INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Marketing Communications
The means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers, directly or
indirectly, about the products and brands they sell.
Based on an understanding of the audiences communications environment, an
organisation develops & presents messages to its identified target groups.
The objective is to position the organisation or product in the minds of the target market,
by influencing their perceptions. The goal is to generate attitudinal and behavioural
responses
Fill, 2002
Marketing Communication Objectives

Marketing communication objectives must follow marketing objectives, which may vary
by market:
New products, differing stages of market or product life cycle:
New market
Need to create awareness
Brand or umbrella advertising
Explain category benefits
Mature market
Promote specific products
Communicate brand positioning
Reinforcing the brand
Marketing Communication Strategy
Factors determining marketing communication strategy
Firms resources
Cultural, market/competitive and legal factors
What might work?
Standardise or adapt
Media availability
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MIX

Advertising
Sales Promotion
Events and Experiences
Public Relations and Publicity
Direct Marketing
Interactive Marketing
Word-of-mouth Marketing
Personal Selling

Advertising
Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or
services by an identified sponsor. Kotler, Wong, Saunders & Armstrong, 2005
Information communication
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 Building a brand image, new brands

Persuasion
Change perceptions, persuade to buy now
Reinforce behaviour
Reminding of need
Sales Promotion
Short term incentives to encourage purchase of sales of a product or serviceKotler, Wong, Saunders & Armstrong, 2005
Objective: to trigger initial purchase or increase usage of a product
Push promotions- push products through distribution chain by promoting to the
trade
Pull promotions- stimulate consumer demand- to pull products through the
distribution chain
Sales Promotion Objectives
Consumer
Increase short term sales
Encourage trial of a new product
Encourage purchase of brand in preference to other (switching)
Encourage repeat purchase
Trade
Allocate more shelf space/extend the number of outlets
Persuade retailers to buy ahead
Sales force
Prompt sales force support for new products
Events & Experiences
Company-sponsored activities and programs designed to create daily or special brand
related interactions.
Public Relations
Public relations is a management activity that attempts to shape the attitudes and
opinions held by an organisations stakeholders
Chris Fill, 2002
The deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual
understanding between an organisation and its publics.
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (UK)
Direct Marketing
Any activity which creates and exploits a direct relationship between you and your
customer
Consumer benefits
Relevant offers
Convenience
Familiarity- trust
Interactive, immediate- online, telephone
Marketer benefits
Build customer relationships- CRM
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 Highly targeted- less wastage

Measurable, accountable
Competitive edge

Interactive Marketing
Online activities and programs designed to engage consumers or prospects and
directly or indirectly raise awareness, improve image, or elicit sales of products and
services.

The Internet and Marketing Communications

Has created a step-change in marketing and communications activity- real time,
instantaneous, dynamic
Provides an integrated communication/buying environment using new techniques:
Web-links, banner ads, online sales
Extends reach to previously untapped sectors
Must be integrated into the business and marketing strategy
Websites must be user-friendly (interactive, dynamic)
To achieve good audience creation:
Search engine operations
Exploit new media
Strategic linking
Feedback capability-forums, news groups
Effective promotion through
Dynamic banner ads- presentation, strategic linking, online events
Highly accurate real-time monitoring and analysis
Revise processes to resolve/exploit situations.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
People-to-people oral, written, or electronic communications that relate to the merits or
experiences of purchasing or using products or services.
Person-to-person
Chat rooms
Blogs
Personal Selling
An interpersonal communication which involves face to face activities undertaken by
individuals
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 Unlike other forms of marketing communication, involves two or more people- dyadic
Feedback & evaluation on the spot
Messages highly personalised
Sales person close enough to prospective buyer to induce behaviour change
Highly culture bound
Approach, intermediaries, timing, pace
Who should do it?

CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNICATIONS
Advertising
Pervasiveness
Amplified expressiveness
Impersonality
Sales Promotion
Communication
Incentive
Invitation
Public Relations and Publicity
High credibility
Ability to catch buyers off guard
Dramatization
Events and Experiences
Relevant
Involving
Implicit
Direct Marketing
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 Customized
Up-to-date
Interactive
Personal Selling
Personal interaction
Cultivation
Response

NOTE: For details please see:

Marketing Management Kotler & Keller (12th Edition),
Marketing Management Philip Kotler (Millenium Edition)

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