Integrated Marketing Communications PDF

Integrated Marketing Communications By Mark Anthony Camilleri1, PhD (Edinburgh) This is a pre-publication version of a chapter that was accepted by Springer Nature. How to Cite: Camilleri, M. A. (2018). Integrated Marketing Communications. In Travel Marketing, Tourism Ec...

Integrated Marketing Communications By Mark Anthony Camilleri1, PhD (Edinburgh) This is a pre-publication version of a chapter that was accepted by Springer Nature. How to Cite: Camilleri, M. A. (2018). Integrated Marketing Communications. In Travel Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product (Chapter 5 pp. 85-103). Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. Abstract Promotion is one of the four major elements of the marketing mix. Therefore, an integrated marketing communications (IMC) strategy consisting of a combination of promotional tools could be an essential element of the businesses’ overall marketing strategy. Different promotional tools could foster an increased awareness of a company’s products or services, inform people about features and benefits, and move them to make a purchase. In this light, this chapter examines these promotional tools, individually. It suggests that effective IMC plans promote the companies’ products and services, by sending clear, consistent and complementary messages that are ultimately intended to turn prospects into customers. In conclusion, it posits that the marketing managers must consider the 6Ms (including the market, the mission, the message, the media, money and measurement) when they are preparing an IMC plan. 5.1 Introduction The rationale behind integrated marketing communications (IMC) is to achieve the promotional objectives in reaching target markets and to raise awareness of the companies’ products and services. Therefore, IMC may involve the combination of different promotional 1Department of Corporate Communication, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences, University of Malta, Malta. Email: [email protected] Integrated Marketing Communications 1 tools, including; advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, direct marketing, interactive marketing, publicity and public relations. This chapter describes the IMC tools which make up the promotional mix. It explains the characteristics of each marketing communications tool. It also considers the various factors which could influence the successful implementation of an IMC plan, including the measurement of its effectiveness. 5.2 Selecting the Right Communication Vehicles Everyone is exposed to commercial messages during a typical day: radio and TV commercials, ads in the morning newspaper, billboards along the highway, solicitations in the mail, calls from telemarketers, web page banners, among others. The magnitude of the contemporary communications clutter is such that consumers have often learned to tune out from promotional messages. Today’s businesses want to distinguish themselves through the clutter as they strive in their endeavours to generate leads and convert prospective customers. The marketers who possess a generous budget may have access to an arsenal of communication options, including electronic media (TV and radio), print media (newspapers and magazines), direct-mail solicitations, telemarketing, personal selling, public relations and the web, among others. The choice of the relevant marketing tools and the identification of the right messages to target different market segments; could prove to be a difficult task. Very often business may not convey the same message across channels. This may usually happen if the marketing communication efforts are not integrated. Instead, there may be a disparate and dispersed group of activities. The smaller organisations, in particular, might focus on just one or two promotional elements due to financial constraints. Their marketing communications may include a website and some print advertisements. In fact, the Advertising Research Foundation (2016) revealed that that 60% of promotional campaigns relied on two or fewer media. Sometimes, even larger organisations may not integrate marketing tools to reach wider audiences. For some reason, these organisations may not consider a coordinated and integrated strategy to marketing communications. In this case, they will risk wasting their time and resources on activities that could not reap the desired goals and objectives. Integrated Marketing Communications 2 Certain communication vehicles, along with their characteristics may be suitable for tourism products and services. However, businesses should evaluate whether their customers or prospects are (or are not) considering a purchase decision. They need to know if their customers are aware of their products or services? If they are, how much are they appreciating their benefits? What are the customer perceptions of the business? What position does the business occupy in their mind? The chances are that the businesses will find out that prospective customers may (or may not) know certain aspects of their products. Therefore, businesses should use communication vehicles that are intended to send relevant messages to them. Their integrated communication approaches should provide consistent, persuasive messages that are specifically crafted for their selected target audiences. These corporate messages could be coordinated through precise channels to maximise impact. Hence, multi-channels, multi-audience approaches to message creation could produce synergies that will increase the potential to influence target customers. The multi-channels include; advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, direct marketing, internet marketing, publicity and public relations, as illustrated in Figure 5.1. Figure 5.1 The Marketing Communications Mix Integrated Marketing Communications 3 5.3 Advertising Advertising is an extremely important element of the promotional mix. It is a non-personal communications tool that is paid for by a specific sponsor. Advertising is a mass-marketing communication tool that is designed to inform and persuade a large number of people. Therefore, this medium requires some type of media platform to deliver the message. Advertising messages are required for all promotional elements, which is why the process of creating advertisements could be an essential first step in IMC. The goals of advertising may include: to create awareness of a new