Integrated Marketing Communication - Assignment Example

Integrated Marketing Communication Table of Contents Task 3 A. Brief Overview of BKIC 3 B. Effectiveness of Internal Communication Method 3 C. Allocation of Internal Resources 4 D. Justification of Future Budget Requirements 4 Task 2 5 A. Effective Communication for Reinforcing Value Proposition 5 B. Main Challenges in Working with External Marketing Agency 5 C. Product Life Cycle Tool for Maximizing Product Profitability 6 D. Methods of Brand Building 7 Benefits of Branding 7 Task 3 7 A. Comparison of Marketing Communication Methods 7 Marketing Communication Methods of BKIC 8 Marketing Communication Methods of McDonald’s Corporation 8 B. Recommendation of Marketing Communication Objectives for BKIC 10 Main External Stakeholders and their Needs 10 C. Recommendation of Integrated Marketing Communication Plan 11 Measurement of the Effectiveness of Plan 11 Reference List 12 Task 1 A. Brief Overview of BKIC Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company (BKIC) was founded in the year 1975. By high caliber of its shareholding structure, the company is enjoying its national status both in Kuwait and Bahrain (Bkic, 2015). BKIC manages entire classes of the general insurance, the chief categories being Engineering, General Accident, Fire, Health, Group Life, Motor and Marine Cargo. Since its foundation, the company has enjoyed stable growth in several areas. They have also remained successful in building strong relationship with their customers especially based on financial strength, honesty, reliability and mutual trust. Kuwait Insurance Company is the major competitor of BKIC. Having gained enough experience of functioning under changing market conditions, the company is positioned in a well manner to face the pressure with courage and confidence (Bkic, 2015). The major forms of cross-functional relationships which exist within the company are the relationship between the marketing, finance, human resources and technical team members. The association of all these functional areas play significant role towards the success of BKIC. The expertise from all these areas works towards the common objective of the company (Annual Report, 2014). B. Effectiveness of Internal Communication Method There are various methods of internal communication such as memos, notice board, mail, face-to-face conversation and suggestion and complaint boxes (Smith and Mounter, 2008). Memos are used to communicate information among the departments of the firm. Various departments of BKIC such as the finance, marketing, human resources and operations discuss among them how to engage the employees by providing efficient training on the respective field (Bkic, 2015). Notice board is used to communicate important information to the employees. If any worker gets promotion, then their name is posted on the notice board. It makes them feel special and motivates them to put more efforts towards the betterment of the company. Mail is also considered as a significant form of internal communication method. Employees can make query on certain matters where they face problems and can get the clarification from the managers. BKIC has an apparent policy related to their communication with employees (Annual Report, 2014). Face-to-face conversation is regarded as one of the most important way of internal communication to enhance the engagement of employees. It helps to eradicate any type of misunderstanding which generally takes place at the place of work and therefore results in keeping employees for a long period. The suggestion and complaint boxes help the staff to clear their doubts and issues on a particular matter. When the suggestion of the staff on particular matter is accepted then they feel valued and contribute more towards the success of the company (Smith and Mounter, 2008). C. Allocation of Internal Resources The executive committee of BKIC is provided with the responsibility of giving priority to the allocation of technical, sales, marketing and human resources (Annual Report, 2014). The managers may use the rule of percentage-to-sales to allocate their marketing budget including the promotion and advertising budget (Gupta and Steenburgh, 2008). Human resources are allocated for specific tasks on the basis of their knowledge and expertise on certain area. Resources Budget (per year in millions) Advertising expenses 145,500 Training expenses 50,000 Expenses on company website 25,000 Sales expenses 130,000 Other expenses 120,000 Total 470,500 D. Justification of Future Budget Requirements The budgets of the marketers within the organization include expenses on advertising, printed material, company website, infrequent trade show and other expenses. The marketing department of BKIC needs to properly allocate budgets under each item. For doing this, the marketers requires to know the finances of their company and how much the current finance will allow for the marketing budget. Task 2 A. Effective Communication for Reinforcing Value Proposition A value proposition is generally a promise of the product value which is to be conveyed or delivered. It explains how the company’s product solves the problem of the customers. It tells the customer the reason to prefer their product over the competitor product and also delivers definite benefits. The main value proposition of BKIC is reducing risk and reducing or minimizing the customer’s cost. The customers are constantly looking to accumulate or save money. The company minimizes the costs of its insurance cover which is offered to customers. They also reduce risk for their customers when they purchase the insurance from their company by providing the in-depth information about the insurance policy. The value proposition statement of BKIC also includes