Chapter 13 Notes Integrated Marketing Communications: Advertising, Promotions and Other MarCom Tools Learning objective 1: Appreciate the

variety of marketing-communications tools and how they work together to accomplish communication objectives. Personal selling is person-to-person communication in which a seller informs and educates prospective customers and attempts to influence their purchase choices. B2B marketers rely especially heavily on personal selling. Advertising is non-personal communication that is paid for by an identified sponsor, and involves either mass communication via newspaper, magazines, radio, television and other media (e.g., billboards or bus stop signage) or direct-to-consumer communication via postal or electronic mail. Publicity, like advertising is non-personal communication to a mass audience; but unlike advertising, publicity is not directly paid for by the company that enjoys the publicity. Sales Promotion consists of all marketing activities that attempt to stimulate quick buyer action or attempt to promote immediate sales of a product. Sponsorship Marketing is the practice of promoting the interests of a company and its brands by associating the company with a specific event (e.g., a golf tournament) or a charitable cause (e.g., the Leukemia Society). Learning objective 2: Understand the nature, importance and features of integrated marketing communications. Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a system of management and integration of marketing-communications elements advertising, publicity, sales promotions, sponsorship marketing and point-of-purchase communications with the result that all elements adhere to the same message. Five key features of IMC: Start with the customer or prospect. Then work back to the brand communicator to determine the most appropriate messages and media for informing, persuading and inducing customers and prospects to act favorably toward the communicators brand. Use any form of relevant contact. The term contact is any message medium capable of reaching target customers and presenting the brand in a favorable light. Achieve synergy. Speak with a single voice. Build relationships. A relationship is an enduring link between a brand and its customers. Affect behavior. Move people to action.

Key changes in Marketing Communications [MarCom] practice resulting from the IMC thrust: 1. Reduced dependence on mass-media advertising 2. Increased reliance on highly targeted communication methods. [direct mail, special-interest magazines, cable TV, event sponsorships and e-mail messaging (permission or opt-in e-mailing)] 3. Expanded efforts to assess communications return on investment. Learning objective 3: Describe the concept of brand-equity enhancement and the role of marketing communications in facilitating this objective. A brand possesses equity to the extent that customers are familiar with the brand and have stored in their memories favorable, strong and unique brand associations. Brand awareness: The pinnacle of brand name awareness [TOMA] exist when a brand is the first recalled when customers think of the available options in a particular product category (Top-Of-Mind Awareness). Brand image: The type of associations that come to the customers mind when contemplating a particular brand. Learning objective 4: Comprehend the factors that determine how different marketingcommunications elements are effectively combined. The IMC mix decision is guided by systematically considering the following questions: What is the intended market? What objectives must the MarCom initiative achieve? What is the product life-cycle stage? What are competitors doing? What is the available budget for marketing communications? Learning objective 5: Discuss the primary decision spheres involved in managing the marketing communications process. Six primary areas of decision influence: 1. Selecting target markets is the critical first step toward effective and efficient marketing communications. 2. Establishing objectives must fit within the companys overall corporate and marketing objectives. 3. Setting the budget 4. Formulating a positioning strategy is essential in developing successful marketing-communications programs. Positioning statement is the key idea that encapsulates what a brand is intended to stand for in its target markets mind and then consistently delivers the same idea across all media channels. 5. Formulating and implementing message and media strategies decisions must be made regarding the message to be communicated and

