April 12, 2024 | By Akshit Bagaria | Reviewed by Aashish Pahwa in Marketing Essentials | Reader Disclosure Our content is reader-supported. This means we may earn a commission if you click on some of our links.
In this competitive world with innumerable marketing and advertising mediums and powerful marketing campaigns, you’ve got to communicate a consistent marketing message using a 360-degree approach to strengthen your position in the market and have an impact on your prospective as well as existing customers.
Here’s a guide on integrated marketing communication to help you move forward with this approach.
Contents showIntegrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a concept under which a company carefully integrates and coordinates its many communications channels to deliver a clear and consistent message. It aims to ensure the consistency of the message and the complementary use of media.
IMC is an integration of all marketing tools, approaches and resources within a company which maximizes impact on the consumer mind resulting in maximum profit at minimum cost.
It uses several innovative ways to ensure that the customer gets the right message at the right place and right time.
The eight major Integrated Marketing Communication tools are as follows:-
Advertising refers to any paid form of non-personal promotion of products or services by an identified sponsor. The various media used are print (newspapers and magazines), broadcast (radio and television), network (satellite, wireless and telephone), electronic (web page, audio and videotape) and display (billboards, signs and posters).
The primary advantage of advertising is that it reaches geographically dispersed consumers. Consumers generally tend to believe that a heavily advertised brand must offer some ‘good value’ but at the same time, advertising proves to be an expensive form of promotion.
It is a variety of short-term incentives to encourage the trial or purchase of a product or service. It may include consumer promotions – focused on the consumer – such as a distribution of free samples, coupons, offers on purchase of higher quantity, discounts and premiums or trade promotions – focused on retailers – such as display and merchandising allowances, volume discounts, pay for performance incentives and incentives to salespeople.
Sales promotion helps to draw the attention of the consumers and offers an invitation to engage in a transaction by giving various types of incentives.
Face-To-Face interaction with one or more buyers for the purpose of making presentations, answering questions and taking orders. This proves to be the most effective tool in the later stages of the buying process.
The advantage is that the message can be customized to the needs of the buyer and is focused on building a long-term relationship with the buyer.
A variety of programs directed toward improving the relationship between the organisation and the public. Advertising is a one-way communication whereas public relations is a two-way communication which can monitor feedback and adjust its message for providing maximum benefit. A common tool used here is publicity which capitalizes on the news value of the product or service so that the information can be disseminated to the news media.
Articles in the media prove to be more objective than advertisements and enjoy high credibility. Also, it has the ability to reach the hard-to-find consumers who avoid targeted communications.
Direct Marketing involves the use of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, or internet to communicate directly with or solicit response or dialogue from specific customers or prospects. Shoppers have started relying on credit cards and online purchasing more than ever which makes it essential for marketers to approach the consumers directly thus helping them in the purchase process.
Companies have a database of contact details of consumers through which they send catalogues and other marketing material making it easier for the consumer to purchase online. The relevance of direct marketing has increased in recent years.
These are company sponsored activities and programs designed to create brand-related interactions with customers. Sponsorships improve the visibility of the company. Companies provide customers with an experience of using the product which ends up leading to a higher brand recall than competitors. These events prove to be engaging with the audience.
