Integrated Marketing Communications, Societal Effects of Advertising, and Supportive Communication Elements - Coursework Example

Integrated Marketing Communications, the Media Plan, Societal Effects of Advertising and Supportive Communication Elements Introduction: Integrated marketing communications, proper media selection, advertising, and supportive communication elements such as sales promotion are the major trends in any marketing communication process of national and international companies today. This paper aims to critically analyse and discuss the growing popularity and importance of the techniques in the marketing world. It focuses on the aims, objectives, and performance of the marketing communication tools. It highlights both the advantages and disadvantages in implementing such techniques. The paper also analyses their impact, both positive as well as negative, upon society. In the course of such an analysis, the paper records and examines the consumer responses as well. 1.1 Integrated Marketing Communication: 1.1.1 Meaning and Definition: Originated by Professor Don Schultz at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Integrated marketing communications is a concept, a process which is the preferred means of marketing communications at present (Wikipedia). In contrast to the traditional marketing communication where each component and tool of marketing is divided into water-tight compartments operating individually, IMC involves no division of communications into ‘overlapping departments”. Instead, it uses ‘one strategy for everything, making every communication consistent with one message and one strategy’ (Paquet). As held by Duane Sprague, ‘To be effective, IMC must tear down the traditional departmental walls that create information silos and management fiefdoms. All departments must work together as a unified team to carry out the strategic plan in total unison’ (OCT Group). The American Marketing Solution holds that the principle of integration in IMC ‘holds that all communications emanating from a single strategic platform will generate a significantly greater return on the communications investment than would be the case with traditional independent media executions’. Integrated marketing communications has been defined in various ways by different scholars, researchers, and institutes. According to Duane Sprague, ‘IMC is a comprehensive, consistent, goal-oriented, focused and planned methodology to marketing and communication. And it is the hottest trend in marketing communication today’ (OCT Group). It differs from traditional advertising and promotion programs by ‘also using zero-based planning; interactive data-driven communication; brand touch points; cross functional organisation; and data-driven communication’ (University of Denver). According to the Medill School group, ‘IMC is built upon a two-way communications between marketer and customer. This dialogue is seen as always evolving, based upon longitudinal understanding of customers and their purchase behaviors… it is a process, not a “thing”’ (Percy, 1997). 1.1.2 Dimensions of Integrated Marketing Communications: Integrated marketing communications has two main dimensions. It encompasses both vertical and horizontal dimensions within its fold. According to Maguire Associates, ‘within an operating group, such as enrolment management or institutional advancement, the right mix of direct marketing, public relations, print materials, advertising, and web interaction can have a major impact on the goals of the group’. Similarly, analysing the horizontal dimension, they stated that ‘horizontally, when marketing messages, visual identity, and mix of media are applied with a sensible amount of consistency, all communications efforts not only achieve the tactical goals for which they are intended, but they also combine to build a cohesive brand and identity’ (Maguire Associates). 1.1.3 Problems and Solutions: As observed by Duane Sprague, Integrated Marketing Communications ‘permeates every planned and unplanned communication at every contact point where the customer or prospect may receive An impression of the company…it incorporates the corporate mission, the compensation plan, the management style, and the employee training’ (OCT Group). With such a varied of functions encompassed within it, problems are bound to arise. The common problems that might plague an integrated marketing communication process include elitism, lack of knowledge, lack of reward system, measurement problems, and many others. As Sprague states, ‘the most difficult aspect is getting every employee in every department to work, plan, and think together as a team. It is the separate and distinct territories that destroy integration, consistency, pro-activity, real branding ability, and solid customer service and retention’. Here, ‘getting the managers to see this is necessary for the IMC process to succeed’. ‘It takes an unbiased individual with a very broad, and yet specific, understanding of every aspect of advertising, marketing, promotions, PR, relationship marketing, research, and branding to effectively manage a IMC plan’ (Sprague). To solve problems and there has to be proper coordination, efficient management, proper research, strategy, tactics, and training. Besides, ‘resources’ have to be ‘in place to implement and capitalize on the plan’. As stated by Duane Sprague, ‘most marketing campaigns fail because they lack proper funding to achieve stated goals’. Proper attention has also to be paid to ‘details of implementation, including quality of production, effective media placement, appropriate timing of message delivery, and flawless promotion’ (Sprague). For an Integrated Marketing Communication plan to be effective and successful there has to be complete coordination among all departments of ‘information silos and management fiefdoms’. The solutions to problems arising in an IMC plan include the following: Establishment of a cross-functional communication management team, which includes ‘department heads across the organization’ where ‘each departmental head generates ideas, aids in the communication strategy development, implementation, management, training, and results tracking for his or her department… such a team essentially expands the marketing responsibility beyond the marketing department and makes each employee marketing representative’; Appointing a communication generalist who will ‘recommend, implement, manage, and evaluate appropriate research techniques, tactics, media options, strengths and weaknesses, costs, and efficiencies’. Such a person will help to ensure ‘that every communication is on strategy before it is released’; Providing employee compensation plans and bonuses which ‘are structured to reward not only transactions but for customer retention and satisfaction as well’; Establishing ‘an interactive two-way dialog vs. monolog’ where ‘customers and prospects are to be invited and encouraged to discuss ideas, register complaints, and give feedback to the organization’; Formulating a mission statement and a mission marketing program which is known to all customers, prospects, and employees. Such a mission marketing ‘gives… a legitimate and newsworthy venue for free media exposure, and it gives people one more reason to do business with you’. Some examples include the Children’s Miracle Network, The Primary Children’s Hospital, The American Cancer Society, Make a Wish Foundation’, and many others; Working on a zero-based budgeting that helps in implementing an IMC plan without compromising on the quality of the plan. Implementing a zero-based communication planning that helps in the best use of strategic objectives. 1.1.4 Implementation of Integrated Marketing Communication: Based on ‘centralised marketing communication efforts’, Integrated Marketing Communication includes ‘a system of accountability and studies how different programs affect… markets and consumers’ (B2BE Documents). An analysis of Integrated Marketing Communication plan reveals that there are three main elements of the plan such as ‘marketing, creative and implementation’. While marketing function ‘includes all research, analysis and recommendations’, creative includes ‘all advertising, copywriting and design functions’ and implementation involves ‘putting the plan together, ensuring that it is effectively executed and that a detailed follow-up process is put in place’ (B2BE Documents). Integrated marketing communication involves certain basic steps or stages which include ‘customer database, which helps to segment and analyze customer buying habits; strategies, which provides insight from analysis of customer data that is used to shape marketing, sales, and communications strategies; tactics, which helps in targeting specific markets; and evaluating results, which includes the analysis of customer response and new information about buying habits’ (Wirth). According to Larry Percy, even in ‘the early 1990s a number of very large agencies and agency groups were quite active in the area of integrated marketing communications. Such agencies as Saatchi and Saatchi, Young and Rubicam, the Interpublic Group of Companies, WPP Group… delivered other marketing communications services either from specific divisions, subsidiaries of the groups, or through alliances or joint ventures’. ‘Prior to its breakup into Campbell-Ewald and Ammirati Puris Lintas in 1995, Lintas, a division of Interpublic Group of Companies, had for years offered an extensive training program in integrated marketing communications for their middle and upper level managers’ (Percy, 1997). A classic example where Integrated Marketing Communication plan has been used carefully and effectively is the DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival Agency: McKinney & Silver, which had a ‘narrow fan base’ and thus, was ‘failing to attract sponsorship and investment’. However, with an effective IMC, it was able to increase sales up by 177 percent, sponsorship by 26%, and earned a number of ‘prestigious national recognitions’ (Integrated Marketing Communications). 1.1.6 References: Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia, Integrated Marketing Communications, retrieved May 2006, . Wirth, Ross A., A Model for Integrated Marketing, Entarga, 2005, retrieved May 2006, Paquet, Paul, Breakthrough, buzzword or a great big failure? Cornerstone Word Company, retrieved May 2006, Maguire Associates, Integrated Marketing, retrieved May 2006, http://www.maguireassoc.com/services/integrated_marketing.html Percy, Larry, Strategies For Implementing Marketing Communications, McGraw-Hill Companies, 1997. Marketwise Solutions, Integrated Marketing Communications Services Plan, retrieved May 2006, < http://www.marketwisesolutions.com/integrated-marketing-communications.htm> B2BE Documents, Marketing Communications, Integrated Marketing, retrieved May 2006, < http://www2.b2bedocuments.com:81/html/marketingcommunications.html> American Marketing Association, Integrated Marketing Communications, retrieved May 2006, < http://www.marketingpower.com/content1294.php> Sprague, Duane, Intergrated Marketing Communication... Your Competitive Advantage, OCT Group, retrieved May 2006, < http://www.octgroup.com/articles/im.htm> University of Denver, Integrated Marketing Communication, retrieved May 2006, < http://www.daniels.du.edu/marketing/imc.cfm> Katrandjiev, Hristo Ivanov, Some aspects of measuring integrated marketing communications (IMC), University for National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, retrieved May 2006, < http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:8OthCM8qRywJ:facta.junis.ni.ac.yu/facta/eao/eao2000/eao2000-11.pdf+integrated+marketing+communications+and+implementation+and+problems&hl=en&gl=in&ct=clnk&cd=13> 1.2 The Media Plan 1.2.1 The Media Plan: Its components and Importance: In a media-dominated world, where integrated marketing communications is interlocked with the media tool, there is a great need to choose and organise a media plan for effective marketing and advertising of products. Integrated marketing communications depends heavily on a carefully planned media plan. With every medium having its own advantages and disadvantages, it becomes mandatory to create a media plan with proper selection of medium and its objectives. The main components of a media plan include the following: ‘Defining the marketing problem; Translating the marketing requirements into attainable media objectives; Defining a media solution by formulating media strategies. For example, the rule of thumb is that a print ad must run three times before it gets noticed. Radio advertising is most effective when run at certain times of the day or around certain programs, depending on what market you’re trying to reach’ (Entrepreneur.com) In an IMC process, each medium is analysed, taking into account the chosen strategy, ‘the message to be conveyed, the relevance of the medium to the target audience, and its media consumption habits’. Additionally, there is also an analysis of ‘cost per point or cost per impression, as well as production costs associated with each medium’ (Sprague). According to Duane Sprague, ‘it is always better to use a mixture of appropriate media to complement and leverage the campaign message’. 1.2.2 Media Selection: The Process According to Enterpreneur.com, ‘choosing which media or type of advertising to use is sometimes tricky for small firms with limited budgets and know-how’. Not all mediums are suited to companies with different natures, aims, and objectives. Chanimal reiterates the importance of choosing a proper medium. It is important to determine ‘which medium type (TV, Radio, Display Ads) will reach your desired targets and generate the greatest ROI. It may be multiple types--if so, you should put a % weight value on each and consider your budget accordingly’. The process of media selection includes a thorough understanding of the target market. For example, according to Chanimal, ‘the high-tech market (aside from consumer electronics (PlayStations, Dell, etc.)), the most widely used advertising medium is print. Within the print medium, the most common for high-tech is trade publications (rather than the general business and consumer publications like Newsweek, Fortune, Popular Mechanics, Southern Living, etc.).  Trade publications might include PC Magazine (general market), Network Computing (corporate networking), Videomaker (highly vertical video market), Gaming (obvious), etc.’ Enterpreneur.com states the companies which service only a small area would find large-scale market television and newspapers to be often too expensive. According to it, ‘magazines, unless local, usually cover too much territory to be cost-efficient for a small firm, although some national publications offer regional or city editions. Metropolitan radio stations present the same problems as TV and metro newspapers; however, in smaller markets, the local radio station and newspaper may sufficiently cover a small firm’s audience’. Hence, market and audience research is extremely important before choosing a particular medium for marketing communication. As stated by Wikipedia, ‘finding out exactly who is the audience for a particular newspaper, or who watches at a given time on television, is a specialized form of market research, which is usually conducted on behalf of the media owners’. 1.2.3 Media Selection Objectives and Performance The performance of any media selected can be measured by two dimensions, which include coverage and frequency. Coverage or reach aims ‘to maximize overall awareness, the maximum number of the target audience should be reached by the advertising’ (Wikipedia). Hence, the coverage decision is ‘a balance between the desired coverage and the cost of achieving it’ (Wikipedia). Frequency entails deciding on issues such as ‘using specific media, how many times, on average, should the individuals in your target audience be exposed to your advertising message?’ (Enterpreneur.com). Often when comparing costs and effectiveness of media, there are certain factors taken into consideration such as ‘Cost per thousand’, which includes determining ‘how much will it cost to reach a thousand of prospective customers’ and is calculated by dividing the cost of advertising by the publication’s circulation in thousands; and ‘Cost per point’, which includes determining the ‘cost to buy one rating point for target audience’. Besides the above factors, the impact, which analyses if the medium offers full opportunities for appealing to the appropriate senses, and selectivity, which investigates the extent to which the ‘message can be restricted to those people who are known to be the most logical prospects’ (Enterpreneur.com). Media Schedules also play a very important role in determining the performance of a selected medium. According to Enterpreneur.com, ‘many researchers have charted the reach achieved with different media schedules… these tabulations are put into formulas from which you can estimate the level of delivery for any given schedule’. In this regard, it may be mentioned that GRPs or Gross rating points are being used increasingly by companies to ‘estimate broadcast reach and frequency from tabulations and formulas’ (Enterpreneur.com). 1.2.4 References Chanimal, Media Selection Process, retrieved May 2006, http://www.chanimal.com/html/media_selection.html> Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia, Advertising Media Selection, retrieved May 2006, Read More