Integrated Marketing

Communication

BBA VI Semester

Course Instructor: Dr. Sanjay Manocha

Marketing communications:
principles, basic elements, instruments
Definitions of marketing communications.
Basic instruments of marketing communications.
Process of communication and its basic elements.
Evolution of marketing communications concepts.
World discussion on integrated marketing communications.
Principles of effective marketing communications: target audience,
choice of medium, message, budgeting, monitoring and control.
MARKETING
Marketing is the study and management of exchange relationships.
Marketing is used to create, keep and satisfy the customer.
• Marketing is the process of teaching consumers why they should
choose your product or service over your competitors.
• If you are not doing that, you are not marketing. It’s that simple!
• The key is finding the right marketing method and defining the
right marketing message to use to educate and influence your
consumers.
• Companies make the mistake of thinking that marketing is just
“one” thing, but marketing is everything that the consumer encounters
when it comes to your business, from advertising, to what they hear, to
the customer service that they receive, to the follow-up care that you
provide.
Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as "the
activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have
value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
A process by which product information is
transmitted to the target audience

PRODUCT

INFORMATION

TARGET AUDIENCE
Integrated Marketing Communications
• It is essential for organizations to promote their brands well among the end-
users not only to outshine competitors but also survive in the long run.
• Brand promotion increases awareness of products and services and
eventually increases their sales, yielding high profits and revenue for the
organization.

• To understand integrated marketing communication, let us first understand

what does brand communication mean?
• Brand communication is an initiative taken by organizations to make
their products and services popular among the end-users.
• Brand communication goes a long way in promoting products and services
among target consumers.
Integrated Marketing Communications
• The process involves identifying individuals who are best suited to the
purchase of products or services (also called target consumers) and
promoting the brand among them through any one of the following means:
 Advertising
 Sales Promotion
 Public Relation
 Direct Marketing
 Personal Selling
 Social media, and so on

• Integrated Marketing Communication - Let us now understand what does

integrated marketing communication mean?
• Integrated marketing communication refers to integrating all the
methods of brand promotion to promote a particular product or
service among target customers.
• In integrated marketing communication, all aspects of marketing
communication work together for increased sales and maximum cost
effectiveness.
Communication occurs when the message that was sent reaches its destination
in a form that is understood by the intended audiences.
The marketing communication supports the marketing plan and helps the targeted
audience understand and believe in the advantage of marketer’s offer over
competition.
Marketing communication has an external flow and internal flow.
Irrespective of the fact whether the flow is external or internal, effective
communication requires reaching the right people with the appropriate
information through the right sources at the right time.

The integrated strategy should be;

To make an assessment of the relative importance that members of audience

place on certain categories of information, such as, is it the objective information
with facts and figures that they want? Or emotional appeals are desirable to
induce actions?
To select most appropriate communication vehicles to deliver the information
to audience. This would require finding out which media vehicles are used by the
audience regularly, which ones are trusted most.

Communication is the soul of promotion activity and understanding

communication is essential to better manage a marketing communication
programme.
Components of Communication Process
Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and non verbal messages.
It is a continuous process.
Pre-requisite of communication is a message.
This message must be conveyed through some medium to the recipient.
It is essential that this message must be understood by the recipient in same
terms as intended by the sender. He must respond within a time frame.
Thus, communication is a two way process and is incomplete without a
feedback from the recipient to the sender on how well the message is
understood by him.

Barriers
or
Noise
The main components of communication process are as follows:

Context - Communication is affected by the context in which it takes place. This

context may be physical, social, cultural. Every communication proceeds with
context. The sender chooses the message to communicate within a context.

Sender / Encoder - Sender / Encoder is a person who sends the message. A

sender makes use of symbols (words or graphic or visual aids) to convey the
message and produce the required response.
For instance - a training manager conducting training for new batch of
employees. Sender may be an individual or a group or an organization.

Message - Message is a key idea that the sender wants to communicate. It is a

sign that elicits the response of recipient. Communication process begins with
deciding about the message to be conveyed. It must be ensured that the main
objective of the message is clear.

