Importance of Integrated Marketing Communications for brand success – Olaosebikan

Omolaraeni Olaosebikan has proven not to rest on her laurels, as she has redoubled her commitment to the process of brand engagement and detailed brand storytelling. These initiatives have given her a cutting edge in her career, while also showing consistency in client satisfaction.

The CEO of McEnies Global Communications, who is championing a 360-degree marketing communications powerhouse with cross-solution services, delivered a lecture on the benefits of Integrated Marketing Communications at a seminar organized at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel recently. She stated that success in business is not “rocket science,” but rather conscious, unwavering determination and serious hard work.

Speaking specifically to the topic of the day, Omolaraeni said:

“Integrated marketing is the principle of creating consistent messages across your marketing communication channels. Companies with an integrated marketing strategy strive to show customers the same visual aesthetic, slogans, promotions, and overall tone across multiple channels.

“Whether customers engage with your product via a digital ad, a billboard, or an in-store experience, they’ll see a unified look and feel.

“As a small business owner, avoiding customer confusion is probably in your best interest. You can do this by employing consistent messaging throughout all your marketing efforts. This is known as integrated marketing communications.

The marketing communications expert also dazzled her teeming audience with what she described as a disjointed brand experience by customers. In her explanations, with an example to guide her claims, she noted:

“Imagine seeing a billboard advertising a car rental company. The billboard has a red and blue color scheme and sports the slogan ‘Car Rentals Done Right!’

“You remember the brand name, so later, when you get home, you visit the rental car company’s website. The site has an orange and yellow color scheme and uses a slightly different slogan: ‘Do Your Car Renting Right!’ You might be asking yourself, ‘Is this really the same company?’ What you have just experienced is a disjointed brand experience. This hypothetical car rental company gave you a different look and a different message on different marketing channels.”

On the benefits of integrated marketing in brand management, the Ekiti-born communications guru said:

“Successful integrated marketing campaigns can yield many benefits for both small businesses and large corporations. When your demographic encounters your company across multiple channels, you get multiple chances to deliver the same consistent message. You can also use different marketing strategies to reach your target audience on each channel. For example, you might use search engine optimization (SEO) to improve your website’s ranking on Google or retargeting ads to reach customers who have already visited your site.

“I’ve also realized that integrated marketing helps stretch your digital marketing budget. Because you will use very similar creative across multiple marketing channels, it’s like getting several campaigns for the price of one. You can also collect customer data from all different platforms and use this valuable information to inform future marketing decisions.

“IMC also improves brand loyalty; it allows you to build a rapport with your target audience and create long-term customer relationships. You can establish trust with potential and current customers by delivering a consistent message across all channels. When customers trust your brand, they’re more likely to do business with you and recommend you to others.

“Another benefit is what I call streamlined management. To thrive in the digital commerce economy, many marketing managers embrace omnichannel marketing, which involves a presence on everything from TV to social media platforms to Google Ads. An integrated marketing strategy helps your marketing team manage all these platforms and channels because you’ll be using the same slogan, color scheme, and sales promotions on all platforms.”

When asked how to create a robust integrated marketing campaign, Omolaraeni maintained that every committed stakeholder in the profession must understand campaign goals, know and identify the target audience, carefully select marketing channels, decide on creative direction, create a plan to collect leads, coordinate the launch, analyze results, and accordingly adjust the campaign and repeat to suit the set narrative.