Chapter 11: Integrated Marketing

Communications

1. Tailoring marketing communications to customers

- Marketers use all the elements of the marketing mix to communicate with
customers
- Marketing communication can take many forms: quirky television commercials,
sophisticated magazine ads
- Marketing communications have different purposes; some can be to push specific
products, whereas others try to create or reinforce a corporate image
Inform consumers about new goods and services and where they can
purchase them.
Remind consumers to continue using certain products
Persuade consumers to choose one product over others
Build relationships with customer

2. The communications mode

Communication model= Model explains how ideas are translated into message and
transmitted from marketer (the source) to the consumer (the receiver) who is listening
and understands what the marketer intended to say.

Source Message Medium Receiver

- Company -advertising -magazines -consumer
- individual -Public Relations -newspapers
-Sales promotion -TV
-salesperson pitch -radios
-communication from -posters
consumers -direct mail
-word of mouth

Noise
- Competing messages

Feedback
- Purchase data
- Product awareness
- Brand loyalty

2.1 Encoding by the source (the marketer)

Encoding= process of translating an idea into a form of communication that will
convey the desired meaning
Source= individual or organization who is sending the message
- No easy to express the idea so that people get the same picture
- To make message more believable or attractive to consumers, marketers
sometimes chose celebrity or expert to do the encoding, hire an actor, or create
character to represent the source

2.2 the message

Message = actual communication going from sender to receiver
Must include all information necessary to inform, persuade, remind, or build a
relationship
May include verbal and non-verbal elements
Elements should be able to connect with a wide range of consumers.
If salesperson message can be tailored for each individual consumer

2.3 The medium

Medium= communication vehicle used to reach members of a target audience
Attributes of the product should match those of the medium

2.4 Decoding the receiver

The receiver= any individual, organization that intercepts and interprets the
information we interpret messages in the light of our unique experiences not
always paying attention (overloaded)
Communication cannot occur unless a receiver is there to get the message
Decoding= process whereby a receiver assigns meaning to a massage; translate
the message into an idea
Effective communication occurs only when the source and the receiver have a
mutual frame of references, must share the same understanding about the world.
Some adds want people to interpret things in ways so that it create debates
(United Colours of Benetton)

2.5 Noise
Noise = anything that interferes with effective communication can block messages
Can occur at any stage of communication
Gaining attention is one of the key challenges today
At encoding stage ( customer doesnt understand the words/symbols)
Almost guaranteed to gain sustomers attention: word-of-mouth and guerilla
marketing techniques.
Marketers try to minimize noise by placing their messages where is less likely to
be distractions or competition for consumers attention

2.6. Feedback
Feedback from receivers = Reaction to message that helps to gauge the
effectiveness of the message so marketers can fine tune it
Market research verify that strategies are working

3. Marketing communications strategy and the promotion mix

Every element of the marketing mix is actually a form of communication
Promotion = one of the seven Ps, virtually everything an organization says and
does is a form of marketing communications.
Promotion mix = the communication elements that the marketer controls within
the marketing mix
Personal selling
Advertising
Sales propmotion
Public relations
Mic imples that a companys promotion strategy is focused on more than one
element
must integrate those in an effective way
Make sure that the promotion mix work un harmony with the overall marketing
mix combines elements with place, price, and product info to position the
firms offering in peoples minds
 The messages that consumers receive about companies and products differ in
the amount of control the marketer has over the message delivered to the
consumer

o Personal appeals
Most immediate way for a marketer to make contact with customers is simply
to tell them how wonderful the product is. personal selling element of the
promotion mix.
Personal selling element
Direct interaction with customer
In person, by telephone or even an interactive telephone link
Can ask questions, receive their response to objection, and product
benefits
Especially effective for expensive and complicated consumer items
human touch
in those cases, marketers may neglect other forms of promotion

o Mass appeals
reach many prospective customers at the same time (impersonal and lack the
human touch)
Elements of the promotion mix that provide mass appeal opportunities:
Sales promotion= programmes that marketers design to build interest in
or encourage purchase of a product during a specific time period.
Stimulate immediate action rather than building long-term loyalty.
 Advertisement= most familiar and visible element of the promotion mix.
Non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using the mass
media.
can establish or reinforce a distinctive brand identity
Give factual info and remind us to buy the product
suffers sometimes from a credibility problem because cynical
consumers ignore message they think are biases or are intended to sell
them something they dont need
can be very expensive
Public relations= relates to communications activities that seek to
create and maintain a positive image of an organization and its products. It
include writing press releases about product and company-related issues,
dealing with the news media and organizing special events. It prevent bad
company news and minimize
harmuful consequences. The
focus is on long-term
influence (feelings, opinions,
believes) rather than on
short-term sales increase.

