Integrated Marketing Strategy and Communications - Essay Example

? Integrated Marketing Strategy The primary intention of this paper is to develop an integrated marketing strategy framework to promote bullet proof vest as the product to be launched in the market. Observably, marketing is quite an important approach in business, which should be conducted in a systematic process. Correspondingly, this paper has presented a marketing plan to promote bullet proof vest as the intended product to the ultimate customers, comprising mainly of security forces. To be noted, the product will be promoted with the help of proper promotional mix strategy rendering due significance when conveying a transparent message regarding the product to the ultimate customers. Introduction In any form of business, the domain of marketing is regarded as quite significant and one of the prominent activities to be conducted in promoting as well as establishing the intended brand within the target market. It is important to note that for any business to promote or to convey information about its products or services to the targeted customers, the tool of marketing must be essentially put into efficient use. Contextually, it has been observed that companies communicate with the customers with the help of various tools of marketing, which comprise of advertising and other promotional activities to make them aware about what the business is offering to them. Unarguably, without proper marketing strategy, the success of business is quite likely to become highly uncertain and will probably remain unaccomplished upto a larger extent (Lamb & et. al 2008). Contextually, the primary intention of this report is to frame an integrated marketing strategy to promote Bullet Proof Vests as a newly launched product in the targeted market. Overview- Integrated Marketing Communication Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is conceptually explained as an unconventional domain of marketing management that involves the implementation of conveying succinct and all-inclusive information about the proposed brand across numerous and diverse marketing channels. It is defined by experts as an integrated approach of marketing, which is designed with the intention to ensure that all the communication activities in the domain of marketing management are applied in a unified form involving various other beneficial channels of communication (International University of science and Technology, 2013). For strategizing the promotional framework required in the launch of the product i.e. bullet proof vests, some of the tools of IMC including advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations, internet marketing, personal selling and publicity will be implemented. These tools will together work towards the accomplishment of the set goals, which in this case is to promote the features of bullet proof vests to the targeted market and convince or encourage the potential buyers to purchase the same. Promotion Mix Strategy Promotion mix strategies mainly include two forms of approaches, which comprise pull strategy and push strategy, used according to the marketing intentions and product features to convey the information regarding products and/or services to the potential purchasers (Lamb & et. al 2008). Applying the push strategy approach, the product i.e. bullet proof vest will be promoted to the customers directly with the help of various tools of advertising during its initial introductory stage. It is worth mentioning in this context that application of a push strategy in the initial stage of the product launch will help it in gaining a percentage of market shares, countering the already existing competitive brands. In the subsequent phase, depending on the response from the customers towards the product, the pull strategy approach will be applied to encourage the customers to seek for the product from their end owing to its growing demand and preference in the market. Notably, as the armed forces and soldiers will be the targeted customers of the product, due attention will be provided towards quality features of the same on the basis of innovation that would also be helpful in differentiating the product from other existing brands. In precise, applying the push strategy, initial significance will be rendered towards informing the customers about the product features and its differences from other competitive substitutes following which, a pull strategy will be applied so as to attract a larger volume of customers. Message Strategy The strategy used to convey messages to the targeted customers forms one of the most important facets to determine the success potentials of a marketing plan. An efficient message strategy is quite likely to help businesses to address the targeted customers efficiently, informing them about the benefits of purchasing the product i.e. bullet proof vests and thereby, influencing their buying decision in a favorable mode. In this regard, the business will put due emphasis on developing an appropriate and attractive positioning statement that will depict one crucial benefit of the product, to mitigate the identified problems in the targeted market context (Ellis & et. al. 2010). It will be intended to be unique and short in a simple language, which will ensure that it attracts maximum attention of the targeted customers involving minimum risk of being misinterpreted by the targeted buyers. The message that will be conveyed to the targeted customers might take in the illustrated form as; “Protect your lives from bullets and other dangerous ammunitions”. This statement would be intended to precisely inform the customers about the quality features of the offered product and it’s Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) as different from that of its competitors. In the subsequent step, the business will come with three supporting points that will go parallel with the positioning statement. The need of these three points is to make people believe about the contents of the positioning statement. Contextually, the three supporting points might be in the following form, ensuring that the customers can clearly decode the message conveyed through the statement. 