Integrated Marketing Communication Plan for the Water Recycling Company - Case Study Example

Integrated Marketing Communication Plan Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 1.0 INTRODUCTION 3 1.1 Background of the city and issue of the water recycling 4 1.2 Target audience segment analysis 5 2.0 COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES 7 2.1 Attention 8 2.2 Interest 8 2.3 Desire 9 2.4 Action 9 3.0 CREATIVE STRATEGIES RELATED TO THE COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES 9 4.0 MEDIA PLAN AND BUDGET 12 4.1 Media 12 4.1.1 Broadcast 13 4.1.2 Television 13 4.1.3 Radio 13 4.1.4 Online/Internet 14 4.2 Print media 14 4.2.1 Newspaper 14 4.2.2 Magazines 14 4.2.3 Brochures 14 BUDGET 15 5.9 CONCLUSION 15 6.0 Reference 16 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report involves an integrated marketing communication plan for a company that is dealing with recycling of waste water to be fit for human use. It has four main sections. It starts with an introduction as well as the history and some facts concerning the town where the problem of water is faced as the first section. The second section involves the target population. The populations that are targeted as well as the areas in town which are need of the water are well explained. The third section involves the four communication objectives in details. The fourth section deals with the strategies that will be used to achieve the four objectives with reference to the target population and the mass media that will be used in the advertisement. Then there is a conclusion and the list of references. 1.0 INTRODUCTION IMC is the initials for the integrated marketing communication, which entails integration and coordination of all the company’s or organizations communication tools involved in the marketing, functions, avenues as well as the sources within the company into its seamless program (Larry, 12). It entails the management of the relationships with the customers through ensuring the brand value is good through the process of proper communication. It ensures the efforts are geared toward the achievement of cross-functional kind of process, which will lead to a very well nourished and profitable relationship with the stakeholders and the customers. There are four main components of integrated marketing communication. The foundation entails the corporate brand and image management; it also entails issues like the behaviour of the consumer as well as the opportunities for promotion (Don et el, 50). Advertising tool entails management of the advertising, the designs of the advertisement, types of the appeals and theoretical frameworks. In addition, the issue of advertisement designs is catered for in this component, message strategies, execution frameworks, and the selection of the media as well as the media selection for the advertisement for the purposes of enforcing the brand and the image of the firm. The other component is the promotional tool, which involves the consumer promotions, trade promotions, database marketing, personal selling, and management of the consumer relations, the public relations and the sponsorship programs. The last component is the integration tools which involve internet marketing, integrated marketing communication for the entrepreneurial ventures and small businesses, programs for the integrated and evaluating marketing (Terence, 200). 1.1 Background of the city and issue of the water recycling This integrated marketing communication entails the development of a plan for a town called Malaba with an aim of solving the existing problem with the drinking water in that particular town. The cause for the water problems is due to the long and extended seasons of dry climate and at times, the communities around the area are said to abuse the available drinking water in the area hence leaving the community with no clean and safe drinking water. Malaba is a town that has an approximately area of square 500 km2. It is locater in the in United Arab Emirates is dry and hot with a maximum temperature of over 40% in some months like July and August. The average rainfall is about 120 mm which falls in very short torrential. This is one of the greatest challenges in that such climate really affects the health of people and animals as well as the condition of growing their feeds and food for the people due to the lack of water. Politics and the governance of United Arab Emirates is yet another factor likely to cause an effect in the efforts of availing the water for the communities. This is because most activities are governed politically. For instance, the office of the prime minister has been bestowed a great responsibility. In addition, the issues of finances (treasury) are politically sorted. The area has had a history for problems with the lack of clean and plenty water for a long time. A number of problems associated with the health of the people due to poor sanitation as well as the consumption of unclean water has raised the attention of the people and the town at large to the issue or the problem the community is facing now. According to the public health acts, water and clean water for that matter is the most important commodity for the survival of all human being in the town as well as all other living things. There are now places the community can easily access clean water so it is very important for the used water to be recycled to ensure there is minimal waste. There are some advantages of the process as well as some disadvantages. Some of the pros include economization of water, it also reduces the strain of the water treatment plants, the water can be used for farm uses and it enables people to save the little available clean fresh water bought in the shops for other uses like cooking and drinking. The disadvantages could be if a mistake is done during recycling the water is not fit for human consumption then it can really cause problems to the human beings in terms of the ill health also the people may not use the water since they may find it unfit for use according to their perceptions and attitudes. 