By Claudia Perez Riva May | 2025
Welcome, my dear small and medium business owners, to another weekly edition. Today, I bring you a topic that revolves around the need for integration, which, from a philosophical perspective, could be seen as the necessity for the coexistence between tradition and modernity.
More concretely, we’ll explore—through a real-world example—the importance of integrating digital and traditional communication channels throughout the customer life cycle.
Technological advances and successive industrial revolutions are phenomena we cannot ignore, deny, or try to contain. These milestones have brought about change and the emergence of new, powerful ways of doing marketing—like digital marketing.
But does that mean we must abandon all previous forms of marketing?
Let’s try to answer that question through the example of a brand I personally enjoy and admire: the Swedish furniture giant, IKEA. So, how do they do it?
Awareness Stage:
IKEA uses a combination of printed catalogs delivered to households and TV advertisements to promote new products or collections—clear examples of traditional channels. In Europe, radio is also frequently used as a promotional tool.
Consideration Stage:
Once the customer’s interest is piqued, the company offers a robust website and mobile app with impressive features like augmented reality. These tools help potential customers get decorating ideas and visualize products in their homes. They can also access customer reviews, which provide information and opinions that might feel more “trustworthy.” These are clear examples of digital communication channels.
Purchase Stage:
IKEA offers several ways to buy its products. Customers can shop online through the website or mobile app (digital channels), or visit a physical store (traditional channel). Beyond simplifying the buying process, the company integrates communication across both. In-store, advisors, signage, and printed promotions guide the customer. Digitally, they use strategies like digital coupons and cart reminder emails. This stage illustrates how both types of channels work together in a single phase of the customer journey.
Retention (Loyalty) Stage:
After purchasing, customers receive emails with product recommendations and access to special offers through IKEA’s loyalty program. I must confess—I always keep my beloved IKEA Family digital card in my wallet. These are great examples of digital marketing efforts focused on retention.
Advocacy Stage:
The company also engages its customers in fun, interactive ways. For example, they invite customers to share spontaneous photos taken in their spaces using the hashtag #IKEAatHome. This is a clever and subtle form of word-of-mouth marketing. In some cases, the company even repurposes these user-generated images in its digital campaigns—again, a strong example of digital channel use.
In this way, my dear readers, I’ve aimed to simply illustrate how different marketing approaches—traditional and digital—can be blended through smart and well-executed integration.
This omnichannel approach is incredibly powerful because it leverages the strengths of each medium, reaches a wider audience, creates a seamless experience, and adapts to the ever-changing needs of a dynamic world.
That’s all for today, my dear readers. As always, I’ll be here next week to keep exploring the world of marketing with you.
If you’re passionate about this fascinating topic, don’t forget to check out my latest article!: “Home and Market: The Invisible Connection Between Household Structures, Consumption, and Marketing”