STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE MARKETING AS A

EMERGING TOOL OF INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATION

Research objectives :

 To understand the importance of Online advertising in changing

market scenario.

 To understand the reasons for growing popularity of online

marketing.

 To analyze the effectiveness of online marketing as compared to

traditional marketing tools.

 To identify the limitations of online marketing as IMC tool.

Integrated Marketing Communication is a marketing concept that ensures all

forms of communication and messages are carefully linked together.
At its most basic level, Integrated Marketing Communication or IMC means
integrating all the promotional tools, so that they work together in harmony.
Promotion is one of the Ps in the marketing mix. Promotion has its own mix
of communication tools.

All of these communication tools work better if they work together in

harmony rather than in isolation. Their sum is greater than their parts -
providing they speak consistently with one voice all the time, every time.
Integrated Marketing Communication is the concept that makes all the
marketing tools to work together as a unified force rather than work in
isolation. It makes the use of entire marketing efforts in the form of
advertising, public relation, personal selling, sales promotion, internet
marketing , direct marketing in order to generate maximum impact on the
target audience at the minimum cost.
 According to William Stanton, “IMC is an element in organization’s
marketing mix that is used to inform, persuade and remind the market
regarding the organization and / or its products.”
It blends various promotional tools and communication
/marketing/advertising services and techniques to maximize profit. IMC is
ultimately achieved through concise and consistent messaging that fosters
familiarity and consumer affinity.

Effective IMC messages and images are meaningful and useful to

consumers, and messaging and branding consistency - a proven IMC
concept - yield customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Tools of IMC :

Advertising

It refers to "the means of providing the most persuasive possible selling message
to the right prospects at the lowest possible cost". Kotler and Armstrong (2003),
provide an alternative definition: "Advertising is any paid form of non-personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services through mass media such
as newspapers, magazines, television or radio by an identified sponsor".

Sales Promotion
Brands (Products and services) can also be promoted through discount coupons,
loyalty clubs, membership coupons, incentives, lucrative schemes, attractive
packages for loyal customers, specially designed deals and so on. Brands can also
be promoted effectively through newspaper inserts, danglers, banners at the right
place, glorifiers, wobblers etc.

Personal Selling

It is oral communication with potential buyers of a product with the intention of

making a sale. The personal selling may focus initially on developing a
relationship with the potential buyer, but will always ultimately end with an
attempt to "close the sale. According to American Marketing Association,
Personal selling is the personal or impersonal process of assisting or persuading a
prospective customer to buy a product or service and to act favorable upon an
idea that has commercial significance to the seller.
Public Relation Activities
Public relation activities help promote a brand through press releases, news,
events, public appearances etc.The role of public relations officer is to present the
organization in the best light.

Apart from the above, a new tool is being emerged in the contemporary market
scenario and that is named as online marketing.

Online Marketing
Online marketing is the practice of leveraging web-based channels to spread a
message about a company’s brand, products, or services to its potential
customers. The methods and techniques used for online marketing include email,
social media, display advertising, search engine optimization, Google AdWords
and more. The objective of marketing is to reach potential customers through the
channels where they spend their time reading, searching, shopping, and
socializing online. Online marketing differs from traditional marketing, which has
historically included mediums like print, billboard, television and radio
advertisements.

Questionnaire
In present study, the required data will be collected by Sample survey using
structured questionnaire. Since ‘Customer`s inclination towards Online
marketing’ is the core focus of the study, a structured & closed ended
questionnaire was prepared for customers only. (covering various demographic
parameters).

The questionnaire incorporated questions related to customers’ preference for

online marketing and other traditional mediums for getting awareness on various
brands and making purchase decision.

Though questionnaire is an economic tool for data collection, non-response or

incomplete response is high in this case. However, proper follow up was taken to
overcome this barrier by making sure that each questionnaire is completely filled.