Integrated Marketing Communications Plans

Simplicity on the Other Side of Complexity

Marketing is most effective when integrated: aligned activities touching targeted customers multiple times.

Without a sound integrated marketing communications strategy, costs can spiral. Shuffling along a lot of stuff not very well is a common indicator that strategy is needed, or at least a strategy overhaul is needed. With a sound strategy, on the other hand, marketing activities align and integrate, ensuring that no one tactical area does all the heavy lifting.

Three Over Four was born from strategy. We’re a blend of client-side and agency-side experience, as strategists as well as strategy consultants, seeing the needs of both sides of the table. We’ve honed our process of integrated marketing communications (marcom) with this unique perspective and across 15 years as an agency.

For us, it all starts with working together to get clear on five simple, integrated choices (inspired by business strategist Roger Martin):

Where do you play?

Where is your market? Where are your customers?

Why does it matter?

What problem/s are you solving? How are you doing it differently?

Is your audience reachable?

What are the digital/programmatic roadblocks? Are the social constructs amenable?

What do we need to invest?

Does the budget match the required costs?

Is it worth it?

What is the estimated cost-per-lead and acquisition? Does the ROI add up?

From there, we identify the key areas of concern that drive your marketing efforts, audit them, gather the data, make recommendations, and chart out a new path forward. We’ll help you visualize your marketing effort’s key areas of concern as interconnected and anchored by four domains—Strategy, Brand, Execution, and Management—and we’ll emphasize the areas most in need of addressing to pull your marketing communications together. Here’s an illustration:

The next delivery is your marketing communications plan and associated calendars, workflows, journeys, and schedules. Actionable, clear, and realistic for your context and budget.

You’ll talk with Aaron, our founder.

Aspire, Grow, and Move Forward

(Three Over Four founder) offered strong recommendations on several important planes – strategic, tactical, and in matters of detailed execution – while also working cooperatively with us in finalizing our plans...Strongly recommend[ed] for organizations that seriously aspire to grow and move forward.

Timothy Russell, PhD

CEO, Intercollegiate Tennis Associaion

Nice plan you got there. What will you do with it?

We’re born from strategy, bringing a blended client- and agency-side perspective to our engagements. One thing we’ve learned along the way: The more that the team who’s charged with managing and executing your campaigns is aligned with strategy, the more effective the execution.

As a client put it, working with us to implement and execute is like “working with a “colleague, not an agency … [we’re] able to hurdle strategic obstacles and accomplish program goals with ease … never in a contrarian spirit. No battles, just brainstorming.”