Key Topic IMC Areas

Mkt 642

Moving from Transactions to

Relationships
In recent years, the marketplace has changed:
Competition has increased
Customers have become more distrustful of businesses
New communication and information technologies have been
developed
Companies have discovered its more profitable to sell to
current customers than to new ones
Organizations now need more effective and efficient ways of
communicating with customers

IMC Helps Companies Build

Profitable Customer Relationships
Focuses on customer relationships instead of transactions
Uses customer databases to have more personal, two-way
communication with customers
Utilizes a planning technique that lets each unique brand
situation determine the best mix of marketing
communication functions and media
Provides a system for integrating the planning and
monitoring of brand-building activities
Helps ensure that a brand has one voice, one look
Takes advantage of new media and new communication
and information technologies
Builds trust in a brand by creating an open, customerfocused culture

Integrated Marketing
Communication (IMC)

Building customer relationships will produce more

sales and profits than sales transactions alone.
Marketing activities must take into consideration
not only potential customers but also other
stakeholders.

What is IMC?

Process for managing customer

relationships that drive brand value.
Its foundation is communication.
Cross-functional process for creating and
nourishing profitable relationships with
customers other stakeholders by
strategically controlling or influencing all
messages sent to these groups and
encouraging data-driven, purposeful
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dialogue with them.

IMC Process Model

Five Major Elements of the

Definition of IMC
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Cross-functional.
Creating and nourishing stakeholder
relationships.
Profitable customer relationships.
Strategically controlling or influencing
all messages.
Encouraging purposeful dialogue.
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Communication Drives
Relationships

Communication is the foundation of all relationships,

including brand relationships.
Commercial brand relationships are created and
terminated in a way similar to personal relationships.
IMC focuses on maximizing positive messages and
minimizing negative messages about a brand in
order to create and sustain brand relationships.
When used to build long-term relationships, IMC also
builds and strengthens the brand.
The stronger a brand is, the more value it has.
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IMC and the Marketing

Umbrella

IMC functions under marketings umbrella.

Marketing is the process of creating and providing

what customers want in return for something they
are willing to give.
The AMA defines marketing as the process of
planning and executing the conception, pricing,
promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and
services to create exchanges that satisfy
individual and organizational needs.
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Basic Elements of
Marketing

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Marketing Communication

Marketing communication (MC) is the

collective term for all communication
functions used in marketing a product.
The purpose of marketing
communications is to add value to a
product for both customers and the
company.
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Traditional Marketing
Communication Functions

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Marketing Communication
Functions

Marketing communication is the means by

which organizations send brand messages to
whomever it is that needs to be persuaded to
think or act a certain way, and the means by
which the organization receives messages
back from these people.
Other communication activities coordinated
with MC include:
Personal sales.
Customer service.
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Integration

Integration involves more than marketing

communication.
Integration means unity and wholeness.
Through unity, synergy can be achieved.
Another basic principle of IMC: When an
organization is not integrated internally, it is
difficult, if not impossible, for the brand to be
integrated externally in the minds of
customers, prospects, and other
stakeholders.
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Evolution of IMC
The concept of IMC the idea of managing
customer relationships is not new.
However, the processes used in managing
IMC, such as taking advantage of new
communication and database
technologies and creating synergy for a
brand, are new.
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Move to Mass Marketing

Industrial revolution and mass production
led to mass marketing, selling the same
product in the same way to everyone,
which led to
Commodity products, products made by
different companies that have few or no
distinguishing characteristics.
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Trends Driving Integration

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Disintegration of
Marketing

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Relationship Revolution
How companies communicate with customers
and sell products will change due to:
New technological developments
Expansion of global marketplace
Growing competition among internal
departments and external suppliers
Shift from manufacturing to a service-based
economy
Increases in mergers and acquisitions
Critical and demanding customers
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