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Introduction: According to Don Schultz: IMC is the process of developing and implementing various forms of persuasive communication programs with customers and prospects over time. The goal of IMC is to influence or directly affect the behaviour of the selected audience. IMC considers all sources of brand or company contacts which a customer or prospect has with the product or service as potential delivery channels for future messages. Further, IMC makes use of all forms of communication which are relevant to the customer or prospect, and to which they might be receptive.
In sum, the IMC process starts with the customer or prospect and then works back to determine and define the forms and methods through which persuasive communications methods should be developed. Integrated Marketing Communications is a term used to describe a holistic approach to marketing communication. It aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media. The concept includes online and offline marketing channels. Online marketing channels include any e-marketing campaigns or programs, from email, banner to latest web related channels for webinar, blog, micro-blogging, Internet TV etc.
Offline marketing channels are traditional print (newspaper, magazine), mail order, public relations, industry relations, billboard, radio, and television. A company develops its integrated marketing communication programme using all the elements of the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion). The goal of selecting the elements of proposed integrated marketing communications is to create a campaign that is effective and consistent across media platforms.
Some marketers may want only ads with the greatest breadth of appeal: the executions that, when combined, provide the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational moments. Others may only want ads with the greatest depth of appeal: the ads with the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational points within each. 1 Although integrated marketing communications is more than just an advertising campaign, the bulk of marketing dollars is spent on the creation and distribution of advertisements. Hence, the bulk of the research budget is also spent on these elements of the campaign.
Once the key marketing pieces have been tested, the researched elements can then be applied to other contact points. IMC is a new approach to marketing communications planning being driven by technology, customers, consumers, and by organizational desire to properly allocate finite resources. IMC is still an emerging discipline and integration is a transition between the old historical product-driven outbound marketing systems versus the new informationdriven interactive consumer focussed marketplace of the twenty-first century. IMC – it’s significance and importance:
Many organizations proclaim IMC to be a key competitive advantage of marketing. Integration of communications – as with anything else, attempts to combine, integrate, and synergize different elements of the promotional mix, so to consumers, messages through a variety of different mechanisms look, sound, and feel alike. Growth Factors: ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? From media advertising to multiple forms of communication. Media explosion and accompanying fragmentation. Greater segmentation and emergence of niche and unitary markets. A revolution in information technology which is still sweeping the world.
The importance of reinforcing consumer loyalty via relationship marketing. The importance of building and increasing a brand’s image based equity. The spread of multinationalization and globalism, supported by economic and political means. 2 (Caywood 1991) Marketing communications and IMC: Communication is the foundation of all human relationships and concerns exchange of information, ideas, or feelings. Thus, developing communications strategy requires extensive learning and coordination throughout a communications network. Marketing communication is the collective term for all communication functions used in marketing a product.
The purpose of marketing communications is to add persuasive value to a product for customers. PROMETIONAL PROGRAMME. ADVERTISING STRATEGY. SALES STRATEGY. COMMUNICATION PROCESS. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION . PROGRAMME. PERSONAL SELLING STRATEGY. PR STRATEGY. BUDGET APPRIPRIATION. DIRECT MARKETING STRATEGY. Traditionally, the distinct tools of the marketing communications mix are advertising, public relations (PR), sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, and over recent years, cyber or internet marketing, and sponsorship.
Each component has a specific task 3 to achieve and the message is greatly enhanced if it is reinforced by other tools in the mix. These tools are adequately discussed in the following chapters. The elements of the promotional mix vary in their effectiveness as outlined by the ability of each element to communicate, the likely overall costs, and the control maintained. Each element thus has a different capacity to communicate and to achieve different objectives. Although marketing communications has been used for several years as an umbrella erm, integration of these functional areas is what initially made IMC a new approach to reaching consumers and other stakeholders The Development of IMC IMC approaches have grown in recognition and importance for effective marketing, particularly as there has been a trend to allocate budgets away from mass media advertising due to increased media fragmentation and increasing segmentation of consumer tastes and preferences. The idea of using various marketing communication tools in unison has now become the accepted norm.
Its driving forces include: ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? Information technology The Internet and World Wide Web The need for businesses everywhere to become customer-focused and customerdriven Developments in database technology Globalization and the jockeying for global brands and global positioning More effective and efficient resource allocation 4 Source: Kitchen, 1999:241 The figure above shows that global and multinational companies can potentially use marketing communications in an integrated fashion to improve and coordinate their marketing communications strategies.
