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What are marketing communications?

Marketing communications is a subset of the overall subject area known as marketing. Marketing has a
marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (know as the four P's), that includes people,
processes and physical evidence, when marketing services (known as the seven P's).

How does marketing communications fit in? Marketing communications is 'promotion' from the marketing
mix.

Why are marketing communications 'integrated?' Integrated means combine or amalgamate, or put simply
the jigsaw pieces that together make a complete picture. This is so that a single message is conveyed by all
marketing communications. Different messages confuse your customers and damage brands. So if a TV
advert carries a particular logo, images and message, then all newspaper adverts and point-of-sale
materials should carry the same logo, images or message, or one that fits the same theme. Coca-Cola uses
its familiar red and white logos and retains themes of togetherness and enjoyment throughout its marketing
communications.

Marketing communications has a mix. Elements of the mix are blended in different quantities in a campaign.
The marketing communications mix includes many different elements, and the following list is by no means
conclusive. It is recognised that there is some cross over between individual elements (e.g. Is donating
computers to schools, by asking shoppers to collect vouchers, public relations or sales promotion?) Here are
the key of the marketing communications mix.
The Marketing Communications Mix.
• Personal Selling.
• Sales Promotion.
• Public Relations (and publicity).
• Direct Marketing.
• Trade Fairs and Exhibitions.

• Advertising (above and below the line).

• Sponsorship.

• Packaging.

• Merchandising (and point-of-sale).

• E Marketing (and Internet promotions).


• Brands.

Integrated marketing communications see the elements of the communications mix 'integrated' into a
coherent whole. This is known as the marketing communications mix, and forms the basis of a marketing
communications campaign.

Integrated Marketing Communications is a term used to describe a wholistic 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 search engine optimization (SEO), pay-
per-click, affiliate, email, banner to latest web related channels for webinar, blog, micro-blogging,
RSS, podcast, Internet Radio and Internet TV. 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).

Integrated marketing communication is integration of all marketing tools, approaches, and


resources within a company which maximizes impact on consumer mind and which results into
maximum profit at minimum cost. Generally marketing starts from "Marketing Mix". Promotion is
one element of Marketing Mix. Promotional activities include Advertising(by using different
media), sales promotion (sales and trades promotion), and personal selling activities. It also
includes internet marketing, sponsorship marketing, direct marketing, database marketing and
public relations. And integration of all these promotional tools along with other components of
marketing mix to gain edge over competitor is called Integrated Marketing Communication.

Using outside-in thinking, Integrated Marketing Communications is a data-driven approach that


focuses on identifying consumer insights and developing a strategy with the right (online and
offline combination) channels to forge a stronger brand-consumer relationship. This involves
knowing the right touchpoints to use to reach consumers and understanding how and where they
consume different types of media. Regression analysis and customer lifetime value are key data
elements in this approach.

Reasons for the Growing Importance of IMC


Several shifts in the advertising and media industry have caused IMC to develop into a primary
strategy for marketers:

1. From media advertising to multiple forms of communication.


2. From mass media to more specialized (niche) media, which are centered around
specific target audiences.
3. From a manufacturer-dominated market to a retailer-dominated, consumer-
controlled market.
4. From general-focus advertising and marketing to data-based marketing.
5. From low agency accountability to greater agency accountability, particularly in
advertising.
6. From traditional compensation to performance-based compensation (increased
sales or benefits to the company).
7. From limited Internet access to 24/7 Internet availability and access to goods and
services

What is IMC

Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of communications and
messages are carefully linked together.

At its most basic level, Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC, as we'll call it, means integrating all
the promotional tools, so that they work together in harmony.

Promotion is one of the Ps in the marketing mix. Promotions has its own mix of communications tools.

All of these communications tools work better if they work together in harmony rather than in isolation. Their
sum is greater than their parts - providing they speak consistently with one voice all the time, every time.

This is enhanced when integration goes beyond just the basic communications tools. There are other levels
of integration such as Horizontal, Vertical, Internal, External and Data integration. Here is how they help to
strengthen Integrated Communications.

