What is integrated communications strategy

A lot of communications people will look at you and ask “what is your story?”

That’s a great place to start and a great way to begin the concept of building your brand narrative (more on that in a bit). But the real fun and work begins with the followup question: How do you want to tell your story?

If a story is told well, inn the right places, with the right messaging to the right audiences with the right calls to action or next steps, it can be successful. Regardless of how mundane the topic might be or if it’s just a short update, if the story is told well, it can have tremendous impact.

Enter integrated communications

I have been doing integrated communications throughout my entire career. But we didn’t call it that then. We called it corporate blogging or we called it direct marketing or even just public relations. But as the worlds of digital and social media combined with traditional marketing or public relations, the concept of integrated communications rose in prominence.

What I am to do is utilize every possible tool at my disposal to help a brand or company tell its story to the best audience possible with the most impact possible. We work to identify several types of strategy: digital, audience, content and messaging. Once we identify crucial elements such as what your narrative is, define your audiences and work to develop tactical deliverables such as an editorial calendar and PR calendar, we can work to develop a channel strategy.

Knowing when to publish a message on which channel requires determining a number of variables and ensuring that your KPIs align with your goals of a program. Oftentimes it is automatic. If it’s a major launch you are going to create content for all of the channels your brand is active on. But sometimes you need to create channel-specific content that is single purpose and engages that audience on that channel specifically.

Creating an integrated communications strategy doesn’t need to be a strategic challenge. It doesn’t need to tax resources. It can be a cathartic exercise at the end of the journey and it can be rewarding to the business and those that work to discover the strategic vision.

Are you ready to tell your story? Let’s work on how to tell the best story you can in the best way.