1. Tested and re-tested to ensure complete protection of soldiers from a diverse range of bullets and ammunitions 2. Made from best quality fibers, i.e. Kevlar 3. Offered in different sizes, shapes and designs, keeping the users’ comfortability in consideration These supporting points of the message will make sure that the ultimate customers get attracted towards the positioning statement. In the later phase of the marketing approach, the word-of-mouth from satisfied customers can be used to position the product in a more efficient manner and obtain customer loyalty at a greater extent, within a short span of time. Promotion Mix The promotion of the product i.e. bullet proof vests will be done in an extensive manner. For this purpose, mainly three forms of promotional tools will be implemented, viz. advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing. Advertising Advertising is one of the most vital tools of promotions, which will also be considered with due significance when marketing the bullet proof vests. Through advertising, certain specific features of the product, which are new to the targeted customers and can also prove to be a major differentiating point within the targeted market, will be conveyed in an easily interpretive manner (Lamb & et. al 2008). In advertising the product, both digital media (online selling, online news publication and website promotion) and print media (newspaper and leaflet distribution) will be incorporated. Through these tools it will be assured that maximum information can be conveyed to the ultimate customer i.e. armed forces and soldiers regarding the features of the product maintaining adequate level of transparency and reliability. Sales Promotion Simultaneously, with the help of sales promotion, the business will intend to increase the volume of sales of the product in concern. This tool will be adopted with the intention to influence the sales forces and the distributers of the product with commissions and incentives towards accomplishing the determined sales target, which is further expected to stimulate the sales of the product i.e. bullet proof vest in the security forces domain, continually over the long-run. When focusing on sales promotion, the tactic can be divided into two broad categories including customer oriented promotion and trade oriented promotion (Lamb & et. al 2008). In this particular marketing plan, trade oriented approach will be taken into concern where the product will be promoted among the wholesalers and the retailers, further encouraging them to sell the products for the business. The distributers will also be offered with attractive commissions on sales of certain specific target. This will probably stimulate the sales of the business with regard to the product of offer, i.e. bullet proof vest. Direct Marketing The promotional mix approach of the business will also implement the direct marketing tool in order to attract the ultimate customers towards the product at a rapidly increasing volume. Notably, the application planning for these tools have been detailed hereunder. In direct marketing of the product, tools including telemarketing, door-to-door marketing and direct selling will be considered (Ellis & et. al. 2010). The products will be promoted directly to the security forces through telecommunication with the top officials and also through demo illustrations in the base camps of security forces this will ensure that the ultimate customers are aware of each and every benefit that the product is offering to them, which can in turn cause a strong influence on the buying behavior of the customers. Conclusion From the overall analysis of the paper, it can be concluded that marketing is one of the most important activities for any sort of business irrespective of the type industry it is operating in. It has been observed from the discussion of the paper that marketing any particular product involves several significant and systematic steps that must be followed with utmost effectiveness. Correspondingly, this particular paper exhibits a marketing strategy to promote the bullet proof vests as the product on offer, to the ultimate customers i.e. security forces. With this aim, a systematic process of marketing has been developed in this paper. The process is designed or developed in a way that will make sure that the product i.e. bullet proof vests can become popular among the targeted customers and an interest can be developed within them towards purchasing the same. Contextually, due focus has been rendered towards the profitability objectives, ethical principles and sustainability interests of the company, when developing the above exhibited marketing plan. References Ellis, N., Fitchett, J., Higgins, M., Jack, G., Lim, M., Saren, M., & Tadajewski, M. (2010). Marketing: a critical textbook. New York: SAGE. International University of science and Technology. (2013). Integrated marketing communications. Retrieved from http://www.iust.edu.sy/courses/clow_imc04_im_01.pdf Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & MacDaniel, C. D. (2008). Marketing. US: Cengage Learning. Read More