Integrated Marketing Communications
A Case Study
Creative and content had been disjointed for a number of years and the quality of creative production showed it. Ads were all over the place and landing pages didn’t match digital marketing creative.
The solution? I brought project management practices to the marketing team.
We put my strategy to the test by asking the creative production team to generate new campaign creative proposals. Within two weeks, the team was able to produce ideas that got approvals.
Phase 1
Getting the concept approved.
Goal
Divide the creative production team into three groups, pairing one graphic designer and one content writer per group. Get each group to create a new campaign design that captures the brand story, tells it dynamically, and receives approval from upper management.
Approach
Use project management principles, and encourage teams to communicate and collaborate.
Results
Three campaign ideas that all received approval. $50,000 spent on video production for ads.
Taking Creative From Concept to Life
All three teams performed really well when given the space and the time to generate concepts. When teamwork is promoted, teams can produce great ideas.
Simple, elegant displace of how a person is transformed after they go to college. Over 40% of prospective students enter college no knowing what they want to study, so the visual story of showing options would really resonate with the audience.
Impactful visuals are simple and clean. It shows that students transform into professions by going to vocational school. The ad leaves the audience feeling that anything is possible!
Strong b-roll visuals help tell a story of a person developing their professional career with hands-on training.
I hired a production company within a week of realizing that stock footage would not be able to meet our production needs. I hired real alumni as features in all three concepts and got the production finished in the short span of three days.
Phase 2
Post-production.
Goal
Negotiate a contract for post-production video work. Get the content team to write extremely good PPC copy. Get the design and content team together to build landing pages to help the customers feel an integrated experience.
Approach
Use project management principles, and encourage teams to communicate and collaborate.
Results
196 videos created for digital advertising.
Integrated Marketing Communications
From ad copy to video look and feel to landing page experience, everything ties together for the customer to have a single experience of the college brands.
Phase 3
Currently, the campaign is still in the testing phase to see what combinations of copy and video variation produces the best results. At this point, assets from this video shoot have garnered over 3million impressions.
Goal
Ensure the campaigns have good ROI and get the team ready to make adjustments as needed.
Approach
Get constant feedback and execute on the results of A/B testing.
Results
TBD.
Putting Pedal to the Metal
As this is an ongoing project, results are still to be determined. I’m excited to share with you updates as they happen.
Mona Liu, PMP
Marketing and communications professional with over six years of experience in higher education marketing and project management.
Founder of marketing boutique: Well Done Marketing Co.
