Integrated Marketing Communication Strategies

Assignment III
Maxine Go

A. Why is IMC considered a vital marketing component?

An Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategy is how a company ensures cohesiveness

and consistency in all aspects of marketing. Adopting this type of technique helps business
leaders, as well as marketing teams, convey essential messages accurately and impactfully.

IMC rejects the silo mentality -- that is, a reluctance to share information with employees of
different divisions in the same company. It breaks down barriers between divisions and creates
a harmony that embraces holistic marketing. Because of this, IMC is considered a vital marketing
component for several reasons.

First, it builds brand recognition and trust. Having a brand message that is consistent across styles,
guides, logos, etc. improves brand image. This kind of consistency builds trust and carves out
your niche in the industry. It also gives buyers a better experience before, during, and after
interactions with the business, leading to loyalty and brand recognition.

IMC plans are cost-effective and increase the chances of improved sales. Businesses that
implement a non-integrated marketing approach run the risk of spending more on different IMC
tools. In IMC, you can reuse the same images and adapt the same copy for various media. In
doing so, you maximize your marketing budget while saving money.

Next, it saves time. In merging tools into one unit, time that otherwise would be spent deciding
on which marketing tool is best to use in a certain campaign can be spent on other things.
Lastly, IMC reaches a wider audience. To cite an example, if a company were to conduct a
campaign using only billboards, it would not be as effective as if it were to use billboards, social
media, TV advertising, etc., all with the same compelling message.

All of these point out one thing: IMC is the future of marketing communications. Not only does it
boost sales, but it takes your business to another level.

B. Discuss the process of planning, developing, and managing Integrated Marketing

Communications.

As the saying goes, "Failing to plan is planning to fail."

Developing an effective Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plan is crucial to creating a

holistic and unified message to consumers across all platforms. The steps in planning are as
important as the actual implementation itself because each step reveals information that is
needed to build your goals and avoid costly mistakes.

These are the parts of an IMC plan:

1. Current Situation Analysis

This is a detailed summary of what the current situation is. This could also include an executive
summary, a company overview, or background information about the company and/or product.

Learning the present state is the first step in developing an IMC plan. To enable the team to move
forward and start planning, you need a thorough understanding of both the internal and external
workings of the business. It also allows you to use market research to assess projected growth,
define potential customers, and assess competitors.
2. SWOT Analysis

A SWOT Analysis is a simple framework to analyze your organization's (S) strengths, (W)
weaknesses, (O) opportunities, and (T) threats. It aids in building on what you are good at,
addressing what you are lacking, and minimizing risks and threats.

The Four Elements of SWOT:

 Strengths - These are internal elements that distinguish a company from its competitors.
Positive traits, such as a unique type of technology or even low pricing, can be included
here.

 Weaknesses - Like strengths, weaknesses are internal factors that help companies identify
areas of improvement. Analyzing weaknesses lets organizations and teams plan measures
they need to put into place to rectify their weak points.

 Opportunities – These are external factors that are accessible to use for the company’s
benefit. They could be something like a trend, a partnership with a celebrity, or current
needs and issues.

 Threats - These are also external factors that negatively impact business. Threats come in
many forms. To name a few, a company could be adversely affected by financial
downturns, supply chain problems, or new government regulations. Knowing and
anticipating these threats in advance can help minimize the impact of these problems.

3. Marketing Objectives

Marketing objectives are a brand's defined goals. They are specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, and time-based. Creating them provides not just direction, but clear and specific actions.
According to coschedule.com, in a survey of over 3,000 marketers, results show that goal-setters
were 376% more likely to see successful outcomes.

Here are a few examples of marketing objectives:

 To increase sales by 10% in the next six months by increasing sign-ups on the company
website

 To increase market share by improving brand awareness in the next 12 months, as

measured by an increase in organic brand name search by 50% through social media
saturation, social media ads, and an influencer campaign

 Decrease customer churn by 5% in the next quarter by decreasing customer service wait
times by 15%, and nurturing customers through email automation

4. Target Market

A target market is a group of consumers identified as potential purchasers of a company's

product. Knowing your target market helps determine what marketing methods to use and
enables the firm to direct resources to these said potential customers.

