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    Integrated Marketing Communications

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    Akshay Kalra
    This document discusses integrated marketing communications (IMC), which is the coordination of all aspects of marketing to create a unified message. IMC aims to maximize impact on consumers through consistent messaging across all communication avenues. The key aspects of IMC include advertising, promotions, public relations, digital marketing, and ensuring consistency across the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion. Performing a promotions opportunity analysis is an important part of developing an effective IMC plan to identify target audiences and appropriate communication strategies.

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    Integrated Marketing Communications

    Uploaded by

    Akshay Kalra
    150 views5 pages
    This document discusses integrated marketing communications (IMC), which is the coordination of all aspects of marketing to create a unified message. IMC aims to maximize impact on consumers through consistent messaging across all communication avenues. The key aspects of IMC include advertising, promotions, public relations, digital marketing, and ensuring consistency across the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion. Performing a promotions opportunity analysis is an important part of developing an effective IMC plan to identify target audiences and appropriate communication strategies.

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    This document discusses integrated marketing communications (IMC), which is the coordination of all aspects of marketing to create a unified message. IMC aims to maximize impact on consumers through consistent messaging across all communication avenues. The key aspects of IMC include advertising, promotions, public relations, digital marketing, and ensuring consistency across the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion. Performing a promotions opportunity analysis is an important part of developing an effective IMC plan to identify target audiences and appropriate communication strategies.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    150 views5 pages

    Integrated Marketing Communications

    Uploaded by

    Akshay Kalra
    This document discusses integrated marketing communications (IMC), which is the coordination of all aspects of marketing to create a unified message. IMC aims to maximize impact on consumers through consistent messaging across all communication avenues. The key aspects of IMC include advertising, promotions, public relations, digital marketing, and ensuring consistency across the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion. Performing a promotions opportunity analysis is an important part of developing an effective IMC plan to identify target audiences and appropriate communication strategies.

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    Integrated marketing communications

    Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, functions and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other end users at a minimal cost.[1]

    Contents
    y y y y y y y

    What is IMC? IMC Components Marketing mix component Importance of IMC 4 P's vs. 4 C's Effective communications elements Promotions Opportunity Analysis

    What is IMC?
    Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a process for managing customer relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication efforts. Such efforts often include crossfunctional processes that create and nourish profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialog with them. IMC includes the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program in order to maximize the impact on end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all firm's business-to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed communications.[2]

    IMC Components
    y y

    The Foundation - corporate image and brand management; buyer behavior; promotions opportunity analysis. Advertising Tools - advertising management, advertising design: theoretical frameworks and types of appeals; advertising design: message strategies and executional frameworks; advertising media selection. Advertising also reinforces brand and firm image.[3] Promotional Tools - trade promotions; consumer promotions; personal selling, database marketing, and customer relations management; public relations and sponsorship programs. Integration Tools - Internet Marketing; IMC for small business and entrepreneurial ventures; evaluating and integrated marketing program.[4]

    Marketing mix component


    The Internet has changed the way business is done in the current world. The variables of segmentation, targeting and positioning are addressed differently. The way new products and services are marketed have changed even though the aim of business in bringing economic and social values remain unchanged. Indeed, the bottom line of increasing revenue and profit are still the same. Marketing has evolved to more of connectedness, due to the new characteristics brought in by the Internet. Marketing was once seen as a one way, with firms broadcasting their offerings and value proposition. Now it is seen more and more as a conversation between marketers and customers.[5] Marketing efforts incorporate the "marketing mix". Promotion is one element of marketing mix. Promotional activities include advertising (by using different media), sales promotion (sales and trades promotion), and personal selling activities. It also includes Internet marketing, sponsorship marketing, direct marketing, database marketing and public relations. Integration of all these promotional tools, along with other components of marketing mix, is a way to gain an edge over a competitor. The starting point of the IMC process is the marketing mix that includes different types of marketing, advertising, and sales efforts. Without a complete IMC plan there is no integration or harmony between client and customers. The goal of an organization is to create and maintain communication throughout its own employees and throughout its customers. Integrated marketing is based on a master marketing plan. This plan should coordinate efforts in all components of the marketing mix. A marketing plan consists on the following steps:[6] 1. Situation analysis 2. Marketing objectives 3. Marketing budget Integrated marketing communications aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media. The concept includes online and offline marketing channels. Online marketing channels include any e-marketing campaigns or programs, from search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click, affiliate, email, banner to latest web related channels for webinar, blog, micro-blogging, RSS, podcast, Internet Radio, and Internet TV. Offline marketing channels are traditional print (newspaper, magazine), mail order, public relations, industry relations, billboard, traditional radio, and television. A company develops its integrated marketing communication programmer using all the elements of the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion). Integrated marketing communications plans are vital to achieving success. The reasons for their importance begin with the explosion of information technologies. Channel power has shifted from manufacturers to retailers to consumers. Using outside-in thinking, Integrated Marketing Communications is a data-driven approach that focuses on identifying consumer insights and developing a strategy with the right (online and offline combination) channels to forge a stronger brand-consumer relationship. This involves knowing the right touch points to use to reach consumers and understanding how and where they consume different types of media. Regression analysis and customer lifetime value are key data elements in this approach.

