7 Components of a Great Integrated Marketing Program

What is Integrated marketing & why does it matter?

Integrated Marketing is a strategy that reinforces your company’s ultimate message and is consistent across all communication platforms. It is important because consumers are present online as well as offline. In the tourism industry, in order to be competitive, you need to be where the traveler is and create relevant content that travelers trust. Unifying all channels of communication is key to having an effective marketing plan. Solimar International’s approach to integrated marketing (or inbound marketing) does exactly this, and much more!

Here are 7 key components of a great marketing program:

+ Brand Analysis – Prior to implementing a campaign, Solimar will provide you with a brand analysis containing actionable recommendations to improve your look and focus your message. Our in-house design team can also help you update or refresh your current brand and logo.

+ Marketing Strategy – After a thorough analysis, an integrated marketing strategy is developed and will serve as a roadmap for the implementation of the integrated marketing program, which is tailored to the needs of a specific consumer. The strategy will integrate current and targeted use of all channels: social media, search engine optimization, blogging, content, public relations and trade relations.

+ Website and Content Development – Once a consumer finds your website, the goal is to make it so captivating that they want to stay on the site, engage in your content and share it with others. Developing a contant calendar and assigning content generation resposibilities will help you decide the type of content to post, where you will post it and how frequently. We know your day is already full, so Solimar helps engage your team, so that everyone participates in the content generation process.

+ Social Media Strategy and Blogging – Social media gives you a place to talk to your consumers before they travel, while they’re on their trip and after they have returned. Social media strategy encompasses social networks, blogs, micro-blogging sites and third party sites. Solimar will help you determine the best channels to use for your target markets, and what content to post.

+ Creative Campaigns – With all pieces of your marketing foundation in place, Solimar will implement a series of creative campaigns and sweepstakes designed to draw visitors to both your site and social media platforms while synchronizing your marketing message and brand value for maximum effectiveness.

+ PR/Media Outreach Strategy – Solimar will help you employ simple but effective monitoring tools and indicators to allow you to identify influencers in your market. Then you can “listen” to the conversations taking place online, join ongoing conversations, build trust, and demonstrate expertise. Solimar will also help you develop a database of contacts and design effective outreach campaigns to reach local and international media, relevant bloggers, guidebooks and sales intermediaries.

+ Trade Distribution Strategy – If you work with business to business sales, Solimar will help you take your relationships online by developing a dynamic database that tracks all communication with trade partners; from the initial email/call, to in-person meetings at trade shows, and shares on social media sites by each partner.

A great example of an Integrated Marketing project that Solimar has implemented is the Namibia Online Campaign. The goal of this campaign was to ensure the necessary tools and capacity to combine online marketing activities with their current overall marketing strategy.

Solimar was able to increase quantity and quality of Namibian tourism information, created a globally integrated virtual marketing team to implement online cohesiveness, as well as significantly increased worldwide knowledge of Namibia as a tourist destination. Click on the picture below to check out the Namibia online website:

Also, click on the image below to see Namibia’s Facebook page:

Solimar’s integrated marketing program strategically focuses on attracting the traveler consumer and ensures that all messaging and communication strategies are unified across all channels. Solimar believes that marketing is about coordinated marketing strategies and tactics that earn people’s interest, instead of trying to buy it. For more information, contact us and read more on What we do. Also, click on the images below for more tips on inbound marketing and website design!