Integrated Marketing Communication in Advertising

7. Noise: Any external or internal disturbance

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) that interferes with message delivery.
refers to the coordination of all promotional and 8. Feedback: The response of the receiver
marketing efforts to deliver a unified and that shows whether the message was
consistent message to the firm's customers and understood correctly.
stakeholders. It ensures that all forms of
communication—advertising, sales promotion,
public relations, personal selling, and direct
marketing—work together harmoniously.

In advertising, the sender is the advertiser, and the

receiver is the target audience. The goal is to
create a planned and controlled message that
reaches the mass media effectively.
Communication is only successful when there is
understanding and alignment between the sender
and receiver. Barriers to Effective Communication
Importance of Business Communication Barriers are obstacles that prevent clear, complete,
and accurate communication. These include:
Business communication is essential for the
smooth functioning of any organisation. It Physical Barriers
facilitates the flow of information, decision-
making, coordination, and building of ● Competing stimuli: Other conversations or
relationships among individuals and departments. loud noises that make it hard to focus.
Without effective communication, management ● Environmental stress: Heat, poor
functions like planning, directing, controlling, and ventilation, or discomfort affecting
organizing cannot be carried out efficiently. attention.
● Subjective stress: Factors like fatigue,
Business communication can be: illness, or drug use reduce clarity and
focus.
● One-way, where information flows only
from sender to receiver, such as Psychological Barriers
instructions or announcements.
● Two-way, which involves the exchange of ● Unjust assumptions: Preconceived notions
ideas and feedback, enhancing clarity and that distort understanding.
understanding. ● Barrier of illness: A closed-minded
attitude that resists correction or feedback.
Elements of the Communication Process ● Fear: Subordinates may avoid asking
questions or clarifying doubts due to fear
The communication process includes the of authority.
following eight elements:
Linguistic Barriers
1. Source: The person or entity initiating the
message. ● Language differences, accents, and
2. Encoding: Translating thoughts or ideas cultural usage of words can cause
into a symbolic form (e.g., words, images). confusion in interpretation.
3. Message: The actual content being
communicated. Mechanical Barriers
4. Channel: The medium or path through
which the message is transmitted (e.g., ● Technical problems like poor internet,
spoken words, email). unclear audio, or faulty devices that
5. Receiver: The individual or group who disrupt message transmission.
receives and processes the message.
6. Decoding: The receiver's interpretation of
the message. Integrated Marketing Communication
Integrated Marketing Communication in Advertising
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is a Barriers to IMC:
strategic business process that plans, develops,
executes, and evaluates coordinated and Despite its benefits, IMC faces several obstacles:
consistent brand communication across various
channels and audiences over time. It aims to 1. Organisational Complexity:
ensure that all promotional and marketing tools Departments like PR, marketing, and
work together in harmony to deliver a unified advertising often work in isolation. For
message to the customer. example, sales reps may not be informed
about ongoing promotional campaigns.
IMC includes advertising, sales promotions, direct 2. Internal Resistance:
marketing, personal selling, public relations, Managers in different departments may
digital media, and more. Instead of working in resist collaborating or sharing budget
isolation, all these tools are synchronised to control. They may not value or accept
reinforce the brand's core message. ideas from other sections, causing
disjointed efforts.
Why IMC is Important Today: 3. Time Horizon Conflicts:
Short-term campaigns (like seasonal sales)
● Earlier, during the era of limited media may clash with long-term brand-building
(e.g., 1980s television), companies could ads, making it hard to create a unified
easily reach large audiences. Now, due to strategy.
media fragmentation, multilingual 4. Budget-Driven Mindset:
markets, and increased competition, Managers may focus more on budget
reaching the target audience effectively is constraints than innovation, preventing
more challenging. them from experimenting with new
● Consumers today are more sceptical, integrated approaches.
better informed, and less influenced by 5. Creativity Restrictions:
traditional ads. IMC may limit free-flowing creative
● Modern brands operate through multiple ideas, as every message must fit the
departments and agencies, each handling overall communication strategy. However,
different aspects like PR, social media, working within an integrated brief can lead
