Chapter 7

Group 2

•THE INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

•Ricardo Maciel
•Esteban Camilo
•Maria Fernanda
•Ahemd Khamlich
•Julian Ochoa
INTRODUCTION

• We have explored the important area of marketing objectives and strategies, let us turn our
attention to the question of how we communicate with customers, both current and potential.
Thenumber of ways of communicating with customers is increasing all the time, though it is still
possible to distinguish the following two main categories:
• 1. Impersonal communications, e.g. advertising, point-of-sale displays, sales promotions, search
engine marketing and public relations.
• 2. Personal communications, e.g. sales meetings, personal e-mails and company moderated online
forums.
Another important distinction is between broadcast media, such as traditional television, radio and
press advertising, and interactive media, such as websites, social networks and call centres.
Defining communications objectives

1- Matching Communications Tool Strengths with the Purpose of the Communication:

• Differentiate. Positioning the company, product or brand so that it is perceived to be different from
• its competitors.
• Reinforce. Reminding or reassuring customers about a brand
• Inform. Making customers aware of a brand’s existence or attributes
• Persuade. Encouraging customers to behave in particular ways.
Defining communications objectives

2. Matching Communications to Segment Media Consumption

• A great advantage of a good segmentation is in selecting appropriate media. It is important that segmentation
projects include a profi le of media usage for each segment. This is then invaluable in selecting the
communications mix.
Defining communications objectives

3. Combining Communications Tools in the Customer Journey

• There is plenty of evidence that integrated campaigns work better than single-channel ones even when you are
targeting a specifi c segment – provided the channels are complementing each other and not just repeating the
same message.
Methods for deciding on the
communication mix
Discuss marketing mix and communication mix on one hand, the Marketing Mix is used to shape brand strategies through factors unique to each
business :
- Selling (personal selling)
- Advertising.
- Sales promotion.
- Direct marketing.
- Publicity and public relations.
- Sponsorship.
- Exhibitions.
- Packaging.
PREPARING THE ADVERTISING
PLAN
• Once we are clear on our communications objectives and have selected advertising as part of our
communications mix, objectives for the advertising itself need to be defi ned. Just as for the communications
activities as a whole, advertising is not the straightforward activity that many people believe it to be. It is
highly unlikely, for example, that any fi rm will be able simply to put out an advertisement and expect their
sales to increase.

Advertising is communication in paid-for media

PREPARING THE ADVERTISING
PLAN
• 1. We need to set the budget for advertising.
• 2. We need to determine who our target audience is.
• 3. We need to determine the content of advertisements.
• 4. We need to decide on what media to use.
• 5. We need to decide on the frequency of advertising.
• 6. We need to decide how to measure the effectiveness of our advertising.
• These decisions can be summarized as follows:
• 1. Why (objectives)
• 2. Who (target)
• 3. What (copy platform)
• 4. Where (media)
Advertising Objectives

• Research has shown that many companies set objectives for advertising which advertising cannot achieve on its
own. Apart from increasing sales, the ‘annihilation of the enemy’ and other such ridiculously unachievable
objectives are set.
• Another example of inadequate thought being given to advertising expenditure was the bus company who spent
vast sums advertising the reliability of their bus service, while research showed the real reason why sales were
deteriorating was that many people thought buses were ‘working class’. Again, this is a classic example of
scoring a bull’s-eye at the wrong target.
Advertising Objectives

• Advertising through media can do the following:

• Convey information
• Alter perceptions/attitudes – provided these are consistent with word-of-mouth from current
• customers
• Create desires
• Establish connections (e.g. powdered cream/coffee)
• Direct actions
• Provide reassurance
• Remind
• ••
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

• What’s different about digital communications? After all, they have long left their silo in an innovation corner
of the marketing function, and become in many ways simply an additional set of communications tools to use
in integrated campaigns.
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

• Integration - across customer life - across media/channels.

• Independence of location - remote marketing - remote delivery of infoware.
• Industry restructuring disintermediation & reintermediation.
• Intelligence – informed strategy
• Individualization – Micromarketing - Mass customization
• Interactivity - - beyond addressabiity to dialogue
The Digital Communications Mix

• We can divide the main tools available for online communications into four categories:
• Search marketing Search engine optimization Paid Search.
• Social media Social network presence Brand communities Monitoring & intervening
• Advertisements & affliliates Banner adsAffiliate marketing Sponsorship
• Email & viral marketing House & cobranded emails Rented lists Viral emails
The Digital Communications Mix

• Social media
• Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn – along with online gaming, which is an increasingly social activity – accounted
for a third of the online time of Americans by 2010, as against 12 per cent for e-mail and chat. At fi rst glance, it therefore seems odd that
advertising spend on social networks is slow to catch up, with only 4 per cent of online spend in 2009.
SALES PROMOTION

• The term advertising (often referred to as ‘above-the-line expenditure’) can be defi ned as all nonpersonal
communication in measured media. This includes television, cinema, radio, print, websites, and outdoor media.
• Sales promotion, for which the term ‘below-the-line expenditure’ is often used as a synonym, is not easily defi ned.

Sales promotion is non-face-toface activity concerned with the promotion of sales. It involves the making of a
featured offer to defined customers within a specific time limit.
SALES PROMOTION

Sales Promotion in Practice

- Sales promotion is essentially a problem-solving activity designed to get customers to behave more in line with
the economic interests of the company.
• Salespeople to sell
• Customers to buy
• Customers to use more, earlier, faster, etc.
• Users to buy
• Users to use.
SALES PROMOTION

The strategic role of sales promotion

• Because sales promotion is essentially used as a tactical device, it often amounts to little more than a series of
spasmodic gimmicks lacking in any coherence.
SALES PROMOTION

Applying sales promotion to business-to-business products

• Business-to-business goods are always sold to other organizations and this has the effect of changingthe
emphasis placed on certain elements of the marketing mix, rather than having any fundamental effect on the
relevancy of the marketing concept.
SALES PROMOTION

Preparing the sales promotion plan

• There is widespread acknowledgement that sales promotion is one of the most mismanaged of allmarketing
functions. This is mainly because of the confusion about what sales promotion is, whichoften results in
expenditures not being properly recorded. Some companies include it with advertising,others as part of sales
force expenditure, others as a general marketing expense, others as a manufacturingexpense (as in the case of
extra product, or special labels, or packaging), while the loss of revenue from special price reductions is often
not recorded at all.
SALES PROMOTION

Preparing the sales promotion plan

• There is widespread acknowledgement that sales promotion is one of the most mismanaged of allmarketing
functions. This is mainly because of the confusion about what sales promotion is, whichoften results in
expenditures not being properly recorded. Some companies include it with advertising,others as part of sales
force expenditure, others as a general marketing expense, others as a manufacturingexpense (as in the case of
extra product, or special labels, or packaging), while the loss of revenue from special price reductions is often
not recorded at all.