1.2 Target audience segment analysis The plan is done to target a wide range of audiences. It should be noted that Malaba is an urban centre, which contains all sort of people in the area. This means that the market segmentation in the area is very wide and broad since all ages of people are expected to be in the urban set up. The town is approximated to have over 600, 000 people with a very high growth rate. This is because of the issue of immigration whereby people are migrating to the urban centres at a very high rate. Water is referred to as life. This means that all kind of human beings will always need water irrespective of their age, occupation, sex and size. This is because there are some kind of needs that can only be quenched with the availability of water and clean water for that matter like the prevention of some water associated diseases like cholera also for the hygiene to be maintained then water is a key raw material and also for proper sanitation like cleaning the toilets. This means that the issue of water is of great concern and that there also a great need for the recycling of the waste water to ensure there is an increase in the volume of water available for the town dwellers to use. It is in the urban areas that most of the colleges, schools and other learning institutions are found. In these colleges and schools, there are water requirement by all the students as well as the teaching staff and the subordinate staff. The water is not only needed for the purposes of drinking but also for the purposes of bathing and washing of clothes for the schools where the students are boarders. In addition, there is a need for the water for cleaning the building, flushing and cleaning the toilets as well as for other purposes. It is also in this town that a number of industries are found. It is very oblivious that water is a raw material for many industries. The town harbour three main industries involved in the manufacturing including some food industries like bakery and soft drinks, there is a textile industry and a plastic manufacturing industry. The three industries will be in need of water for their daily uses like in the process of cleaning as well as raw materials for some like the soft drink and bakery industries. There are also a number of industries in the town ranging form the private, the public, referral and dispensaries. Water is a very great and important commodity as far as the issue of hospital running is concerned. There is no hospital, which can function without clean, and plenty of water no matter what. Water is needed for cleaning, cooking, laundry and flushing the toilet not forgetting the issue of drinking water. This is to ensure there is no infection and re-infection since it is an environment that is highly infectious. All the people in the hospital both females and males young and aged are in need of water. Residential areas in the town are actually the ones, which occupy a large area. This means that in the dwelling places there will be need for water for laundry, cleaning the houses, drinking, cooking, cleaning the houses, utensils, toilets bathing and drinking among other uses. This means that per every house hold there is a standard amount of water that is required for the sustainability of that household as well as to ensure the sanitation of the area and the health are not compromised at any point. There are also a number of hotels or food point in the town, which is the key places as far as hygiene and sanitation, is concerned. This is because a hotel cannot be run unless there is plenty of clean water since some health issues will arise because of the fact that food is a very sensitive factor as far as water availability is concerned. 2.0 COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES The objectives of any integrated marketing communication plan must be in the interest of promoting the brand awareness, product and company knowledge, influencing the interest and attitudes of the consumers, development of the product image and influencing the purchase of the products. For any company to be successful in the business it is involved in there must be a great deal of brand management that is practiced (Hill & Jones, 60). It is because of the fact that this is one of the ways in which a company attempts to achieve it goals as far as the issue of customer satisfaction is concerned. This refers to the process of applying marketing techniques with reference to specific product, brand and product line. The process not only entails the issue of the brand but also the management of the particular company to ensure the goals and objectives of the company or the business are achieved. There are three very important parts of brand management as far as the company is concerned which are the image, feature and the core values. These are very useful for the company in building the brand name to all of its customers. It is through the core values of the company that the customers have been able to clearly understand the purpose and the faith of the brand of the Company (Hisrich, 109). This is the feature, which is very strong for the company and will help the customers to be able to identify the company’s brands. This is because; people must be in a position to clearly get to understand the brand produced by the Company due to the fact water is a product that has been repeatedly produced but at this juncture what matters is the availability of clean recycled water. The issue of image has been used by the company for the purposes of winning it customer’s identification. The Company will be committed in trying to build the image of the brand for all of it water production. This explains why most of the people in the whole town think very positively about the clean and fresh water production but will also change their attitudes on the recycled water to be produced or offered by the Company as compared to other companies. It is very evident that even most of the parents will gladly send their kids to school that have supply water form from the Company because they trust them. The following are the four objectives 2.1 