The diagram presented is dependent for its validity on the extant national and global environments, life cycle stages on a country by country basis, the extent to which brands are managed internationally, and the corporate culture with regards to global or integrated communications approaches. It was noted by some researchers that to fully utilize the power of IMC globally, marketing messages need to be designed with a global theme in mind, so the same general message is communicated around the world and to develop a truly integrated global campaign, a great number of skills, talents, and capabilities were necessary. (Duncan 1993; Kitchen 1999) VARIOUS MODELS OF IMC 6 The Evolutionary Model: The evolutionary integrated communication model was introduced by Duncan and Caywood (1996). This model of integrated communication implementation assumes that organizations can integrate communication activities over time. The model consists of concentric circles illustrating that one stage of integration may build on the experience of the previous stage. The evolution model also assumes that communication professionals gains experience at every stage, allowing them to add to the level of performance.
The various stages in the evolutionary integrated communication model are as follows: 7 Awareness integration stage The first stage of integration forces the assessment of changes in the environment and provides the motivation for a more integrated approach. This stage refers to the organization’s being aware of the changing business environment, which creates the demand for new business systems to respond to the market. Awareness further assumes that change reinforces the opportunity for developing an integrated management and communication system.
To summarize the awareness integration stage refers to fundamental changes and awareness thereof in the market power, taste, access and diversity. This leads to the requirement of new organizational strategies and tactics to communicate with the customer and consequently establish new relationships with customers and other stakeholders. Image integration stage This stage recognizes the value of having a consistent message, look and feel for the organization. Integration efforts initially focus on the appearance of integration or the lack thereof.
Although not a full array of marketing communication is required for all market challenges, the visual and verbal consistency might prove to be an eminent stage in developing internal cooperation among the various specialized communication disciplines. Functional integration stage Stage three moves the process of integration to a greater degree of involvement among the still traditionally separated areas of communication responsibilities. The process of integration at this stage begins with a strategic analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the functional communication areas.
A combination of promotional tactics 8 based on the strengths and weaknesses of each is developed to best suit the organizational needs. Coordinated integration stage At this level the number of barriers to integration has been condensed and all the communication functions are equal in their potential to add to the communication effort. The opportunity for each of the communication functions to drive the communication efforts will depend on the goals and the objectives. Each functional specialty must cooperate in the development of a communication programme.
The process is guided by shared budgets, performance measures, and outcomes. The emergence of database might also be observed at this stage. It may initially only consist of simple contact information, but the database will continuously be extended through marketing-driven contacts. Consumer based integration stage In this stage, only the fully targeted customers are reached with the strongest and most effective media. In a more fully developed communication process, the customers are rediscovered, as marketing is planned from the outside in, as opposed to the inside-out approach.
The customers contact point with the brand and the organization is documented through quantitative and qualitative research. Each contact point, regardless of whether it is initiated by the customer or the organization, is identified and added to the database. According to Duncan, each point of contact is a message, a form of communication that reinforces the customer’s business opinion of the organization. Rather than constantly replacing customers, attention is directed to holding and building the correct customer base in this stage of integration. Stakeholder-based integration stage
The evolutionary analogy suggests that each stage may include a new dimension in the next stage. Beyond the customers are numerous publics and stakeholders that have a stake 9 in the outcome of the success or failure of the organization. At this stage, the scope is extended beyond a merely profitable promotional and sales-driven orientation. The issue of equity is added to the integrated programme at this stage, suggesting that the strongest element of the social responsibility that drives the organization to broaden its communication emerges in a more mature integration programme.
The starting point of integrated communication is stakeholder identification. The process then demands the monitoring and tracking of their actions which are relevant to the organization. Relationship management integration stage The development of a fully integrated communication strategy to reach customers and stakeholders brings the communication professional into direct contact with a full range of management functions in businesses and other complex organizations. Integration implies that communication be regarded as a strong element in the total management process.
The process has become a full range of relationship management, both internally and externally. Furthermore, the role of communication professionals in a fully integrative model changes from staff to management. As communication professionals move from staff to management, they gain access to the decision making process, ideally to the dominant coalition and can consequently influence the strategic decisions taken by senior management. 10 Thomas Hunter’s 5 Stage Model: Thomas hunter’s thesis offers most extensive examination of the issues surrounding the corporate implementation of an integrated communication structure.
Hunter developed five stage model for integration, which is merely descriptive of the process and does not include graphical model. Following are the steps of this model : a) Coordination and cooperation between public relations and marketing b) Public relations and marketing are perceived as equally important by members of the organization, especially top management, regardless of their organizational relationship. 11 c) Marketing communication is moved from the marketing department to the public relations department that will then be known as the communication department.
The communication department will then consist of three sub divisions: marketing communication, corporate communication and internal communication. d) Communication and marketing are placed on a hierarchical level immediately below the CEO, and both functions have their senior officer in the dominant coalition. e) Integration of the communication function into the relationship management approach as proposed by integrated communication scholars Duncan and Caywood. There is consulting relationship between the marketing department and the sub division of marketing communication.
