If I want to research a new smart TV, find a holiday rental or buy the perfect winter coat, I’m going to turn to the internet in the palm of my hand.

And when I do, savvy brands are going to be there, at the moment of need, ready to help, because they’re running integrated campaigns.

With search, social media and digital display, it has never been easier to speak to your audience in the right place at the right time. But to win the customer you’ll need to have an integrated marketing and PR strategy.

Be relevant

Digital has blurred the lines between traditional communications disciplines. Good agencies have teams with divergent skill sets which can come together around a client’s goals to deliver meaningful results.

To make the most of digital opportunities to connect with your audience, you need to know who it is you want to talk to – do your segmentation and targeting – and understand what their needs are so that you can be relevant.

Search marketing and social media can offer great audience reach, but you need to be delivering the right content at the right time or potential customers will swipe right past you.

Brand building

Brand building deserves its place at the heart of your strategy because people can compare a dozen prices in seconds, but many of them will still buy who you are, not just what you sell.

Every online experience a customer has with you will affect their view of your brand. And a trusted brand is a consistent brand, which is where being integrated really matters.

Why would a customer trust you with their business if you can’t appear to manage your own? Don’t let your slick social media send them to a website built in the era of Friends Reunited or through a seemingly endless contact form on the first steps of their customer journey.

Your digital touchpoints should provide a consistent brand experience – set their expectations about who you are and continue to meet them.

Customer care

Let’s not forget it’s far more cost effective to keep your existing customers than seek new ones. Digital will be your friend here too. Use your social media and your e-newsletters to deepen your customer relationships by building engaged communities of brand advocates. After all, customer lifetime value (CLV) may be your most important metric.

Be transparent and trustworthy

We can’t talk about the universality of digital communications without touching on transparency and data regulation.

To build meaningful connections with customers who are willing to spend money on your products or services, it is essential to prove yourself trustworthy. People have woken up to just how much information companies are collecting about them – from where they go to who their contacts are – and sometimes they really aren’t pleased with how it’s being used.

While the introduction of the GDPR data regulations in 2018 gave many marketing departments a headache, working out how best to meet the regulations has created an opportunity to forge a renewed sense of trust and credibility with customers.

If you are open and transparent about the data you want to collect and how you will use and store it – including giving them the option to say no – you’re on the path to creating a respectful relationship with your customers. And that’s beneficial for everyone.

Get in touch to understand how we can help you achieve your goals in today’s digital world.