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Integrated Marketing Communication and Media Choices

The chapter discusses the decisions made in advertising promotional campaigns

regarding media choices. The decisions involve how much money to spend, the schedule of

expenditure, and which media channels to use. The three methods to determine the advertising

budget are as a percentage of last year's sales, parity with competitors, and working backward

from the company's strategic advertising goal (Iacobucci, 2018).

GRP (gross rating points) is a simple function of reach and frequency. Reach is the

percentage of the target audience that has seen the ad at least once, while frequency is the

average number of times the target audience saw the ad. GRP is the product of reach and

frequency. It is challenging to find the most cost-efficient media for reaching the target audience

and the importance of understanding how advertising exposures are measured to set an ad budget

(Iacobucci, 2018)

Various media choices are available to marketers for advertising, such as celebrity

endorsements, sponsorships, and product placements. The effectiveness of these methods is

explored through research studies. Media planning and scheduling are also addressed, with

continuous, occasional, and seasonal schedules being the three main options. Media scheduling

goes beyond just airing ads and requires careful consideration of purchase cycles, competition,

and brand image building. ROI or ROMI (return on marketing investments) for advertising

expenditures are necessary. For example, a TV show's ratings and the cost of 30 seconds of

airtime during the show are used as indicators to estimate the breakeven point for advertising

expenses (Iacobucci, 2018)

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Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a strategy that seeks to capture audiences

across multiple media channels by sending a consistent message across all marketing activities,

including advertising, promotions, personal selling, direct marketing, and product design. The

approach recognizes the importance of selecting appropriate media outlets and seamlessly

integrating marketing messages. While traditional advertising agencies may not be proficient in

all aspects of IMC, the marketing and brand manager are responsible for integrating across

media. IMC aims to achieve consistency in the general positioning while leveraging the strengths

of different media channels to provide supplemental information (Iacobucci, 2018).

Media synergies can exist in integrated marketing campaigns, as different media have

strengths and weaknesses. Traditional media like TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, and

billboards have broad reach but can be expensive, while online advertising and direct mail offer

better customization options. TV and radio messages must be simple, while print media is better

for conveying detailed information. IMC gurus believe that advertising consistently across

different media can have a more significant impact than advertising in a single medium.

Research suggests that websites and catalogs can complement each other (Iacobucci, 2018).

The AIDA process (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) also works in selling, and

personal selling and sales forces are essential communication vehicles for many companies and

industries. When quick feedback is needed, sales forces are significant for expensive,

complicated goods and services. Sales forces are costly due to salary and training but necessary

for complicated sales (Iacobucci, 2018)

The choice between advertising and a sales force depends on factors like the product's

complexity, cost, and feedback required. Sales forces are more significant when a company

wants an aggressive product launch and when they want to protect their territories from the
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competition. Most of a company's marketing communications budget is directed toward its

channel partners. Push is a top-down effort selling to customers through a sales force and retail

partners. On the other hand, the pull is a bottom-up drive from customers seeking products and is

essential when intermediaries stock many competing products. Direct-to-consumer (DTC)

pharma ads are a practical example of pull (Iacobucci, 2018).

Public relations (PR) is another means of providing information and building brand

attributes. PR attempts to reach customers, suppliers, stockholders, government officials,

employees, or the general community and can be conducted from within the company, by an

advertising agency, or by PR specialists. PR people issue press kits or news releases whenever

anything newsworthy is happening (Iacobucci, 2018)

The marketing goals and the target audience determine the effectiveness of an advertising

campaign. Media options, such as print, TV, radio, packaging, and others, should be coordinated,

and the brand manager and CMO should determine the target audience and goal for each

element. Advertising should be done frequently to achieve brand awareness, and the frequency

of advertising should be correlated with the customer's purchase cycle to encourage repeat

purchases. The media choice should be based on the budget and the target segment, and

databases can be used to target specific audiences. Consistency and complementarity across

messages and media reinforce brand equity. The IMC schedule should include timing, media

selection, and integration of the message (Iacobucci, 2018).

Social Media

Social media is a broad term that describes people’s interactions and connections online

through smartphones or other electronic devices. The rise of social media is due to the increased

availability of technology and the internet. Social media can vary from simple platforms like
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blogs and forums to highly sophisticated virtual worlds or video games. Social media serves

different purposes, some of which are social and others more commercial. Customers can now

talk back and share their opinions on various brands through social media platforms. Social

media can facilitate word-of-mouth (WOM), a phenomenon where customers share their

opinions about a brand with others. WOM is highly effective because consumers are more likely

to trust their friends' opinions about a brand than advertising messages (Iacobucci, 2018).

Social networks are defined as sets of actors and relational ties that link them. These ties

can be symmetric or directional and binary or vary in strength. Identifying influential actors in

social networks is essential for marketers to leverage interpersonal group dynamics and induce

product trial and diffusion. Centrality indices are computed for each actor to describe their

position relative to others, with degree centrality being the most common way to characterize

centrality. Network marketers also look for cliques, groups of people in the network, and

structural equivalence, where two actors have the exact links to others (Iacobucci, 2018).