Stage 1: Coordination and cooperation between public relations and marketing This stage presumes that public relations and marketing are organized in two apparent departments. This stage encourages the two functions to collaborate in serving the organization’s communication requirements. Stage 1 and stage 2 move the organization towards the organizational culture, which is vital for the implementation of stage 3. Stage 2: Top management’s view of public relations and marketing Stage 2 aintains that public relations is usually hardly regarded as a profession nor as a strategic management function and will therefore improbably be as similarly important by members of the organization. In order to evolve successfully through stage 2, Hunter states that public relations professionals must acquire the highly skilled status of communication managers that have a central comprehension of marketing and management. Stage 3: The communication’s department Stage 3 describes the most original element of the Hunter model. Hunter suggests that marketing relinquishes its marketing communication responsibilities to the public 12 elations department. As a result, marketing would no longer do direct advertising and marketing, but would be focused more on analyzing customer markets and engaging in long term strategic planning. The new division created from this process would plainly be termed the communication department. This department would contain the three subdivisions of marketing communication, corporate communication, and internal communication. Although marketing communication would officially report to the head of the communication department, it would continue to serve the interests of the marketing department.
Hunter proposed a matrix organization where marketing communication professionals would be responsible for fulfilling the interests of both the marketing and the communication department. He further emphasizes that the experts in the various specialized fields of communication need to work together in selecting the tools that promise the highest degree of effectiveness for synergies to be created so that the total communication effect can be higher than the sum of its parts.
Finally, he reminds managers that the integration must extend over all three subdivisions of the communication department. Stage 4: Communication as part of dominant coalition Stage 4 builds on the completion of stage 2 where marketing and public relations are viewed as equally important elements in the accomplishment of the organization’s strategic mission. This stage requires the marketing and communications departments to be placed at the same hierarchical level and both functions to have their senior officer in the dominant coalition.
This ensures that communication and marketing will both be equally represented at the decision making table. Stage 5: Communication as a part of relationship management approach Hunter acknowledges that the communication department should implement the relationship management process recommended by Duncan and Caywood. This stage recognizes the need for the integrated communication department to develop relationships with the other organizational functions such as human resources and manufacturing to create a totally integrated organization. 13 (models 2005)
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MIX 14 Global Advertising Advertising can be defined as ‘any paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor’. It is seen as fulfilling one or more of the following communications functions: informing, persuading, reminding, adding value, and assisting other company efforts, the relative importance of each function being dependent on the communication objectives of the specific situation. The basic concepts and framework of international advertising are essentially the same wherever used. steps are involved: ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? Perform marketing research Specify the goals of the communication Develop the most effective message for the market segments elected Select effective media Compose and secure a budget Execute the campaign Evaluate the campaign relative to the goals specified Advertising media: Kotler illustrates the extent of media options twenty years ago by listing main media choices as newspapers, television, magazines, direct marketing, radio, magazines and outdoors.
He restricted their evaluation to issues of reach, frequency and impact. His list of media options in 2000 had almost doubled, to include consideration of packaging along with new electronic media, together with combinations of advertising and editorial as well as product placements within movies. 15 Each medium has its own set of unique strengths and weaknesses, both as stand-alone options and in tandem with other media. Consider the ability of television to communicate sight, sound, movement and emotion against the limitations of a short time period.
Then contrast it to radio, newspapers, magazines, or any of the newer media vehicles. Example of media strengths and weaknesses: television Strengths High reach Ability to combine sight and sound/ demonstrate Ability to portray emotion and excitement Credibility Able to provide reminders close to likely purchase period Weaknesses Expensive Short duration (30 seconds is usually time for only 75 words) – no opportunity to refer back to the message Clutter and high levels of competitive activity Difficult to regionalize Message and meaning, global and cultural challenges
Further challenges to advertising effectiveness have emerged in the last decade, particularly in relation to growing globalization of markets and the need to consider cross-cultural communication and to understand the extent to which advertising can be standardized across national borders versus being localized to meet the requirements and preferences of specific markets. Standardization of advertising can also assist in brand image consistency across markets. It also offers considerable economies of scale. In the international communication process, each of the 7 steps can affect the accuracy of the process which consists of the following: 6 SENDE R Encodin g Messag e Decodin g RECEIVE R NOIS E Feedba ck Respons e In addition, cultural differences lead to different expectations of, and attitudes towards, advertising. For example, Japanese prefer emotion-based soft sell whereas Europeans and Americans prefer logic and more direct selling approaches. The challenge for advertisers working across national boundaries and across cultures, centres on understanding the consumer target and tailoring appropriate advertising messages that will reward the attention being sought for them. Media Planning and Analysis:
In international advertising, an advertiser must consider the availability, cost, coverage and appropriateness of the media. Availability: one of the contrasts is that some countries have too few advertising media and others have too many. In China the only national TV station, CCTV, has one channel that must be aired by the country’s 27 provincial stations. Cost: Media prices are susceptible to negotiation in most countries. However, shortages of advertising time have caused substantial price increases. In UK prices escalate on a bidding system in which advertisers willing to pay a higher rate can acquire already scheduled spots. 7 Coverage: There is problem of coverage all around the world where it is difficult to reach certain sectors of the population. In Slovenia the availability of adequate media is such a problem that companies resort to some unique approaches, like in summers Lasers are used to project images onto clouds above major cities. Appropriate Media: Company should determine which kind of media is best suited for them- Newspapers, Radio, Magazines, Internet, Direct mail etc. (Schultz 1997; Graham 2005) Sales Promotion in International Markets
Sales promotion can be defined as: A range of tactical marketing techniques designed within a strategic marketing framework to add value to a product or service in order to achieve specific sales and marketing objectives. This extra value may be of a short-term tactical nature or it may be part of a longer-term franchise-building programme. The word ‘tactical’ implies that this tool is mainly used to offer buyers or resellers additional value that stimulates them to buy a product ‘now’ rather than ‘later’. It provides additional incentives, such as a price cut on shelf, a product premium, a discount, or a prize, to buy a product immediately.