o Buzz appeals
Alternatives to traditional
advertising

1. Word-of-mouth: the act of

consumers providing information to
other customers
2. Word-of-mouth marketing: given people a reason to talk about your product
and making it easier for that conversation to take place
3. Buzz marketing: using high profile entertainment or news to get people to talk
about your brand
4. Viral marketing: creating entertainment or informative messages that are
designed to be passed along in an exponential fashion, often electronically or by
mail

These are far more credible because they are generated by other consumers and
thus more valuable to the brand
marketers think about buzz as people helping their marketing efforts by talking
about a product to their friends.
WOMMA rule: anyone promoting products should identify for whom they work.
Buzz marketing: should never be directed to children more impressionable and
easier to deceive than adults
Use it carfullt press can get hold of them and publiclice the way people are
potentially being duped into believing the WOM is genuine
Amplified WOM = buzz resulting from buzz campaigns
Organic WOM = buzz that occurs naturally can be negative
to create positive buzz, companies need to have a total customer focus, to
emphasize and care about their customers.

o Guerrilla marketing
ambushing consumers with promotional content in places where they are not
expecting to encounter this kind of activity
To promote new drinks, cars, or clothing styles
4. Integrated marketing communications
Integrated marketing communication (IMC): is the process that marketers use
to plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand
communication programs over time to target audiences
Approach argues that customers see the variety of messages they receive
from a firm as a whole, as a single company speaking to them but in
different ways and different places
Customer is the focus
Seek to understand what information consumers want, how, when, where
they want it.
deliver the info about the product using the best combination of
communications methods available to them Communication becomes
part of peoples live not distraction
Execute marketing communications programmes that create and maintain
long-term relationships with customers by satisfying customer needs.
Unify all marketing communication tools (advertising to packaging) to send
target audience a consistent, persuasive message that promotes company
goals
Customers less likely to be influenced by any single marketer-generated
message use customer databases greater opportunity for
understanding customers and for developing one-to-one communication
programme gives customers the ability to communicate among
themselves about products and companies

o Characteristics of IMC
- IMC creates a single unified voice, creating a single and powerful brand
personality
Does not mean that marketers do not communicate to different segments
of marketer or different stakeholders group with different tactics
Also considers other less obvious forms of communication e.g. cloth of
delivery guy
Eliminate duplication and conflicting communication

- IMC begins with customer

Provide information customer ant when they need it, where they want it,
and in the amount needed not too abstract otherwise they wont follow

- IMC seeks to develop relationships with customers

IMC firms measure success by share of customer, not share of market, and
of the lifetime value of a customer one-to-one relationship
Easier and less expensive to keep an existing customer than to attract a
new one

- IMC involves two-way communication

Marketers learn what information customers have and what additional
information they want; then develop communication tactics that let them
give info to their customers

- IMC focuses on stakeholders, not just customers

Other stakeholders can significantly influence customers attitudes and
behaviors
Ex: Media, employees, government regulators,
- IMC generates a continuous stream of communication
Many different elements of communication
Information on regular basis and in the right amount

- IMC measures results based upon actual feedback

- IMC and database marketing

Database marketing: creation of relationship with a set of customers
with an identifiable interest in a product or service and whose responses to
promotion efforts become part of the communication process marketers
learn about customers preferences
fine tuned their offereiend and build
relationship
What database marketing can do:
Is interactive
Builds relationships
Locates new customers
Stimulates cross-selling
Is measureable
Responses are trackable