Medium - Medium is a means used to exchange / transmit the message. The

sender must choose an appropriate medium for transmitting the message else
the message might not be conveyed to the desired recipients.
Recipient / Decoder - Recipient / Decoder is a person for whom the message is
intended / aimed / targeted. The degree to which the decoder understands the
message is dependent upon various factors such as knowledge of recipient,
their responsiveness to the message, and the reliance of encoder on decoder.

Feedback - Feedback is the main component of communication process as it

permits the sender to analyze the efficacy of the message. It helps the sender in
confirming the correct interpretation of message by the decoder. Feedback may
be verbal (through words) or non-verbal (in form of smiles, sighs, etc.).

What marketers must understand is that everything they do or do not do sends a

message, that is, every corporate activity has a message component.

Duncan has categorized four types of company/brand-related

messages stakeholders receive:
Planned messages - these are the traditional marketing communications
messages:
Advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, merchandising material,
publicity releases, event sponsorships.

Appearing self-serving, these messages usually have the least impact.

Product messages - messages reflecting the marketing mix:
Primarily the product, price, and distribution elements. Also called inferred
messages.
Product messages have great impact - when a product performs well, the
customer infers a positive message that reinforces the purchase decision.
On the other hand , if there is a gap between the product performance
and the communicated promises, the customer is more likely to get a
negative message.

Service messages - messages sent by service personnel, employees who

interact with customers. Service messages, like product messages, have
greater impact than planned messages.

Unplanned messages - messages companies have little or no control over.

These include employee gossip, unsought news stories, comments,
comments by trade or competitors, word-of-mouth rumors, Etc.

Unplanned messages may affect customer's attitude dramatically.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a concept under
which a company carefully integrates and coordinates its many
communications channels to deliver a clear and consistent message.
It aims to ensure the consistency of the message and the
complementary use of media
Objectives
Most marketing plans use marketing communication to achieve clear objectives.
One objective might focus on identifying the target market for your products or
services.
Another objective may focus on finding ways to persuade or change a prospective
buyer’s attitude about your company’s OFFERINGS so he buys it.
Your objective may be to use communications to encourage buyers to become
more loyal to your brand rather than switching to a competitor’s product or
service.
MarCom: MAIN OBJECTIVES

REMINDING
INFORMING •Product
•Product Launch Sales Growth phase
phase •Competitive
•Explanations of positioning
Product’s
TARGET
features & benefits AUDIENCE

PERSUADING
•Product Maturity phase
•Applies to consumers’ memory
(brand specific)
Marketing Communication Mix or
elements of Promotional Mix

PR Advertising Event
Marketing
Sponsorship Product
placement

Merchandising
Communication
New
Program Media

Internet POS
materials
Mobile Sales
Communications Promotions
•Product placement refers to the art of placing your products in Movies, games, or books so
that they receive more visibility from Audiences.
•With the majority of us getting tired of watching repeated ads on television, marketers have
found new and innovative ways to introduce us to their products in more subtle ways, by the
product placement in movies.

•For example:

