Marketing Communication Plan - Term Paper Example

Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 Analysis 5 Conclusion and Recommendations 9 References 11 Bibliography 14 Executive Summary Marketing communication plan of a newly launched product helps the product to place itself on the market as a unique and trusted consumer friendly product. Marketing communication is mainly associated with the promotional aspect of the 4P’s of marketing mix. A proper marketing communication program on the part of company can make or break the image of a brand. Therefore, a proper synchronisation of the entire communication process steps can make all the difference and earn the requisite success for a new brand in a relatively alien business environment. Introduction Marketing communication is a process which helps the marketers to communicate information’s like product related information to potential consumer segment. They utilise this method to convey information about product value, existence, and benefits associated with it. It encompasses one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Designing an effective communication process provide marketers an opportunity to attract, create urge, persuade, and remind about the existing brands of a company. In recent times, the scope related to marketing communication has increased. Marketers are using various unique method and techniques to create awareness of their products (Yeshin, 1998). The marketers have to integrate different aspects related to marketing communication to derive maximum benefit from the implementation of any such plan. In the process of developing a marketing communication plan for a product Lemon, lime flavoured beer a zero based marketing communication plan is prepared (Belch, 2003). A zero based marketing communication planning process provides a marketing communication planning team of an organisation, the necessary understanding of what kind of tools are to be utilised while preparing a plan. In this process a particular year’s situational analysis is conducted (BSA Marketing, n.d.). Also SWOT analysis and communication objectives analysis help in preparing a proper planning according to the desired need. In the beginning of this process, key marketing communication related problems are identified. In the next step, by using various marketing communications tools, solutions are searched for the problems. In the given context also, for devising a marketing communication plan for a new brand, a complete situational analysis along with SWOT analysis has to be conducted. The plan also has to prepare keeping in mind the communication objectives. In the first phase of preparing a marketing communication plan, a target audience for the intended product has to be identified, also the lime flavoured beer brand has to be critically analysed as per SWOT analysis, and the marketing communication objective has to be determined. The marketing objective has to prepare in such a way that it not only specific, but also achievable, measurable, and challenging. Brand image plays a vital role in marketing communication plan (University of Wellington, 2006). Therefore, various tangible and intangible factors have to be analysed before creating a brand image through a marketing communication program. An organisation has manufactured this new product and now they are trying to create awareness of their product by a proper marketing communication planning. The analyses of the newly launched brand will help in creating a proper brand awareness program. Analysis Marketing communication is a part of 4P’s of marketing mix i.e. product, price, place and promotion. Basically, it falls under the purview of product promotion. Marketing communication consists of three elements namely the collection of marketing tools, the media, and also messages. The various tools that are used for product promotion includes advertising, promotion, sales, personal selling, public relations, and direct marketing (Smith & Taylor, 2004). There are certain promotional methods in place like sponsorship, branded entertainment, field marketing, product placement, viral marketing, and exhibitions. The message part of marketing communication includes informative as well as visual messages which help marketers to introduce in case of a new brand their values, and benefits to the consumer segment. Media also are of various types like print, broadcast, in-store, new, and few others. Media helps in conveying the marketers’ messages to the prospective target audiences. A proper integrated marketing communication takes place when this three are combined (Cornelissen, & Lock 2000). In the process of creating a marketing communication plan for Lemon, a lime flavoured beer brand, the aim of marketing communication has to be kept in mind. The first aim is to create and develop brand values by the use of advertising in order to create feelings, visions, and also to improve belief of the target consumers towards the brand. Second aim is to make target audiences’ behaviour towards the product a positive one, in order to create a positive impact of the new brand on the company profits. Therefore, the communication source for the brand has to be prepared. For the beer brand, print media, electronic media like advertisement of the product on the television, internet, and radio can be utilised. For effective communication the main objective of the message has to be transmitted to the target audience like the new features of the beer brand, its taste, quality, price of the product, differentiation of the product from other companies having similar lime flavoured beer products. In the success of marketing communication, there are certain obstacles present which occur because of medium of transmission and noise in the process. Delivery of the message has to be done in such a way that the target audience is able to understand the intended message from the marketers’ side. Full attention of the target audience must also be achieved and the message also must be easily understood and processed. Feedback of the communication plan also plays a crucial role in finding out the success of the proposed plan. To develop a marketing communication plan, three aspects have to be properly analysed for the new beer brand product. These are target audience identification, determination of communication objective, and context analysis with the help of internal and external brand related condition according to SWOT analysis. In target audience identification aspect, the main objective is to identify the target market and also its needs to be done correctly. Fulfilling the needs and expectations of the customers help an organisation gain competitive advantage. For identifying target for the beer brand a specific geographical location such as United Kingdom can be selected. Along with it various attributes like age, gender, income, occupation of the prospected consumers in the selected geographical location needs to be analysed. This will help the company to locate a specific business to consumer segment as their target audience (Dahlén, & Et. Al., 2009). For a beer brand, the target audience generally comprises of male consumers above a certain age limit i.e. primarily 18 years. According to the product quality, price of the company also has to target a specific demographic audience like high end consumers such as business executives’ for their product. Lifestyle, psychographic segmentation of the desired target audience will also help the company to prepare their plan for the new brand. The varying taste and preference of an individual has to be kept in mind in order to prepare a proper marketing plan. There are certain steps