Is there optimal alignment between your social media, website, print ads, e-mail outreach, blogs, collateral materials, services and sales pitch?

My computer is running slow – again. I know what I have to do: run a disk clean, empty my internet cache and run the defragment program. Seems like a bother, I mean I just did this last year!

But what is the alternative?

If I don’t, my hard drive becomes crowded and muddled, slow downs, maybe crashes. I don’t purposely disorganize my hard drive – it just happens over time – like the proverbial frog sitting in the pot of water as the flame is turned up slowly, until he’s cooked.

My computer starts to slow down, almost imperceptibly at first, until one day I find myself clicking on the mouse like my son playing a video game, “Hey, who are you shooting at, Dad?”  “No one!  I’m working, Boy!”

But after I run the requisite diagnostics and fixes so my files are again in alignment, outdated messages and errors are removed and order returns to the universe. Now if I could just clean out my email inbox.

Order From Chaos

Is it possible that your marketing strategy need the same type of reorganization?

Is there optimal alignment between your social media, website, print ads, e-mail outreach, blogs, collateral materials, services and sales pitch? Or is your marketing strategy muddled, confusing and sending mixed or outdated messages to your customers? If so, your efforts could be largely ineffective and it may be time to defragment, reorganize and integrate your marketing hard drive.

Integrating and aligning the different elements of your marketing strategy to ensure cohesive messaging may be the best thing you can do today. Running your program with fragmented messaging is akin to clicking you mouse repeatedly, trying to rush your crowded and disorganized hard drive to produce the desired results.

According to William McClain, MBA, Strategic Branding & Communications for Sage Age Strategies, a Senior Housing Forum Partner:

“Today, senior living providers are using a variety of marketing channels to reach their prospective customers, e.g. traditional advertising, social media, direct mail and online marketing. This is a good thing.

Unfortunately, their messaging often changes with each different medium used and the opportunity for message synergy and optimization is lost. Conversely, when the various communications channels are synchronized to deliver a consistent, compelling message, the overall impact is significantly greater than that of each medium individually.

The bottom line for communities today is to start with a goal and then align your messaging across all of the media you select – in other words, be sure each of your channels is singing off the same sheet of music.”

Are all of your marketing channels integrated and aligned?

  • Advertising – Broadcast, print, Internet, outdoor, classified, media ads
  • Direct Marketing – Direct mail, emails, telemarketing
  • Sales – Materials such as sell sheets, brochures, presentations
  • Online/Internet marketing – Email marketing, mobile marketing, user-preference coding or “Remarketing”
  • Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, Pinterest, Instagram
  • Content Marketing – News releases, blogs, newsletters
  • Public Relations – Community outreach, public events, grand openings, press conferences
  • Special Promotions – Limited-time offers, contests, rebates, special events

Blinding Speed

Yesterday, Apple unveiled its latest gadgets – the IPhone 6 and the Apple Smart Watch. What amazes me now is not the rapid pace of innovation, but how it’s changing the way we communicate with each other. In today’s world, businesses can easily fall behind the curve and that can prove fatal.

I spoke to Adrienne Mansfield, Director of Client Services, Traditional & Online Media for Sage Age Strategies who reiterated this:

“The continued evolution of communications technology has expanded the number and variety of communications channels and changed how consumers and businesses interact. Mobile technology and the growth of social media outlets are prime examples. The sheer number of useful media options today requires that your overall plan is managed closely to assure that the end product is coherent and focused on the same goal.”

There’s a very old Chinese proverb that goes, “May You Live in Interesting Times.” We’re there, folks. Interesting, exciting, fast-paced and evolving. In this environment developing an effective, cohesive and integrated marketing strategy is essential to ensure that you’re delivering the right messages to the right prospective customers, via the right medium and technology.

If you are interested in a deeper dive on Integrated Marketing, Sage Age has put together a six part series titled Integrated Marketing that you can download as a PDF.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to clean out my Inbox.

John