    Importance of IMC
    Several shifts in the advertising and media industry have caused IMC to develop into a primary strategy for marketers: 1. From media advertising to multiple forms of communication. 2. From mass media to more specialized (niche) media, which are centered on specific target audiences. 3. From a manufacturer-dominated market to a retailer-dominated, consumer-controlled market. 4. From general-focus advertising and marketing to data-based marketing. 5. From low agency accountability to greater agency accountability, particularly in advertising. 6. From traditional compensation to performance-based compensation (increased sales or benefits to the company). 7. From limited Internet access to 24/7 Internet availability and access to goods and services.

    4 P's vs. 4 C's


    y

    Not PRODUCT, but CONSUMER

    You have to understand what the consumer's wants and needs are. Times have changed and you can no longer sell whatever you can make. The product characteristics have to match the specifics of what someone wants to buy. And part of what the consumer is buying is the personal "buying experience."
    y

    Not PRICE, but COST

    Understand the consumer's cost to satisfy the want or need. The product price may be only one part of the consumer's cost structure. Often it is the cost of time to drive somewhere, the cost of conscience of what you buy, the cost of guilt for not treating the kids, etc.
    y

    Not PLACE, but CONVENIENCE

    As above, turn the standard logic around. Think convenience of the buying experience and then relate that to a delivery mechanism. Consider all possible definitions of "convenience" as it relates to satisfying the consumer's wants and needs. Convenience may include aspects of the physical or virtual location, access ease, transaction service time, and hours of availability.
    y

    Not PROMOTION, but COMMUNICATION

    Communicate, communicate, and communicate. Many mediums working together to present a unified message with a feedback mechanism to make the communication two-way. And be sure to include an understanding of non-traditional mediums, such as word of mouth and how it can

    influence your position in the consumer's mind. How many ways can a customer hear (or see) the same message through the course of the day, each message reinforcing the earlier images? [7]

    Effective communications elements


    The goal of selecting the elements of proposed integrated marketing communications is to create a campaign that is effective and consistent across media platforms. Some marketers may want only ads with greatest breadth of appeal: the executions that, when combined, provide the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational moments. Others may only want ads with the greatest depth of appeal: the ads with the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational points within each. Although integrated marketing communications is more than just an advertising campaign, the bulk of marketing dollars is spent on the creation and distribution of advertisements. Hence, the bulk of the research budget is also spent on these elements of the campaign. Once the key marketing pieces have been tested, the researched elements can then be applied to other contact points: letterhead, packaging, logistics, customer service training, and more, to complete the IMC cycle. One common type of integrated marketing communication is personal selling. Personal selling can be defined as "face to face selling in which a seller attempts to persuade a buyer to make a purchase."

    Promotions Opportunity Analysis


    A major task that guides the way in creating an effective Integrated Marketing Communications plan is the promotions opportunity analysis. A promotions opportunity analysis is the process marketers use to identify target audiences for a companys goods and services and the communication strategies needed to reach these audiences. [8] A message sent by a marketer has a greater likelihood of achieving the intended results if the marketer has performed a good analysis and possesses accurate information pertaining to the target audience. There are five steps in developing a promotions opportunity analysis:[9] Conduct a communication market analysis
    y y y y y

    Competitors Opportunities Target markets Customers Product positioning

    Establish communication objectives


    y y

    Develop brand awareness Increase category demand

    y y y y y y y y

    Change customer belief or attitude Enhance purchase actions Encourage repeat purchases Build customer traffic Enhance firm image Increase market share Increase sales Reinforce purchase decisions

    Create communications budget Several factors influence the relationship between expenditures on promotions and sales:
    y y y y y y

    The goal of the promotion Threshold effects Carryover effects Wear-out effects Decay effects Random events

    Prepare promotional strategies Match tactics with strategies Throughout these steps, marketers should consistently review and analyze the actions and tools that major competitors are utilizing.

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