research, and promotions—this requires to more meaningful and focused
coordination. creativity.
● Companies must now focus on building
long-term customer relationships rather Advertising as a Communication Process
than just pushing for one-time sales.
Advertising is essentially a form of
Thus, IMC helps maintain consistency, reduce communication where a planned message is
confusion in brand messaging, and create a transmitted from a company (the sender) to the
stronger impact. public (the receiver), usually through mass
media. The aim is to inform, persuade, or
According to Philip Kotler: remind the audience about a product, service, or
idea, using carefully designed elements like
“Marketing is not just about developing a good words, visuals, music, colours, and sound.
product or pricing it well, but also about how
effectively the company communicates its value To influence consumer behaviour, advertisers use
to customers.” communication strategies that ensure message
clarity, emotional impact, and brand recall.
IMC Process:
Key Features of the Advertising
In IMC, the message must move from the sender Communication Process:
(company) to the receiver (consumer) via media
channels with minimum distortion. However, due 1. Multi-sensory Message Design:
to varied perceptions and channels, Advertisements use combinations of text,
communication can become complex and images, music, colours, and layout to
inconsistent without integration. generate emotional and cognitive
Integrated Marketing Communication in Advertising
reactions. The effectiveness of an ad The advertising communication process closely
depends on how these elements work follows the general communication model, but
together. with specific roles:
2. Stages of Communication Effect:
For a customer to make a purchase, they 1. Advertiser (Sender): Has a message or
typically go through five psychological goal for the brand (e.g., increase sales,
effects: awareness, etc.).
i. Category Need: The consumer 2. Advertising Agency: Interprets the message
must feel the need for the product and encodes it into an ad using design,
class. content, media, etc.
ii. Brand Awareness: They should 3. Media Mix (Channel): The ad is
know about the brand. transmitted using TV, radio, print,
iii. Brand Attitude: They must have a digital, outdoor, etc.
positive impression or feeling 4. Target Audience (Receiver): The
about the brand. consumers see/hear the ad and decode the
iv. Purchase Intention: They must message.
plan to buy the product (even 5. Feedback: Their reactions—like brand
subconsciously). recall, purchase, or response—are tracked.
v. Purchase Facilitation: The product 6. Noise: Distractions like competing ads,
must be available and affordable. misunderstandings, or low engagement can
3. Example: A customer may plan to buy interfere. Agencies try to minimize noise
Pepsodent but switches to Colgate at the and break through clutter using
store due to a more attractive ad or better creativity and positioning.
display.
4. No Fixed Order: Communication Models in Advertising
These communication effects do not
follow a strict sequence. For example, Advertising communication models are
someone may be fully aware of a brand theoretical frameworks that explain how
but feel the category need only later. Or advertising influences individual consumers.
someone may not plan to buy but end up These models help advertisers understand how a
making an impulse purchase based on a message is created, transmitted, received, and
last-minute ad or promotion. acted upon. Marketers often use these models—
either consciously or unconsciously—when they
Universal Communication Objectives in design and evaluate advertising strategies.
Advertising:
1. SMCR Model (Source–Message–
Two communication effects are common to all Channel–Receiver)
advertising campaigns:
The SMCR model explains the basic process of
● Brand Awareness: The goal is to make communication in a structured way. It is often
people recognize or recall the brand. A used to describe mass communication such as
simple ad like just the word “Colgate” can advertising.
maintain high brand awareness.
● Brand Attitude: The ad should help build ● Source (S): The sender or advertiser who
or maintain a favourable opinion toward originates the message.
the brand. ● Message (M): The content that the
advertiser wants to convey—this may
Without brand awareness, the product cannot include images, slogans, music, or visuals.
even enter the consumer's consideration set. ● Channel (C): The medium used to deliver
Without brand attitude, the consumer may the message, such as TV, radio,
choose a competitor. newspapers, social media, etc.
● Receiver (R): The audience or target
The Advertising Communication Model consumer who receives and interprets the
(Applied Process): message.
Integrated Marketing Communication in Advertising
Additional elements include:

● Feedback: The consumer's reaction (e.g.

buying the product, liking the ad, etc.),
which helps the advertiser evaluate
effectiveness.
● Noise: Any distraction or interference
(like poor signal, misunderstanding, or
competing ads) that distorts the message
during transmission.

