Integrated Marketing and Communication - Term Paper Example

? Integrated marketing and communication of the of Table of Contents Introduction 3 Integrated marketing communications 3 IMC Strategy & Plan 5 Brand Positioning 5 Message Strategy 7 Creative Strategy 7 Non personal communications channels 11 Personal communications channels 12 Evaluation of IMC Campaign 13 Addressing gaps in customer expectations 13 References 15 Introduction The term integrated marketing communications (IMC) was developed during the mid twentieth century. This concept has become well known since the latter half of the 1950s and is rising in importance since then all across the world. IMC provides vast scope to the companies in their different aspects of business operation. Companies operating both domestically and globally are adopting the process of IMC and integrating them into the business policies of their companies. However, depending on the context and environment in which the business is operating, different interpretations of IMC have evolved. IMC has gained importance from both academic researchers and corporate decision makers. According to academic scholars, the concept of IMC cannot be defined with the help of any rigid definition. An in depth understanding of the various ways of marketing communication would be useful in explaining the huge utility of this term in the present business context and the marketing activities made by companies all over the globe (Drummond & Ensor, 2005). Integrated marketing communications The procedure followed in integrated marketing communications refers to a series of activities made by companies in succession to one another. These activities are “the strategic analysis, choice, implementation and control of all elements of marketing communications which efficiently, economically and effectively influence transactions between an organization and its existing and potential customers, consumers and clients” (Panda, 2007, p. 524). In other words IMC refers to the way followed by an organization to manage and control its marketing communications. In this process it has to be ensured that the company makes use of “a single consistent strategy” (Yeshin, 2006, p. 63) to convey messages related to its marketing activities and brand positioning across all the segments of target market. This applies to any category of corporate organization that deals with any kind of product or service. Companies can however, customize each individual process of this entire system according to the marketing objectives and production goals of the organization. For all the years since 1950, companies have used this concept of marketing communications as an all inclusive notion of marketing that acts as an envelope to all the different levels of marketing activities and communication of the companies. However, the technique of integrating these varied functional areas strategically into the functioning of the companies differs from company to company. The approach is unique to the pattern of resource allocation made by the company and also its position and status relative to its competitors (FitzGerald, 2000). In this paper the concept of integrated marketing communications has been critically evaluated and the different elements of this process have been studied in order to device a single strategy for marketing communications. The prime aim of this strategy would be to allow companies to achieve customer satisfaction by following IMC. It would help companies to identify target audiences from the markets and frame the most appropriate strategy to communicate with them. Companies generally use multiple channels of communication. In order to generate best results, the strategy developed through the IMC process should be consistently used while executing each of all the communication functions made by the firm (FitzGerald, 2000). IMC Strategy & Plan Every organization runs its business with a three-fold objective; increasing market share, maintaining competitive advantage over the current rivals of the company and also the prospective competitors and maximizing profit margin. For achieve these goals, it is imperative for the company to maintain very good communication with its target market as well as the stakeholders of the company. IMC plan allows the company to strategically select the communication tools available to the company and utilize the various communication channels most effectively, given the current business situation. Better communication allows the company to provide superior value to the target consumer base, by using methods such as, creative campaign and brand positioning. These concepts are crafted strategically so as to make them highly customer centric. The IMC plan described below is a generic plan for integrated marketing approach that can be followed by any organization. The core elements of this plan are brand positioning, message strategy, creative strategy, non personal communications channels and personal communications channels. This strategy would help the organizations to improve its brand relationship management (Kotler, 2009) and leverage their competitive advantage over competitors. This would establish the organization as the market leader in the long run. The process of IMC acknowledges the strengths of an organization and relies on organizational values to increase engagement of both customers and stakeholders. Brand Positioning Within the IMC strategy companies aim at achieving high level of brand loyalty. It offers its target customers with rational products and seeks to attach these particular brands with the emotional aspects of the customers (Bennett & Rundle-Theile, 2005). Companies often preach the emotional benefits that customers might obtain on purchasing the products. To achieve this end, companies promote their products with touchy tag lines that affect the psychological and behavioral aspects of the target audience. Brand personality of the company varies according to the different target markets. It is created on the basis of the behavioral profiles of the audience. The brand personality helps in resonating with the characteristics of the target audience at two levels of consumer behavior; emotional and symbolic (G. Belch, M. Belch, Kerr & Powell, 2012). Figure 1: Emotional bonding and brand personality (Source: Author’s creation) Organizations inspire emotional bonding of the customers with the brands by using various symbols. The symbols relate to