Horizontal Integration occurs across the marketing mix and across business functions - for example,
production, finance, distribution and communications should work together and be conscious that their
decisions and actions send messages to customers.

While different departments such as sales, direct mail and advertising can help each other through Data
Integration. This requires a marketing information system which collects and shares relevant data across
different departments.

Vertical Integration means marketing and communications objectives must support the higher level
corporate objectives and corporate missions. Check out the Hall Of Fame later for more about missions.

Meanwhile Internal Integration requires internal marketing - keeping all staff informed and motivated about
any new developments from new advertisements, to new corporate identities, new service standards, new
strategic partners and so on.

External Integration, on the other hand, requires external partners such as advertising and PR agencies to
work closely together to deliver a single seamless solution - a cohesive message - an integrated message.

The many benefits of IMC are examined in the section called, 'Benefits of IMC'.
Benefits of IMC

Although Integrated Marketing Communications requires a lot of effort it delivers many benefits. It can create
competitive advantage, boost sales and profits, while saving money, time and stress.

IMC wraps communications around customers and helps them move through the various stages of the
buying process. The organisation simultaneously consolidates its image, develops a dialogue and nurtures
its relationship with customers.

This 'Relationship Marketing' cements a bond of loyalty with customers which can protect them from the
inevitable onslaught of competition. The ability to keep a customer for life is a powerful competitive
advantage.

IMC also increases profits through increased effectiveness. At its most basic level, a unified message has
more impact than a disjointed myriad of messages. In a busy world, a consistent, consolidated and crystal
clear message has a better chance of cutting through the 'noise' of over five hundred commercial messages
which bombard customers each and every day.

At another level, initial research suggests that images shared in advertising and direct mail boost both
advertising awareness and mail shot responses. So IMC can boost sales by stretching messages across
several communications tools to create more avenues for customers to become aware, aroused, and
ultimately, to make a purchase

Carefully linked messages also help buyers by giving timely reminders, updated information and special
offers which, when presented in a planned sequence, help them move comfortably through the stages of
their buying process... and this reduces their 'misery of choice' in a complex and busy world.

IMC also makes messages more consistent and therefore more credible. This reduces risk in the mind of the
buyer which, in turn, shortens the search process and helps to dictate the outcome of brand comparisons.

Un-integrated communications send disjointed messages which dilute the impact of the message. This may
also confuse, frustrate and arouse anxiety in customers. On the other hand, integrated communications
present a reassuring sense of order.

Consistent images and relevant, useful, messages help nurture long term relationships with customers.
Here, customer databases can identify precisely which customers need what information when... and
throughout their whole buying life.

Finally, IMC saves money as it eliminates duplication in areas such as graphics and photography since they
can be shared and used in say, advertising, exhibitions and sales literature. Agency fees are reduced by
using a single agency for all communications and even if there are several agencies, time is saved when
meetings bring all the agencies together - for briefings, creative sessions, tactical or strategic planning. This
reduces workload and subsequent stress levels - one of the many benefits of IMC.

Barriers to IMC

Despite its many benefits, Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC, has many barriers.
In addition to the usual resistance to change and the special problems of communicating with a wide variety
of target audiences, there are many other obstacles which restrict IMC. These include: Functional Silos;
Stifled Creativity; Time Scale Conflicts and a lack of Management know-how.

Take functional silos. Rigid organisational structures are infested with managers who protect both their
budgets and their power base.

Sadly, some organisational structures isolate communications, data, and even managers from each other.
For example the PR department often doesn't report to marketing. The sales force rarely meet the
advertising or sales promotion people and so on. Imagine what can happen when sales reps are not told
about a new promotional offer!

And all of this can be aggravated by turf wars or internal power battles where specific managers resist
having some of their decisions (and budgets) determined or even influenced by someone from another
department.

Here are two difficult questions - What should a truly integrated marketing department look like? And how
will it affect creativity?

It shouldn't matter whose creative idea it is, but often, it does. An advertising agency may not be so
enthusiastic about developing a creative idea generated by, say, a PR or a direct marketing consultant.