Attention The attention of the customers must be attracted trough a number of ways. This is whereby the people living in the town as well as the surrounding areas will be informed of the new project, which is for their own benefits. The attention of the customer will be draw starting the month of June, which is one month from now through advertisements (Philip & Patrick, 45) 2.2 Interest The customers or rather the desired clientele will start getting interested by the month of August. This is especially because in the month of September, students are going back to schools and requires volumes of water. In addition, the other departments will at least have a total of one month to have heard about the new project and then will be ready to shoe their interest in the water. Their interest will be accompanied by some inquiries by the interested parties meaning that there is a need for the company to set up an office as well as mobile number where the interested clientele can access for their inquiries. 2.3 Desire Most of the other departments will immediately start having the desire to have the supply of water by the mid of the month of August meaning that some of them will also start the negotiations. This means that the company must be in a position to have the budget for them ready so that by the time, they are inquiring and desiring to have the water supplied to them, they are able to know the amount of cash they are expected to pay. In addition, other factors include the materials that are needed for them to have the water like the piping system and proper drainage systems (Thompson & Martin, 78). 2.4 Action By the month of September, the interested clientele must take actions. This means they should have their piping system installed as well as have paid all the required fees. In addition, they should also have the materials needed for fixation of the water like the meter and the tanks for storages. 3.0 CREATIVE STRATEGIES RELATED TO THE COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES The fulfilment of any kind of objective must be accompanied by very good strategies, which will make the objectives achievement SMART (Finlay, 112). The strategies must involve the management, the consumers as well as the employees in the company. The four very important elements in the strategy are the brand identity, strategy, management and value. They are the main processes that are used by the company to ensure the customers get to know the brand very well. Brand identity entails the naming of the particular brand, also the aspect of using the brand name as well as the logo. The company comes up with unique names for their products, which are known in the whole town. A good example is the name like water for all uses. This is unique name and in case the company would want to come up with a new action then the name itself would sell the brand or the product. In addition, the use of the name of the company that is very appropriate to the customer because it is unique and easy for them to remember will be very necessary. Beside the name all of its products contains some logos and symbols like one very unique a spring with very clear water flowing. Springs are associated with clean fresh and very safe water for drinking. That is the main symbol used for the identity of the Company’s brands, which appears in all of their products, and brands. The moment people see on the brochures the logos and hear the name they know it is from the water Company. The manager of the company is expected to explain what the brand means for the company, which is the second strategy. This means that the managers in conjunction with the other employees especially the marketing department should be involved in the process of branding after getting to know the needs of the customers that are out to satisfy. The exercise should be led by the company’s CEO. It should be noted that for a particular brand to be effective to the customers then it means that there must be a brand promise, which stands for the real implications of the brand. This explains why the president and the overall overseer of the Company are involved in the process of branding. The company has made a brand promise to its customers in the sense that all of its products are known to evoke feelings from the customers resulting to them buying and ordering for more of the products. They are able to make the right promise top their customers because of the fact that through the marketing department, there is always a continuous study to get to know what the needs of the customers are and then the company goes ahead and fulfils them. A company must apply a number of ways to ensure that the customers’ gets learn about the brand it is offering. Some of the ways that the company will have to use includes issues like advertisement as well as the effort of the management of the company to get to understand the motivational factors of the customers as well as the abilities as far as working in the company is concerned . By doing that, the company is well able to stand and compete with all of its competitors. The Company has been able to keep the promise to the customers because of the fact that it entails management of the capabilities by the use of processes that can help the company to deliver what is required of it to the customers. Brand strategy entails the transmission of the massages about the brand of the company to all of the customers. This explains why the company must be aware of its niche first before embarking on other issues. Through that, then the company is able to know the kind of message to pass across for the customers, especially through the advertisement and the company is able to create impressive images to the minds of the customers. Company has been able to fully embark and maintain the practice and that explains why their products can be sold in the whole town without any struggle. In actual sense they have been able to self advertise them in the whole town very easily and in a balanced way. The brand value of the company will be maintained through continuous innovation and creativity the