Integrated Marketing Communications
(IMC)
Context
Overall
Marketing
Objectives
Marketing Mix
• Product
• Distribution
• Promotion
• Price
Target Market
Promotional Mix
•Advertising
•Public Relations
•Personal Selling
•Sales Promotion
Promotion Plan
Coordinated; Competitive Advantage
Promotion & Marketing
Communications
• Promotion: function of informing,
persuading, and influencing the consumer’s
purchase decision
Goals of Promotion
 Inform: this is what we offer (especially new, car financing)
 Persuade: we are better (Kia & Honda) (similar to competition)
 Remind: have them already (well established with loyal base; JC
Penney)
Integrated Marketing
Communications
 Marketing Communications: transmission from a sender
to a receiver of a message dealing with the buyer-seller
relationship
 Integrated marketing communications (IMC):
Coordination of all promotional activities to produce a
unified customer-focused promotional message
 Success of any IMC program depends critically on
identifying the members of an audience and understanding
what they want
Precondition for promotion: communication
Source
Encoding
Process
Medium
of
Transmission
Decoding
Process
Receiver
or
Audience
Feedback
NOISE
NOISE
AIDA concept
Marketing Communication Process
 Need common frame of reference b/w sender and receiver to exchange
meanings (Language, impairment)
 5 Step Process:
 1. Source/Sender
 Ad agency
 Intends to share
meaning
 2. Encoding: translating meaning of message into some form (Got Milk?)
Marketing Communication Process
 3. Message Channel / Medium:
Means of reaching target (print ad, T.V., salesperson)
 Be appropriate (print vs. T.V.; Newsweek vs. Playboy)
 4. Decoding the Message
 Target makes sense of message
 Noise: anything decreases clarity (e.g., Nova; KFC in Japan)
 Message always changes (teaching)
 5. Receiver: decoder of message (different markets see same message differently). What
examples can you think of?
 Feedback is response: circular
 Difficult to measure, so use feedback channels (research, sales)

AIDA: Attention?
 Attention-> Interest-> Desire ->ACTION!!!
 It gets harder as you go….
 Attention (e.g., sign-flippers, clowns)
 Headline (New York Post; only part read)
 Visuals (sex)
 Layout
 Colors
 Size (Times Square)
 Electronic: sound; music; animation
 Gross images (this nasty eyeball gets your attention!)
AIDA: Interest?
 Keep Interest – difficult in “our ADD world”
 Tactics:
 Drama/story (Dos Equiss )
 Cartoons (M&Ms)
 Dialog (it’s a Diet Coke Thing;
 Wusssssup?)
Doritos Commercial:
What tactics do they attempt
to hold your interest?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5lBdLEi3ns
AIDA: Desire?
 Arouse desire
 Tactics:
 USP: Unique selling proposition (Gillette razor; clear deodorant, clear soda)
 Provide a rationale (“I’m worth it”)
 Address “you” with their needs/problems
(“Do you want to make more $?”;
“Have you been injured in an accident?”)
Federal Express: When it absolutely,
positively has to be there overnight.
AIDA: Action?
 Action – if consumers’ desire, hope action is natural (and realistic for
them):
 Ask consumers to do something (log on to…; call..)
 Imperative: “Drink Coke,” “Fly the Friendly Skies”
 Facilitate: 1-800 or web
 Direct competitive: supplies are limited!!
 Do you view ads after purchasing that product?: Why?
Promotional Mix
UNPAID
NONPERSONAL
PERSONAL
Publicity
PAID
Advertising,
Sales
Promotion,
Direct
Marketing
Word of Mouth, Direct Mail;
Word of Mouse Personal Selling
PromotionalTool: Advertising
 Promotion Methods a.k.a. The Promotion Mix
 Advertising: paid, impersonal promotions by identified
sponsor(s)
 Traditional big markets, but
adaptable to smaller
 Low cost/contact (LA Times:
2 cents/per reader)
 Difficult to measure impact
 Not adaptable, inflexible
Promotional Tool: Publicity and The
Media
 Publicity; unpaid, impersonal promotions (talk show, movie
premiere, charity, cars)
 Do not pay media costs (magazine article)
 Perceived credibility; negativity
Publicity has far more value than advertising, but you
must give reporters a reason to write about you.
Promotional Tool: Sales Promos
 Sales promotion (coupons, POP, samples, tradeshow)
 Added value or incentive in regard to a particular product
 May complement personal and mass selling (bonus)
 Targets
 Final consumers: coupons, freq. shopper
 Middleman: gifts, price breaks
 Company sales force: bonuses, training
Promotional Tool: WOM/eWOM
 Word of mouth: “WOM is the most important marketing
element that exists” Gordon Weaver, Paramount Pictures. Do
you agree?
 Unpaid, personal promotions (after ads – PLC)
 Very high credibility (friends, business acquaintances, employees)
 Try for opinion leaders (may pay to stimulate; teens; movies; fashions)
 Usually negative (respond to complaints)
 Buzz; viral (snakes on a plane)
Promotional Tool: Personal Selling
 Personal selling; paid, personal promotions; direct spoken
communication
 Adaptable to each target
 Immediate feedback
 Very expensive ($200/contact, $500 on a cold market)
 More spending on p.s. than ads
Factors Affecting Promotional Mix
 Nature of Product
 Stage in the PLC (When should you promote?)
 Target Market Characteristics
 Type of Buying Decision (Impulse?)
 Available Funds (Do you want a Bentley?)
Promotion Mix
Over the PLC
Introduction
Industry
Sales
Maturity
Decline
Advertising
PR; Selling
Advertising
PR; Selling;
Promotions
Dollars
Growth
Publicity
Advertising
0
Time
Advertising
Promotions;
Selling
Summary
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Marketing Mix/Toolkit
Promotion Objectives
Marketing Communication Process
AIDA
Factors Impacting Promotional Mix
IMC
Any questions??