IMC can restrict creativity. No more wild and wacky sales promotions unless they fit into the overall
marketing communications strategy. The joy of rampant creativity may be stifled, but the creative challenge
may be greater and ultimately more satisfying when operating within a tighter, integrated, creative brief.

Add different time scales into a creative brief and you'll see Time Horizons provide one more barrier to IMC.
For example, image advertising, designed to nurture the brand over the longer term, may conflict with
shorter term advertising or sales promotions designed to boost quarterly sales. However the two objectives
can be accommodated within an overall IMC if carefully planned.

But this kind of planning is not common. A survey in 1995, revealed that most managers lack expertise in
IMC. But its not just managers, but also agencies. There is a proliferation of single discipline agencies.
There appear to be very few people who have real experience of all the marketing communications
disciplines. This lack of know how is then compounded by a lack of commitment.

For now, understanding the barriers is the first step in successfully implementing IMC.

Communications Theory

How do we communicate? How do customers process information? There are many models and theories.
Let's take a brief look at some of them.

Simple communications models show a sender sending a message to a receiver who receives and
understands it. Real life is less simple - many messages are misunderstood, fail to arrive or, are simply
ignored.
Thorough understanding of the audience's needs, emotions, interests and activities is essential to ensure
the accuracy and relevance of any message.

Instead of loud 'buy now' advertisements, many messages are often designed or 'encoded' so that the hard
sell becomes a more subtle soft sell. The sender creates or encodes the message in a form that can be
easily understood or decoded by the receiver.

Clever encoding also helps a message to cut through the clutter of other advertisements and distractions,
what is called 'noise'. If successful, the audience will spot the message and then decode or interpret it
correctly. The marketer then looks for 'feedback' such as coupons returned from mailshots, to see if the
audience has decoded the message correctly.

The single step model - with a receiver getting a message directly from a sender - is not a complete
explanation.

Many messages are received indirectly through a friend or through an opinion leader.

Communications are in fact multifaceted, multi-step and multi-directional. Opinion leaders talk to each other.
Customers talk to opinion leaders and they talk to each other.

Add in 'encode, decode, noise and feedback' and the process appears more complex still.

Understanding multiphase communications helps marketers communicate directly through mass media and
indirectly through targeting opinion leaders, opinion formers, style leaders, innovators, and other influential
people.

How messages are selected and processed within the minds of the target market is a vast and complex
question. Although it is over seventy years old, rather simplistic and too hierarchical, a message model, like
AIDA, attempts to map the mental processes through which a buyer passes en route to making a purchase.

There are many other models that attempt to identify each stage. In reality the process is not always a linear
sequence. Buyers often loop backwards at various stages perhaps for more information. There are other
much more complex models that attempt to map the inner workings of the mind.

In reality, marketers have to select communications tools that are most suitable for the stage which the
target audience has reached. For example, advertising may be very good at raising awareness or
developing interest, while free samples and sales promotions may be the way to generate trial. This is just a
glimpse into some of the theory. Serious marketers read a lot more.

Golden Rules

Despite the many benefits of Integrated Marketing Communications (or IMC); there are also many barriers.
Here's how you can ensure you become integrated and stay integrated - 10 Golden Rules of Integration.

(1) Get Senior Management Support for the initiative by ensuring they understand the benefitsof IMC.
(2) Integrate At Different Levels of management. Put 'integration' on the agenda for various types of
management meetings - whether annual reviews or creative sessions. Horizontally - ensure that all
managers, not just marketing managers understand the importance of a consistent message - whether on
delivery trucks or product quality. Also ensure that Advertising, PR, Sales Promotions staff are integrating
their messages. To do this you must have carefully planned internal communications, that is, good internal
marketing.

(3) Ensure the Design Manual or even a Brand Book is used to maintain common visual standards for the
use of logos, type faces, colours and so on.

(4) Focus on a clear marketing communications strategy. Have crystal clear communications objectives;
clear positioning statements. Link core values into every communication. Ensure all communications add
value to (instead of dilute) the brand or organisation. Exploit areas of sustainable competitive advantage.

