While it's true that furniture companies have vast opportunities to benefit from right now, there's also no denying that there is a challenge the industry faces that can make it difficult to take advantage of the occasion.
There are LOTS of opportunities to capitalize on:
- The home improvement category is BIG right now.
- More people are considering re-designing their homes.
- The housing market continues to be hot, which means an opportunity for "out with the old, in with the new!"
There are a couple of challenges furniture companies may face:
- Items may be back-ordered by months.
- Shipping and supply chain delays may cause shoppers to consider other options.
The solution? An integrated marketing campaign. According to Internet Retailing, consumers not only interact with brands across an average of 20 channels but expect every experience with a brand to be consistent. Integrating your marketing strategies and tactics ensures that every brand/consumer touchpoint is positive, consistent, and representative of the brand as a whole.
Here is what you need to know about integrated marketing campaigns and strategies for furniture stores to implement.
What is an integrated marketing campaign?
An integrated marketing campaign incorporates a cross-channel strategy with seamless communication at every brand/consumer touchpoint. By having a strategic plan with a variety of marketing tactics, your brand provides clarity, consistency, and maximum communication impact.
This consistency in experience and increase in communication with consumers brings a host of benefits to your brand:
- Lift in brand image
- Builds trust and reliability — less confusion about who your brand is, your values, and what consumers can expect from you
- Gives you a competitive advantage
- Boosts loyalty and sales
- Gives your entire marketing team focus — more understanding of brand guidelines and processes to follow as a whole
- More memorable — it takes at least 5 to 7 impressions to recall and recognize a brand. Consistent communication and advertising speed up the process.
What marketing tactics are most effective in an integrated campaign?
Not just any integrated campaign will set you apart from the competition. You want to use the most relevant and successful marketing tactics in your campaign, integrating them to attract and appeal to the right consumers. Let’s take a look at some of the most effective.
TV
TV has always been a dominant marketing tactic and is here to stay. While over-the-top (OTT) services have impacted traditional TV preferences in the last decade, the transition has only led to a more meaningful integration. In fact, many consumers enjoy both linear TV and OTT. TV Tech reports that as many as 79% of TV households are subscribed to both traditional and OTT subscriptions.
Digital
Likewise, digital pairs well with just about any other marketing method in your campaign. Due to the global adoption of the internet — with more than 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide (59.5% of the global population) — digital can be great for reaching your audience as an effective follow-up to initial exposure to your brand message and allows you to target those already in the purchasing funnel. It also allows you to access to consumer data to guide all of your marketing efforts.
Lifestyle shows
Lifestyle shows like MORE Live in Las Vegas! are particularly beneficial when you want to reach locals in your community. When lifestyle shows are well-integrated into your marketing mix, it allows you to inform and teach viewers about your product/service in more depth — presenting everything from customer reviews and tutorials to statistics and hands-on how-tos. Even better, you inherit the trust of the station and hosts you work with almost immediately and can follow up with social media posts/shares that have the potential to reach a large audience (maybe even go viral!).
Keeping in mind the importance of personalization, email marketing offers you a unique opportunity to reach out to consumers who opted in to receive your messages and engage with your brand. Considering there are more than four billion daily users to connect with on email, the sky is the limit. Even better, it pairs well with every other marketing tactic since it can be used as a way to build and strengthen your relationship with consumers while presenting them with important announcements and tips.
Social media
People want to connect with brands on social media, so it's a great place to attract and direct users to other marketing channels and actions. According to HubSpot, not only is more than 53% of the world's population on social media, but each person spends an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes on social media platforms. What's more, 54% of social browsers use social media to research products, and 82% of marketers repurpose content from other marketing channels across various social media channels.
Cause marketing
Any furniture company can benefit from integrating a well-planned and executed marketing tactic into its campaign. Consumers prioritize companies with a strong purpose, especially when that purpose makes a difference in the consumer's community. So, when you combine cause marketing with tactics through TV and digital, you add more value to your brand and brand messaging. In fact, research shows that 78% of people say they're more likely to remember a brand with a strong purpose and 63% of consumers prioritize purpose-driven companies when making a purchasing decision.
How can furniture stores use this to their advantage?
Although 89% of marketers believe that their campaign strategies are well integrated, only 58% of consumers agree with this statement. This means that while integrated marketing has been recognized for its incredible potential in advertising, brands have not been able to effectively take advantage of the opportunity.
This gives your furniture store a unique opportunity to optimize your campaign and use integration to your advantage.
For a more significant competitive advantage in the furniture industry, you can work with a media partner for help and guidance on crafting your next integrated marketing strategy. This way, you have access to a team of professionals with years of experience and expertise that you can tap into throughout the entire process.