the benefits of the products and appeal to the customers’ emotions. Message Strategy The message strategy of an organization focuses on the needs and demands of each of the target segments and aims at satisfying them through proper communication. The company develops a strong positioning statement. Through integrated marketing the company expects to satisfy its customers on grounds “product rational, sensory, and social or ego satisfaction” (Kotler, 2009, p. 515). The positioning statement of the company demonstrates this notion strongly. The actual level of satisfaction imparted by the companies varies although they might a similar message strategy. Organizations alter and make different combinations of the communication tools available in order to provide a unique enjoyable experience to their customers. Creative Strategy Informational Appeal – Rational Appeal. Every campaign message made by the company makes an informational appeal to the customers. The informational appeal of the campaign message builds consumer values and shapes their attitudes towards the brand or the particular product offered by the company (Quester and Lim, 2003). In most positioning statements the informational appeal of any brand is present in the latter half of the statement. Researchers argue that the level of product involvement with the audience base depends upon the level of commitment shown by the brand with regard to consumers’ thoughts and behavioral responses to the particular campaign message related to some specific product or a category of products. Product involvement is often measured by the passion with which the product drives the value system of the consumer. Transformational Appeal – Emotional and Symbolic Resonance. Transformational appeal of a campaign message is found in the first half of positioning statement of the brand. This portion of the statement seeks to achieve “emotional resonance within the target audience” (Stone, 2010, p. 56) by using particular symbols that hammer on the benefits of the products. The closer the symbolic meaning goes to the individual’s sense of self-identity, the more strongly it gets transformed into a psychological bond between the customer and the product. The customer would then exhibit higher preference towards the brand (Quester and Lim, 2003). The success with which the brand personality is created, the transformational and informational appeals of the company’s campaign message would get communicated across all the elements of the communications mix consistently. Brand Personality. The brand personality of companies is measured with the help of certain factors or company values. These factors are competence, sincerity, austerity, sophistication and excitement with which the communications are made by the company with the relevant audience. Analysis of the target market helps in evaluating the personality of any brand. A framework for brand personality evaluation is given below. Figure 2: Brand personality framework (Source: Author’s creation) Message Source. IMC advices companies to develop a strong message source that would help them to communicate with the target audience with elegance. Companies adopt various channels as message source. One most popular channel in the modern business platform is recruitment of celebrities from different industries, such as, sports, art and culture, politics or entertainment. They provide credibility to the company’s message campaign and also make a psychological appeal to the customers due to their fame in their respective fields. These celebrities appear on all the different mediums used by the company for making their campaign, promotional events, live shows sponsored by the company, advertisement in print media and the internet or other forms of communication. It facilitates the company’s efforts in accomplishing emotional resonance within the target audience (Kotler, 2009). Design and Selection of Marketing Communication Channels. Companies might use personal or impersonal channels of communications for conveying their message to the customer or listen to customer feedback. Often organizations use more than one communications channels depending on the target audience and the amount of resource dedicated for using the particular communication tool. These channels of communication have been illustrated in the Figure 3. These communication channels help companies to communicate their brand positioning effectively and convey the campaign message to the target audience “with maximum, frequency, reach and impact” (G. Belch, M. Belch, Kerr & Powell, 2012, p. 109). Analysis of the target market is necessary prior to choosing the communication channel since it provides decision makers in the organization with the necessary information regarding strategic locations for placing the advertisements that would be implemented all through the campaign. All these communication channels have to be effectively coordinated following the IMC plan. Also, it must be noted that performance of all these communication strategies has to be tracked so that evaluation of performance might lead to improvement in long term performance. Figure 3: Integrated marketing communications channels (Source: Kotler, 2009) Non personal communications channels Organizations pursue the non personal communications channels with the aim of pushing their campaign message to the target audience. This is done to increase the level of brand awareness among the consumers of the target segment and develop a favorable attitude for the brand. The following communications channels have been founded to be the most effective and therefore are included in to the IMC plan for organizations. They are advertising, sales promotions, events & experiences, public relations and publicity. Advertising. Advertising occupies the lion’s share in the marketing and communications process. Efficient advertising strategies require the following three steps; advertising management, advertising design on theoretical framework and advertising design on execution framework (Clow & Baack, 2011). Two commonly used channels of advertising are “above the line advertising” (Hackley, 2010, p. 92) (termed as traditional) and innovative “below the line advertising” (Hackley, 2010, p. 92) (generally termed as modern and innovative). Companies should the relevant mode of advertising after making a critical analysis of the target market and also judging the other factors such as, market position of the company