Integrated Marketing Communication

What Is Marketed???

GEEPPPOSII

G-goods, E- Experience, E-Events, P-Place, P-Person, P-Property, 

O-Organization, S-Service, I-Idea, I-Information

GgoodsOODS

 Physical goods Eg-Coke, Chocolate, Ketchup

EXexperiencePERIENCE

events

place

Gujarat Tourism

Pperson

prOperty

Organization

SERVICES

IiDeA

INinFOrMATiOnN

Introduction to IMC

IMC is essential for organizations to promote their brands well among the end-users not only to outshine competitors but also survive in the long run. Brand promotion increases awareness of products and services and eventually increases their sales, yielding high profits and revenue for the organization.

To understand integrated marketing communication, let us first understand what does brand communication mean?

Brand communication is an initiative taken by organizations to make their products and services popular among the end-users. Brand communication goes a long way in promoting products and services among target consumers. The process involves identifying individuals who are best suited to the purchase of products or services (also called target consumers) and promoting the brand among them through any one of the following means:

• Advertising
• Sales Promotion
• Public Relation
• Direct Marketing
• Personal Selling
• Social media, and so on

PROCESS OF IMC

• Identifying the Target Audience: The first decision in developing the promotion program is identifying the target audience, the group of prospective buyers toward which a promotional program is directed. The target audience for the promotion program is the target market for firm product, which is identified from marketing research and market segmentation studies
• Specifying Promotion Objectives: After the target audience is identified, a decision must be reached on what the promotion should accomplish. Consumers can be said to respond in terms of a hierarchy of effects, which is a sequence of stages a prospective buyer goes through from initial awareness of a product to eventual action (either trial or adoption of the product).

• Awareness. The consumer ability to recognize and remember the product or brand name.
• Interest. An increase in the consumer desire to learn about some of the features of the product or brand.
• Evaluation. The consumer appraisal of the product or brand on important attributes.
• Trial. The consumer actual first purchase and use of the product or brand.
• Adoption. Through a favorable experience on the first trial, the consumer repeated purchase and use of the product or brand
• Setting the Promotion Budget: After setting the promotion objectives, a company must decide on how much to spend. 
• Percentage of sales. In this approach, the amount of money spent on promotion is a percentage of past or anticipated sales. A common budgeting method, this approach is often stated in terms such as our promotion budget for this year is 3 percent of last year gross sales.
• Competitive parity. This budgeting approach matches the competitor absolute level of spending or the proportion per point of market share.
• All you can afford. Common to many businesses, the all-you-can-afford budgeting method allows money to be spent on promotion only after all other budget items  such as manufacturing costs  are covered.
• Objective and task. The best approach to budgeting is objective and task budgeting, whereby the company 1) determines the promotion objectives, 2) outlines the tasks to accomplish these objectives, and 3) determines the promotion cost of performing these tasks.

• Selecting the Right Promotional Tools: Once a budget has been determined, the combination of the five basic IMC tools  advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing can be specified. While many factors provide direction for selection of the appropriate mix, the large number of possible combinations of the promotional tools means that many combinations can achieve the same objective.
• Designing the Promotion: The central element of a promotion program is the promotion itself. Advertising consists of advertising copy and the artwork that the target audience is intended to see or hear. Personal selling efforts depend on the characteristics and skills of the salesperson. Sales promotion activates consist of the specific details of inducements such as coupons, samples, and sweepstakes. Public relations efforts are readily seen in tangible elements such as news release, and direct marketing actions depend on written, verbal, and electronic forms of delivery. 
• Scheduling the Promotion: Once the design of each promotional program elements is complete, it is important to determine the most effective timing of their use. The promotion schedule describes the order in which each promotional tool is introduced and the frequency of its use during the campaign. Several factors such as seasonality and competitive promotion activity can also influence the promotion schedule. Businesses such as ski resorts, airlines, and professional sports teams are likely to reduce their promotional activity, during the off season.

Tools Of  IMC

1-Advertising

http://www.buzzimc.com/portfolio_advs.html

2-Sales promotion