Integrated marketing communications is vital if you’re going to make sure the message your business sends out is consistent across the media you use to communicate with customers.

Put the Emphasis on Integrated Marketing Communications

Today there are SO many ways to deliver your message – both online as well as off – that as a new small business you need to decide from the offset with channels you’re going to use to reach customers. And that’s actually much harder than it sounds.

Twenty years ago you might have printed up a bunch of flyers or put an advert in your local newspaper. Nowadays businesses operate online as well, but even that’s got complicated. Your competitors are exploring what they can do with social sites like Facebook and Twitter, geographical-location services like Gowalla and Foursquare, as well as video and audio. Then there’s the rise of the smart phone and the mobile net, changing the marketing communication mix even more in 2010.

With the Net open 24/7 the playing field for businesses has been levelled leaving you and your business potentially competing on a global scale with vendors who may well have bigger budgets than yours.

Integrated Marketing Communications and You!

Ensure that you’ve branded your small company from the outset. Make sure your logo, font, and the colours you use in your on- and off-line marketing materials are consistent.

If you’re bootstrapping your company and only just starting out, don’t ruin yourself overspending on exclusive design because you can always upgrade later on. Even the early Apple logos are a bit dodgy by today’s comparison.

The main thing is to ensure that from the word go all your marketing materials are consistent in terms of terms of message, tone, colouring and imagery.

The idea is that you want people to recognize your company wherever they come across you whether its online or off.

If you use a variety of logos, fonts and colours, you run the risk of being mistaken for someone else, and watering down what makes your company unique.

Even though Jontus Media isn’t a multi-national corporation, I still make sure that when I do client work my branding is consistent. For example, I’ve just started running an online press office for one of my clients. I’m representing them through my company so I’m using my branded photo with my Jon Buscall.com colours.

What Media Are You Using?

Having decided on your branding, you need to integrate your marketing and communications and implement it across a variety of online and offline channels.
Don’t just build a website and expect people to come. Some might be attracted to your services or skills if they find you on Facebook or Twitter, communicating in a more informal tone than the more impersonal tone you use on your site.

Or consider encouraging customers to your bricks-and-mortar store to sign up for your email newsletter that will in turn direct people to special offers on your website.

In short, it’s vital you think of a variety of ways to integrate your offline and online marketing and communications. In this way you will make it easier to connect with people and ultimately grow your business.