and resource availability for allocating them to different tasks. Promotional tools. The different promotional tools used by the companies in their IMC planning process are database marketing, personal selling, direct response marketing, sales promotions, sponsorship programs and public relations (Clow & Baack, 2011). These tools are the most effective in conveying the campaign message to the target customers. Media tools. Media acts as one of the most important tools for communication in the modern world. With the advancement of technology, the electronic media has soared in importance. Therefore, companies consider the media a very effective channel of communication and make efficient strategies to utilize all possible options in the most productive manner. The different media tools that are offered under IMC planning process are traditional media channels, e-active marketing and alternative marketing channels (Clow & Baack, 2011). Personal communications channels Personal communications channels enable the firms to demonstrate their commitment to the customers. This channel of communications developed a personal source of contact with the customer which enables the company’s marketing team to offer better service to the customer. It provides superior value to the company’s target audience. Company websites provide the customers to reach the company directly through the ‘contact us’ page. Customers might bring to the company’s notice, their comments, feedback or grievances through this page. It is crucial for the company to collect demographic data of the customer. It does so through the company website and also by launching various market intelligence surveys. These data would help the company to assess its performance and also improve its performance in the future. Such information has to be taken into consideration by decision makers for modifying company strategies in future and upgrade its product development processes. The most recommended channels of personal communication are direct and interactive marketing, smart phone application, database marketing and word of mouth (also known as buzz marketing). Evaluation of IMC Campaign The IMC plan is a generic plan developed for any organization operating in the global business platform. Any type of company might adopt this plan for enhancing its performance and increase customer satisfaction, IMC plan has to be evaluated in order to determine whether this plan is effective in establishing the long term objectives of the organization related to its marketing communications. There has to be a synergy among the different channels of communication utilized by the company. A review of the existing synergy is necessary at regular intervals since synergy lies at the heart of IMC planning (G. Belch, M. Belch, Kerr & Powell, 2012). Analysis of balance sheet provides clear indication of whether profit margin of the company is being maximized through implementation of IMC plan. An audit made on the current marketing communications channels reveals whether they are conveying the intended campaign message effectively and with desired reach and frequency (Minelli, Chambers & Dhiraj, 2012). Addressing gaps in customer expectations Customers possess a diverse mind set and their desires re determined by a large number of factors, including economic and educational background, tradition, culture and tastes. Hence, within an assorted target customer segment, there exists wide variety in customer expectations. It is not feasible for the organizations to fulfill the satisfaction level of every customer. Companies should study customer expectation levels and identify key areas that are found to be the common demand. Companies should take notice of the items that customers often ask for in the retail stores or put a search for the item on the company website. Some problems that severely hamper customer satisfaction level are failure in making timely delivery; issues in web functionality, fluctuation in quality level, policies in any case of dissatisfaction of the customer, store staff behavior and their knowledge about products of the company and product price lists that are not regularly updates. IMC makes it mandatory that besides making proper communication, addressing gaps in offers made by the company and expectations of customers is crucial for long term effectiveness of the plan. Emphasis has to be placed on talent development. Alongside companies are also required to create a monitoring system that would receive feedback from customers about customer service provided by the company (Cengiz, 2010). Given the highly competitive international market, companies are under pressure to upgrade their operations and deliver more innovative products. In order to survive in this market, maintaining superior relationship with customers and clients is extremely important. References Belch, G., Belch, M., Kerr, G. & Powell, I. (2012) Advertising: An integrated marketing communication perspective. New York: McGraw Hill. Bennett, R. & Rundle-Theile, S. (2005). The brand loyalty life cycle: Implications for marketers. Journal of Brand Management, 12 (4), 250-263. Cengiz, E. (2010). Measuring customer satisfaction: Must or not? Journal of Naval Science and Engineering, 6 (2), 76-88. Clow, K. E. & Baack, D. E. (2011). Integrated advertising, promotion and marketing communications. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Drummond, G. & Ensor, J. (2005). Introduction to marketing concepts. London: Routledge. FitzGerald, M. (2000). Marketing Communications Classics: An International Collection of Classics and Contemporary Papers. Connecticut: Cengage Learning EMEA. Hackley, C. (2010). Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications approach. California: SAGE. Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing management. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Minelli, M., Chambers, M., & Dhiraj, A. (2012). Big Data, Big Analytics: Emerging Business Intelligence and Analytic Trends for Today's Businesses. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Panda, T. K. (2007). Marketing management. New Delhi: Excel Books India. Quester, P. & Lim, A.L. (2003). Product involvement and brand loyalty: Is there a link? Journal of Product and Brand Management, 12 (1), 22-38. Stone, T. L. (2010). Managing the design process-concept development. : Rockport Publishers. Yeshin, T. (2006). Advertising. Connecticut: Cengage Learning EMEA. Read More