(5) Start with a Zero Budget. Start from scratch. Build a new communications plan. Specify what you need to
do in order to achieve your objectives. In reality, the budget you get is often less than you ideally need, so
you may have to prioritise communications activities accordingly.

(6) Think Customers First. Wrap communications around the customer's buying process. Identify the stages
they go through before, during and after a purchase. Select communication tools which are right for each
stage. Develop a sequence of communications activities which help the customer to move easily through
each stage.

(7) Build Relationships and Brand Values. All communications should help to develop stronger and stronger
relationships with customers. Ask how each communication tool helps to do this. Remember: customer
retention is as important as customer acquisition.

(8) Develop a Good Marketing Information System which defines who needs what information when. A
customer database for example, can help the telesales, direct marketing and sales force. IMC can help to
define, collect and share vital information.

(9) Share Artwork and Other Media. Consider how, say, advertising imagery can be used in mail shots,
exhibition stands, Christmas cards, news releases and web sites.

(10) Be prepared to change it all. Learn from experience. Constantly search for the optimum
communications mix. Test. Test. Test. Improve each year. 'Kaizen'.

The Marketing Mix


(The 4 P's of Marketing)

Marketing decisions generally fall into the following four controllable categories:

• Product
• Price
• Place (distribution)
• Promotion

The term "marketing mix" became popularized after Neil H. Borden published his
1964 article, The Concept of the Marketing Mix. Borden began using the term in his
teaching in the late 1940's after James Culliton had described the marketing
manager as a "mixer of ingredients". The ingredients in Borden's marketing mix
included product planning, pricing, branding, distribution channels, personal selling,
advertising, promotions, packaging, display, servicing, physical handling, and fact
finding and analysis. E. Jerome McCarthy later grouped these ingredients into the
four categories that today are known as the 4 P's of marketing, depicted below:

The Marketing Mix

These four P's are the parameters that the marketing manager can control, subject
to the internal and external constraints of the marketing environment. The goal is to
make decisions that center the four P's on the customers in the target market in
order to create perceived value and generate a positive response.

Product Decisions
The term "product" refers to tangible, physical products as well as services. Here are
some examples of the product decisions to be made:

• Brand name
• Functionality
• Styling
• Quality
• Safety
• Packaging
• Repairs and Support
• Warranty
• Accessories and services

Price Decisions
Some examples of pricing decisions to be made include:

• Pricing strategy (skim, penetration, etc.)


• Suggested retail price
• Volume discounts and wholesale pricing
• Cash and early payment discounts
• Seasonal pricing
• Bundling
• Price flexibility
• Price discrimination

Distribution (Place) Decisions


Distribution is about getting the products to the customer. Some examples of
distribution decisions include:

• Distribution channels
• Market coverage (inclusive, selective, or exclusive distribution)
• Specific channel members
• Inventory management
• Warehousing
• Distribution centers
• Order processing
• Transportation
• Reverse logistics

Promotion Decisions
In the context of the marketing mix, promotion represents the various aspects of
marketing communication, that is, the communication of information about the
product with the goal of generating a positive customer response. Marketing
communication decisions include:

• Promotional strategy (push, pull, etc.)


• Advertising
• Personal selling & sales force
• Sales promotions
• Public relations & publicity
• Marketing communications budget
Limitations of the Marketing Mix Framework
The marketing mix framework was particularly useful in the early days of
themarketing concept when physical products represented a larger portion of the
economy. Today, with marketing more integrated into organizations and with a wider
variety of products and markets, some authors have attempted to extend its
usefulness by proposing a fifth P, such as packaging, people, process, etc. Today
however, the marketing mix most commonly remains based on the 4 P's. Despite its
limitations and perhaps because of its simplicity, the use of this framework remains
strong and many marketing textbooks have been organized around it.

