness that is greater than the sum of its parts.

For instance, SEO and PR can be used together to establish specific keywords to target for a campaign. This has benefits for both branding and the search engine/user. PR and SEO professionals can also help enhance publicity and link equity by determining which websites to target.

These kind of outcomes show that the more professionals with overlapping disciplines liaise with each other, the better the outcome will be.

Online & Offline Marketing

Combining online and offline marketing is still a widely used strategy. Traditional forms of media are still alive and well. Magazines, newspapers, and TV are still effective, and are often the first point of contact between a brand and a potential new consumer. These traditional media also have the power to drive digital engagement, leading customers to the company’s website and social media pages.

Keeping a diverse mix of online and offline activities will also reach an equally diverse set of demographics, from those who are tech-savvy and always connected, to those on the more traditional side of the spectrum who prefer older forms of media. The demographics of your target audience will dictate if merging offline and online marketing activities is the right strategy for your company.

Content

Excellent content ticks a number of boxes: it creates a positive impression of your brand, as well as helping with the SEO side of things.