TATA Tea in Baghban

Sony Viao Laptop In bodyGuard
Bournvita in Krish Movie

Farhan Akthar on Royal Enfield

Bhaag Milkha Bhag
The seeds of the IMC concept first germinated in 1980 when many
companies came to realize the need for a strategic integration of their
promotional tools, instead of keeping them in separate silos.
Communication specialists Michael Hammer and James Champy
note,” Companies today consist of functional silos, vertical structures
built on narrow pieces of processes.
However this fragmented communication approach did not meet the
required results, the concept of IMC was born.
Integration realigned various communication departments to emerge
from their wells and look at the common organisational goal, to
cooperate rather than compete with each other and hence be more
agile in dealing with external challenges.
.
The first definition for integrated MARKETING communication came from
the American Association of Advertising Agencies (also 4A's) in 1989,
defining IMC as "an approach to achieving the objectives of
a marketing campaign through a well-coordinated use of different
promotional methods that are intended to reinforce each other”.
The 4A's definition of IMC recognizes
the strategic roles of various communication disciplines
(advertising, public relations, sales promotions, etc.) to provide clarity,
consistency, and increased impact when combined within a
comprehensive communications plan. Basically, it is the application of
consistent brand messaging across MARKETING channels.
Key IMC Features
1. Start with the customer or prospect
Marcom process must start with the customer or prospect and then work back to
the brand communicator in determining the most appropriate messages and
media for informing, persuading, and inducing customers to act favorably
toward the communicator’s brand.
The IMC approach avoids an “inside-out” approach (from company to
customer) in identifying communication vehicles and instead starts with the
customer (outside-in”) to determine those communication methods that will
best serve customers information needs and motivate them to purchase the
brand.
Key IMC Features
2. Use any form of relevant contact or touch point
Customer touchpoints are your brand’s points of customer contact, from
start to finish.
For example, customers may find your business online or in an ad, see
ratings and reviews, visit your website, SHOP at your retail store, or
contact your customer service. Seems like a long list, but these are just
a few of your touchpoints!
So what are touchpoints?
Touchpoint definition:
A touchpoint is any time a potential customer or customer comes in contact
with your brand–before, during, or after they purchase something from you.
Identifying your touchpoints is the first step toward creating a customer
journey map, and making sure your customers are satisfied every step of the
way.
In general brand touch points include numerous possibilities, as
illustrated by the following examples;
MasterCard provided complimentary snacks, games, puzzles, and
movie headphones on select American Airlines flights during the busy
Christmas holiday season.
Brand managers at Procter & Gamble placed the Tide detergent
logo on napkin dispensers in pizza shops and cheese steak shops in
Boston and Philadelphia.
An outdoor media company in Denmark devised a creative way
to reach consumers with advertising messages. The company gave parents
free use of high quality baby carriages (i.e. buggies or strollers) that
carried the names of corporate sponsors on the sides.
Finding your customer touchpoints
Identify your customer touchpoints by making a list of all the places and times
your customers might come into contact with your brand.
We’ve put together a list of touchpoints here, but it can vary a lot depending on
your business.

Remember: This list is a good place to start, but it’s not one-size-fits-all. And each of these
touchpoints can have a lot of underlying pieces.
For example, “advertising” could include touchpoints across many channels, and a physical
store includes touchpoints like signage to help people find the store, the parking lot, and the
many different interactions that go on inside the store.
3. Speak with a single voice
•Inherent in the philosophy and practice of IMC is the demand that a brand’s
assorted communication elements must strive to present the same message and
convey that consistently across diverse points of contact.
•Marketing communications must speak with a single voice.
•Coordination of messages and media is absolutely critical to achieving a strong
and unified brand image and moving consumers to action.
• failure to closely coordinate all communication elements can result in
duplicated efforts or, worse, contradictory brand messages.
•In general single-voice principle involves selecting a specific positioning
statement for the brand.
• A positioning statement is the key idea that encapsulates what a brand is
intended to stand for in its target market’s mind and then consistently derives the
same idea across all media channels.
4. Build relationships
•Successful marketing communication requires building relationships between
brands and their consumers/customers.
•A relationship is an enduring link between a brand and its customers.
•Successful relationships between customers and brand lead to repeat purchasing
and, ideally, loyalty toward a brand.
5. Affect behaviour
The objective must be, to move people to action.

IMC focus ON
CONSUMER
DATA BASED MARKETING
INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
MEASURED RESULTS
INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS
A planning process
designed to assure
that all brand contacts
received by a customer or prospect
for a product, service, or organization
are relevant to that person and consistent
over time.
(AMA)
IMC Requirements
Awareness of audience’s media habits
and preferences
Understanding of audience’s knowledge
and beliefs about the product
Use of coordinated media blend linked to
a specific objective
Key is a single, coordinated message
and image thrust
IMC
• Synergy
• Better use of communication funds
• Balancing the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ strategies
• Improves the company’s ability
– to reach
– the right consumer
– at the right place
– at the right time
– with the right message
IMC Planning Process
Corporate Plan
(Corporate Objectives and Strategies)

Marketing Plan
(Marketing Objectives and Strategies)

Steps involved in the marketing plan

Situational analysis
Set marketing objectives
Devise marketing strategies
Frame implementation tactics
Monitor and evaluate performance
IMC Plan
IMC Objectives and Strategies

Steps involved in the IMC Plan

Situational analysis
Determine a problem or opportunity
Determine the communication objectives
Determine the budget
Develop IMC strategies
Implement the strategies and monitor activities
Evaluate the planning process
Following are the steps involved in IMC planning process

