Advertising media is a broad term. Between display, paid social, print, CTV, etc., choosing which media is best for your campaign goals takes time and effort. 

Using integrated media plans, advertisers can narrow the focus of their campaigns and drive better, more targeted audiences to convert. 

What is integrated media? This article will review all you need to know about integrated media planning and how to best implement it into your media strategy. 

Integrated media is a digital marketing strategy utilizing two or more media formats to reach multiple target audience segments.

When running Integrated media campaigns, marketing teams may use a mix of the following mediums: 

• Display Images

• Out of Home (DOOH)

• Audio Content 

• Video Content

• Paid Social

• CTV

• Blog Content 

• Email/Newsletters 

According to Joe Fairchild, Senior Campaign Analyst at Pathlabs, it's important to integrate multiple types of media into a marketing strategy because it increases the chances of reaching a consumer at the optimal moment. Overall, extending the campaign's reach. 

Advertisers use programmatic platforms, like the Trade desk or Google Ads, to simultaneously run ads of multiple media types.

Imagine there are two companies. Company A places all its ads on social media, while company B fields ads on social media, audio platforms, and digital out-of-home locations.

From the get-go, we can anticipate that company B will generate more brand awareness and conversions because they are using an integrated media strategy. In effect, they will interact with more potential customers across three channels. 

Creating media for different channels requires a lot of content creation. 

Some advertisers use in-house/owned media. Internal teams design this media. 

Others choose to outsource media creation. We call this purchased media. 

When media outlets create content about a brand without any prior relationship, we call this earned/inspired media. For example, if Fortune wrote an article about Pathlabs without any initial negotiation, we could capitalize on this media even though we didn't have anything to do with the creation. 

In integrated media planning, advertisers use multiple media types in their advertising campaigns. A media planner most often carries this out. 

The general responsibilities of the media planner are to: 

• Identify campaign objectives 

• Nail down key performance indicators 

• Set budget parameters and timeline 

• Research and identify audience segments to target 

• Determine channels and platforms to use

• Select an integrated media mix to use

Once the media planner has completed the above steps, the integrated media plan will be passed on to the media activator, buyer, or execution team. This team will import the media into an execution platform and press "go" on the campaign. 
After launching the campaign, the execution team will analyze and optimize performance.

Pepsi

Pepsi’s integrated media strategy fields billboard and tv ads highlighting their many products and collaborating with different events and public figures. They even experiment in international markets with other Pepsi-inspired food products.

Khraungbin

This band uses an integrated media strategy. Khruangbin masterfully capitalizes on an artistic website design, social media posts, audio content on Spotify, and a feature radio segment to reach niche channels of music listeners. 

Noticias Telemundo

Noticias Telemundo (Teleworld News) combines OOH ads at pop culture events, paid social, and daily podcast episodes about global events. Together, they successfully dominate the media mix to create an encompassing, trustable news brand. 

Everyday Health

Everyday Health provides mental health resources by tapping into media channels like Youtube, Pinterest, daily newsletters.

Dollar Shave Club 

Dollar Shave Club has an active and integrated media mix of paid social, DOOH, and Youtube ads. Their advertising strategies receive such high recognition that they often see coverage via earned media. 

Integrated media plans use multiple advertising types to reach their target audience at the optimal time and location. 

A single customer may experience the same advertisement when walking on the street, scrolling on Instagram, and browsing on their computer. These three impressions will keep the brand at the top of their mind when the user chooses to make their next purchase. 

Integrated media strategy also foments a brand-centric experience. Take the Super Bowl, for example. Every January and February, consumers are bombarded with Super Bowl-themed advertisements – branded food products, billboards, CTV commercials, etc.

We interact with these ads so much that even the most extreme opposers of American Football know that the Super Bowl is coming. As for the die-hard fans, the multiple ads create a sort of micro-holiday, making them engage with the overall ad content on a deeper level. 

Integrated media strategies manage risk and promote optimization. This strategy allows marketers to experiment with different media types, ultimately helping them get an optimal media mix to reach their KPI goals. If one media in the campaign fails, that’s okay because the other media types can pick up the slack. 

For an effective integrated media strategy, marketers should define a solid target audience and identify the channels where they commonly reside.

Next, they need to develop an omnichannel presence and media mix. Decisions on the audience, channels, and what media to use should be data-driven or, at least, backed by some secondary research. 

Before executing the campaign, effective marketers define key performance indicators and diversify them based on the channel they are targeting. For example, in one channel, the marketer may focus on getting views, while in a different medium, their goal is website clicks. 

It is crucial to push consumers through the whole marketing journey. According to Joe Fairchild, Senior Campaign Analyst at Pathlabs, at this step, it is essential to look at the campaign from a birds-eye view. Often, a client is solely focused on conversions and is not looking at the broader picture.

Next, the technology and programmatic execution platforms must be calibrated and prepped to record the correct metrics. 

Cross-team collaboration and an innovative mindset should be present throughout this entire process. Entering different channels can push teams out of their comfort zones.

Problem: 

Integrated media plans can make attributing customer conversions to a specific channel challenging. One media type may have led them to convert, or multiple mediums may share the credit. Sometimes, we don’t know. 

Solution: 

Use tracking platforms, cookies, heat maps, or even ask the customer when they convert to determine which channel pulled them in. 

Problem: 

An integrated media plan can increase advertising budgets. 

Solution: 

Taking advantage of free platforms like social media can curb high costs. It is common for integrated media plans only to have one paid channel while the others are free. Luckily, advertisers can use ad content across channels for the creative press - decreasing the cost of media creation. 

Problem: 

Successfully implementing an integrated media plan can stretch your team thin.

Solution: 

Media planning tools can keep the campaign organized and well-tracked. Start with two or three media channels and focus on media quality, not quantity. Then gradually branch out to other media channels. The marketing team may consider outsourcing some of the graphic design or execution work to a graphic designer, partner, or media-buying agency so they can focus on the overall strategy.

The best marketing campaigns almost always include an integrated media plan. It helps to find a balance between digital and traditional marketing tactics. After all, the omnichannel experience has proven to be successful time and time again. Marketing is all about delivering the right message, to the right people, at the right time, and that’s what integrated media planning is all about.