keeping customers first by understanding their needs and the company also provides special training to their employees so that they could render best to the customers. The company reinforces their value proposition by keeping their message simple. Through their value proposition statement, they communicate their strategy and benefits for the customers. The company wants to communicate that their service is better than their competitors, as they put their best efforts in reducing the risks related to customers when purchasing their services and products (Oxford Business Group, 2008). B. Main Challenges in Working with External Marketing Agency The external marketing agencies offer benefits as well as challenges to the companies with whom they operate. The external agency does not have ample time for offering strategic counsel. If the time of most of the staff is spent on the manual methods, then the agency does not find time to expand the business accounts of the company. It impacts the capability to grow the revenue of BKIC as it restrains the chances to build powerful relationship with the company. It may hamper the business of BKIC. The external marketing agency does not have the clear knowledge of the company policies. They come into the company without complete understanding of the structure of the company. Without having the entire knowledge of the policies and structure, they try to implement a common strategy for the company. It may affect the reputation of BKIC. The solution for dealing with these challenges is that BKIC need to improve their communication process with the external marketing agencies. The company should communicate their policies and business structure to the external agencies in an appropriate way. It will help in the efficient marketing and promoting of their services and products. If the marketing agency knows the culture of the company’s products, then they can promote it in a better way. C. Product Life Cycle Tool for Maximizing Product Profitability The product life cycle comprises of four phases and each of them has its own features. Introduction stage: This stage is considered as the expensive stage for the company in terms of launching the new product. The market size for any product is generally small, which results in the low sale. On contrary, the research and growth/development and the marketing expenses are very high. Growth stage: In this stage, the company experiences growth in profits and sales. Company begins to take advantage for the economies of scale and therefore the profit margin also increases. This makes company to invest more amounts in promotional activities in order to maximize the likelihood of growth stage. Maturity stage: BKIC’s services and products are at the maturity stage because they are already well established in the market and now the main aim of the company is to maintain their market share. At this stage, the company requires to invest properly in marketing activities they undertake. They also require considering any improvements or modifications in their product portfolio to attain competitive advantage. Decline stage: In this stage, the market for particular product begins to shrink. This may be due to the market saturation or switching nature of customers from one company to another. At this stage also, the organization can make some revenues and profits by transferring to less costly methods of production (Ferrell and Hartline, 2007). System engineering as a tool of product life cycle will help the managers of BKIC to lay emphasis on meeting the requirements of customers and coordinating the design process of the system by including all applicable disciplines. The product and portfolio tool will assist the managers on managing the allocation of the resources, tracking process and also to plan on the development of the new products or projects. Manufacturing method management tool will help the managers of BKIC to focus on the manufacturing process of the products. All these aspects will help to maximize the profitability of the product (Ferrell and Hartline, 2007). D. Methods of Brand Building Identity design: The logo of the company plays a significant role in building a brand. The logo designed as a sea shell represents the stability and strength of the company (Bkic, 2015). Building relationship: BKIC builds long term association with their customers by implementing many futuristic and ambitious projects to meet the requirements of the customers and also to exceed the expectation of customers (Bkic, 2015). It helps the company to build a strong brand. Value proposition: The excellent value proposition statement of the company helps them to convey their message about the strategies and benefits offered to the customers. Be innovative: BKIC remains innovative towards the constantly changing requirements of the customers. This helps them to draw more customers and therefore assist in building brand. Awareness: The Company creates awareness of their brand by having their presence on the social media sites. It helps them to get identified by more customers and ultimately helps in brand building. Benefits of Branding Appropriate branding methods will help BKIC to build good status and reputation in the market. It will help the company to remain memorable for long period. It will increase the loyalty of the customers because when individuals encompass positive experience with the company, then they remain loyal towards that company or brand. A reputed brand spend less on the marketing expenses so, it will allow BKIC to spend less on the marketing expenses (Ferrell and Hartline, 2007). Task 3 A. Comparison of Marketing Communication Methods The marketing communication techniques of BKIC and McDonald’s Corporation are assessed in order to reflect whether there