An integrated marketing campaign involves the strategic blend of all marketing tools to create one cohesive marketing plan. By using multiple resources, including advertising, marketing and public relations, an integrated campaign connects with the consumer and builds a stronger brand. There are multiple reasons why an integrated marketing campaign works well, but here are just a few.

• Reach a wider audience than campaigns that just use a single medium
• Increase brand visibility and reinforce the brand message
• Use marketing resources efficiently, re-purposing the creative and messaging across multiple media

Like any campaign, integrated campaigns require … Continue Reading

Spending on social media advertising will increase by nearly 300% in the next five years, according to research firm BIA/Kelsey.  They predict that total spending on social media advertising in the U.S. will rise from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion in 2015.  That’s a 31.6% annual rate of increase.

Display ads will continue to dominate, they predict, but non-display ad revenue (e.g., Twitter’s “promoted products”) will grow quickly and more new formats will sprout. They expect that non-display ad spending will grow … Continue Reading

Content producers increasingly hope that social media will get the word out for them.  They hope that their content will go viral. But studies show that email is still the way most people share most content.  And search is still the top method of finding websites.

Yet social sharing is capturing more attention.

Outbrain, a company dedicated to getting online content to the people who need it, reports that only one-tenth of external referrals come from social media sites.  They found that most (41%) come from search and nearly one-third from other sites.

Social … Continue Reading

While many folks go to Facebook for discounts, research indicates that they prefer email—and that email is more effective.

Lots of companies use deals and discounts as a way of encouraging Facebook and Twitter engagement, and, unsurprisingly, research shows that such offers are a primary reason that social networkers follow those brands. 

The question is, have consumers made a strong connection between social networks and retail? 

According to a March 2011 survey of daily deal site Eversave.com users, three-quarters of their female … Continue Reading