product; to describe the attributes and features of the product; to suggest usage situations; to distinguish the product from competitors’ products; to direct buyers to the point-of-purchase, and; to creating or enhancing a brand image, among other things. However, advertising may be limited in its ability to actually close the sale and to finalise a transaction. Advertising objectives must be successful in reaching the businesses’ target markets. For instance, airlines may use this medium to inform their customers about new or improved product features, new routes being served and so on. The advertisements may also remind the customers of existing product features, routes served, et cetera. There are several advertising media options, including; print advertising, broadcast advertising, digital or mobile advertising, and outdoor advertising, among others. Print Advertising, includes; newspapers, magazines, inflight magazine, printed flyers, brochures, posters, backs of tickets and supermarket receipts; Broadcast Advertising, includes; radio, television and cinema. Digital or Mobile Advertising includes; Online streaming channels, online banners, web pop-ups, the opening section of streaming audio and video, et cetera. Outdoor Advertising, includes; Wall paintings, billboards, street furniture including infrastructure, sky writing, human billboards, town criers, sides of buses, banners attached to airplanes ("logo jets"), seatback tray tables or overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, doors of bathroom stalls, stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles, sporting venues, and the like. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising. Integrated Marketing Communications 4 The media that is used to advertise a business and its services must be carefully selected. The choice of media depends on a number of factors, including: (i) the markets which are being targeted; (ii) the combination of media which will be the most effective (and the media habits of the target markets); (iii) the amount of money that is dedicated to the advertising budget, which can be affected by the decisions made in (i) and (ii). 5.3.1 The Advertising Campaigns Businesses ought to set advertising objectives and determine their budget before choosing relevant media for the promotion of their products and services. They may also decide to contract a specialised advertising agency or to organise the advertising campaign in-house. The market managers are entrusted to make timing decisions. They need to consider the best time period to place their campaign to achieve the desired results. For instance, they could organise an all-year-round campaign or a seasonal campaign. It is important to note that such decisions must be linked with the companies’ overall marketing strategies, plans and tactics. The advertising budget may be affected by several factors. The marketing managers need to consider their businesses’ objectives before allocating resources to advertising. They may want to advertise their products and services to maintain their profitability and market share. In this case, they will have to dedicate specific financial resources to advertising. The three most common methods that are used to calculate the advertising budget are as follows: 5.3.1.1 The Percentage of Sales Method This method assumes that the level of sales should determine the amount spent on advertising. Its methodology is based upon an arbitrarily chosen percentage of sales (either past or forecast). For example, if 5% of sales may be the chosen percentage. If last year’s sales amounted to $10,000,000, this year’s advertising budget would be $500,000. The percentage of sales method is adopted by many businesses, however it should not be recommended. 5.3.1.2 The Competitive Parity Method This method is based on the idea that the businesses should spend the same discretionary amount as their competitors on advertising. However, there may be a possibility that the competitors may have miscalculated their advertising budget. Consequently, the company will allocate excessive or insufficient resources toward advertising. This methodology ignores the Integrated Marketing Communications 5 other factors which should be taken into account when determining the advertising budget, for instance; ‘Who is being targeted?’; ‘What media will be used?’ ‘What are the advertising objectives?’. This method of calculating the advertising budget is erratic and should never be recommended. 5.3.1.3 The Task and Investment Method This method assumes that the advertising budget should be related to the organisation’s objectives and its advertising goals. The more ambitious and far reaching these objectives are, the more money will be allocated to the advertising budget to achieve them. This approach involves asking the questions; ‘What is the business trying to achieve?’ and ‘What form of promotion will help the business to reach its advertising objectives?’ The task and investment method is the best method to calculate the advertising budget as it is based on the return on investment principle. 5.3.2 Outsourcing Marketing Communications to an Advertising Agency The selection of an advertising agency is very important and must be considered carefully. Using a specialised agency may be quite expensive. However, the benefits of having advertising experts working on the campaign should outweigh these costs. Very often advertising agencies may use different marketing communication techniques. Their strategies and tactics could involve traditional media and digital marketing tactics, as they use data and analytics to track their online performance. Hence, the outsourcing of advertising campaigns may ultimately prove to be feasible, transparent and an affordable option for the following reasons: Outsourcing allows the commissioning business to improve its capacity without adding staff. The business could capitalise on the experience of experts, who will execute advertising campaigns from strategy through to setup, management and reporting. The specialised agency could easily access every marketing channel. They may be in a better position to customise their content to target segments, whether they are local, international or geographically-dispersed. The contracted agency will be efficient in the compilation and interpretation of data to determine the effectiveness of their marketing communications. Integrated Marketing Communications 6