o Developing the IMC plan

Step 1: identify the target audience
Good database most important
With well-designed data base marketers can know who target market is as well
as the buying behavior of different segments within total market develop
targeted messages for each customer
Step 2: establish the communication objectives
Goal: let customers know that the organization has product to meet their needs
in a timely and affordable way may have the product that they want but fail to
let them know about it
Hierarchy of effects= consumers led through series of steps from initial
awareness to brand loyalty
more difficult at each step and people may drop out
Create awareness: make members aware of the new brand; repetitive
advertising, slogans, publicity stunts (teaser campaign adds heighten
interest because they dont reveal the exact nature of the product).
Inform the market;:Provide users with knowledge about the benefits the
new products has to offer, the position of product relative to others;
descriptive copy, brochures, informative commercial, public relations,
personal selling, website
Create desire: to create favourable feelings and desire toward the product.
status appeal, sex appeals, celebrity endorsements
Encourage trial, purchase: get to some people who got interested to try
the product; point-of-purchase displays, coupons, contests, samples,
displays in shop, sponsoring
Building loyalty: convince the customer to stay with the brand; mailing to
users, licensed merchandise, product placement
 Step 3: determine and allocate the marketing communication budget
Determine the total communication budget
Deciding whether to use a push strategy or a pull strategy
Allocating how much to spend on specific promotion activities

- Economic approaches to budgeting rely on marginal analysis

Organization spends money on promotion as long as the revenues by
these efforts continue to exceed costs of the promotion themselves
Intended to increase sales + enhance firms image

Top-down budgeting technique: top management establish the overall

amount that organization allocates for promotion amount is divided
among departments
Percentage-of-sales method: promotion budget is based on last
years sales; ties spending in promotion to sales and profits
may be an industry average provided by trade associations
can imply that sales cause promotional outlays rather than
viewing sales as the outcome of promotional efforts
Competitive-parity method: match whatever competitors are
spending , firm needs to monitor competitors promotion activities
and combine them with own objectives and capabilities.
assumes that the same amount spent on promotion by two
firms will yield the same results, but spending a lot of money
doesnt guarantee a successful promotion
Problem: budget decisions are based on established practices than on
promotion objectives

Bottom-up budgeting techniques: identify promotion goals and

allocate enough money to accomplish them.
some marketers devise a budget that attempts to project revenues and
costs associated with a product over several years and then match
promotion expenditures to a pattern such as spending more in the first
years to build awareness
Objective-task method: firm first defines the specific
communication goals then will try to figure out what kind of
promotional efforts it will take to meet that goal; most rational
approach; hard to implement --> careful analysis and luck

An issue un determining the promotion mix is whether the company is relying in a

push or pull strategy:
- Push strategy: company wants to move its products by convincing members of
distribution channels to offer them and entice their customer to select these
items
 Promotion efforts: push products from producer to customers be
focusing on personal selling, trade advertising, sales promotion
- Pull strategy: consumers wanting products and so convincing retailers to
respond to this demand by stocking them
Promotion efforts: media advertisement and consumer sales
promotion

- Whether to use a push or a pull strategy and how the promotion mix for a
product is designed must bary over time (some elements work better at points
in the product life cycle)
1. Introduction build awareness and encourage trial (often relying on
push strategy)
2. Growth start stressing product benefits (sales promotions used to
encourage trial)
3. Maturity encouraging people to switch from competitors brands
4. Decline dramatically reduces spending on all elements of the promotion
mix. Sales will be driven by loyalty of a small group of users who keep the
product alive until it is sold to another company or discounted.

- Factors affecting the size of the IMC budget:

Organizational factors (complexity and formality of firm decision making
process, preferences and comfort level)
Market potential (allocate more resources to ares with more sales
potential)
Market size (Larger markertsmore expensive place but reach more
people. Advertising mass-market products, personal selling expensive
specialized or highly technical products).

Step 4: design the promotion mix

- Most complicates : Determining specific communication tools, what message is
to be communicated and the communication channels to be employed
- Message should focus on one of the four: AIDA: get Attention, Hold interest,
Create desire and Produce action
- Many messages are similar to debates or trials :
Supportive argument, one-sided messages: one or more positive
attributes
Two-sided: positive and negative information, can be quiet effective
but seldom used
Conclusion? Yes if the argument is hard to follow
- Wasted if not placed in Communication channels that reach the target audience
effectively
web: companies can gve customers a feel for their producrs or services before
buy it

Step 5: evaluate the effectiveness of communication programme

- Decide whether the plan is working (marketers need to determine whether the
communication objectives are adequately translated into marketing
communications that are reaching the right target market).
- effectiveness of some forms of communications system easier to determine than
others
Sales promotion: easiest to evaluate (occur over fixed, short period of time
easier to link sales volume)
Advertising researchers measure brand awareness : before and after
advertising campaign
Public relations activities are more difficult to assess because their
objectives relate more often to image building than sales volume.