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The Do’s and Don’ts of Developing and Selling Integrated Programs.

Last updated: October 13, 2024

How are you developing integrated programs to drive new revenue? Are you utilizing evergreen materials? What is the ideal team structure? How are you preparing your sales team? Below is a list of do’s and don’ts we’ve collected from both our client community and some of our client success team on how they plan for and sell integrated programs most effectively.

Do:

1. Do start with the customers’ objectives in mind. Consider the “when” and “hows” of receiving information.The process for developing strong integrated programs should begin by gaining the insights and understanding of the audience a company is looking to reach and influence.  With this information, you can build well-rounded strategies that solve for client objectives, using audience analytics to ensure that your campaign is both relevant and timely. Campaigns should be developed to reach the audience when and how they want to receive information. Once you are clear on the customer’s objectives (whether it be brand awareness, to drive leads, promote a new product, etc.) – it’s the audience analytics that should drive decision making. 

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“I don’t know anyone who consumes media in silos. Personally, it’s not uncommon for me to simultaneously be streaming a show, working on my laptop, and responding to messages on my phone. Marketing campaigns shouldn’t be developed in silos either. We are committed to utilizing every tool in the toolbox to build strategic and effective campaigns on behalf of our clients.”

– Brandi Gangel, Vice President, Audience Data and Marketing, Babcox Media

2. Do make your data accessible and consumable.
First-party audience data needs to be accessible, consumable, and high-value when selling an integrated program. Below, Kristine Wyatt elaborates on the importance of preparing the sales team and getting information back on engaging data points:

“The hardest part about being a data-driven marketer is identifying revenue opportunity within the data noise. It’s our job to arm the sales team with rich data that will not only excite our clients but create results that cement us as a vital partner to their business. Talk to your sales and content teams frequently to see where the demand is today and more importantly, tomorrow. Identify high-value personas and engaging data points. Audience marketers making those connections and crafting strong data strategies around them will be able to deliver actionable, concise data to drive an integrated program that performs.” 

– Kristine Wyatt, Audience Marketing Director, Bobit Business Media

3. Do share your entire campaign (including how metrics will be collected) with the advertiser.
Hayat Ali-Ghoneim, a Client Success Manager at Omeda points out that you should be showing the advertisers your full capabilities. There are easy ways to show the metrics especially if you are utilizing Odyssey.

“Share your campaign with the client. If Odyssey (Omeda’s marketing automation tool) is going to be used to take a multi-channel approach, know that you can export the voyage and provide the advertiser or sales team member with a visual that tells the story of the campaign. Also, it’s important to consider out of the box metrics such as impressions, clicks and conversions.“

– Hayat Ali-Ghoneim, Client Success Manager, Omeda

Don’t:

1. Don’t hesitate to ask questions and seek out extra information. Before trying to sell an integrated campaign it’s important to ascertain as much information as possible. A huge part of this is asking the right questions.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You should have a clear understanding of your client’s goals and target market. For example, if lead generation is a goal, then you need to understand how the client defines a lead, are they looking for top of the funnel leads or further down the line in the decision-making process? Do they have content that we can showcase, or do they need assistance in creating content for the initiative that your band can create? Additionally, do your homework prior to your call with the advertiser. Check out their website and/or their social media posts. This will help you formulate questions that you can ask your decision maker on the call.”

– Monique Leija, VP Digital Business Development, Endeavor Business Media

2. Don’t assume all of your content has to be new.
This point has been reiterated by close partners of ours, clients, and our own COO: utilize your evergreen content. Don’t assume that all content has to be new in these programs. You have an arsenal of strong material that engages your subscribers. Going back to that evergreen material and packaging it up in a new way can save you time and money and be just as effective.

For example, let’s say that for a specific audience you had created a White Paper that resonated in the past. The content from the original piece can be expanded into an ebook, webinar, and banner ads and serve as a foundation of the new campaign. Take the best performing content that you have written – and repurpose it.

3. Don’t underestimate the importance of the team’s structure playing a role.
This point came to us from both clients and client success team members. It is important that the team lead or leads, responsible for the overall program, be extremely experienced in each piece of the equation. In most organizations, several departments would play a role in developing and selling the program. It would be ideal to have one person that can work with each department so nothing slips through the cracks. They should be someone who understands the capabilities of the components and reporting. Consider having one person who can speak to both sales and marketing oversee all of it. Every organization may have a different title for this role but think Client Success Manager or Sales Engineer.

4. Don’t forget that time and resources are money (and price the program accordingly).
This final point was contributed by our client success manager, Hayat Ali-Ghoneim. The team must understand the time and resources it will take to implement the program, which should help determine how to price the campaign.

Monique Leija from Endeavor Business Media also emphasized this point when she provided the following input,

“Be mindful of your pricing strategy for your integrated program. Packing a program with a long list of tactics and/or promotional items for a heavily discounted rate can cut into your margins. Include the tactics that will best accomplish the goals of your program. More is not always better.”

– Monique Leija, VP Digital Business Development, Endeavor Business Media

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By establishing some of the above best practices, you can yield stronger results running and selling integrated programs. Omeda’s marketing automation tool can assist as it displays a range of the campaign elements on its canvas and includes many of the exports needed for lead generation.

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