12 Key Components for Sales Success in an Integrated Marketing Plan

March 18, 2023

By R. Michael Brown, Marketing & Communications Consultant

An integrated marketing plan for your company or organization should include the following components:

Business goals and objectives: Identify the company’s SMART* objectives and desired outcomes, such as increasing revenue or market share.
Target audience: Define the ideal customer(s) for the company’s products or services.
Marketing mix: Determine the most effective combination of marketing tactics, including traditional 4 Ps: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place PLUS today’s mix which includes 4 more Ps: Permission, Proximity, Perception, and Participation (engagement)
Brand positioning: Determine the unique selling proposition (USP) of the company and how it will be communicated to the target audience. What is your Brand Personality? See the 12 Archetypes below.***
Messaging strategy: Develop a messaging strategy** that aligns with the brand positioning and resonates with the target audience.
Digital marketing: Determine which digital marketing channels will be used to reach the target audience, such as which platforms in social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, or all of the above. Make sure your organization has a Google Profile.
Content marketing: Develop a content marketing strategy that aligns with the messaging strategy and provides valuable information to the target audience. Create a system for creating content, from ideas to content distribution. Start with an Editorial Calendar. Remember that Brand Storytelling is more believable than ads.
Advertising: Determine which advertising channels will be used to reach the target audience, such as TV, radio, print, or online advertising. Place ads where your customers are. Ads should be developed like this: Show them something surprising and then tell them something smart.
Public relations | More Stories – Less Marketing!: Develop a public relations strategy that helps to build and maintain the company’s reputation. This is now a “Pull Strategy,” not a “Push Strategy.” Audience members select your content to absorb and great audience members engage with you and your content. Editorial works better than ads so focus on brand storytelling. I no longer use the term Press Releases. They are News Releases because you are now the media. Create your own channel on your website and distribute news and feature stories on social media and YouTube.
Sales promotions: Develop sales promotions that encourage customers to buy the company’s products or services.
Budget and timeline: Determine the budget and timeline for the integrated marketing plan, including the allocation of resources to each tactic.
Evaluation and measurement: Test, test, test! A/B testing is your friend. Determine how the success of the integrated marketing plan will be evaluated and measured, and identify any necessary adjustments to improve results. Use your analytics with your website, Google,

After you’ve created your plan, work it! Test. See what works best, and do more of that.

*A SMART objective is one that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. SMART objectives provide the details for how a group or organization will achieve a goal.

** Message Strategy: A message strategy guides your communications. It aligns every message with your customer’s needs. A good messaging strategy should have a clear goal, differentiate your brand from the competition, provide personalized messages for a specific audience, and tell the brand story at each stage of the customer journey.

***Brand Positioning: