Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC): Study Notes

1.1. IMC in the Marketing Process

✦ Integrated Marketing Communications

• IMC is a strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable,
persuasive brand communications programs over time with consumers, customers, prospects, employees,
associates and other targeted relevant external and internal audiences.
• The goal is to generate both short-term financial returns and build long-term brand and shareholder
value.

• IMC Audience Contact Tools:

Broadcast Media Out-of-Home Media

Sales Promotion Print Media PR/Publicity

Personally Selling
Target
Internet/Interactive
Audience
Point-of-Purchase

Product Placements

Events &
Sponsorship Product Placements
Direct Marketing
Word-of-Mouth

➡ Touch Points: Each and every opportunity the customer has to see or hear about the company and/or its
brands or have an encounter or experience with it.
• A concept of marketing communications planning that recognises the added value of a comprehensive
plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines (e.g. general advertising,
direct response, sales promotion, and public relations) and combines these disciplines to provide clarity,
consistency, and maximum communications impact.

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✦ The Marketing & Promotional Mixes
➡ Marketing: Satisfying needs and wants through the exchange process.
• Product or Service
• Pricing Policy
• Distribution (Place) Method
• Promotional Mix

The Promotional/IMC Mix

Advertising Interactive/Internet Publicity/PR

Marketing

Direct Marketing Sales Promotion Personal Selling

➡ Advertising: Any paid form of non-personal communication about an organisation, product, service, or
idea by an identified sponsor (e.g. business firms, individuals, non-profit organisations).
• Advertising In Consumer Markets:
➡ National Advertising: Done on a nationwide basis or in most regions of the country.
➡ Retail/Local Advertising: Encourages consumers to shop at a specific store, use a local service,
patronise a particular establishment.
➡ Primary vs. Selective-Demand Advertising: Primary demand stimulates demand for the general
product class or entire industry whereas selective-demand creates demand for a specific company’s
brands.
• Advertising to Business & Professional Markets:
➡ Business-to-Business (B2B) Advertising: Targets individuals who buy or influence the purchase of
industrial goods or services for their companies.
➡ Professional Advertising: Targets professionals, encouraging them to use a company’s product in their
business operations.
➡ Trade Advertising: Targets marketing channel members, encouraging them to stock, promote, and
resell the manufacturer’s branded products to their customers.

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➡ Direct Marketing: Whereby organisations communicate directly with customers to generate a response
and/or transaction (e.g. telemarketing, direct selling, direct response ads via direct mail [letters, flyers,
brochures, catalogues], direct response TV, direct response radio, etc).
➡ Interactive/Internet Marketing: Allows back-and-forth of information whereby users can participate in
and modify the form and content of the information they receive in real time — Users can receive
information and images, make enquiries, respond to questions and make purchases via the interactive
media (e.g. internet, social media, mobiles, kiosks, CD-ROMs).
➡ Sales Promotion: Those marketing activities that provide extra value or incentive to the sales force,
distributors, or the ultimate consumer and can stimulate immediate sales — This can be consumer-
oriented (e.g. discounts, point-of-purchase materials) or trade-oriented (e.g. sales contests, price deals).
➡ Publicity: Non-personal communications regarding an organisation, product, service or idea that is not
directly paid for or run under identified sponsorship — Can come in the form of a news story, editorial, or
announcement about an organisation and/or its products and services.
➡ Public Relations: A management function which manages and controls a program of action to earn public
understanding and acceptance — It encompasses a wide variety of communication efforts to foster
goodwill and gain public understanding.
• Used to build rapport with the various publics (e.g. employees, customers, stockholders, voters,
competitors or the general population).
➡ Personal Selling: A form of person-to-person communication in which a seller attempts to assist and/or
persuade prospective buyers to purchase the company’s product/service or act on an idea.

