Integrated Marketing Communications: Strategies and Techniques

Posted on Oct 27, 2024 in Economy

What is IMC?

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is the coordinated integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program. This program maximizes impact on consumers and other end-users at a minimal cost.

IMC encompasses business-to-business, channel, customer, external, and internal communications, ensuring they are connected and synchronized for a clear and consistent message.

3 C’s:

Clear, Consistent, Compelling (attractive)

Communications Research

Task: Understand customers’ purchase benefits.

Target Market

Market Segment: A set of businesses or groups of individual consumers with distinct characteristics.
Market Segmentation: The process of identifying specific consumer and business groups most likely to purchase the brand based on their needs, attitudes, and interests.

Market Segmentation Methods

Geographic
Demographic
Psychographic
Behavioral

Geographic Segmentation

Geographic segmentation divides the market into different geographic units, such as nations, states, regions, counties, cities, or neighborhoods.

Geo-Targeting

Geo-targeting/geo-fencing sends messages to individuals in specific regions.

Used by retailers and service providers
GPS technology in smartphones
Digital ads
Recognition technology (GPS + face recognition)

Demographic Segmentation

Demographic segmentation categorizes consumers by similar characteristics:

Age and family life-cycle stage
Gender
Income
Home ownership
Occupation

Behavioral Segmentation

Buyers are grouped based on their knowledge, attitude, use of, or response to a product.

Buyer Persona

A buyer persona represents a typical member of a target group, created from research-collected customer data. It combines different segmentation types, personifying buyers to help with personalized product offers and communication.

Positioning

Product positioning summarizes the consumer’s perception of a company or brand and its products relative to competitors. Consumers determine a brand’s position.

Types of Budgets

Percentage of sales
Meet the competition
Affordable method
Objective and task
Pay-out planning
Quantitative models

1. Percentage of Sales

• Sales of the current year or next year

2. Meet the Competition

• Prevents market share loss

3. What We Can Afford

• Set after all other budget items
• Does not view marketing as important

4. Objective and Task

• Budgets determined by objectives
• Best budgeting method
• Used by 50% of firms

5. Pay-Out Planning

• Ratio of advertising to sales or market share
• Larger percentage at product launch
• Lower percentage when the brand is established

6. Quantitative Models

• Computer simulations
• Develops models based on historical data

Communication Schedules

Pulsating Schedule:

Advertising throughout the year with increased spending at select times (e.g., holidays).

Flighting Schedule:

Allocates budget only during peak times.

Continuous Schedule:

Divides the budget equally throughout the year.

Advertising

Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor (paid to a third party).

Advertising Theories

Social media, magazines, billboards.

Attitude:

Cognitive (rational, logical)—scientific
Affective (emotional)—application
Conative (action)

Advertising Design

Message Strategy: The primary tactic or approach for delivering the message theme.
Advertising Appeal: Different approaches to reach consumers, using elements like humor, sex, music, rationality, emotions, or scarcity.
Executional Framework: How an ad appeal is presented and a message strategy is conveyed.