Its main objective is to increase sales in the short run. ??? Sales promotions are marketing activities that stimulate consumer purchases and improve retailer or middlemen effectiveness and cooperations. It is a tool that can be used towards end-users (both companies and individual consumers), but also towards the sales force and members of the trade channel (wholesalers, retailers, etc. ). ??? These help to achieve specific objectives as consumer-product trial or immediate purchase, consumer introduction to the store, gaining retail point-of-purchase 18 isplays, encouraging stores to stock the product and supporting and augmenting advertising and personal sales efforts. ??? ??? Whereas advertising offers a reason to buy a product, sales promotion gives the customer an incentive to buy it. Most sales promotion techniques are capable of reaching specific target groups of customers, and are therefore very instrumental in fine-tuning the marketing effort. For example, Procter& Gamble’s introduction of Ariel detergent in Egypt included the “Ariel Road Show”, a puppet show that was taken to local markets in villages, where more than half of all Egyptians still live.
The show drew huge crowds, entertained people, told about Ariel’s performance without the use of addictives and sold the brand through a distribution van at a nominal discount. Besides creating brand awareness for Ariel, the road show helped overcome the reluctance of the rural retailers to handle the premiumpriced Ariel. In markets where the consumer is hard to reach because of media limitations, the percentage of the promotional budget allocated to sales promotions may need to be increased.
In some less developed countries, sales promotions constitute the major portion of the promotional effort in rural and less accessible parts of the markets. For example, in parts of Latin America, a portion of the advertising sales budget for both Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola is spent on carnival trucks, which make frequent trips to outlying villages to promote their products. The increasing importance of sales promotion: The importance of sales promotion has increased significantly over the years. Some time ago, advertising accounted for about 60 per cent of the advertising and sales promotion budget.
However, over the last years sales promotion has continuously increased its share. Today, it is estimated that between 65 and 75 per cent of the budget is spent on sales promotion. Factors leading to the increased use of sales promotion: 19 ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? Perceived lack of effectiveness of advertising Brand expansion and proliferation and lack of brand differentiation Declining brand loyalty and increasing price-orientation of consumers Measurability and accountability Distribution channel power and the competition for shelf space Sales Promotion Techniques
Consumer promotions are directed towards end-consumers, and give them incentives to try a product or buy more of a product. Three categories of consumer promotions can be distinguished: ??? ??? ??? Money-based incentives offer immediate or postponed price reductions. Product-based promotions do not focus upon the price mechanism, but use a product to build an incentive Prize-related promotions focus neither on the price of the product nor on the product itself, but use the chance to win something as an incentive Money-based ?? Price-offs ?? Coupons ?? Cash refunds ?? Saving cards or store cards
Product-based ?? Extra product ?? Samples ?? Premiums ?? Free mail-ins and self-liquidators Prize-based ?? Contests ?? Sweepstakes 20 Money-based ?? Price-offs Product-based ?? Extra product Prize-based ?? Contests Objectives of manufacturer ?? Encourage trial of the product ?? Attract new customers ?? Counter competition ?? Increase usage of the product ?? Load up existing users (basket filling) ?? Even out fluctuating sales Objectives of retailer ?? Increase store traffic ?? Increase store loyalty ?? Increase own-brand sales ?? Even out fluctuating sales ?? Increase frequency and quantity of sales
Money-based incentives The advantages of most money-based consumer promotions is that the benefit to the consumer is immediate and easy to obtain, that in many cases they lead to immediate sales increase, and that the workload of manufacturers and retailers to organize the promotion are minimal. Money-based promotions are hardly seen as innovative and creative, and are therefore less and less capable of having a strong impact Product-based incentives The main disadvantage of money-based incentives is the danger of altering the price perception of the customer and damaging the brand image.