1. Situational Analysis:
Like the marketing plan, the promotional plan also begins with an
analysis of factors that are relevant to the promotions situation.
Following are common areas of analysis;
• Past promotional situation
• Product situation
• Audience situation
• Competitive situation
• Regulatory situation
In addition, a SWOT analysis from the communications perspective
can also be done.
For Ex., based on a research, Marico learnt that consumers who
buy Amla-based Hair Oil specifically look for the prime
benefit of long and black hair.
Hence, through its communication, it positioned Shanti Amla as the
recipe for ‘Kaale Zindadil Ball’.
Following are the steps involved in IMC planning process

2. Determine a problem or opportunity

the situational analysis done in step 1 helps a company identify
problems or opportunities concerning communications.

In McDonald’s early years of entry into the Indian market, an

analysis of its product portfolio revealed a number of products,
which were not doing well.
The problem was that they did not suit the Indian palate.
A subsequent ‘Indianization’ of the menu and a shift in
the communication strategy helped increase the number of
footfalls.
The communication transformed McDonald’s image from
the one ‘offering bland western food’ to the one
offering ‘less oily, less spicy, crispy and tasty
food’.
Following are the steps involved in IMC planning process

3. Determine the communication objectives

Communication objectives flow from marketing objectives.

Godrej No. 1 soap’s marketing objective was to gain sizeable market-

share in the stagnant personal wash segment by courting the value-conscious
consumer.
However, the challenge was to do this without getting the ‘low price,
cheap soap image’.
Hence, the marketing communication objectives emphasized
establishing the soap as a ‘Grade 1’ soap (Grade 1 being a
relatively unknown quality certification that most
brands in the affordable soap category did not
possess).
The idea was to create dissonance among non-users by
establishing Grade 1 as the quality benchmark in soaps
and doing this without technicalities and jargons associated
with quality parameters.
Following are the steps involved in IMC planning process

4. Determine the budget

After setting the Communication objectives, a company has to estimate
how much it is willing to spend on the promotional programme.
5. Develop IMC strategies
This is the most thorough and demanding step of the entire
planning process that requires a number of key decisions to be
taken.
One fundamental decision regarding the selection of the target
audience- who is it that the company wants to communicate to?
In the marketing communication plan target audiences are identified
based on the target market.
For example; the target market for pet foods is that of
pets like dogs and cats.
However, the target audience for the purpose of
communication comprises pet owners, animal welfare
agencies, veterinarians and the like.
Following are the steps involved in IMC planning process

6. Implement the strategies and monitor

activities
Successful implementation calls for breaking up the plan
into micro-level activities, timing and scheduling
them, assigning them to people-in-charge,
coordinating their efforts and monitoring the
execution process.
For example, to execute a bonus-pack sales promotion
programme, communications department will have to get the
offer-announcing sales materials printed, sales
representatives will have to convince retailers to
display promotional posters., logistics department will
have to oversee that bonus-packs reach the stores on
time and that there is enough stock to last the offer
period, and so on.

7. Evaluate the planning process

Significance of Integrated Marketing Communication
 The prime factor in favor of IMC is its ability to add value to a company’s
marketing communication efforts by making them more consistent and
unified.
 For Ex, if a cosmetic manufacturer that targets elite audiences
communicates about
the classiness of its products, has elegant packaging,
advertises in high-profile lifestyle magazines,
prices at premium,
hardly goes on discounts, and
opts for selective distribution in malls or lifestyle stores,
it sends a consistent message of being an upscale, quality brand.
 Moreover, repeating the same message in a variety of ways through a
number of tools makes it more impactful and memorable.
 In addition, IMC is the most cost-effective way of
communicating because it
 avoids duplication,
 selects the best suitable tools for a particular communication task
 and produces a greater return on communication investment by
making a bigger impact.
Significance of Integrated Marketing
Communication
 Following are some major changes that are driving companies into
adopting IMC;
 Decreasing impact of traditional advertising
 Proliferation of new ways to reach consumers like online
communication, sponsorships, product demonstrations, special events,
product placements etc.
 Demand for greater accountability
 Growth of database marketing
 Growth of international marketing
 Emphasis on relationship marketing
 Changing compensation structure of agencies
 Need for a single brand custodian
 Need for creating brand identity
PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
• WHO? Identifying the Target Audience

