Integrated Marketing Communication - Research Paper Example

Integrated Marketing Communication The current age is the age of technology, innovation and advancements. Be it business or any other aspect of the professional or personal lives, planning and strategy play an important role in the carrying out of any task. Thus, the entire corporate world and the business organizations contained within it, follow well designed sophisticated strategies to continue with their sustenance and activities. This paper will give a brief elaboration upon the usage of the integrated marketing communication and the customer satisfaction strategy. The linkage of both the concepts is very important and will be depicted in the essay. Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications and Customer Satisfaction Strategies One of the main concepts related to the success of the advertisements or operations of any company is its integrated marketing communication strategy. IMC is a marketing terminology used in reference to the combination and collaboration of almost all the existing tools of market communication and all its activities, and aspects in the company into forming a flawless program (Terry, 1997). This helps the organization maximize the influence of its strategies and operations on its customers and other stakeholders of the business at lowest possible cost. Thus, the IMC strategy is a process of integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a process for managing customer relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication efforts. Such efforts often include cross-functional processes that create and nourish profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialog with them. IMC includes the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program in order to maximize the impact the end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all firms’ business-to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed communication (Bob, 1998). Tesco Plc is one of the leading food retailers based in UK which operates with more than 3000 stores all around the world. The branches of the food retailers are function in most of the parts of Europe and Asia. A wholly-owned subsidiary, Tesco Plc., offers to its customers a wide range of all the financial, personal and other services. The company has been leading the other big organizations in the field of retailing and stands successful throughout. 1. Discuss the company’s advertising strategy and how it aligns with its marketing goals. The major reason for the success of Tesco as a product and service-provider is its successful advertising and customer relationship strategy. Found in 1924, the company was the pioneer of some small ‘revolutions’ which led to the rise in the revenues of the company and was responsible for its sustenance. The expansion strategies applied by the company give it success as the profit margins have shifted higher making the company a strong base for the retailing (Remley, 1996). The marketing strategy of Tesco is the subset of its customer loyalty, lower prices and the successful ploughing back of profits in order to assist its marketing strategies. Making the mass advertising its backbone, Tesco Plc., introduced new adverts for every product item launched and the lower prices were the main element that kept customers glued to its product. Moreover, its adverts have always been convincing, good conveyor of the message content and able to keep the emotional touch which creates the customer’s interest in its products and forced them to make the purchases. 3. Discuss the promotional strategies that may be used in addition to advertising. The main element of Tesco’s promotional strategies was the low- prices but the finest brand offered to the customers with superior value. The punch line of the company, ‘The Tesco Way’, has always been used to describe the company’s principles, goals and values. At the same time, the company’s strategies were geared towards both, employees and customers. Moreover, the usage of innovative technology helped the organization avoid the queuing up of customers or lagging behind in production of goods and services. Its advertisement slogan, ‘Every Little help’ has become the source of appropriate image and brand positioning (Dwyer & Oh, 1987). Other promotional strategies, which the organization can possibly utilize besides advertising, include the direct marketing concepts, tele marketing, and e commerce models. These strategies not only create innovativeness in the methods of buying and selling but they also enable quick customer services and the public relationing between the organization and its clients. The customer retention and loyalty is ultimately facilitated by such marketing and advertising strategies. 2. Discuss how the effectiveness of the advertising will be measured. The effectiveness of any organization’s tactics and strategies can be measured through the sales and the revenue generation of the organization. Similarly, Tesco Plc measures the effectiveness and adequacy of its advertising and communication strategies through the profitability and the revenue generation in every strategic business unit of the organization (Caywood, 1997). Through this process, it grades its products as star, cash cows or dogs on the Boston Matrix. This helps the organization continue with the implementation of its previous strategies; in case, they have not proven to be beneficial, the organization changes them and directs them towards other goals and objectives. 4. Develop an approach to measuring customer satisfaction with your company’s product/service. The customer satisfaction is also shown to any organization through the feedback that it receives for its products. Sometimes, it may be through evaluating the company’s profitability during a particular time period. At others, the feedback and customer’s response towards the demand of the product can be a big help in measuring their satisfaction regarding the value delivered by the products and services of the organization. One of the many ways to measure the customer satisfaction and retain their loyalty is through structured surveys. In the face of the largely challenging and competitive markets, billions of customers can be surveyed on internet on a mass levels; this can be done through sending them questionnaires focusing on the specific topic of interests. In the present days, the surveys have become one of the few essential tools to evaluate and improve the customer satisfaction and loyalty to the organization. 5. Discuss how gaps in customer expectations and experiences will be addressed. In the present era, when extreme competition exists and the innovation has reached its peak, there are likely to be gaps between the customer’s expectations and the service delivered to them. The gaps between the customers and the organization can occur in several different ways. Lack of marketing research, inadequate communication between the delivery of the service and sales, deviating policies across the organizational departments and bad Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies can result into the further enhancement of gaps between the customer’s experiences and their expectations. In order to eliminate this obstacle, the organizations need to design sophisticated strategies to keep their customers satisfied and organizational strategies on the path. A plan to develop the customer-oriented services in the entire organization is the fundamental step to the elimination of this gap. For this purpose, a proper marketing research needs to be conducted and data should be collected to on the industry standards and the existing competitions. The gathered information should be analyzed and benchmarks and standards should be developed. This plan should next be supported with technology, cost benefit approaches, and formation of new tactics to achieve the goals in relevant market segments. Next, tools should be developed in order to conduct the pilot test. This helps identifying any deviations in the plan and adjusting them according to the mission and objectives. Later, the implementation of the strategic and operational implication can take place. The action plan can be implemented through the trained organization personnel and will have to be reviewed for the customer feedback and evaluation on the regular intervals. All the aspects of the customer’s experiences should be measured: buying process, service quality, customer experience and the customer motivation. Conclusion The customer satisfaction is not just a strategy; rather, it is a whole process. It begins with the marketing research process and continues unto the product development, selling, marketing and all other aspects of the business. For every organization, whether large or small, it is necessary to maintain the satisfaction of its customers if it wants to survive in the market and its competition. The organization needs to obtain fast sales information on daily basis, deliver utmost superior quality of product, and indulge in a sophisticated process of integrated marketing strategy. Tesco Plc. has been implementing all these efforts as a part of its corporate strategy and thus, has obtained the leading position in the line of the well-established food retailers and service providers. References Bennett, R., & Barkensjo, A. (2005). Relationship quality, relationship marketing, and client perceptions of the levels of service quality of charitable organizations. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 16, 1, 81-106. Bob E. Hayes, (1998). Measuring Customer Satisfaction: Survey Design, Use, and Statistical Analysis Methods, 2nd Edition, ASQ Quality Press, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Caywood, C.L. (1997). The handbook of strategic public relations and integrated communications. Boston: McGraw Hill. Dwyer, F.R., Schurr, P.H., & Oh, S. (1987). Developing buyer-seller relationships. Journal of Marketing, 51, 2, 11-27. Remley, D. (1996, September/October). Relationship marketing: Guaranteeing the future. Nonprofit World, 14, 5, 13-16. Terry G. Vavra, (1997).Improving Your Measurement of Customer Satisfaction: A Guide to Creating, Conducting, Analyzing, and Reporting Customer Satisfaction Measurement, ASQ Quality Press, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Read More