Product-based promotions can avoid this disadvantage. In this type of consumer promotion, the incentive is more directly linked to the product. An extra volume of the product is given for free, a small sample of the product is distributed free of charge, or a present is given when the product is bought. The main advantages of product promotions are ??? ??? ??? the benefit for the consumer is direct and easy to obtain, the promotion campaign can be easily budgeted, they often lead to an immediate impact on sales, 1 ??? ??? they can be used to both generate trial and increase product usage, They stimulate store traffic. Prize-based incentives In prize-based promotions, the manufacturer offers very valuable prizes for a limited number of consumers that win the contest or sweepstake. They can be easily budgeted and planned, they can lead to extra sales, and consumers may perceive them as exciting and special, provided their chance of winning a prize is not too limited. In that case, they can improve the image of the brand.
A contest can be won by demonstrating knowledge or analytical or creative skills, for instance by creating a slogan or being able to answer a number of questions about a product. In a sweepstake every entrant has an equal chance to win a prize, based on good luck. Trade promotions Trade promotions are directed towards resellers (wholesalers, retailers), and give them incentives to push the product through the trade channel. Whereas consumer promotions are pull instruments, trade promotions are clearly push-orientated.
The main objective of the manufacturer is to stimulate the reseller to buy and resell as much of the product as possible, and to stimulate and improve the sales of his own products at the expense of competitors’ products, by gaining more product exposure and more reseller promotional effort. In a buying allowance scheme, the reseller gets a price reduction for each volume unit (e. g. a case or a carton) sold during a pre-specified period or when he buys a minimum of volume units over a given period of time. For instance, a retailer can get a discount per case of beer if he sells 100,000 cases per year.
In order to obtain this benefit, he will promote the beer in his supermarket, in order to be able to sell the minimum number of cases. 22 A count-recount scheme is retrospective in that the reseller gets a discount for each volume unit sold during a particular period of time. At the beginning of this period the reseller’s stock is counted, and recounted again at the end of the period. A merchandising allowance is the equivalent of an ‘extra product’ scheme: the reseller receives extra volume for each purchase made, for instance one case of beer for each ten cases bought.
He can then resell these extra cases. In the example, the merchandising allowance boils down to a 10 per cent rebate. The three techniques mentioned are all price-based. However, they do not lead to the same detrimental effect on the brand image as in the case of consumer price promotions, since trade channel members Trade promotion tools and objectives Trade promotion tools ?? Buying allowances ?? Count-recount allowances ?? Buy back allowances ?? Merchandise allowances (Kotler 2000; Graham 2005)
Trade promotion objectives ?? New product launch ?? Improve shelf space ?? Increase stock levels ?? Even out fluctuating sales Direct Marketing Direct marketing can be defined as: An interactive system of personal and intermediary-free dialogue which uses one or more communications media to effect a measurable behavioural response at any location, forming a basis for creating and further developing an ongoing direct relationship between an organization and each of its customers individually.
Due to technological changes, database technology, and changing buying habits, direct marketing, together with e-communications, has probably undergone the most drastic changes of all communication mix instruments. Direct mail, telemarketing, and direct response advertising have evolved from very traditional low profile and pushy techniques to a potentially highly sophisticated set of tools to build long-term relationships and engage in profitable interactions with customers. 23
Direct marketing allows companies to build customer confidence and trust. Consumers increasingly buy products on the basis of added value and personal relevance. By means of carefully analyzing customer needs, requests, and spending patterns, the direct marketer is capable of addressing specific target groups, can offer more relevant and better-targeted benefits, and can in that way build long-lasting and profitable relationships with loyal customers. Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths ?? Build relationships ?? Persuasive ?? Personalized and interactive ?? Leads to behavioural response ?? Convenient for customer ?? Improved service ?? Flexible and precise targeting ?? Effects easily and precisely measurable Limitations ?? Cost per prospect can be high ?? Clutter (‘junk mail’) ?? Perceived as obtrusive ?? Perceived as pushy ?? Perceived as incredible Direct Marketing Techniques 1. Direct mail: Direct mail is material distributed through the postal system to the (potential) customer at his or her home or business address to promote a product. It can be a 24 letter, a sample, or a catalogue.
Most people on the mailing list have not requested the mail, but normally they are selected on the basis of a number of criteria. Direct mail is widely used, especially in business-to-business operations. Example: Nestle used a 12 page colour direct mail booklet of recipes, including Japanese style versions of Italian favourites. 2. Telemarketing: In Europe, telemarketing accounts for expenditures of over ???12 million. They have been steadily increasing over the last decade (FEDMA, 2003b). In telemarketing a direct and verbal interaction with the individuals of the target group is effectuated. It can be inbound or outbound.