is difference in the communication methods of an insurance company and restaurant. McDonald’s Corporation is the largest business of fast food restaurants. It serves 119 countries including 68 million customers (McDonalds, 2015). Marketing Communication Methods of BKIC Advertising: It is distinguished by the reality that the company makes payment to the media for the space normally on their pages and in return they provide control over the message of the company. The best or finest advertising lay emphasis on particular service or product and generates a convincing message for the purchase of product. BKIC make advertisement on the internet and television about the effectiveness of their services and products. Other forms of advertisement include billboards and newspapers. They also depend on the promotion through word of mouth. Due to this, the company reaches to the large base of the customers. Public relation: Public relation technique is used by BKIC by having their presence in news lines and newspapers. Sponsorships as well as event management program is also used by the company to communicate the benefits of their services to the customers. It is regarded as the high-value and under-utilized type of communication and promotion method used by the company. BKIC make great investment on hiring the public relation firm so that they can write a well approached story and facts about the company. Personal selling: It is the main marketing communication method utilized by BKIC. The sales executives personally approach to the customers to make them aware about the benefits of their insurance services. They have enough knowledge and information about the advantages of the services and products so, they explain it well to the potential customers and convince them to purchase their products. This method helps BKIC to promote the sales of their insurance products. Sales promotion: It includes themes, special events and other methods to generate further customer interest for the repeat purchase. It is generally referred to the company-wide attempt that involves various types of communication. Sales promotion is also used by BKIC to create awareness about their products. The sales promotion technique used by them is awarding the loyal customers who buy more number of the insurance policy. It facilitates the repeat purchase of their products (Ferrell and Hartline, 2007). Marketing Communication Methods of McDonald’s Corporation Advertising: The advertising tools utilized by McDonalds Corporation include billboards, electronic media and print media. The strategy of promotional mix followed by the media and print advertising is at all times considered favorable. This is because; it strengthens the organization’s existence as well as convinces the people to purchase the products of the company. McDonald’s Corporation makes use of media advertising to advertise as well as promote their products. By utilizing magazines, newspapers and television commercials, they successfully created a strong status and reputation. The representation of their products especially on hoardings helps to attract the customers as well as assist the customers to have a good knowledge of the new products. Social networking: McDonald’s Corporation makes use of social networking sites such as Twitter, Flickr and Facebook to create awareness among the customers about the benefits of their products and to draw more customers. The social media sites are becoming very popular nowadays and this approach is adopted by many companies as younger generation and adults are very much involved with these sites. Therefore, it becomes easy for the company to draw more customers by having their presence on these sites. The social media sites present all the latest information about the upcoming events and products of McDonald’s Corporation. Public relations: McDonald’s Corporation has been involved in large events which help to implement a positive company message and also assist in promoting their brand image. Public relations generally play a major role in the marketing world existing today. Various organizations engage themselves in several international affairs such as sports events, rallies, charitable work and exhibitions. McDonald’s Corporation is also a legal sponsor of the “2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa” (McDonalds, 2009). Sales promotion: It is usually referred to the time specific and short term strategy which is designed with an intention to attract novel customers and also to strengthen the connections with the prevailing customers. McDonald’s Corporation’s sales promotion campaign generally offers some attractive deals and also put forward novel products. The prize and gift schemes are the examples of McDonald’s Corporation’s sales promotion approach. It assists the company in getting more customers and also helps in generating more revenues and profits (Vignali, 2001). From the above assessment, it has been analyzed that among the four, three methods of marketing communication are same for both the companies. It focuses on the fact that it does not matter whether it is a restaurant or an insurance company, most of them make use of most popular marketing communication approaches in order to draw more customers and to augment their sales and profit. B. Recommendation of Marketing Communication Objectives for BKIC The objectives of marketing communication will be recommended which would help to enhance the reputation of BKIC. Promotional strategies to increase brand awareness: It is recommended to increase the brand awareness through various promotional strategies in order to make the customer aware about the benefits of their insurance policies. The company might make use of print ads and broadcast commercials to depict their image through