Marketing Communications: Objectives & Recap

• Marketing Communications - Week 2 - Jan 29th 2025

Plan for Today

• Housekeeping will be addressed
• The last weeks lecture will have a recap
• Learning outcomes will be outlined
• There will be a 'Comms Of The Week' segment
• IMC Objective setting for communications will be covered
• There will be a scheduled 10 minute break
• Next week topic will be outlined

Housekeeping

• Brightspace is fully up to date
• There is an ‘Additional Reading' page for each week that supplements learning and group projects
• It is not testable unless specified as covered in lecture, case study or designated readings
• Group Project self-enrolment opens Jan 31st
• Groups can be formed from both classes
• Mid-term quiz will be 1 hour, final-term quiz will be 2 hours
• Lectures will typically be 90 to 100 mins
• No electronic devices unless specified

Recap on Last Week

• Role of marketing communications were covered
• Alignment to marketing & business objectives was discussed
• Types of communication were outlined
• Effective communication was covered
• Customer decision making process (journey) was included
• Data-driven approach was examined
• Principles of IMC (integrated marketing communications) were noted
• 6M IMC Framework was explained

6M OF IMC

• This is a framework with 3 stages, and 6 steps
• Planning: Laying the Foundations: (MOD 1)
• Execution: Translating your Strategy into a Story: (MOD 2)
• Impact: Measuring the Impact & Cost of Delivery: (MOD 3)
• Mission, what impact do you want to have?
• Market, with who?
• Message, what do you need/want to say?
• Media, how will you reach your audience
• Money, what will it cost?
• Measurement, How will you know you have succeeded?

Learning Outcomes for Today

• Grasp the importance of a mission
• Align with business and marketing goals
• Data-driven approach should be understood
• Audience understanding
• Clear measurable vision of success

Mission

• Defining the communication objectives to influence consumer behaviour
• Set clear campaign objectives to clearly establish the behaviour change required to be achieved
• Clarity and purpose are provided for all marketing communication efforts
• Consistency helps ensure all communication activities are consistent with each other
• Alignment is needed with Communications, Marketing and Business Strategic goals
• A targeted approach helps ensure messaging and content are relevant to the intended audience

Strategic Framework

• Marketing goals are designed to support the delivery of business goals
• Framework integrates business purpose, vision, mission, value proposition, and strategy
• Purpose: The reason to exist, beyond making money
• Vision: Where the brand wants to go, with the desired impact
• Mission: is what the business does, why, and how
• Value Proposition: provides value offered to customers
• Business Strategy: How goals will be achieved
• Functional Strategy: supports the business goals

1. Goal Alignment

• Clarify the business goals, what is the business trying to achieve?
• How does marketing help deliver the business goals?
• Where can marketing communications have an impact on overall marketing goals for the year?
• What is the specific job to be done in the short term?

Alignment of Objectives

• Business strategic goals are the LT (long term) key performance goals that guide business direction, in line with its vision and mission
• Business strategic goals include EBITDA, revenue, market expansion, and customer satisfaction
• Marketing strategic goals are LT objectives guiding all marketing efforts to align with business goals
• These include market share growth, innovation, customer acquisition, customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Communications strategic goals are broad LT objectives of how & what the brand wants to communicate, over time, to help delivery of marketing goals
• These include new product launch, brand awareness, brand equity, brand positioning, brand identity, customer loyalty, customer engagement
• Communications campaign goals are specific short term goals related to a specific campaign within a specific timeframe
• These include impressions, conversion rate, cost per acquisition (CPA), click through rate (CTR), per person consumption, website visits, social Media followers, ROI

Importance of Objective Alignment

• Supports the company's mission and contributes to goals
• Promotes brand consistency, establishes measurement frameworks, and drives improved outcomes
• Focuses resources on activities that align with strategic objectives.
• Enhances engagement with stakeholders

Examples

• Some examples of companies and how they engage in marketing communications were shown as examples

Mission steps

• Define the impact businesses want to to have
• ALIGN WITH BUS & MKTING GOALS: Identify the business and marketing goals where marketing communications plays a role
• AUDIENCE UNDERSTANDING: Identify the audience cognitive, affective or behaviour changes that need to be delivered
• SMART GOALS: Outcomes that align with marketing & business goals
• SET KPI'S: Determine the metrics that best measure success, from and to _ AGREE MEASUREMENT & TRACKING: Set up feedback mechanism, agree how you will track, measure deliver report

Understanding the Audience

• What the customers current relationship with your brand?
• Where are they on their decision journey?
• What are they thinking, feeling, doing now?
• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
• How is that impacting the brand's business & goal delivery?
• What needs to change to achieve business and marketing goals?
• Analyse data from multiple sources
• Analyse brand health, financial performance, marketing research, marketing ROI, consumer behaviour, and competitor analysis

Translating the Business Goal/Challenge into a Customer goal

• Look at the customer impact and customers
• What customers think, feel, do in the future
• Understand customer driver
• Their thinking, feeling and doing, now
• Define customer reality
• The customer behaviour that is driving this issue
• What is the business challenge that needs to be addressed?

SMART Goals

• Specific: Clear and specific, refine objectives to be as detailed as possible
• Measurable: Criteria for measuring progress, How will success be measures?
• Achievable: Realistic & attainable
• Relevant: Align with broader objectives and contribute to delivering priorities
• Timebound: Set time frame for completion

KPI's & Tracking

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) assess whether the plan is achieving the expected results
• Focus on performance that aligns with business' goals
• the list concise and relevant to the narrative.
• Enhance understanding of strategy, goals, and tactics
• Define a base point and a realistic future target
• Use industry benchmarks and past campaign data
• Determine data sources and reporting methods
• Decide on the frequency of tracking and reporting
• Clearly identify whoever is responsible for the overall measurement of results

Next Week

• Topic: MARKET; audience understanding & insight
• 'Comms of the week' to identify the 'Mission'
• Reading and discussion questions on Brightspace

This lecture plan includes housekeeping announcements and a recap of the previous week's lecture. It outlines learning outcomes and features a 'Comms Of The Week' segment. IMC objective setting for communications will be covered.