In outbound calling, the marketer takes the initiative to contact the potential customer, for instance to update a database, to carry out marketing research or for test marketing, to generate or screen sales leads and make appointments for salespersons, or to (cross) sell products. Inbound calls are initiated by someone who wants to make a complaint, ask for inquiries, participate in a contest or any other form of sales promotion, or buy a product. 3. Mail order: Mail order involves the purchase of a product featured in a catalogue. It is a very traditional form of marketing that is also referred to as home shopping.
The latter also includes online purchases and teleshopping, but mail order shopping still accounts for the majority of the home shopping purchases. Home shopping has grown rapidly in recent years, in the UK as much as 20 per cent per year. Besides mail order catalogues, more modern media are also used, such as video tapes and CD-roms. Some companies place the whole catalogue on their website. Sometimes catalogues are sent by shops. In that case, they are not a home shopping medium, but serve as an advertising tool to stimulate people to come to the shop. In non-store catalogues, the customer has to order the product by mail. . Direct response advertising: 25 Direct response advertising is a message in a traditional mass medium that asks the reader, viewer, or listener to respond directly to the sender to ask for further information or to buy a product. The receivers of the message are invited to send back a coupon (print media), to call a (toll-free) telephone number, or to visit a website. Direct response radio advertising becomes increasingly important, amongst other things because the increasing penetration of mobile phones gives people the opportunity to react to a direct radio ad in the car.
During a television programme that can run as long as 30 minutes, a product is demonstrated, often before a live audience, and viewers are persuaded to order it by telephone. Contrary to traditional advertising spots in which often sophisticated creative techniques are used, infomercials are relatively cheap, because of their simple format. (Schultz 1991; Kotler 2000) International Public Relations Creating good relationships with the popular press and other media to help companies communicate messages to their publics- customers, the general public and governmental regulators is the role of public relations.
Public relations is the process of finding out how a marketer is perceived by its different publics, then developing a program to gain the goodwill or support of these publics. Public relations involve a variety of programs designed to promote or protect a company’s image or its individual products. The job consists of not only encouraging the press to cover positive stories about companies but also of managing unfavorable rumors, stories and events. The Public Relations (PR) industry is responsible for creating and maintaining relationships between clients and customers.
Through areas such as brand management, advertising, media 26 relations and crisis management, PR practitioners seek to foster interest, trust and belief in a product or company. Cross cultural differences can make or break a PR campaign. It is therefore crucial that PR practitioners dealing with PR campaigns that incorporate a cross cultural element analyze likely cross cultural differences. For example, Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it “whitens your teeth. They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth because they found it attractive. Had the PR company behind this campaign analyzed the cross cultural issues related to Pepsodent’s product, the failure of this PR campaign could have been avoided. Marketing PR tasks There are numerous examples of how ineffective MPR has actually harmed corporate reputations, such as the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker grounding in Alaska, a major environmental disaster.
The company was reluctant to talk to the media, to discuss the magnitude of the problem, or to take responsibility for the environmental damage the resultant oil spillage had caused. Fortunately, most MPR occurs in considerably less dramatic circumstances. For example, MPR activity around a new product may include information regarding the product being released to the media, retailers, and other stakeholders through a variety of conventional print forms such as press releases, and brochures. Purpose and Benefits
Purposes and benefits Create marketplace excitement Introduce new products before advertising breaks Bring new high-tech and health-care products to market Revitalize old brands Maintain market leadership Make advertising news where there is Examples of products and services New Volkswagen Beetle Advanced Photo systems, Nintendo 64 Windows 95 (Microsoft), Tagamet MB Ulcer Treatment Hush Puppies, Aspirin Chrysler, Pampers SuperBowl, Sophie Dahl (Opium perfume) 27 Purposes and benefits Examples of products and services no news Make promotion news where there is no Gillette and major league baseball, Kylie ews Minogue range of lingerie Make packaging news where there is no Heinz Ketchup, Doritos, Salt ‘n’ Shake crisps product news Corporate Sponsorships Corporate sponsorships might also be classified as an aspect of public relations. The tobacco companies are particularly creative at using sports event sponsorships in avoiding countries advertising regulations associated with more traditional media. Other examples are Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of European football matches or Ford’s sponsorship of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
McDonald’s executed a huge international IMC campaign surrounding its sponsorship of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Included were Olympic themed food promotions, packaging and in-stores signs, TV and print ads and web chats with superstar athletes. During the three weeks of the Olympic Games nearly 1. 5 million burgers were served to the athletes, officials, coaches, media staffers and spectators. (Graham 2005) Internet or E-Communications E-communications is using the Internet, mobile phones, interactive television, and other electronic media in marketing communication campaigns.