• WHERE? Choice of Communication Channel

• WHAT? Message

• HOW MUCH? Budget

• FORM –
CHANNEL – Communication program design

PERIOD OF TIME
Monitoring & Evaluation
• WHAT WAS IT?
Identifying Target Audience
Image analysis:
Beliefs,
Ideas,
Attitudes,
Impressions & Actions
– regarding an object
Decisions on the
Marketing Communication Mix
• Personal selling
– direct presentation of a product to a prospective customer by a
representative of the selling organization
• Advertising
– A paid, impersonal mass communication with a clearly-identified
sponsor
• Sales promotion
– Demand-stimulating activity designed to supplement advertising and
facilitate personal selling Marketing activities other than personal selling,
advertising, and public relations that stimulate consumer purchasing and
dealer effectiveness.
• Public relations
– A planned communication effort by an organization to contribute to
generally favourable attitudes and opinions toward an organization
and its products
• Publicity
– A special form of public relations that involves news stories about an
organization or its products
Decisions on the
Marketing Communication Mix
• Sponsorship
• Relationship in which an organization provides funds or in-kind resources to an
event or activity in exchange for a direct association with that event or activity.
• Sponsor purchases access to event’s audience and image associated with activity.
• Audiences often view sponsorship more positively than advertising.

• Direct marketing
• Direct communications, other than personal sales contacts, between buyer and
seller, designed to generate sales, information requests, or store or Web site visits
like Direct mailings such as brochures and catalogs, Telecommunications and
television and radio, Internet via e-mail and electronic messaging
What else can influence
MarCom Mix
Type of product (service) – consumer or
B2B
Stage of product life cycle
Level of consumer readiness to accept
product (service)
Promotion strategy (Push or Pull)
Competitors MarCom Mix
Financial resources
ATL, BTL, TTL
Advertising
Above the Line (ATL) and Below the Line (BTL) advertising are
regular buzzwords in an ad arena. ATL and BTL are essentially
advertising techniques targeted towards specific audiences and for
specific purposes.

ATL

BBTTLL
Above the line (ATL) advertising uses mass media as a medium to promote
brands and reach out to target consumers. This kind of advertising is
usually aimed towards a large number of audiences and is much more
effective, when the target group is very large and difficult to define.
ATL technique majorly employs TV and radio advertising, print advertising and
internet banner ads. Assuring of the widest reach ATL advertising is often the
most preferred form - the reason why media agencies fiercely compete for
prime time spots in T.V, Radio and appropriate page and size in print or web.

In other words, if an ad is submitted for publication and a commission is paid

to an ad agency to feature the ad, this is known as ATL.
However, changing customer preferences and choices started
taking its toll on ATL promotions, which became more than often a
customary and too- conventional form of advertising. That's where the
idea of 'below the line' advertising started scoring.

To reach consumers directly through alternative forms of marketing other than

traditional advertising channels used in ATL, BTL advertising follows an
unconventional and direct form of marketing communication. These include
activities such as distribution of pamphlets, handbills, stickers, promotions,
brochures placed at point of sale, on the roads through banners and placards.
Product Demo It could also involve product demos and samplings
at busy places like malls and market places or
residential complexes.

Below the line advertising also focuses on direct mail and e- mail, often using
highly targeted lists of names to maximize response rates.

Below the line (BTL) techniques ensure recall of the brand while at the same
time highlighting the features of the product.
Through the line (TTL) refers to a promotional
strategy taking advantage of the best of ATL and
BTL advertising concepts, ensuring maximum
growth of the product or the brand. Here, the
customers are guided from one medium to
another.

For example, a hugely circulated newspaper will

carry an ad, asking customers to visit their physical
store and avail discounts or freebies, a classic
'above the line’ technique.

When the customers visit the store, he or she will

be offered with 'below the line' promotional
material such as store banners, product samples
etc.
Thus, Through the line (TTL) advertising not only spans your marketing message to
the masses across different media for better exposure, but also allows you to target
specific audiences using different platforms for a higher return on investment.

Clearly a jack and master of all trades at the same time!

Thank You
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