Steps for implementing an end-to-end integrated marketing plan

Thomas Edison said, “Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” Taylor Swift put it, “Just because you made a good plan, doesn’t mean that’s what’s gonna happen.”

Delightful is more pragmatic, “A strategy without execution is a waste of time and budget.”

Let’s dive into some recommended best practices for moving from integrated marketing planning to campaign implementation.

Integrated marketing campaigns have a lot of moving pieces

You aren’t anywhere near done with a campaign when you say, “We have a strategy!” Next up? Coming up with an implementation plan—and then making it happen.

The beauty and complexity of integrated marketing is there are so many opportunities to meet your audience where they are. The trick is pulling all the levers at the right time without becoming noise in your audience’s day.

Connecting and activating the dots

Running an integrated marketing campaign is all about ensuring order. Do you have key moments or events to which you’re aligning? Are certain channels taking the lead on driving announcements with others serving as amplifiers? Are influencers supporting key announcements—and how do they align with the larger launch plan?

If an analyst report is a key piece of content, will you have preliminary findings to share under embargo? Using paid social to drive awareness—how does that balance with the organic social plan? Is everything we need in place in advance of when it needs to go live?

So many dots to track from start to finish.

Establishing a cadence

Think of the cadence of information as a steady drumbeat. In a marching band, if you do not have a steady drumbeat, the tubas will be tripping over the flutes. The cadence creates a consistent and predictable flow of information across your channels.

It continuously pushes the core messages or assets across the relevant channels that keep your audience engaged but not overwhelmed. A cadence lets key voices who can amplify your content know when and where they can support you. It might mean you publish a weekly blog or monthly podcast. A daily social post might be too much for your audience, especially if there’s nothing new to share, but maybe once or twice a week is more effective.

And just as importantly, is there a planned cadence for when you’re pulling data and analyzing campaign results throughout its lifecycle?

Starting and ending with analytics

Whatever the means, monitor the impact to ensure your messages are landing. You do not want to realize six months after publishing a blog that you didn’t add a specific URL tag for tracking clicks or the website isn’t set up to track blog views. Implementing backend tracking capabilities from the moment you go live ensures you can assess performance against your campaign goals.

But before launching, you first need to ask if the data will give you what you need. Will it allow you to say, “Yes, this is a success”? Will it give you the information to shift resources or focus quickly? Getting the right data across all channels from the start and monitoring impact in real-time allows you to see what resonates and where you can adjust to improve impact.

Getting implementation right

Feeling overwhelmed by levers to pull, channels to activate, executives to manage, and measuring impact every step of the way? This is just the big picture. There is also a lot of fine print in your plan. Delightful can provide end-to-end support, and we would love to help.

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