Is identifying a target market necessary? Well, no. You have the option to simply promote and
distribute in the same way to all potential buyers. This is called the mass-market approach.
However, for the past few years, this technique has become unpopular because companies have
realized that resources were being wasted on consumers who have little to no interest in their
product. The target market approach is a way to boost efficiency, save money, and create brand
loyalty.
5. Budget

After devising the company’s objectives and identifying your target market, it is time to start
making a budget plan. The first step is to start with the total budget available for your campaign.
This figure will help act as the guardrail to keep your plans in line with the available resources.
The team then needs to think about which promotion mix will be used to prioritize allocation.
Lastly, a visualization or graphic interpretation of the budget can be presented and approved.

6. Marketing strategies and tactics

First, let’s define marketing strategies vs. marketing tactics. Simply put, strategies answer the
question “what?” while tactics answer the question “how?”. A marketing strategy dictates the
marketing activity needed to achieve your objectives, and a marketing tactic focuses on the
details of how things get done.

In creating an IMC plan, we need to consider all the components and how they can play a role in
improving sales or achieving our objectives. The marketing mix can come into play and teams can
decide what actions can be done. Marketing communications strategies can include the following
elements: positioning, platforms, market segmentation, and the IMC mix (advertising, personal
selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, sponsorships, mobile marketing, and
social media marketing).

For example, under social media marketing, a chocolate company could launch a Twitter
campaign. It could include implementing relevant hashtags for each post to increase engagement
and sales. It could also devise a weekly or monthly giveaway on social media (Facebook,
Instagram, etc.) using the same hashtag and get consumers to post photos of the product on
social media.
7. Implementation

The various IMC tools must be integrated and the marketing strategies/tactics implemented.
Some large corporations hire external agencies to put into action said strategies.

8. Evaluation and Monitoring

It is important to ascertain how well the promotional programs are meeting marketing objectives
and helping the company accomplish its overall marketing goals and objectives. For example,
problems with the advertising program may be in the features of the message or in a media plan
that does not reach the target market effectively. The manager must know the reasons for the
results to take the right steps to correct the program.

There are several ways on how to evaluate a marketing plan. Here are a few examples:

 Sales performance – the idea is to check for changes in sales and ROI (return of investment.
The team can measure this by looking at the sales before a marketing campaign, during
its rollout, and for six months afterward. Additionally, keeping an eye on it long-term is
also a good idea to monitor delayed effects.

 Market Reaction – This is usually evident in the way competitors react. If they are racing
to copy your strategies, chances are it’s working. However, if the campaign is largely being
ignored, further evaluation should be done so changes can be put into place.

 Customer Response - Customer service feedback, online engagement, and click-thru-rate

can uncover what your customers think of your efforts and which campaigns or programs
have the greatest impact.
  Return-on-Investment - Check whether the money you put into your marketing plan has
resulted in a profit. The team must measure the amount spent on each campaign versus
the number of sales each campaign brought. A specific breakdown by each marketing
initiative will tell you exactly which campaigns worked and which fell short.

C. Discuss the social responsibilities in Integrated Marketing Communications.

Stakeholder theory posits that corporations are responsible not only for the shareholders,
employees, suppliers, and customers but also for the public at large (Dean, 2004; Drumwright &
Murphy, 2009; Waller & Lanis, 2009). It is assumed that there exists a “social contract” between
a corporation and society, both being members of the community. When companies sell goods
and services that can injure people or cause harm in some other way, criticisms and legal actions
likely will follow (Clow and Baack, 2018).

Marketers face difficult decisions when choosing to serve customers profitably, on the one hand,
and seeking to maintain a close fit between consumers’ wants or desires and societal welfare, on
the other (Kotler, 2005). Consumers are affected by marketing practices that border on illegality
such as unreasonably high prices, deceptive practices, high-pressure selling, unsafe products, and
poor service.

In the Philippines, Republic Act 7394 was enacted as a legal basis for consumer protection. It
implements measures to achieve the following objectives:

a) protection against hazards to health and safety;

b) protection against deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts and practices;

c) provision of information and education to facilitate sound choice and the proper exercise of
rights by the consumer;
d) provision of adequate rights and means of redress; and

e) involvement of consumer representatives in the formulation of social and economic policies.

Issues on consumerism and environmentalism also play a part in social responsibility. Most
companies have grown to accept new consumer rights, at least in principle (Kotler, 2005). Some
have now started to follow a policy of enlightened marketing based on the principles of consumer
orientation, innovation, value creation, social mission, and societal marketing (Kotler, 2005).
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