The importance of integrated marketing campaigns

Gemma Diratzonian, marketing manager at Yale Door and Window Solutions, discusses why integrated marketing campaigns are crucial, and provides the example of Yale’s recent launch of its new Vertex range of sash window hardware

The days when brands could reach their audiences through a single communication channel are now long gone. Today, our customers encounter us in numerous places beyond physical magazines (which nevertheless remain vital!) – from websites and emails to social media and direct marketing. This is simply a fact of the modern world, and something all our campaigns have to account for.

A great example is our recent integrated campaign to support the launch of our new Vertex vertical sliding sash window hardware.

Driven by an understanding of our customers, their behaviours and the market set in a ‘socially distanced’ context, the campaign used a mixture of traditional and modern marketing techniques. We know from a mixture of experience and data that our customers read certain trade magazines, are active on social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter, and as sophisticated buyers, appreciate clear, technical information that enables them to make fast easy decisions on the products being presented. These insights fed into our activity.

The campaign can be broken down into three stages: content creation and preparation, the launch, and the results.

Content creation and preparation

In the months leading up to the launch, we planned and created a range of content in advance. These included a press release, technical datasheets, social media posts, a promotional emailer, and an eye-catching A4 print advert that we placed in key trade magazines such as Glass Times.

We also created two promotional videos. The first of these, two minutes long, introduced the range, demonstrating how it works and showing close-ups of the products as well as illustrated animations that explain key concepts.

The second video was a shorter version of the first, and began with a light-hearted sketch from a Laurel & Hardy film, showing the pair struggling with a sash window and getting caught in it. It then introduced the Vertex range and explained how, with Vertex, the problem of ‘sticking’ is now a thing of the past.

Finally, we prepared 60 presentation packages containing personalised samples of the spring balances from the range, product literature, and memory sticks containing the launch videos, imagery, and the press release. These would be posted to our top 50 sales prospects and the editors of the most-relevant trade magazines, lending a personal touch where it was most needed.

The launch

In the run up to the launch, we posted out the direct mail packages, ensuring they would arrive with their targets in a timely fashion. Then, when launch-day came, we:

• Distributed the press release with images to key media titles
• Uploaded the data sheets to our website, where visitors can download them
• Sent the promotional emailer to our database of relevant industry contacts
• Set up paid promotional campaigns with targeting on LinkedIn and Twitter to promote the range using the videos

The results

The results were striking, exceeding our targets and helping to facilitate a highly successful launch for the Vertex range.

• The press release was covered many times across the print and online editions of our target magazines. It earned a total coverage figure of 164,465, equating to 294,907 opportunities to see
• The print advertisement enjoyed a total coverage figure of 99,699, equating to 299,097 opportunities to see
• The campaign videos were viewed 39,407 times on LinkedIn and Twitter, generating 1,522 engagements and 3,079 link clicks
• The emailer was opened 2,404 times, with an above-average open-rate of 39.7%

Anecdotally, feedback on the videos was that they were entertaining and informative, and many of the sales targets and editors who received the packages sent notes thanking us for this refreshing approach and saying how nice it had been to receive them.

Our campaign to support our new Vertex range is just one example of the kind of communications we are constantly planning at Yale Door and Window Solutions. Its success shows why running an integrated marketing campaign is essential for product launches. It also shows why, while modern techniques cannot be ignored, print still has a vital role to play in getting the message out.