An Introduction to Integrated

Marketing Communications
CHAPTER 1
“Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion.
We must continue to innovate every day.”
A quote by Beth Comstock – author and former CMO of GE.
Marketing
■ Marketing is 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.

■ Exchange occurs between two parties with something of value to one

another, a desire and ability to give up that something to the other
party, and a way to communicate with other.
Involves parties with:
– Something of value to one another
– Desire and ability to give up something to the other party
– Way to communicate with each other
Role of Marketing

Advertising & Nonprofit

Promotion Organizations
Inform customers of a Solicit donations
product or service Offer intangible
Convince them of its social and
ability to satisfy their psychological
wants or needs satisfactions
Help develop and
sustain relationships
The Marketing Mix
■ The four Ps
– Product
– Price
– Place
– Promotion
■ To develop an effective marketing mix, marketers must:
– Be knowledgeable about the issues and options of each element
of the mix
– Know how to combine the elements to form an effective
marketing program
– Analyze the market and use the data to develop the marketing
strategy and mix
The Evolution of IMC
■ According to American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As),
IMC focused on the process of using all forms of promotions to achieve
maximum communication impact.
■ However, others argue for an even broader perspective. They noted that
the process of IMC calls for a bigger approach to planning marketing &
promotional program & coordinating the communication functions.
■ The contemporary definition of IMC says that IMC is a strategic
business process used to plan, develop, execute and evaluate
coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand communication programs
over time with consumers, customers, prospects, employees,
associates, and other targeted relevant external and internal
audiences.
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Growing Importance of IMC
Strategically integrates the various communications
functions

Avoids duplication and takes advantage of synergy among

promotional tools

Develops more efficient and effective marketing

communications programs

Changing environment

• Evolution to micromarketing
• Consumers’ unresponsiveness to traditional advertising
• Changing rules of marketing
IMC & Branding

■ Develops and sustains brand equity and identity.

■ Brand equity is the overall value derived from a consumer’s
perception of the brand name from its brand image rather than the
actual product itself.
■ Brand identity is the combination of factors including name , logo,
symbol, design, packaging and performance of a product or services
as well as the image or type of association that comes to mind when
consumers think about a brand.
– Encompasses awareness, knowledge and image of the brand as
well as the company behind it.
■ Recognizes the need for companies to connect with consumers based
on trust, transparency, and authenticity.
Tools for IMC: The Promotional Mix

The Promotional
Mix

Direct Digital/ Sales Public Personal

Advertising Internet
Marketing Promotion Relations/ Selling
Marketing Publicity
Advertising

■ Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and

promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
– Broadcast
– Print
– Internet
– Outdoor
Advertising Classifications

Business-to-
National
Business

Organizations
Consumers

Retail/Location Professional

Primary/Selective Trade
Demand

Figure 1-4
Direct Marketing
■ Direct marketing involves making direct connections with carefully
targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response
and/or a transaction.
■ Can involves direct mail, e-mail and the following –
– Database management
– Telemarketing
– Direct response advertising through
direct mail, online, and various broadcast
Digital/Internet Marketing
■ Internet is a multifaceted marketing communication tool that enables
interactive marketing.
– Social Media
– Websites
– Blogs
Digital/Internet Marketing

Interactive media
• Allow users to participate in and modify the form and content
of the information they receive in real time

Social media
• Online means of communication and interactions used to
create, share, and exchange content

Mobile marketing
• Messages delivered are specific to a consumer’s location or
consumption situation
https://www.facebook.com/bkashlimited/videos/726826241096115/
Sales Promotion
■ Sales promotion is the short-term incentives to encourage
the purchase or sale of a product or service.
■ Provides extra value or incentives to the –
– Sales force
– Ultimate consumer
– Retailers
Sales Promotion

■ Consumer-oriented sales promotion

– For ultimate user
– Couponing/sampling/contests
– Stimulate short-term sales
■ Trade-oriented sales promotion
– For marketing intermediaries
– Allowances/Price deals/Sales contests
– Encourage the trade to stock a company’s products
Publicity
■ Nonpersonal communications regarding an organization,
product, service, or idea not directly paid for or run under
identified sponsorship in the form of –
– New story
– Editorial
– Announcement
■ Advantage
– High credibility and low cost
■ Disadvantages
– Not always under the control of an organization
– Negative stories are highly damaging
Public Relations

■ Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds

mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their
publics.
– Non personal
– Not really a paid job like advertisement
– Makes people less skeptical about a product/service/person
– Lower cost than advertisements
Personal Selling
■ Personal selling is the personal presentation by the firm’s sales force
for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships.
– Sales presentations
– Trade shows
– Incentive programs
Contact or Touch Point
 Every opportunity a customer has to see or hear about a company
and/or its brands or have an encounter or experience with it
 Categories
 Company created
 Intrinsic (occur during buying)
 Unexpected (word-of-mouth)
 Customer-initiated (queries)
Contact or Touch Point

Figure 1.6 - IMC Contact Points: Control vs. Impact

Contact or Touch Point
 Another categorization for media
The IMC Planning Process

Review of the marketing plan

Analysis of promotional program situation

Analysis of communication process

Budget determination

Develop IMC program

Monitor, evaluate and control IMC program

The IMC Planning Process
Step 1: Review of the Marketing Plan

 Examine the overall marketing plan and objectives

 Role of advertising and promotion
 Competitive analysis
 Assess environmental influences
The IMC Planning Process
Step 2: Analysis of the promotional program situation: Internal
and External Factor Analysis.

Internal analysis External analysis

• Promotional department • Consumer behavior analysis
organization • Market segmentation and
• Firm’s ability to implement target marketing
promotional program • Market positioning
• Agency evaluation and • Analyze competitors’
selection behavior
• Review of previous program
results
• Analyzing strength and
weakness from a brand
image perspective
The IMC Planning Process
Step 3: Analysis of the Communication process
 Communication source, message and channel factors
 Marketing objectives vs communication objective
 Marketing objectives will find out what is to be
accomplished by the overall marketing program.
 Communication objective refers to what the company
seeks to accomplish with its promotional program.
The IMC Planning Process
Step 4: Budget Determination
 What will be the cost?
 What’s the source of fund? ( usually x% of sales revenue)
 How the money will be allocated?
The IMC Planning Process

Step 5: Developing the IMC program

 Most involved and detailed program
 Planning process, decisions have to be made regarding the role
of each promotional tool and their coordination with one
another
 Developing objectives and strategy for each tool
The IMC Planning Process

Step 6:
Monitoring (everything going as per plan on time?)
Evaluation ( objectives achieved within budget?)
Control: what are the difficulties and ways to overcome those.

This stage provides managers a continual feedback regarding

the effectiveness of the IMC program