In marketing communications the word ‘media’ has traditionally been used to indicate the classical mass media. The term ‘new media’ suggests all forms of new media development, but is mostly associated with electronic media. Moreover, most of these ‘new media’ have been around for some time now, but it is only recently that technological evolutions and changing consumer behaviour patterns in media usage have led to a boom in electronic media use. The most striking examples of new media are the Internet and mobile telecommunication technology. 28
The common and most important characteristic of these media is the fact that they are truly interactive. Interactivity means that it is the receiver (the viewer, caller, etc. ) who decides what to see and when to see it, or not, in other words to control the communication flow. When surfing the Web, you can read a banner or not, click-through to another website or not, read the pages as long or as briefly as you want. The role of e-communications in the IMC mix Evidently, the Internet can also be used as a corporate and marketing communications tool.
In corporate communications, the company website can be a PR medium to disseminate information about the company and its products to (potential) customers, investors, employees (internal communications, staff training), shareholders, governments, and various other stakeholders, to reinforce the corporate identity, to improve the company image, and to interact with these audiences. It is important to understand that the Internet does not replace the traditional marketing and marketing communication tools, but supplements them.
In fact, the Internet is a new medium that can (and should in many cases) be added to the marketing mix, but that is not capable of making any of the other marketing (communications) mix elements unnecessary. 29 Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths Limitations ?? Poor targeting capabilities; reach and type ?? Direct one-to-one contact of audience uncertain ?? Direct sales ?? What is the useful impact? ?? Communicate with loyal customers and ?? Search difficulty: how can websites be reinforce relationship found? Need for offline and online ?? Interactivity communications support ?? Website development and maintenance ?? Lots of information can be presented costs ?? Need for cooperation with IT department ?? Low cost and call centre ?? Multimedia nature ?? Can create irritation ?? Shopping and other contacts can be made ?? Creative limitations? more pleasurable ?? Offers instant reach at any time and any ?? Communication speed place ?? Time saving ?? Buying behaviour inertia ?? Messages can be changed easily and quickly ?? Possibility to advertise on others’ websites ?? Large audience potential ?? Feed databases
E-Communications techniques 30 ??? Brand websites are sites with specific brand-related information and/or services. They not only convey information, but also serve as a platform to interact with (potential) customers and to support other forms of Internet communications. ??? Online advertising is commercial messages in standard formats on rented spaces of other companies’ websites. Its purpose is to build brand awareness and brand attitudes, and to generate traffic to the brand website. Online retailers such as Amazon use banners extensively in a technique that is called affiliate networking.
Banners are placed on thousands of other sites, directing the visitor to the retailer’s website. The banner-hosting website receives a commission every time someone clicks on the retailer’s banner and buys something. ??? Online sales promotion includes contests and sweepstakes, e-coupons, and esamples. They can generate enthusiasm, build brand awareness, and reward loyal customers. They are often supported by offline communications (for instance in advertising and on packages), and can be used to enrich customer databases, if customers are asked to give their details before they can participate in the contest or receive coupons or samples. Online games or advergames are rich media types of online brand-related entertainment. They use interactive game technology to link the brand to a pleasant and exciting web experience without explicitly advertising it. 31 ??? E-mail marketing is nothing more than using the Internet for direct marketing purposes. Just like in traditional direct marketing, e-mail marketing can be used inbound or outbound. ??? Mobile marketing or wireless advertising uses mobile devices (mostly cell phones) to communicate with customers to promote products and services, using SMS (short messages) and MMS (multimedia messages).
Mobile marketing can be used to generate brand awareness, for contest and sweepstakes, to convey information, or to generate leads. ??? Interactive television gives viewers the ability to interact with the programmes, view tailor-made content, and use a number of interactive services such as videoon-demand, home shopping, and home banking. iTV marketing offers marketers the opportunity to interact with the audience, for instance by offering interactive advertising. During the ad viewers can ask for more information, receive coupons or ask for samples, and even buy products. Graham 2005; Kotler and Keller 2009) Relationship Marketing Relationship marketing is marketing seen as relationships, networks and interaction. It is aimed at establishing long-term win-win relationships with customers. In approaching a potential customer, relationship marketing has the ambition to climb the loyalty ladder: from prospect over first-time customer, to client, supporter, advocate and partner. Relationship marketing does not only apply to the relationship between the marketer and the customer, but also to all the company’s stakeholders.
That is when relationship marketing in fact becomes networking or marketing-oriented company management: managing the company with the customer in focus. A company does not buy and sell, 32 individuals do. Therefore everyone in the company is a full-time or a part-time marketer, because even non-marketing staff have to act with the interest of the customer in mind. Therefore, it is, for instance, also important to keep good relationships with the distribution channel Levels and stages in customer relationships ???
Relationship marketing is built upon the relationship between customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and profitability. It is five times cheaper to keep an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. ??? One of the most important components of high quality relationships with customers is trust. Brands and companies must be trusted before customers become loyal to them. The difference between repeat purchases and trust or loyalty is similar to the difference between brand or company image and reputation. ???
