INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATION (IMC)

By: Wajahat Hussain

Why IMC?

In highly competitive environment

companies need to be heard clearly.

TWO EMERGING TRENDS
1. Accountability:

Advertising agencies are expected to yield tangible

results in terms of sales, brand awareness and
customers’ loyalty.
“Marketing has gone from being a cost or expense to
an investment”.
TWO EMERGING TRENDS
2. Tasks Performed:

Due to increase in accountability there has been a major

change in tasks performed by following key players.

a) Account Executive:
From serving merely a liaison between people who prepare
commercials and client companies to involvement in
developing overall strategic communication plans while
ensuring the achievement of tangible results from each
individual promotional activity.
TWO EMERGING TRENDS
b) Brand or Product Manager:

To keep the sales volume increasing the brand manager must work
diligently with the

i. Advertising agency
ii. Trade promotional specialist
iii. Consumer promotional specialist and
iv. Any other individual or agency involved in conveying the brand image to
customer.

Brand manager ensures coordination and integration of all the

promotional efforts to convey messages speaking about brand, with the
same and homogeneous voice.
TWO EMERGING TRENDS
c) Creative

Creative are also held responsible and accountable, along with

account executive, for the effectiveness of advertising campaign.
They are being asked to perform additional functions.

As a result, in advertising and marketing agencies, a new

partnership among Account Executive, Brand Managers and
Creative has been emerged. These agencies are asked to do more.
They are assigned the task to help a client company develop a
totally integrated communication program.
COMMUNICATION AND IMC PROGRAM
Communication Process:
1. Sender
2. Encoding
3. Transmission device
4. Decoding
5. Receiver
6. Noise e.g. Clutter
7. Feed Back
e.g. purchase, inquiries, complaints, questions, visit to stores, and
hits on a website.
COMMUNICATION AND IMC PROGRAM
Communication Process:
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION (IMC)

IMC program can be built on the foundation provided

by the communication model.

Definition: IMC is the coordination and integration

of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and
resources within a company into a seamless program
that maximizes the impact on consumers and other
end users at a minimal cost.
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION (IMC)

IMC originated from traditional Framework of

Marketing. The Marketing Mix is the starting point.

Due to Accountability issue this traditional view has

been changed.

A complete IMC plan incorporates every element of

Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Distribution Methods,
and promotion, to present a unified message.
AN IMC PLAN

IMC is based on a master marketing plan.

This master plan should coordinate efforts in all

components of the Marketing Mix. Its purpose is to
relay harmony in messages to customers and to ensure
that total communication program is sync.

(Once this plan is prepared, the firm can prepare its

integrated marketing communication program.)
AN IMC PLAN
Steps in IMC Plan:
I. Situation Analysis:

+
Problems and Internal
Opportunities Strengths and
present in Weaknesses
External of the
Environment company

II. Marketing Objectives:

Include targets like:
Higher sales, an increase in market shares, a new competitive position or
desired customer actions like visiting the store or making a purchase.
AN IMC PLAN
Steps in IMC Plan:

III. Marketing Budget is prepared:

IV. Marketing Strategies:

Applied to all the ingredients of Marketing Mix plus any positioning,
differentiation and branding strategies.

V. Marketing Tactics:
Day-to-day activities necessary to support the marketing strategies…

VI. Plan to Evaluate Performance:

IMC COMPONENTS
Internet Marketing IMC for Small Evaluating and
Businesses and Integrated Marketing INTEGRATION
entrepreneurial Program TOOLS
Ventures

Trade Consumer Personal Selling, Public

Promotion promotion Database Relations and PROMOTION
Marketing and Sponsorship TOOLS
CRM Program

Advertising Advertising Advertising Advertising

Manageme Design: Design: Media
nt Theoretical Message Selection ADVERTISING
Framework Strategies and TOOLS
and types of Execution
Appeals Framework
Corporate Image Buyers Behaviour Promotion
and Opportunity FOUNDATION
Brand Analysis
Management
IMC COMPONENTS
1. FOUNDATION
As the name suggests, it provides foundation for the rest of IMC
Program.

i. Corporate Image and Brand Management

Strengthening the firm’s image and brands answers the key questions:
“Who we are and what message do we try to send?”
From there it is possible to identify the target markets.

ii. Buying Behaviour

How individuals make choices?
Which motives lead to and what factors affect the purchase decisions?
IMC Program can be designed in manner that best influences consumer’s
choices both in B2B and B2C environments.
IMC COMPONENTS
iii. Promotional Opportunities Analysis
Identifying all target markets
Consumer market segments are often distinguished by
a) Demographics
b) Income
c) Social Class
d) Psychographics Variables.

Business Markets can be segmented by:

a) Understanding the demographics of the company’s buying team.
b) Noting who the end users will be.
c) By determining the benefits the other businesses expect to receive
from the product or service they buy.
IMC COMPONENTS
2. ADVERTISING TOOLS

i. Advertisement Management
Addresses the major functions of advertising and directs the general path the
company will take.

ii. Advertising Design and Media Selection

It involves matching the message, media and audience, so that the right people get
the right messages.
Many appeals can be used:
a) Fear
b) Sex
c) Humor
d) Music
e) Logic
The appeal should be conveyed by attractive, credible, likeable, and authoritative
sources.
IMC COMPONENTS

Note:
Effective advertising is based on a foundation of understanding
Consumer and Business Buyer Behaviour.

Advertising reinforces or projects the specific Brand and Firm’s

Image stated in the Marketing Plan.
IMC COMPONENTS
3. PROMOTIONAL TOOLS
Messages presented in advertising campaign can be reinforced in the
Trade and Consumer Promotions.

i. Trade Promotion includes:

Contests
Incentives
Vendor Support Programs
Fees and Discounts
And many other activities that help the manufactures push the
products through the channel.
IMC COMPONENTS
ii. Consumer Promotions (Directly Oriented to End Users)
It includes:
Coupons
Contests
Premiums
Refunds
Rebates
Free Samples, and
Price-Off Offers
Consumer Promotions are directed to make direct contacts with
consumers. It explains the nature of:
Personal Selling, and
Database Marketing in terms of Database Management, Data Mining,
Direct Marketing, CRM, etc.
IMC COMPONENTS
iii. Public Relations Programs:
Public Relations Programs help the marketing team connect with
consumers in positive and socially responsible ways.

Sponsorship Programs:
The public Relations Programs, in many cases, are utilized to
help a sponsorship programs to achieve the greatest impact.
IMC COMPONENTS
4. INTEGRATION TOOLS

To make sure all customers are effectively being served.

i. Internet Marketing:
Have become critical activity in nearly every firm.

Consumers look for companies to have an internet presence.

For Businesses it is even more critical as increasingly B2B

transactions, sales, and services are being conducted online.
IMC COMPONENTS
ii. Small Businesses and Entrepreneurial Ventures:

All of the IMC tasks are included in managing a small business;

however, the emphasis change due to special challenges such as
limited funds for promotions.
IMC COMPONENTS
iii. Evaluating an IMC Program

It is critical to make decisions about how a communication program

will be evaluated prior to any promotional campaign.

The evaluating material can be designed accordingly.

A promotion evaluation program holds everything together.

Fully integrated marketing requires a careful linkage between

planning and evaluation process; one cannot occur without the
other.