action is being taken by different clientele to acquire the water. The brand value of any given company refers to the feeling the customers and the entire town feel concerning the brand (Kenneth & Marshall, 99). One of the uniqueness the brands of the Company have to the town is the effort it will continuously put in ensuring that the people of the town are always happy. It is evident form the people that the water that is associated by the Company is ever clean of high quality, delivered and recycled through the latest technology and contains a unique design, which suit any use. This has been derived at after the positive feedback that is received from the customers all over the town. Most of the people argue that they can comfortably purchase a film that is a product of the Company to be viewed by the whole family because they are confident that it will be suitable for all viewing. It has been confirmed that their cartoons can also be enjoyed by not only the children but also by the entire town very comfortably (Robyn, 20). This means that when designing them, the company is very considerate of the fact that all the ages of people will enjoy. The company’s one way of brand management is the use of knowledge management which entails the different strategies, methods, practices and ways that have been laid by a particular organization to represent, create, identify and distribute as well as adopt to the experiences and insights observed in the business on the process of its running. 4.0 MEDIA PLAN AND BUDGET Mass media refers to the collections of all the media technologies that are available like the internet, radio, newspaper and the television. Two main media will be used in the process of advertising as well as promoting the water that will be recycled by the company to the community that is surrounding. The two means are the media and the print. There are wide ranges of mass media that are used in relaying messages to the people. The media involves the use of the broadcast, the television, radio and finally internet or online advertisement. 4.1 Media This form of mass media will involve the use of the broadcasting, television, internet and the radio (Salder & Craig, 98). These are some of the most accessible means of media for the community as well as in the urban centre. This means that those homes that do not have radios may receive the information through television broadcasts. 4.1.1 Broadcast This will entail the use of a vehicle with one person inside it with a loud speaker announcing to the people about the new project (Tony, 160). The method will be very effective in the sense that it will be able to reach people in the market areas where there is no access or even time to listen or watch television, radio or even log into the internet. This will be time consuming, and expensive because the car or vehicle to be used must be fuelled as well as the person announcing must be paid. 4.1.2 Television There are five channels, which are viewed in the area. However, according o the statistic, one of the channels called “citizen” is widely viewed meaning that the company will have to use the channels or the station to advertise for the water. It viewed by about 80% of the people in the people in the area meaning it will be the most efficient and effective. 4.1.3 Radio There are a total of ten Radio stations in the area. However, the company will only use one to advertise because it is widely listened by the people because it uses the people’s native language to air its information. This will be very important in the objective capturing the interest of the people. 4.1.4 Online/Internet The internet will be very useful especially in showing or making the people understand well the process and steps followed in the recycling of water to be fit for use. The process will be posted in the website of the company and in all other forms of the advertisement people will be advised to log into the website for more information. 4.2 Print media Print form of media includes the use of hardcopy to pass the information to the people (Shridha, 78). The main print media that will be used includes the magazines, newspapers and brochures or fliers. 4.2.1 Newspaper The national newspaper will be used. The advert will appear once in a week for a month meaning it will appear only four times. The reason for using the newspaper is to ensure places like industries, hospitals and hotels where newspaper purchase is done daily will be reached by the information. 4.2.2 Magazines Numerous magazines are produced within the town but the most read ones are the lifestyle magazines. This means the company will use it for its advertisement. The magazine is produced on monthly basis meaning the advert will appear one month. 4.2.3 Brochures Brochures are unique leaflets that are used by the companies to advertise their products. In this case, the company will produce brochures, which will contain the vision, mission, objectives and the process of the water recycling in details. They will then be issued in the residential areas, hospitals, schools and churches. BUDGET Type of mass media cost Broadcast $100,000 Television $20,000 Radio $5,000 Online/internet $25,000 Newspaper $15000 Magazines $20,000 brochures $50,000 total $235,000 5.9 CONCLUSION Water is a very important commodity and it is very important for the human beings to have it in plenty. The integrated marketing communication plan for the company must therefore be well strategized so that it can catch the attention, interest and desires of the people in order for them to take the action of embracing the idea. Like any other any company for the company to be successful in the business it is involved in, there must be a great deal of brand management that is practiced (Don et el, 200). In addition, the issue of promotion is of paramount importance so that the people can be aware of the product (water) the company is offering. 6.0 Reference Don, Schelter, Stanely Tannenbaum, and Robert, Lauterborn . Integrated Marketing Communications. California: ABC-CLIO, 1993. 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