If you find yourself tired of trying to manage all the various aspects of marketing while running a business at the same time, an integrated marketing agency could be the solution to your fatigue. In today’s world, business marketing occurs almost exclusively online. Not only is it done online, but it is done on many different channels and avenues. With so many areas of marketing across different platforms, it can be difficult to keep your marketing efforts efficient. Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone. Integrated marketing agencies are organizations that handle needs across the entire marketing spectrum. Basically, they take care of all of your marketing needs so that you don’t have to. This article will help you understand what exactly an integrated marketing agency is, what services they offer, and why they are worth your attention.
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What are Integrated Marketing Agencies?
An organization with branches specializing in different marketing avenues that work together for a common purpose is an integrated marketing agency. Each branch focuses on a specific aspect of marketing, such as advertising, creative design, and web development. Each branch communicates and works together to effectively market the same message across multiple channels and platforms. Some agencies offer more services than others, but agencies mostly all accomplish the same purpose: to bring you quality business. 
What are the Benefits of Hiring an Integrated Marketing Agency?
Access to Marketing Experts
Having experts dealing with your marketing efforts will yield higher quality leads, and more money for your business. It is not hard to realize that it is best to leave the hard work to the experts, and that philosophy applies the same to marketing.
Spend More Time Elsewhere
Hiring an integrated marketing agency leaves you with time to focus on your business. You only have so much time and attention. If those are stretched too thin, both you and the things you are spending time and attention on will suffer. Giving that responsibility to someone else will allow you to spend more of your time and attention on your work. Your work––and you––won’t have to suffer from being stretched too thin.
Innovative Approaches and Tools
Innovative marketing ideas are the result of these agencies’ work because they always have to stay ahead of the industry curve. The experts in the agency are constantly analyzing marketing strategies and tactics that are working and becoming outdated in order to maximize your customer intake. With an integrated marketing agency, you can have peace of mind that your marketing strategies will keep up with the times.
In addition, these marketing agencies use cutting-edge marketing tools. They use the latest software, SEO plug-ins, social media management platforms, and media databases. With these tools in the hands of experts, your products and services are sure to be seen by many.
Consistent Messaging
Consistency and efficiency across channels is one of the defining characteristics of hiring an integrated marketing agency. Many specialized branches all communicate together to accomplish your marketing goals, which results in a consistent and effective message on all sorts of platforms. You don’t have to worry about social media platforms being neglected, or a YouTube ad’s message contradicting a Facebook ad.
What are Some Integrated Marketing Services?
As marketing is a field for creative thinkers, the service options for an integrated marketing agency are near limitless. Of course, there are risky marketing practices, so most agencies tend to stick to a set of common integrated marketing services.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This is probably the most common (and most important) service that an agency can offer. SEO is the practice of crafting a page, site, article, or post so that it is more likely to show up first in search engine results. You need to optimize your website for potential customers to see your site. Agencies can optimize your pages and sites for you so that when potential customers search for products or services in your industry, your site is more likely to appear first.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
PPC advertising is the practice of getting links and advertisements for your page published on websites and paying the publisher when that link is clicked. This advertising model is meant to drive as much traffic back to your website as possible, and you only have to pay for it when the link is actually clicked. Agencies know exactly how audiences think, and therefore know how to use PPC advertising as efficiently as possible. Without an expert’s knowledge, PPC advertising could potentially be useless. But in the hands of a marketing agency, it is a valuable service to your business.
Social Media Management
If you have your own personal Facebook or Instagram page, then you might have a small idea of how social media management works. The difference between a personal and business page, however, is drastic. A business page requires constant attention, a careful posting schedule, rigorous editing, and the perfect balance of interaction. This can be extremely difficult for a non-expert to achieve. With a marketing agency, you have someone monitoring, responding, editing, and posting for you all in a professional manner.
Web Development and Design
In this day and age, having a website with an appealing design and interface is absolutely crucial to the survival of your business. This is one of the most popular and important services offered by marketing agencies. Professionals will consult with you to understand your vision, and then work to make that vision a reality. Your website should have an appealing design and a friendly interface to make it another avenue to market your business.
Creative and Graphic Design
In order to sell a product or service, you first need to catch the attention of consumers. That could be with a catchy slogan, a silly jingle, or a flashy logo. In this case, it is often in visual form. It is not an easy task to create something visually appealing that can also market a product. That is where an integrated marketing agency comes in. They can provide that service for you so that you can worry about making sure the product itself is of the highest quality possible.
What Do Integrated Marketing Communications Agencies Do?
An integrated marketing communications agency is a smaller, more specialized form of general integrated marketing agencies. These agencies focus on the promotional and communicational aspect of marketing; the 4th “P” of marketing. Within this group are advertising firms, public relations agencies, and social media management organizations. You can often find these agencies integrated only with regards to their specialty. For example, a public relations agency may not offer SEO services. But, it is still integrated in that the message it shares will be consistent across all channels and platforms. Some common examples of marketing communications agencies are:
Public Relations (PR) Firms
PR firms and their staff revolve solely around free promotion. This means that, unlike paid advertising, PR firms seek to promote their clients through free avenues like newspapers, magazines, press coverage, and TV. A company will hire a PR firm to represent them and promote them in a positive light in free avenues in exchange for regular pay.
Advertising Agencies
Ad agencies are similar to PR firms in that they seek to promote their client, but their avenues are through paid promotion. Such avenues are things like billboards and commercials. Ad agencies accomplish their goals by putting together advertising campaigns to achieve the client’s desired marketing goals.
Look into Hiring an Integrated Marketing Agency
Marketing is an essential part of any business plan, and without an effective marketing strategy, a business cannot thrive. It can be difficult to sustain an efficient marketing campaign as a business owner for many reasons, which is why hiring an integrated marketing agency can be such a great investment. With the help of marketing experts and their various services, your business will be generating leads in no time. Hopefully, it is clear now that the benefits of hiring such marketing agencies are overwhelming, and should not be overlooked for any business wishing to expand. For more regarding integrated marketing agencies, reach out to our team at SEO Design Chicago for a free consultation.
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