The Problem

Today, the subject of Integrated Marketing Communications is hotter than ever.  It’s a source of competitive advantage.  However, both planning and executing remain a challenge.  In this rapidly evolving, ever-changing landscape, marketers are challenged to elevate their games by raising the relevance of their marketing communication plans in the face of evolving approaches and options:

  • The rapid proliferation of media choices
  • New marketing channels and formats
  • The shift of power to consumers
  • The shift from traditional to inbound marketing
  • The rise of social media channels
  • A shift in buyer behavior

Budgets are tighter, goals are higher, and lingering economic uncertainty creates tension that can interfere with integrated planning and results.  Marketers are racing to prove the value of every dollar they spend to generate the highest ROI possible.

The Solution – What is Brand Choreography?

Enter a new way of thinking about IMC that social branding consultancy Blue Focus Marketing calls Brand Choreography (BC).  Essentially, this is the orchestration of all appropriate marketing messages and tactics—across traditional, digital, and social media platforms—designed to impact critical brand touch points.  BC links to the consumer’s basic buying process to provide solutions at each step as buyers seek to reach their goals of acquiring information, making purchases, etc.  The end result is the successful achievement of a firm’s business objectives.  BC is a customer-focused model that aims to deliver the right message to the right person in the right place to maximize their experience and satisfy their information needs.  Essentially, BC takes you where your customers are.

“Marketing is a process by which a firm profitably translates

customer needs into revenue.”

   (M. Burgess)

 BC recognizes that every medium from TV to online to social media has specific strengths and weaknesses.  Brands need to create and communicate across mediums and channels to reach the highest value buyer and influencers.

Architecting an Effective IMC Plan for Your Business

A powerful IMC plan delivers clear, consistent and compelling messages.  Firms need a roadmap for effective integration of traditional and inbound marketing.  Marketers must explore new methods to leverage all elements of the communication mix—advertising, sales promotion, PR, direct marketing, search, Web, and social media—into a single, cohesive, holistic approach.  This complex environment demands the rise of the new IMC plan that incorporates interactive and social technologies—from corporate blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, to mobile devices and more.  Marketers must simultaneously learn to adapt in a social media ecosystem that is in perpetual evolution.

“The market is the wind and we cannot control the wind.

A choreographed strategy ensures the wind is blowing behind our backs.”

(Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar)

 

Special Opportunity for Networking Exchange Blog Readers

On Sept 13-14, I’ll be conducting a two-day workshop for the AMA in Chicago.  This IMC Training Series is designed to help professionals develop an IMC roadmap so attendees can leave the workshop armed with strategic advice, recommendations, and a sense of empowerment to move their IMC plans forward. Any AT&T Networking Exchange Blog reader who wishes to attend this workshop can sign up at the special AMA Member Rate.  To learn more, go to http://www.marketingpower.com/imc. To receive the AMA Member Rate, fill out the Contact Us form at: http://www.bluefocusmarketing.com/contactUs.php and the AMA will be notified.

This post was originally published on AT&T’s Networking Exchange Blog.

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