The Use of Integrated Marketing Communications - Assignment Example

International Marketing: The Use of Integrated Marketing Communications Introduction It has been d that marketing is intricate field and when ideas from one market are taken to another the chances of successful market capture vary considerably (Brown, 1995). Integrated marketing communication is a set of parameters, tools and techniques which increase the chance of a marketing campaign being successful in several different markets. However, it must be applied carefully and with a full analysis of the factors involved. To inform our clients about the advantages of integrated marketing communications and to show how it can be applied, this memorandum is produced along with analysis from the latest research. Since the focus of this memorandum is on international marketing, that should be kept in mind as one goes through the document. It can be shown that the application of integrated marketing is not that difficult if the companies who wish to use it are willing to invest time and effort towards it. Handling International Markets Any international marketing campaign will need to consider several marketing issues which a company comes across when it tries to broaden its horizons towards the global area (Schultz, 1996). The company not only has to sell its products, but also establish public relations, acceptance of the company practices and also make itself as a good ethical company (Adams, 2004). The idea of a good company comes from many directions but the most important one is the image of the company as a responsible organisation which can be successfully made through integrated marketing communications in any international campaign. Additionally, companies might need to handle the basic barrier of language. Although English has become the main language of the world, there are many regions around the globe where English remains unknown or a language known only to a few. Since marketing is greatly concerned with communications and communications is based upon language as well as nonverbal messages, marketing becomes directly connected with how the message is transmitted and understood (De Pelsmacker, 2001). While translations can be done quite easily and even computerised to some extent using digital translators, the message can often be lost. The translation of the message can only be handled if the marketing methods being used by the company are able to present the message with local flavour. Handling international markets is a big issue because countries and even regions within a country have cultural differences that affect communications which have an effect on how a message is understood. Brown (1995) reports that certain values, languages, ideas and even social interactions could be very different across countries while a company might be trying to market a product using the same messages as it is used in the home country. The easiest way to understand and even use these differences to the company’s advantage is to be knowledgeable about them and to use good marketing techniques which bring together various channels into one. Integrated Marketing Communication In the simplest of terms, integrated marketing communication can be described as a management concept that increases the combination of various market communication tools such as advertisements, PR campaigns, direct marketing and sales promotions (Acheson, 1993). As told by Debreceny and Cochrane (2004, Pg. 28), “There’s A maxim that says it always makes sense to truly integrate public relations and marketing activities in the drive for the hearts and minds of consumers”. However, while this idea makes perfect sense, companies are often hesitant in combining these marketing forces for various reasons (McLaughlin, 1997). Debreceny and Cochrane (2004) go on to say that: “The maxim has been honoured more in the breach than the observance. But now, with public doubt about corporate America at an all-time high, public-relations professionals and marketers must collaborate to shape, manage and protect corporate reputation as well as brand image. We must partner to create and demonstrate a single message-whether through public relations or marketing communications-or risk confusion and a mistrusting public (Debreceny and Cochrane, 2004, Pg. 28).” The situation mentioned above is not limited to America, rather it has global applications because international marketing goes hand in hand with integrated marketing communications (Schultz, 1996). Shimp (2000) gives the best application of integrated marketing communications and suggests that it can be approached in a several ways depending on the requirements of the company and the current marketing situation. In general terms and for the majority of the companies in the world, there are five parts to an integrated marketing system which show that: 1. The goal of integrated marketing is to influence the behaviour of the public in general and of the target market in particular. 2. The process starts with an examination of the needs of the customer and fitting the product to match those needs rather than creating a need for the product being sold. 3. All forms and methods of communication from the company logo to press releases of the company should be used as opportunities to deliver the message. 4. Coordination between various departments of the company is necessary to ensure that the same message is said by all individuals. 5. A relationship must be established between the company and the client. The Advantages While the advantages of integrated marketing communications are many, there are three large advantages which can be discussed in detail to show a company can help itself by combing marketing tools. The first advantage comes from having a unified message for the consumers since the consumer base is considered in a broad sense (Hackley, 2003). The second advantage is the cost benefit from a single service provider and finally, a company which uses integrating marketing is able to create a marketing model which is tightly focused on the overall needs. A Unified Message Without integrated marketing communications, a company runs the risk of having a divided message with different words coming from sales, public relations or customer support (Sevier, 2004). While the message might have some overlap, it is certainly not unified since it can only be unified with integrated marketing (Duncan, 2002). If the company members are given clarity on how the message is to be given to the clients or even what exactly the message is supposed to be then the company can be said to have made the first steps towards a unified marketing strategy. For example, the company may choose to promote a particular unique selling proposition (USP) for their products or services and if every individual in the company knows that USP and its application to their department then everyone from the president of the company to customer support representatives can be company supporters in a big way. Using the broadest possible approach to find customers, every member of a company can be acting as a salesperson (Hackley, 2003). Integration of marketing channels would lead towards a single message being put out which reduces the costs of marketing for the company. The single message is particularly important when it comes to the public and media relations of the company (Wood, 1997). On their own, both PR and marketing are important for any company, but once the message carried by both marketing and PR are more or less same in their meaning, a company doubles its opportunities to get the message across (Kitchen, 1993). For instance, an advertisement about the social responsibility of a company can certainly carry a message about the product. At the same time, a PR news release can also be an opportunity to show how the products of the company are of a very high quality. Reducing Costs If a company wishes to invest separately in marketing and public relations, there is nothing which stops it from doing so. However, it