Structure of the Advertising Industry

Broadly speaking, since the 1980s, most advertising agencies have tended to
move towards a common structure. Whereas in the past, each individual agency
offered a variety of different marketing services under a single roof, the rapid
expansion of the media industry - especially the proliferation of cable and
digital channels - encouraged most large agencies to spin out their more
specialised in-house departments as separate agencies in their own right. At the
same time, while the number of individual agencies has as a result increased,
ownership of those agencies has concentrated dramatically. Massive
consolidation within the industry has led to a huge number of mergers and
acquisitions, and the creation at the top end of the market of a small group of
major holding companies, each of whom owns or controls a large number of
separate agencies. There are still independent owner-operated agencies out
there, but in far fewer numbers than ever before, and most are small by
comparison with the group-owned brands.

Holding companies. Sitting at the very top of the industry pyramid are a small
number of holding companies. There are now just four major international
groups, Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic and Publicis Groupe, each of whom
controls a huge number of different agency brands spread all over the globe.
Generally, the holding company doesn't involve itself too much in day-to-day
marketing, but works with its subsidiary businesses to encourage intra-group
synergy and to develop strategy. At the next level, there are a small number of
mid-size holding company groups, such as Havas, Aegis, and the Japanese
groups Dentsu and Hakuhodo DY. Although each of these controls several
brands, their range is more limited, either in terms of geographic reach (in the
case of the Japanese companies, who tend to operate mainly in Asia) or the
range of services they offer. There are also a few smaller holding companies
such as MDC in Canada or Chime Communications in the UK, who resemble
their larger rivals in terms of the number of different brands they control, but
on a very much smaller, sometimes more specialised scale. (See here for major
holding companies and independent marketing groups).

Advertising Agencies. The term advertising agency (or sometimes creative


agency) is generally applied to a company whose main role is to conceive and
create large-scale marketing concepts for its clients. Traditionally, advertising
agencies come up with the core idea for a marketing campaign and then create
a series of advertisements which address that idea across different media. They
tend to specialise in what is called above-the-line marketing: ads which address
a mass market through the four major media of television, print, radio and
outdoor (posters). The tool most commonly associated with the traditional
advertising agency is the 30-second television commercial.

There are three sorts of traditional advertising agency. The most important are
the 14 or so worldwide networks, such as BBDO, McCann Erickson, Leo
Burnett or Saatchi & Saatchi. Each of these operates a global network,
comprising local branded offices in as many as 100 or more different countries.
The networks have grown up primarily to serve multinational client companies
such as Ford or Procter & Gamble, who wish to provide a consistent marketing
message in all the countries in which they operate.

At the next level are "micro-networks", sometimes known as multi-hub creative


networks. These are a comparatively recent invention, similar in most ways to
the major networks, but operating a far smaller network, with perhaps only four
or five worldwide offices, usually in key regional centres. They generally offer
a tailored service for more demanding multinational clients, usually with the
hallmark of noteworthy creative work. Examples include Bartle Bogle Hegarty,
Wieden & Kennedy and M&C Saatchi. Sometimes they will be employed by a
client to come up with the core idea for a global marketing campaign, which
will then be executed or adapted for local markets by the regional offices of one
of the worldwide networks.

The majority of advertising agencies, however, comprise a third type:


standalone companies, sometimes independent, sometimes owned by one of the
major groups. They tend to operate only in their own country, although they
may have links to agencies in other markets. The bigger of these standalone
agencies are often able to offer a wide range of other marketing skills beyond
creative advertising (including those described below). In that case, they
sometimes refer to themselves as full-service agencies. Others, usually smaller
more entrepreneurial agencies, specialise in out-of-the-ordinary creative
concepts, mainly for television, and are sometimes referred to as creative
boutiques. (See here for major advertising agencies).
Media Agencies. Media services is the term generally used to describe the
process of delivering an advertisement via the media. There are, broadly
speaking, two aspects to this. Media planning involves deciding where the
advertisement should be placed in order to achieve the best impact on its
intended audience. Media buying is the process of negotiating with individual
media owners (such as broadcasters or publishers) over availability and price.