the use of jingles and slogans. Persuasive advertising to influence the purchase intent: One of the main objectives of BKIC should be to motivate their customer to purchase their product. This can be done by means of persuasive advertising. It involves focusing on the key benefits which the customer will get from purchasing their insurance policies. It is recommended that BKIC should make use of various methods to persuade customers for the repeat purchase by defining how their services or products will meet their requirements and benefit them. These methods could be money-back assurance, simple return policy and conveying the benefits of the products. Encouraging purchase to boost profit: BKIC should offer low rate of interest on their insurance policy and should also influence the customers that they will remain risk free by purchasing their policies. It is because, the policies deliver the same value as promised to them. This will encourage them to buy more of their products and will consequently boost profit (Ferrell and Hartline, 2007). To communicate benefits of the products: BKIC should communicate its products’ benefits through sponsorship and event management practice and also through other promotional tactics like having presence on social media sites. It will help to draw more customers and boost the profit of the company. Main External Stakeholders and their Needs The major external stakeholders of BKIC are the government bodies, customers, brokers, society and regulators (Annual Report, 2014). Among them, customer is considered as the main stakeholder because the sales and profit of the company depends on the maximum number of their purchase. For this, BKIC needs to efficiently fulfill their requirements by offering them appropriate product from which they can get maximum benefit. Government bodies are also regarded as one of their key stakeholders because economic policies such as interest rates and taxation generally affect the costs of the company. Legislation regulates the operations of the company, so, BKIC needs to comply with the health and safety policies in order to remain profitable in their business operations. Successful companies remain good for the governments because they create employment and wealth for them. C. Recommendation of Integrated Marketing Communication Plan Integrated marketing communication plan incorporates various marketing methods like advertising, promotion and public relation through the social media sites in order to make the target audience aware about the company’s services and products. It is recommended that BKIC should have their presence on the social media also such as Facebook and Twitter to draw more customers and also to present all the latest information about the forthcoming products of the company. Social media is widely used by all age group people. Therefore, it will help them to increase the brand awareness and also to make the customer aware about the benefits of their insurance policies. This will further motivate the customers to purchase their products and encourage the repeat purchase. Other marketing communication plan should be to position their company as a successful and beneficial provider of their insurance services. This can be done through adopting the promotional practices like sponsorship event and through public relation technique. It will help them to raise more funds and also to create more profits. It is also recommended to create association with other successful insurance organizations to promote their products in a more efficient way. Measurement of the Effectiveness of Plan BKIC can measure the effectiveness of the marketing communication plan by observing that whether their objectives have been met. Further the effectiveness of communication plan can be measured by comparing the total number of customers they had before the implementation of plan and after it has been executed. It might also involve making use of the online analytics in order to monitor the visits on their social media sites. The company can track the progress of the social media after its creation and should also track the total number of followers. It will help them to measure the effectiveness of plan that whether the brand awareness has been increased via social media sites. Reference List Annual Report, 2014. 2014 Annual Report - Bahrain Kuwait Insurance (BSC). [pdf] Available at: < https://www.bkic.com/media/document/BKIC_Annual_Report_2014.pdf> [Accessed 25 June 2015]. Bkic, 2015. Bahrain Kuwait Insurance : Company Profile. [online] Available at: https://www.bkic.com/en/about-us/company-profile.html.> [Accessed 25 June 2015]. Ferrell, O.C. and Hartline, M., 2007. Marketing Strategy. Boston: Cengage Learning. Gupta, S. and Steenburgh, T.J., 2008. Allocating marketing resources. [pdf] Available at: < http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/08-069_17a7715d-c34b-4d9e-92fa-2ea2834a0cbe.pdf> [Accessed 25 June 2015]. McDonalds, 2010. McDonald’s 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. [pdf]. Available at: < https://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/dam/AboutMcDonalds/Newsroom/Electronic%20Press%20Kits/FIFA%20World%20Cup%20EPK/McDonald-s%20Global%20Sponsorship%20Overview.pdf> [Accessed 26 June 2015]. McDonalds, 2015. Our Company. [online] Available at: < http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd.html> [Accessed 26 June 2015]. Oxford Business Group, 2008. The Report: Kuwait 2008. Oxford: Oxford Business Group. Smith, L. and Mounter, P., 2008. Effective internal communication. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Vignali, C., 2001. McDonalds:“think global, act local”-the marketing mix. British Food Journal, 103(2), pp. 97-111. Read More

 

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