would make more sense for the company to sit down with both the marketing and the PR people to come up with a single plan which can be applied to both (Moriarty, 1994). The cost of research, media development and message creation can also be lowered if the marketing department and the public relations department can use the same materials (Debreceny and Cochrane, 2004). Improving the Focus While common sense might suggest that a unified marketing communications plan might cause a company to lose focus of what the exact message is supposed to be, Kitchen (1993) suggests that the focus becomes tighter because it is on consumers rather than the image of the company or the benefits of the products. With integrated marketing, a company can focus on the needs satisfaction of the consumer rather than highlight the features of the product. The marketing done by Apple Computers is one example of such an approach while many others can be found simply by taking a closer look at how advertisements are presented to the audiences today. Additionally, by shifting the focus towards talking with the customer rather than simple promotions of the product, a company can create a deeper relationship with those who patronise it (Wood, 1997). International organisations like GE, BP, Starbucks, Dell, Microsoft, and Apple are loved or hated by people for many different reasons but none of these companies can afford their company image to be tarnished in any way (Colvin, 2006). Even a rumour about a company mishandling its employees in China can have negative effects on the bottom line of the company. To keep such rumours from circulating and to get the company message heard first, communication between the consumers and the producer is a necessary. While a company can be valued and appreciated by analysts solely on the basis of its financial and profit statements (Forbes, 2005), greater appreciation as well as profits can be had if the company passes along the image of being socially responsible to the communities (Natural Health, 2005). From the various advantages mentioned above, it is clear that a unified architecture for marketing should be established by any company which wants to get its message across to the public but the process require careful planning and management before it can be deemed a success (Pickton and Broderick, 2001). The Steps The process which helps a company get to integrated marketing communications is somewhat different from other marketing processes mainly because it is customer centred (Kitchen, 2005). Instead of things like company/product image or price differentiation, the focus of the process is on communications between the market (which may be made up of individuals or groups) and the provider (Fill, 2002). Finally, it is a circular process which continually repeats itself as new data and information is made available to the company therefore once process is started it simply grows and improves in terms of accessing markets and creates additional customers and offers more benefits to current consumers of the company’s products (Duncan, 2002). A company can begin the process by establishing or reviewing the current customer base. Normally, most companies have some sort of information collected about their regular customers and understand their requirements better than walk-ins who may not even be sure about the products (Duncan, 2002). If a database is not present, this is the first step which a company must take and the easiest way to collect information about customers is to ask them for it using ways and means which are polite and give some value to the customer for sharing information. While all customer relationships can be seen as being valuable to some extent for a company, some long standing and high volume relationships are always more valuable than others. With this information in hand, the company can also track the buying habits, usage patterns and purchase frequency of various individuals which can let the company create tiers for various user groups (Pickton and Broderick, 2001). It can certainly be assumed that heavy users are more likely to be closer to the company in terms of a relationship and since they form the main base of the company’s market, they should be given a high level of attention wherever they may be located (Duncan, 2002). Since the target of integrated marketing is to ensure an increase in the customer base, a strategy must be developed using the customer data for adding to the base numbers of high users. Given that the strategy shows a company the basic path which should be followed to attract customers, practical ways can then be produced from the strategy obtained with the database (Duncan, 2002). For example, if the company has a strategy to attract more students towards its products it can employ methods like on campus product displays, advertising in student magazines, or running TV ads in youth related shows. All of these steps would let the company attract and get the message across to a larger market depending on how much the company is willing to spend. Of course all advertising and marketing comes with an associated cost which must be justified before it can be undertaken. Many times, a company might have to blindly advertise across various channels but with the integrated marketing approach, the database created earlier would go a long way in showing which is the best advertising method would be to attract the exact market segment being attracted by the company. Again, it must be emphasised that the company should use all methods for communicating with clients, but the analysis is still needed to see which would be the most effective. Finally, the company would need to compile and evaluate the results of their marketing campaign to evaluate what worked and what did not. These results are easy to compile based on the sales figures and the costs of marketing but the analysis of these results is never easy. There can be hundreds of factors which influence sales and it is easy to lose focus about why certain campaigns appear to be successful while others seem to be failures. To avoid such situations, the services of a good consulting agency which can use focus groups, numerical analysis and other tools of evaluation would be very important in the process of results compilation. Once the results have been compiled, the company can then make the needed changes to its tactics, strategy and the marketing mix to get better marketing methods for its purposes. If this looks like the process being started from the beginning, it is not true because now the company is more ready with information which has increased in validity and improved in accuracy about the customers. Therefore, the next cycle will lead to further improvements and benefits for the organisation. Conclusions Considering the implications, benefits, processes and the need for integrated marketing communications, it is clear that the process is a big need for any company which wishes to operate in a global market. The field itself has been around for many years and it has had its share of ups and downs but the overall acceptability of the ideas implied in this marketing method show that it is quite useful and valid as a method for improving business (Comelissen and Lock, 2000). On a personal level, I feel that integrated marketing communications would be extremely useful as more and more companies start targeting regional markets as well as international markets to expand their business. Works Cited Acheson, K. 1993, ‘Integrated marketing must bring two perspectives together’, Marketing News, vol. 21, no. 11, pp. 4-5. Adams, C. 2004, ‘The ethical, social and environmental reporting-portrayal gap’, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, vol. 17, no. 5, pp.731-757 Brown, S. 1995, Postmodern Marketing, Routledge. Colvin, G. 2006, ‘What Makes GE Great?’, Fortune, vol. 153, no. 4, pp. 90-96. Comelissen, J. and Lock, A. 2000, ‘Theoretical concept or management fashion? 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