Integrated marketing is on most marketing managers' agendas today. The reason why it is on most agendas is because it strengthens all of your marketing actions. It has become an essential part of business.
What is integrated marketing communications?
It is the process of ensuring relevancy and consistency for each prospect and client in all your brand communications.
When It Is Challenging
Integrated marketing can be a challenge. It is not always easy to implement the processes needed for effective integrated marketing into existing marketing plans.
What makes this challenging?
- The number of communication channels.
- The apparent variety in prospect profiles today.
Easy For Communication In New Markets
Imagine starting a completely new communication strategy. A communication strategy with a clean slate. And in a new market. One you are just beginning to develop.
It would be easy to include integrated marketing processes right from the start. And here is what makes it easy:
- Your focused efforts on your new markets
- Your need for feedback from your new markets
- The limited number of communication channels you will have in the beginning
There is a distinct advantage in establishing an effective integrated marketing strategy when you begin to develop a new foreign market. It is easier to establish when starting a new communication strategy, compared to an established communication strategy.
One Message For One Foreign Market
When you create your first communication plan for a new foreign market you usually find it easy to concentrate on creating an integrated marketing message. This usually happens naturally as part of the process.
Integrated marketing creates effective communication across different media platforms.
Your market research is fresh and you naturally want to stimulate more international business intelligence through your communication.
Even if your communications with your foreign market are limited in the number of channels you use, you will probably use good integrated marketing practices.
Integrated marketing comes in to play with creating good website templates for multiple localized websites.
Stimulate Feedback To Create Action
When you first communicate with a new foreign market you want feedback.
In fact, if you are smart, you will also create your first communication to actually stimulate feedback from your new foreign market.
- You try to get your readers to take action: give you feedback.
Again, this is also very similar to your goals in integrated marketing:
- Moving prospects from a state of awareness to taking action.
With feedback it is easy to move into the next step...
Tracking and testing become a part of optimizing results for both the international marketer and the integrated marketer.
Step Into Integrated Marketing
Implementing an integrated marketing plan right from the start of your international business development makes good sense. Here are the reasons why:
- You get all of the value of an integrated marketing plan.
- You develop your international markets faster.
- You create a structure you can measure.
- You track and test results for marketing accountability.
- You create a base to measure international viability.
An Added Bonus
Integrated marketing for new foreign markets can also favorably influence your integrated marketing for your domestic markets:
- The extra strategy and focused targeting required.
- The simple integrated marketing model you create for your foreign markets.
Good international business development usually elevates the level of company-wide business practices. This is probably the "expense" of international business today:
- Investing the time and effort in establishing great business practices.
Many would agree this is a good option.
| This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 4 Build Your International Marketing Strategy Be sure to check out the other useful tips to build your international marketing strategy |
Cindy King is a freelance Cross Cultural Copywriter & International Sales Specialist with over 25 years field experience in international business development.
The Get International Clients international business directory inspires small to mid-sized businesses on how to use international internet marketing together with culturally customized information tools for faster international sales.
Get International Clients is also Cindy King's Live Portfolio for the international business development services she offers.