In a relationship marketing philosophy, integrated communications have to be aimed at retention and not just at acquisition. Selective interactive communications should be used instead of mass media monologues. Relevant information should be provided instead of repeated persuasive messages. 33 Satisfaction and confidence in the company and its brands and meaningful relationships with customers should be built. Database management, relationship marketing, and integrated marketing communications From an IMC perspective customers have relationships with both products and companies.
Databases are the tools that enable companies to do integrated marketing communications, and allow them to support the ‘customer first’ philosophy. It allows companies to register each contact with each individual (potential) customer at each point in time via each communication channel. It allows analysis of this data stream in order to increase sales after the first contact was made, to keep regular contact, and to develop a range of activities to encourage further buying and become or stay loyal to the company.
Therefore, database management is at the core of customer relationship management and IMC programmes. Consequently, database management is not just about giving support to direct marketing campaigns. Also telemarketing, call centres, e-mails, and websites can be used. Furthermore, database information can give support to advertising and sales promotion managers by giving them insight into customer characteristics, attitudes, preferences, and buying behaviour. (Kotler and Keller 2009) Comparison of different promotion mix Advertising Communications
Ability to deliver a personal message Ability to reach a large audience Level of interaction Credibility given by target audience Low High Low Low Sales promotion Public relations Personal selling Direct marketing Low Medium Low Medium Low Medium Low High High Low High Medium High Medium High Medium Costs Absolute costs High Medium Low High Medium 34 Advertising Cost per contact Wastage Size of investment Low High High Sales promotion Medium Medium Medium Public relations Low High Low Personal selling High Low High Direct marketing High Low Medium Control
Ability to target particular audiences Management’s ability to adjust: the deployment of the tool as circumstances change Source: Fill, 1995:12 Medium High Low Medium High Medium High Low Medium High CONCLUSION: ??? Undoubtedly, a broad awareness of the integrated marketing communications concept has been created and its diffusion worldwide is evident. Such development and diffusion is dependent upon underlying environmental factors that show evidence of increased acceleration in the 21st century, which augers well for the future development of IMC and its related construct- integrated marketing. IMC is becoming more widely accepted and recognized, but there are still many conceptual issues that need further exploration and analysis. If further research is undertaken, it needs to be preeminently with client organizations. Further critical discussion is also needed from a conceptual perspective. 35 ??? Organizations can achieve an execution that is consistent and appears to have integrated marketing communications, but the essence of the IMC movement is call to make marketing communication more effective through greater tactical coordination and a strong brand strategy that is driven by customer feedback data. ??? IMC is centered on building and leveraging customer and consumer interests and relationships. This relationship orientation ties IMC to one-to-one marketing and customer relation management, and challenges managers to deal with the integration, alignment, measurement, and accountability of both traditional and new interactive marketing approaches. ???
IMC has been hypothesized to provide benefits in the coordination of marketing communication activities and across the various functions involved in the implementation of marketing campaigns most desirable outcomes of effective IMC is more differentiation leading to more monopolistic brand, making the brand less vulnerable to competition. ??? Integrated Marketing Communications encompasses general advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion and public relations. None of the four elements of IMC is inherently superior or inferior; they all have important functions in an integrated campaign.
Integrated marketing communications efforts can best be orchestrated by a cross-functional team using a comprehensive promotional plan. RECOMMENDATIONS: ??? Although considerable research and discussion exists on the subject of IMC, a number of gaps requiring further attention remain. For example, more study is needed on IMC in different sectors to see how integration varies in different 36 industry conditions; there has also been a lack of attention paid to understanding the catalysts that prompt organizations to adopt an IMC approach.
IMC is not simply a multimedia coordinated campaign, IMC is more than just tactical consistency, usually referred to as “one voice, one look. ” ??? Organizations can achieve an execution that is consistent and appears to have integrated marketing communications, but the essence of the IMC movement is a call to make marketing communication more effective through greater tactical coordination and a strong brand strategy that is driven by customer feedback data. ??? For organizations with low market orientation the cultural context for interfunctional coordination and focusing on customers, should be taken to develop IMC.
This is because the cultural foundation for cooperation across functions, departments, and SBUs (strategic business units), or with suppliers and other stakeholders, may not exist. We believe that where brand orientation is low, implying low sharing of corporate or brand identity and vision, attempts at introducing IMC may not be as successful. ??? The cost of advertising is quite high but at the same time it can target a large a number of audience which is not possible with personal selling.
Companies with good financial position should adopt for advertising their goods and services. ??? If the sales of a company are declining in a particular market segment, then to regain the customer loyalty and to attract them the company should opt for various techniques of sales promotion. ??? Companies introducing new products can go for public relations as it is a powerful tool particularly in terms of accountability for effectiveness and efficiency in an increasingly competitive world. 37 References 38