which have to be followed in order to identify proper target audience like as follows: Step 1: This process involves the selection of a sample from the entire potential marketplace. Also, individual needs of the consumers also have to be identified. This process helps in proper identification of diverse needs of the consumer segment. Step 2: In this process, consumers are grouped into proper homogeneous segments i.e. on the basis of common consumer needs. Step 3: Factors relating to different need depended subgroups are identified like geographic, demographic, lifestyle, consumption. Underlying need identification is a part of this step. Step 4: The target audience has to be in this step selected in order to develop a specific marketing communication plan. The selection should be based upon highest profitability to the company from the given market segment. Step 5: In this step, the products and services are to be positioned accordingly. The positioning helps a brand to create its own unique identification among the target consumer segment. This makes the consumer identify themselves with the brand and its values. This in turn creates more brand loyalty and also helps to increase more consumers to the already existing consumer. This also provides the brand an opportunity to highlight the benefits of the product as compared to its competitors. Thus, they can attract consumers to their brand by differentiating the value added factors of their product as compared to their competitors (ICMR, 2005). Image analysis also is a major part of marketing communication program. Image relates to the perception that an individual holds about another individual. For the success of any brand, an image makes a huge difference in increasing or decreasing the sale of a product. Marketers have to take measures in order to improve the perception of a brand towards the consumers. For a beer brand, it can create a positive image of itself by having advertisement campaign of their brands which tells about never to drink and drive and also that their product is prepared keeping in mind the environmental aspects. Determination of communication objective deals with marketers’ ability to prepare a marketing plan by understanding the stage of the marketing communication at which the consumers are in. The marketing communication objective of the new beer brand is to create awareness about their product, and knowledge about the product, and also creating an able positioning strategy in order to attract consumers. The steps involved in determination of the objective are awareness, knowledge, preference, liking, conviction, and purchase, and also stimulate demand. Communication message also has to be created keeping in mind the content of the message and whether it is commensurate with the objectives. The various appeal factors associated with a communication message are rational appeal, emotional appeal, and moral appeal. For a beer brand, the company can persuade consumers to never drink their product and then drive a car. This will place the brand in the upper echelon of the consumer preference. Thus, this will make the company more popular and help them differentiate from the other competitive brands. Context analysis deals with defining opportunities and problems associated with a brand or product. The utilisation of untapped opportunities can help a brand gain needed competitive edge over another brand. In the context analysis process a market research is conducted about the target audience. The needs, attitude, motivation, decision making characteristics of the consumers are analysed in this process. The marketing tool such as SWOT analysis can help in analysing the internal and external factors associated with a brand. The SWOT analysis of the brand has to be prepared by analysing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are associated with the brand. The success of the marketing communication objective has to be analysed on the basis of SMART technique, which tells about five facts which has to be kept in mind before analysing a marketing plan. They are like whether the marketing plan is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound and targeted. In marketing communication process, pull push strategy also plays a crucial role in developing marketing communication mix of the selected brand (Laitinen, 2009). Conclusion and Recommendations Marketing communication plan is a very important tool associated with a new product launch. This helps the marketers develop and prepare an image of a newly launched product in the minds of the consumers. Consumers in modern day scenario are very much brands conscious. They look to find out for those positive aspects mainly with which they can associate themselves. For the marketing communication planning of the new product, the consumer has to identify according to the strengths of the beer brand. The main differentiating factor of the brand also has to be highlighted in the messages conveyed to the target audience in such a way that they are able to understand it very easily. The success of the marketing communication plan can be judged on the basis of how much success the new brand has been able to achieve in a specific period of time mainly in terms of increasing the profitability factor of the company. A successful marketing communication plan can go a long way increasing brand loyalty among the consumer and making consumers go for repeat purchase of the product. References Belch, (2003). Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective. Tata McGraw-Hill. BSA Marketing, (No Date). Developing a marketing communications plan. Planning guide. Retrieved Online on July 05, 2010 from http://www.bsamarketing.com/downloads/sostac.pdf Cornelissen, J. P. & Lock, A. R., (2000). Theoretical concept or management fashion? Examining the significance of IMC. Journal of advertising research. Skylab. Retrieved Online on July 05, 2010 from http://skylab.mbaedu.cn/IMC/Articles/THEORETICAL%20CONCEPT%20OR%20MANAGEMENT%20FASHION.pdf Dahlén, M. & Et. Al., (2009). Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach. John Wiley and Sons. ICMR, (2005). Marketing Management. ICFAI center for management research. Laitinen, J. M., (2009). Marketing Communication Plan Case DNA Finland Ltd: How to Gain More Russian Prepaid Subscription Customers? Theseus. Retrieved Online on July 05, 2010 from https://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/2618/Laitinen_Jenni-Mari.pdf?sequence=1 University of Wellington, (2006). Objectives. Marketing communications. Retrieved Online on July 05, 2010 from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/courseoutlines/fca/2006/Trimester%201/MARK/MARK_301_Course_Outline_T1_2006.pdf Smith, P. R. & Taylor, J., (2004). Marketing communications: an integrated approach. Kogan Page Publishers. Yeshin, T., (1998). Integrated marketing communications: the holistic approach. Butterworth-Heinemann. Bibliography Ahmed, P. K. & Rafiq, M., (2002). Internal marketing: tools and concepts for customer-focused management. Butterworth-Heinemann. Egan, J., (2007). Marketing Communications. Cengage Learning EMEA. Fine, L. G., (2009). The SWOT Analysis: Using Your Strength to Overcome Weaknesses, Using Opportunities to Overcome Threats. Booksurge Llc. Koekemoer, L. & Bird, S., (2004). Marketing Communications. Juta and Company Ltd. Marconi, J. & American marketing association., (2000). The brand marketing book: creating, managing, and extending the value of your brand. McGraw-Hill Professional. Pelsmacker, P. D. & Et. Al., (2005). Foundations of marketing communications: a European perspective. Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Read More