Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

Lecturer : Dr. Martin Owusu Ansah

 What is marketing communications?
The origin of the concept

 There is no secret that certain activities have been

carried out over the years and had suddenly come
up in new clothes as a “new thing”.
 Origin in the 1980’s.
 With few organisations to have truly implemented
an effective IMC
 Until proliferation and sensitivity on customers’
and consumers’ part.
Marketing communications (Marcom)
 The aim of any marketing communication is to convey a clearly defined
message to an identified target audience in an effective manner
 All the evidence indicates that, majority of companies are without a “marcom”
plan
 Marcom falls into the 4th “P” category in the mix – that is product, price, place
and promotion.
 The preliminary point before examining the role of promotion is to look at the
message indications which might be transmitted by the other 3 P’s – product,
price and place.
 It is a concept under which a company integrates and co-ordinates its many
communications channels to deliver a clear and consistent message about the
organisation and its products.
 Marketing communications
 It describes all the promotional elements of the marketing
mix which involve the communications between an
organization and its target audience on all matters that
affect marketing performance.
 Marketing communications and corporate communications
 Marketing communication is within the corporate
communication.
 Marketing communications and advertising
 Marketing communications and promotions
 Communication in IMC
 Communication is the transfer of information
or message from one person to another
or
 It is the process by which information is
exchanged between a sender and a receiver.
 Communication is the essential part of
marketing.
Verbal and Non – verbal communication
 Verbal communication
• Face to face
• Telephone

 Non - verbal communication

• Style of dress
• Time (The waiting game)
• The use of space
 Marketing Communications model
 Schramm’s (1960) communication process
has four key components – namely :
 The sender
 The message
 The media
 The Receiver
The Communication model
How communications impact on audience

 Mode of transmission – the way the message is

transported through the media

 Timing – the period.

 Context – climate, physical surroundings.

 Format – the use of colour, design, graphics etc.

 Reception – the audience who receive the message.

 The Target Audience Defined
(Classified category of customers)
 Consumers and customers
 There are two clusters of committed customers and two of uncommitted
customers:
 ● committed customers
 entrenched customers are unlikely to switch in the foreseeable future
 average customers are unlikely to change in the short term, but may switch
in the medium term.
 ● uncommitted customers
 shallow customers have a lower commitment than average, and some of
them are already considering alternatives
 convertible customers are most likely to defect.
 The target audience defined (Contd)
 Non-customers are also segmented according to commitment scores into
four availability subsets: available, ambivalent, weakly unavailable and
strongly unavailable. There are two clusters that are open and two that are
unavailable:
 ● open non-customers
 available non-customers prefer the alternative to their current offer though
they have not yet switched, and are ready to switch
 ambivalent non-customers are as attracted to the alternative as they are to
their current brand.
 ● unavailable non-customers
 weakly unavailable non-customers prefer their current brands
 strongly unavailable non-customers have a strong preference for their
current brands.
 Marketing communication decisions
 Marketing communication is the process of informing, persuading
and reminding consumers of products and organizations.
 It consists of six elements:
 Advertising
 Personal selling
 Direct marketing
 Sales promotion
 Publicity
 Public relations.
 Advertising

 Controlled and paid-for non-personal marketing

communication related to the needs-satisfying product and
directed by a marketer at a specific target audience. It
includes:
 Television
 Big screen or movie theaters
 Radio
 Magazines
 Newspapers.
 Personal selling

 Verbal presentation of a product, service or

idea to one or more potential buyers in order
to conclude a transaction
 Sales representatives are used to inform
buyers about products and to persuade
buyers, through face-to-face communication,
to buy the products.
 Direct marketing

 It uses advertising media to communicate

information of a product or service to
customers, who can then respond by
purchasing the product or service via email,
telephone or internet
 Focus of direct marketing is to obtain an
immediate response.
 Sales promotion

 Marketing communication methods that are not

normally classified as advertising, personal selling,
direct marketing or publicity, but that complement
the other elements in trying to influence consumer
behaviour
 Sales promotions are often short-term in nature,
such as to introduce a new product to the market.
 Publicity

 Non-personal stimulation of the demand for a

product or service of a business by making its
actual current news value available to the
mass media to obtain a favourable and ‘free’
media review of the business and its product.
 Public relations

 It entails decision-making to help an

organisation’s ability to listen to, appreciate
and respond appropriately to those persons or
groups whose mutually beneficial
relationships the organisation needs to foster
as it strives to achieve its mission and vision.
 Application of the P’s in Marcom
 Product - performance and satisfaction
 Place (Distribution)- connection between market share and the
outlets.
 Price – quality and personality involvement
 Promotion – represents all the other three

 Process – mode of delivery

 People - employees within the organisation.
 Physical evidence – Buildings or facilities
Integrated Marketing Communications
 In practice, it is very difficult to ensure that marketing
communications are integrated but such difficulty should
not prevent people from trying, as the rewards of synergy
and coherence are significant.