Big SKU-offering sites like Amazon employ recommendation systems based on

structural equivalence. These systems make recommendations based on similarities between

purchase patterns or ratings of customers. While social media has exciting potential for

marketing, many CEOs are conservative in spending money on something they do not fully

understand, and they want to know the return on investment (ROI) for social media (Iacobucci,

2018).

The primary goal of measuring ROI is determining if the resources allocated to social

media have been well-spent, and the KPIs depend on the marketing goals. In the pre-purchase

phase, the marketer's goal is to raise brand awareness and consideration, and reach is the primary

measure to determine the audience size exposed to brand information. Social media tools like
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Twitter, Facebook postings, and contests to submit videos of user-proposed jingles on YouTube

effectively enhance awareness. In contrast, lengthy expert blogs, Webinars, podcasts, and such

would remain untapped. In the brand consideration phase, marketers provide more content to

customers. The primary measures are search engine optimization (SEO), which counts the

number of incoming links, weighted by the importance of the sending site (Iacobucci, 2018).

To narrow the search for consumers, search engines can measure the relevance of a

website or an information page by counting the number of times the searched words appeared on

that webpage or document. When estimating ROI, the primary expenditures might not be so

much media buys or direct budgetary contributions as salary equivalents of people's time

allocations. KPIs for social media are analogous to traditional measures for advertising

effectiveness (Iacobucci, 2018).

Marketers aim to induce any action that begins to engage the prospective customer,

including opening a webpage, downloading content, watching demos, subscribing to newsletters,

or signing up for RSS feeds. KPIs are used to measure behavior, such as the number of posts

regarding the brand on social networks or the frequency of website visitors who engage in the

desired behavior (e.g., purchase, sign up for email distribution). Companies can capture post-

purchase data to reward brand evangelists, address customer complaints, and use analytics to

track performance over time (Iacobucci, 2018).

Companies should be selective in choosing social media channels, focusing on those that

fit the marketing goals and target market. Resource allocation decisions have become more

complex than ever, but marketers can embrace social media and the enormous data available,

using their strategic creativity to engage customers effectively. Companies must understand their
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target audience and what they find interesting or valuable. It also means that companies must be

authentic and transparent in their customer communication (Iacobucci, 2018).

Another important consideration is the use of influencers or brand ambassadors. These

individuals have a large social media following and can promote a company's products or

services to their audience. However, it is essential to choose influencers who align with the

company's values and target audience and to disclose any sponsored content. Social media

marketing can be a powerful tool for companies to reach and engage with their target audience.

However, it requires a strategic approach considering each platform's unique characteristics and

the target audience’s preferences (Iacobucci, 2018).

Coupons:

I mainly use Buffalo Wild Wings coupons, which give a BOGO offer every Tuesday and

Thursday. The other one I use is usually for uber eats, which has 40% off the order, and the other

common ones are group coupons for any fun activities I travel.

I love Buffalo wild wings, and I wanted to cut down on my expenses from food orders. I

saw this attractive offer, and it helped me keep my budget. Now even if I crave wings, I wait for

Thursdays and eat on those days. This keeps me loyal to Buffalo wild wings, and I do not try any

other wing place. This was it is a win for me as well. However, I think the aim here was to

increase loyal customers. I do not think this promo is a gimmick as the other days, if I must eat

wings, I pay the original price and feel good when I get a BOGO.

I feel the UberEATS coupon is a gimmick to attract customers to order food, and the

prices are so inflated when directly ordered from restaurants that it does not make sense even

after the coupon. It is a gimmick to make customers open their app, increase the temptation to

order food, and use uber eats more often. The group on coupons sometimes is a good deal as the
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price of the commodity or service on their website is different from the offered discount price in

the group on. Coupons are a famous sales promotion tool marketers use to encourage customers

to purchase.

Some coupons did provide tangible benefits for me when used strategically. Additionally,

coupons can be used to try new products or services that a customer may not have tried

otherwise, providing a low-risk opportunity to experiment. However, I also believe coupons can

be gimmicks if they do not offer any real value to customers if not used rationally.

Word of Mouth

I did recommend many products to my friends. A few examples would be an apartment I

rented and had a wonderful experience throughout my stay. A few skincare products have

worked well for the price they offer. Some products from amazon make life easy and organized.

I also did purchase many products like my phone by a recommendation from a trusted

friend. I rely on customer reviews a lot, and I do much pre-purchase research on the rating of

customer satisfaction and ask a couple of people before I buy expensive or, in general, anything

that I often use daily.

I am more likely to buy a product by word of mouth than advertising because I value user

experience and feel that the product has been put through a thorough test, which makes the

purchase safe and makes me feel confident in buying it. Word-of-mouth recommendations are

often more powerful than advertising because they come from a trusted source reporting that

they are more likely to purchase a product based on a recommendation from a friend or family

member. Advertising, for me, is very superficial and makes me aware of the product, but I view

it with skepticism regardless of its actual quality or usefulness. However, there are situations
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when an advertisement shows user testimonials and describes the quality and the differential

factor very well. When the product is suitable, I will go for it if it is returnable.

References

Iacobucci, D. (2018). Marketing management (5th ed). Cengage Learning, 2018.