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1.2. Marketing & Promotions Process Model

Opportunity Identifying Product

Analysis Markets Decisions
Promotion to
Promotional
Final Buyer
Decisions
Competitive Pricing • Advertising
Analysis Market Decisions • Direct
Segmentation Marketing
Promotion to
• Interactive Ultimate
Trade
Distribution Marketing Consumer
Selecting a Decisions • Sales • Consumers
Target Target Market Promotion • Businesses
Marketing • Publicity &
Public
Relations
Positioning • Personal
through Selling
Marketing
Strategies

Resellers
✦ Marketing Strategy & Analysis (A)
➡ Opportunity Analysis:
• Favourable demand trends
• Customer needs and/or wants not being satisfied
• Where a firm could compete effectively
➡ Competitive Analysis:
• Other brand competition (direct) or other product competition (indirect)
• Search for a competitive advantage
• Reactions of competitors to a company’s marketing and promotional strategy
➡ Target Market Selection
• After evaluating marketing opportunities for products/services in various markets, a company selects
one or more as a target market for which it will develop a marketing program/s.
• Selecting target markets has implications for advertising and promotional strategy tactics.

✦ Target Marketing Process (B)

1. Identify target markets with unfulfilled needs

2. Determine market segmentation

3. Select market to target

4. Position through marketing strategies

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✦ Marketing Planning Program Development (C)
• Involves combining the various elements of the marketing mix into a cohesive and effective marketing
program.
• All elements of the marketing mix must be consistent with one another and must contribute to the overall
IMC program.
➡ Product Decisions:
➡ Pricing Decisions:
➡ Distribution Decisions:
➡ Promotional Decisions:

Push Policy Pull Policy

Producer Producer

Wholesaler Wholesaler

Retailer Retailer

Consumer Consumer

Flow of Flow of
Products Information

✦ Promotion to Trade & Target Market (i.e. Ultimate Consumer) (D)

• The Marketing and Promotions Process Model ends with promotion to:
• Target Market (End or Ultimate Consumer);
• and/or Trade (Resellers/Channel Members)

✦ IMC Planning
• An IMC plan provides the framework for developing, implementing and controlling the organisation’s
integrated marketing communications programs and activities.
• The structure of an IMC plan includes the Executive Summary, Background (Introduction, Situational
Analysis), Specifics (Objectives, Budget, Target Audience), Campaign (Communication Strategy, Creative
Strategy, Media Planning, Media Strategy) and Effectiveness (Campaign Evaluation, Conclusion).

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✦ Participants in the IMC Process

Advertiser (Client

Creative Agency
Advertising Agency
Traditional
Media Agency

Media Organisations Conversational

Marketing Direct Response Agencies Sales Promotion Agencies

Communications
Specialist
Organisation PR Firms Digital/Interactive Agencies

Collateral Services

➡ Advertiser (Client): Organisations with the products, services, or causes to be marketed and for which
advertising agencies and other marketing promotional firms provide service.
➡ Advertising Agency: A firm that specialises in the creation, production, and/or placement of advertising
messages and may provide other services that facilitate the marketing communications process.
➡ In-House Agencies:
➡ Advantages: Cost savings, more control, better coordination
➡ Disadvantages: Less experience, less objectivity, less flexibility
• Reasons for Using an Agency:
• Obtain services of highly skilled specialists (artists, writers, media analysts, researchers, others with
specific skills)
• Obtain an objective point of view (free of internal policy constraints, biases and a broad range of
experience having worked with diverse marketing problems and various types of clients.
• Other Agencies & Services:
➡ Creative Boutiques: Provide only creative services, other functions provided by internal client
departments and full-service agencies may subcontract with these boutiques.
➡ Media Buying Services: Specialise in buying media (especially broadcast time), agencies and clients
develop media strategy and the media buying organisations implement the strategy and buy time
and space.
• Why Agencies Lose Clients: Poor performance or service, poor communication, unrealistic demands by
the client, personality conflicts or changes, changes in size of client or agency, changes in the client’s
corporate and/or marketing strategy, conflicts of interest, declining sales, conflicting compensation
philosophies, changes in policies, disagreements over marketing and/or creative strategy, lack of
integrated marketing capabilities.
• How Agencies Gain Clients: Referrals, solicitations, presentations, public relations, image and
reputation.
➡ Media: Organisation whose function is to provide information/entertainment to subscribers, viewers, or
readers while offering marketers an environment for reaching audiences with print or broadcast messages.
➡ Potential Customers: Anyone!