 Is integration always necessary ? Discuss (for or against

with real work issue / a problem)
 Perspectives of IMC
 IMC is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the
added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety
of communication disciplines – such as advertising, direct response, sales
promotion, and PR – and combines these disciplines to provide clarity,
consistency, and maximum communications impact (American Association of
Advertising Agencies); (Schultz, 1993).
 IMC is the concept under which a company carefully integrates and coordinates
its many communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent and compelling
message about the organisation and its products (Kotler et al., 1999).
 An organisation’s unified, coordinated effort to promote a brand concept through
the use of multiple communications tools that ‘speak with a single voice’ (Shimp,
2000).
 IMC is a process for managing the customer relationships that drive brand value.
More specifically, it is a cross-functional process for creating and nourishing
profitable relationships with customers and stakeholders by strategically
controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-
driven, purposeful dialogue with them (Duncan, 2002).
 Definition of IMC
 IMC can be defined as the management process of
integrating all marketing communications
activities across relevant audience points to
achieve greater brand coherence.
Integrated Marketing Communications
Guerilla marketing is not integrated marketing communication
Purpose and growth factors of the IMC
 The purpose of integration is to enable
practitioners to implement marketing
communications which are in every way integrated
and all pulling in the same direction.
 Factors that encourage IMC
 An increased in advertising expenditure
 New promotional agencies setting up as a result of
competition
 Perceived financial benefit
 Locus of retail power
 Growth in international communications
 Management objectives
 Importance of the IMC
 Creative integrity
 Operational efficiency
 Consistent messages
 Cost savings
 Unbiased marketing recommendations
 High-calibre consistent service
 Better use of media
 Easier working relations
 Greater marketing precision
 Greater agency accountability
 Barriers to effective IMC
 Vertical organizational structures where cooperation is needed between
functions/Mindset
 Elitism
 Structure makes it difficult to manage information from various agencies
and vendors
 Low standing of marketing communication function.
 Rigid organizational culture
 No common understanding of what constitutes IMC
 Resistance to change and fear of who will be in charge
 Financial considerations placed ahead of consumer considerations
 Without budget control, communication specialists fear they will lose
position and financial reward.
Understanding consumer decision-making
 Complexity of the target audience
 Complexity of the distribution
 Complexity of the purchase decision
 Short- versus long-term communication objectives
 Need to isolate segments
 Need for multiple messages
 Opportunities for unique message delivery
 Opportunities for trade incentives
 Likely importance of retail messages
 IMC Planning
IMC Rabostic planning model
 Planning is the process by which one establishes series of major decisions relating
to audiences, budgets, objectives, strategies and tactics.
 Is a planning process in IMC using acronyms. It was propounded by cooper
(1997) :

 R = Research
 A = Audiences
 B = Budget
 O = Objectives
 S = Strategies
 T = Tactics
 I = Implementation
 C = Control
 Stages in Cooper’s planning cycle
1.Familiarise – through research
2.Hypothesise – post test to identify a
strategy
3.Synthesise and inspire – brief your team
4.Optimise – discussion on pros and cons
5.Review – Tracking of the results
The five-step IMC strategic planning process
 Step one : Identify and select the appropriate target
audience
 Step two : Determine how that target audience makes
product and brand decisions
 Step three : Establish how the brand will be positioned
within its marketing communication and select a benefit to
support that position
 Step four : Set communication objectives
 Step five : Identify appropriate media options consistent
with the communication.
 Components of IMC
 Traditional advertising and promotion - signify an
essential strategic difference in communication objective
 Marketing communication - building brand equity
 Strategic IMC planning
 Strategic IMC positioning
• The needs of our market
• What our brand delivers
 Implementation – in line with objectives and
communication activities
Marketing Communication Psychology

 Inference from Kahneman and Tversky

Humans beings are born irrational, and that has
made us better decision-makers
The mindset of the client
 Customer/ consumer behaviour
• Consumer/Customer behaviour describes how consumers make purchase
decisions and how they use and dispose of the purchased goods and services.
• Before, during and after purchase.
Consumer behaviour consists of:
1. Overt acts / behaviour
2. Covert processes / behaviour
 Determinants of behaviour
Two main groups of factors that determine
consumer behaviour:
• Individual factors – decision making is usually
straightforward
• Group factors - decision making in the group
context is more complex.
Determinants of consumer behaviour
Business – to – Business buyer behaviour
 Users – those who use the products and services
 Buyers – those who are responsible for purchase