the media within which the message will be carried. Media strategy consists of four sets of inter-related activities: 1.Selecting the target audience, 2.Specifying media objectives, 3.Selecting media categories and vehicles, and 4.Buying media. 6.Evaluating program effectiveness. A program is evaluated by measuring the results of the program against the objectives established in the planning stage. Effectiveness is evaluated by comparing the actual response rate with the objective established in the form of a projected response rate. Promotional elements, such as advertising are difficult to evaluate, since objective outcomes-such as the amount of sales generated in a period- are not directly or exclusively attributable to the ads per se. Sales are the result of all marketing-mix variables. Current sales are due to past marketing efforts, and are not solely attributable to current advertising; that is, the advertising and sales relationship is typically lagged, with advertising in the current period influencing sales at later times, as well as in the current period. Learning objective 6: Evaluate the nature and function of the major marketingcommunications tools: Advertising Sales promotions Public relations, and Sponsorship and event marketing. Advertising The actual advertising process for a particular brand can be thought of as the development and implementation of an advertising strategy. Advertising strategy entails five major activities: Objective setting provide the foundation for all remaining advertising decisions, Budgeting Companies may use rules-of-thumb (heuristics), percentage-of-sales or objective-and-task methods for developing a budget. The objective-and-task method involves the following three-step procedure: (1) specifying the objective that a particular ad or entire ad campaign is intended to achieve, (2) identifying the specific tasks that must be accomplished in order to reach these objectives, and (3) estimating the anticipated cost of achieving the specified tasks. , Positioning, Planning message and developing media strategies At a minimum, good or effective advertising satisfies the following considerations: (a) It extends from sound marketing strategy, (b) It takes the customers view, (c) It is persuasive, (d) It finds a unique way to break through competitive clutter (e) It never promises more than it can deliver, and (f) It prevents the creative idea from overwhelming the strategy. Outstanding message execution is of no avail unless the messages are delivered to the right customers at the right time and with sufficient frequency. Four objectives are fundamental to media planning: reach, frequency, timing and cost. Gross rating points (GRPs) are the accumulation of rating points, including all vehicles in a media purchase, over the span of a particular campaign. Media

available for advertising include; television, radio, magazines, newspapers, online (internet). Additionally, marketers use a variety of items at the point-of-purchase (P-O-P) to draw attention to their brands and activate customer purchases. These include signs, mobiles, plaques, banners, shelf talkers, mechanical mannequins, lights, mirrors, plastic product reproductions, checkout units, full-line merchandisers, wall posters, motion displays and others., and Assessing advertising effectiveness

Sales Promotion: Factors giving rise to the growth of sales promotions: Balance-of-power transfer Increased brand parity and price sensitivity Reduced brand loyalty Splintering of mass market and reduced media effectiveness Short-term orientation and corporate reward structure Trade and customer responsiveness. Sales promotion is well suited for accomplishing the following tasks: Facilitating the introduction of new products to the trade Obtaining trial purchases from consumers Stimulating sales-force enthusiasm for new, improved or mature brands Invigorating sales of a mature brand Increasing on-and off-shelf merchandise space Neutralizing competitive advertising and sales promotions Holding current users by encouraging repeat purchases Increasing brand usage by loading consumers Preempting competition by loading consumers Reinforcing advertising Public Relations: Public Relations, or PR, is the marketing-communications tool uniquely suited to fostering goodwill between a company and its various publics. PR efforts are aimed primarily at customers, employees, suppliers, stockholders, governments, the general public, labor groups and citizen action groups. Our concern; however, is only with the more narrow PR aspect that involves an organizations interactions with customers. This marketing-oriented aspect of public relations is called marketing PR, or MPR. Proactive marketing public relations (proactive MPR) is offensive rather than defensive, and opportunity-seeking rather than problem solving. Reactive MPR is a form of defensive PR that deals with developments such as product defects or flaws that have negative consequences for the organization. Sponsorship and Event Marketing:

Corporate sponsorships involves investments in events or causes to achieve various corporate objectives, such as increasing sales volume, enhancing a companys reputation or a brands image and increasing brand awareness. At least four factors account for the growth in sponsorships: Avoid the clutter inherent in advertising media Respond to consumers changing media habits Gain approval of various constituencies Target communications and promotional efforts to specific geographic regions and/or specific lifestyle groups. Event-related marketing is a form of brand promotion that ties a brand to a meaningful cultural, social, athletic or other type of high-interest public activity.