Integrated marketing is a high-level strategic issue that involves all marketing channels, including public relations and media relations. And it begins with the marketing planning process. Marketing plans usually start with overall organizational goals in mind – in the next year, we want to increase revenue by a certain amount, or we want to launch a new product, or set of products. Whatever the overall goals, marketers develop a strategic plan to address those objectives and allocate resources – money, person-power, time – to accomplish them. At the planning stage, it is critical to think about those targets in terms of the various marketing channels and how they will work in concert to achieve success. If you’re not thinking about integration during these foundational planning stages, it is unlikely to happen during the execution of your marketing efforts. PR is a vital tool in an integrated marketing plan. Because PR leverages and extends your organization’s branding and reinforces the messaging, it needs to be considered as part of the overall strategic planning process. Rather than simply thinking about press releases and media communications as a separate part of the “to do” list, smart marketers consider how PR can serve the [...]
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