 “The buying center” – influencers, gate keepers, deciders

etc.
 Determinants of consumer buying

Four influences in any organisational buying decision:

 The environment
 The organisation itself
 The buying group (Interpersonal)
 The individual buyer
Consumer decision-making
Consumer decision-making
Importance of consumer behaviour
 Involvement
• Explains the amount of time and effort a buyer
invests in the search, evaluation and decision
process of consumer behaviour.
• Many factors determine the level of involvement.
Factors that determine the level of involvement
 Previous experience
 Interest
 Perceived risk of negative consequences
 Situation
 Social visibility
Trends in the consumer buying environment
 Age complexity
 Gender complexity
 Individualism eg Nike, Levi Strauss
 Cocooning
 Pleasure pursuits
 Health emphasis.
Remedy to the buying environment
 Monitor the changes
 Create goods and render services in meeting their
needs
 Design marketing strategies to build on customer /
consumer values
 Incorporate new trends into marketing programs
Types of Business – To – Business Sales
 Business buyers make different types of buying decisions as compared to the individual
purchase situation.

Three categories of buying activities or situations

1. A Straight re – buy : when firms have previously chosen a
vendor
2. A Modified re – buy : when firms consider and evaluate
alternatives
3. A new task : When firms decide to buy for the first time.
Business – To – Business Buying Process
 Identification of needs
 Establishment of specifications
 Identification of vendors
 Vendor Evaluation
 Vendors Selection
 Negotiation of terms
 Post-purchase evaluation
 The Media : Central role of the media
 Selection of the right media
 Meeting clients with minimum wastage but with
maximum effect
 Without the media, there will be no marketing
communications
 The media and the promotional mix
 Personal selling
 Advertising
 Public relations
 Sales promotion
 Packaging
 Word – of – mouth (WOM)
 Characteristics of the media
 Reaching a mass market
 Reaching a niche market
 Creating awareness
 Developing a strong image
 Encouraging direct action
 Appealing to senses
 Suitability for enhancing the brand
 How communication impacts on the audience
 Mode of transmission
 Timing
 Context
 Format
 Reception
 Integration of the media
 IMC and Brand building
 Marketing communication in IMC is highly contact between a
product, the brand and the market.
 It is simply more than advertising and promotion
 Application of the new media
 It comprises : packaging, the truck that transports the
company’ s products, sales kits for the trade, business cards,
sponsorships, store signs, retail store layout.
 Positioning - consist of how a brand is to be placed within
message executions to the target audience.
Brands
 A brand
 Is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a
combination thereof intended to identify the goods
and services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of their competitors.
 A brand is a mark that is unique to the product items
or ranges produced and marketed by a particular
business and that is chosen to distinguish them from
similar competing products.
 Brands offer many advantages to both the consumers
and marketers
 Brand elements
 They represent a brand name, logo, slogan, colour,
jingle, typeface and packaging style that
characterised a brand.
Brand elements
Types of brands
 Brand strategies
 There are four main brand strategies
1. Corporate umbrella branding – All products are branded under same
companies’ name eg. Heinz, Guinness etc
2. Family umbrella branding – Is where organizations' have corporate
brands being different from brands for its products eg. Mark and
Spencer
3. Range branding – related products are grouped under one brand
name eg. Lean Cuisine’s range of low calories foods.
4. Individual branding – where each product is branded separately eg.
Unilever.
Importance of branding
Disadvantages of branding
 Branding
 Branding involves the act of creating a unique name and image for a
product in consumers' mind.
 Branding concepts
• Brand awareness refers to the extent at which customers
are able to recall or recognise a brand
= ∑ (Brand recall + brand recognition).
Brand awareness
 Brand recall
 Brand recall is the extent to which a brand is
recalled with a product type or class of products by
the consumers.
 = % (sample).
Brand recall
 Brand recognition
 Brand recognition is extent at which a consumer can correctly
identify a particular product or service just by viewing the product
or service's logo, tag line, packaging or advertising campaign = %
(sample).
Brand recognition
 Brand association
• Brand association is a linkage which a buyer forms
in one's mind with the brand
• = list of aspects, attributes, links towards a brand.
Brand association
 Brand Image
• Brand Image is how customers think of a brand. It
can be defined as the perception of the brand in the
minds of the customers.
Brand image
 Brand heritage