Although some advertising agencies still offer media services inhouse, most
larger agencies have spun out their media departments as an entirely separate
business. In simple terms, this means that clients pay separately for the creation
of advertising and for the booking of media space. On the planning side this
encourages "media-neutrality", so that advertising is placed in the medium best
suited to the client's particular marketing message, not just the one that earns
most money for the agency (which would be television). On the buying side it
allows for economy of scale, with the media agency able to purchase ad space
in bulk for several clients at a time, rather than on an individual basis. As a
result of the consolidation process, this part of the market is now dominated by
global networks, such as MindShare, Carat or Starcom MediaVest. Like the
advertising agency networks, these are all owned by the major or mid-size
holding companies, and each operates through 100 or more local offices around
the world. Unlike the advertising agency sector, there is no real media
equivalent to the multi-hub network. (Smaller media agency brands, such as
Vizeum or PHD, are there primarily to resolve client conflicts rather than to
provide a different level of service). A small number of standalone media
agencies remain, mainly independently owned, but they now form only a tiny
part of the overall market. (See here for major media agencies).

Despite their size and scale, the major media networks are under increasing
pressure from their clients on one side and the media outlets in which they buy
space on the other. This has led to an implacable squeeze on margins. Media
networks are generally paid in commission on the advertising space they
purchase. According to longstanding tradition, agencies take a cut of 15% of
the media space they purchase as their fee. However competition and
negotiation have greatly reduced this percentage, in the case of large clients. (In
some cases, media agencies might agree to take a cut of as little as 2% or 3% of
billings from an especially large or prestigious client, although they would
never allow this to be publicly known).

To boost their income, the larger media agencies have also broadened their
range of services, adding fee-based disciplines such as sponsorship, product
placement and internet search. One key area of growth has been "branded
entertainment", or brand-funded entertainment content. This form of marketing,
increasingly popular in the 2000s, represents a move back towards the old style
of advertising prevalent between the 1930s and 1950s in which a sponsor paid
for all the cost of a particular radio show or TV broadcast (such as The
Maxwell House Show Boat or The Palmolive Hour). Some media agencies
have also shown signs of moving into areas such as general business strategy
and management consultancy.

Marketing Services. This is the term generally understood to denote anything


other than advertising in the major media, and is often described as below-the-
line marketing. It comes in many different forms, each of which demands a
more specialised, often more technically complex, set of skills. These include
direct marketing, sales promotion, interactive marketing, public relations,
healthcare marketing, and so on.

In simple terms, direct marketing involves any form of advertising which


communicates with its target audience one-to-one, for example through
individually targeted direct mail. It often involves or asks for a response from
the target, for example, in the form of a coupon (in which case it is sometimes
called "direct response"). Increasingly, direct marketing and interactive
marketing via the internet have become aligned since both involve a one-to-one
relationship with an end user. Depending on the type of interaction, this is also
sometimes described as "customer relationship management" (or CRM), for
example in the case of customer loyalty schemes, or financial services
membership. In many cases, old-style direct mail agencies and new-style
interactive agencies have merged to offer a combined service.

Sales promotion covers a variety of different areas, such as in-store promotions,


exhibitions or one-off sponsored events. In very broad terms it relates to the
interaction between the client brand and its customer in a specific place (for
example, in-store) or at a specific event (for example, a sports match). However
different agencies use different terms to describe the process. Those involved in
the retail environment often use the term "brand activation"; agencies which
specialise in live events sometimes call it "experiential marketing".

Traditionally, all of these marketing services disciplines have been largely


execution-based - in other words, a large client would employ an advertising
agency to come up with its main advertising concept, and would then hire the
appropriate marketing services agency to adapt that concept in other forms.
However the lines between these different disciplines have become blurred,
especially with the emergence of the internet as a major advertising medium.
As a result, a breed of larger marketing services agency has emerged. This
resembles the traditional advertising agency in many ways, such as global scale
and creativity, but tends to specialise in a more direct form of marketing which
engages the target audience not as part of a mass market (as with television
advertising) but on a more individual level, often through direct contact,
whether online, by mail, in a store at point of purchase, or at a sponsored event.
Examples include Wunderman, Draft, Rapp Collins and others. Sometimes,
these agencies also offer all the above-the-line skills of the traditional
advertising agency as well, in which case, they are often known as integrated
agencies, or sometimes through-the-line agencies.

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