Limitations of These Models

Although useful, these models have certain

limitations:

This model is simple, linear, and useful for ● Real consumer behaviour is not always
understanding how advertising transfers linear. Many people skip steps, reverse
information from brand to buyer. them, or make decisions impulsively.
● For example, in an impulse purchase, a
2. AIDA Model (Attention–Interest– buyer may act without attention or interest,
Desire–Action) simply based on visual appeal or
convenience.
The AIDA model is a classic advertising model
that describes the psychological journey of a Thus, while SMCR and AIDA provide structured
customer in response to an ad. frameworks, advertisers must remain flexible and
consider the real-world behaviour and emotions
1. Attention: The advertisement must first of consumers.
grab the viewer’s attention using
attractive visuals, headlines, or sounds. Advertising as an Element of the
2. Interest: Then it must build interest by Marketing Mix
providing relevant or engaging content
about the product or brand. The marketing mix consists of four key elements,
3. Desire: Next, it must create a strong often known as the 4Ps:
desire for the product by highlighting its
benefits or emotional appeal. i. Product
4. Action: Finally, it must encourage the ii. Price
customer to act, such as making a iii. Place (distribution)
purchase or visiting a website. iv. Promotion

This is called a hierarchy of effects model, Among these, promotion focuses on

meaning the consumer is expected to move communicating product benefits to the
through these stages in sequence. customer—and advertising is one of its most
essential tools.
Integrated Marketing Communication in Advertising
5. Helps in Market Segmentation: Digital and
direct advertising allow targeted
messaging to specific consumer groups.

Modern Advertising Channels

Traditional media includes:

● TV, radio, newspapers, magazines,

billboards

Modern and direct communication tools include:

Advertising in the Promotion Mix ● Email, websites, mobile marketing, social
media, telemarketing
The promotion mix is a part of the overall
marketing mix and includes various These allow companies to move from mass
communication tools: communication to more personalized
interactions, improving message relevance and
1. Advertising: A paid, non-personal response rates.
communication aimed at informing,
persuading, or reminding customers about Q) What is marketing mix? Can we consider
a product, service, or brand. advertising as an element of marketing mix?
2. Personal Selling: Face-to-face interaction Explain.
by sales representatives to build
relationships and close sales. Answer:
3. Sales Promotion: Short-term incentives
(like discounts, coupons) to boost The marketing mix refers to the set of
immediate sales. controllable tools and tactics that a company uses
4. Public Relations (PR): Building and to market its product or service effectively to
maintaining a positive image and handling the target audience.
public issues or crises. It is popularly known as the 4Ps of marketing,
which include:
In modern times, direct marketing has also
become part of this mix, which involves 1. Product – What the company is offering
communicating with customers directly using (goods or services) to meet customer
tools like emails, phone calls, SMS, websites, needs.
etc. 2. Price – The amount customers must pay
for the product.
Importance of Advertising in the 3. Place – The distribution channels used to
Marketing Mix make the product available to consumers.
4. Promotion – The communication methods
1. Creates Awareness: Advertising helps used to inform and persuade customers.
make the public aware of the product's
existence. The marketing mix helps businesses to
2. Builds Brand Image: Through repeated strategically position their product in the market
exposure, advertising strengthens brand and maximize satisfaction, sales, and profit.
identity and customer trust.
3. Reaches Mass Audiences: Unlike personal Is Advertising an Element of the Marketing Mix?
selling, advertising can reach large,
geographically diverse audiences at once. Yes, advertising is considered an essential part
4. Supports Other Promotion Tools: of the “Promotion” element in the marketing
Advertising enhances the effectiveness of mix.
sales promotions and PR efforts.
Explanation:
Integrated Marketing Communication in Advertising
● Promotion is about informing customers
about the product, persuading them to buy,
and reminding them to continue using it.
● Advertising is a key tool of promotion. It
is a paid, non-personal communication
where a company communicates its
offerings to a large audience through
various media.

Role of Advertising in the Marketing Mix:

1. Creates awareness about the product or

service.
2. Informs customers about features,
benefits, and usage.
3. Persuades consumers to prefer the brand
over competitors.
4. Reaches a large audience through mass
media like TV, radio, newspapers, social
media, etc.
5. Supports sales efforts by building brand
image and trust.