 Brand heritage is the corporate experience and reputation that a

brand had acquired over time including its origins and advertising
development.
 Brand loyalty
 Brand loyalty is defined as positive feelings towards a brand and
dedication to purchase the same product or service repeatedly now
and in the future.
 Perceived quality
 Perceived quality can be defined as the customer's opinion
about the overall quality or image of the product or service
or the brand itself with respect to its purpose of use as
against its alternatives.
 Brand equity
• Brand equity refers to the additional value that a
consumer attaches with the brand that is unique
from all the other brands available in the market.
• Brand equity =∑ (awareness + association+ perceived quality + brand
loyalty)
Brand equity
 Brand equity and brand value
• Brand equity relates to people’s subjective views
of the brand.
• Brand value relates to the financial value
associated with a brand.
 The Marketing Communications
Environment
• There are several components in the overall marketing
environment.
• We can distinguish between them as the internal
environment (conditions within the organization) and the
external environment (conditions outside the
organization).
• The external environment can then be divided into the
macro-environment and the market environment.
 Macro and micro environment
The context of marketing communications

• The macro-environment is concerned with broad

general trends in the economy and society that can
affect all organizations communication activities.
• The market environment describes those factors that
are specific to the particular market in which the
organization operates.
 The market environment
• The external environment may create opportunities
for the organization to exploit, or may pose threats
to current or planned activities.
• Marketing communication as a strategic activity is
concerned with managing the relationship between
the organization and its environment.
 Contd
• This may mean adjusting and adapting the
organization’s marketing communication activities
to respond to external changes in the environment.
• It may also mean trying to change the environment
to make it better suited to what organization
wishes to do.
 The Macro - environment
• The macro-environment is concerned with broad
general trends within the economy and society.
The macro-environment is typically of much
greater relevance when considering the
development of broad strategies, while the market
environment is much more important when
considering the development of specific
communication and business/product strategies.
 Macro environment
 The analysis of the macro-environment is referred to as
PESTLE analysis.
 Political factors - Industry regulation and consumer protection
 Economic factors - growth in income, interest rates, inflation, unemployment,
investment and exchange rates

 Social/cultural factors - demographics, values, attitudes, lifestyles etc.

 Technological factors - knowledge about ‘how things are done.
 Legal factors – ‘dos’ and ‘donts’
 Environmental factors - ecological
 The market environment
 The market environment focuses on the immediate
features of the market in which the firm operates.
Understanding this aspect of environment is of particular
importance, as market environment will have a very
immediate impact on an organization’s activity.
 Market environment (Contd)
 One of the most widely approaches employed to understand
the market environment is the idea of analyzing the five
forces that determine market/industry profitability – an
approach that was developed in the 1980s by Michael
Porter.
 An effective marketing strategy will need understanding of
how these forces work together and what they mean for the
organization.
 After which a communication strategy would be
implemented.
 Porter’s five forces
• Porter argues that market or industry attractiveness
and profitability depends (as economic theory
would suggest) on the structure of the industry,
specifically on five key features:
1. The bargaining power of suppliers. Powerful
suppliers can force up the prices paid by an
organization for its input, and thus reduce
profitability.
 Contd
2. The bargaining power of consumers. Powerful
consumers can insist on lower prices and/or more
favorable terms, which may impact negatively on
profitability.
3. Threat of entry. A profitable industry will
generally attract new entrants; if it appears relatively
attractive for new organizations to enter, profitability
will tend to be eroded.
 Contd
4. Competition from substitutes. The existence of
product which are close substitutes enhances
customer choice and provides an alternative way of
meeting a particular need.
• Thus, in markets where there are close substitute,
the buying power of consumers is effectively
enhanced because they have a much greater degree
of choice.
 Contd
5. Rivalry between firms. The greater degree of
competition, the more likely it is that the industry will be
less profitably and therefore less attractive.

 These five forces determine the attractiveness of the

industry through their impact on either costs incurred
or prices received, or both. The development of an
effective marketing communication strategy will
depend upon a thorough examination of the market.
 The internal environment
• Is the area in which the firm can exercise greatest
control. Understanding internal environment require
analysis of an organization’s resources and capabilities.
• They are :
• Human resources
• Financial resources
• Physical/operational resources
• Intangible resources – Includes specialist knowledge or
experience, brand names and brand equity, internal culture
within an organization etc.
Players in the marketing communications industry
 The target audience – the recipient of the messages
 The marketing communicator – the sender of the
message
 The agency – all the intermediaries who help to create
and produce messages
 The media owner – organization that provides the
medium which carries the message.