Jocelyn Rafter

CW_BRDMA_H/ COMM H5R11

Monday, September 16, 19

Summary

Unlocking the Power of Integrated Marketing Communications:

How Integrated Is Your IMC Program?

Kevin Lane Keller

Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

The new digital communications joins to the traditional marketing giving to the marketers
plenty of options to build a brand with good results on selling and strategy. Marketers can
now reach to the consumer through mass or targeted adds on any social network and
intensify the message with emails, detailed content, offers, texts or post on different social
media platform achieving brand loyalty. Got Milk and Nike are two example of good
integrated IMC program as results of success communication campaign. Using excellent PR,
athlete sponsorship, interactive digital communications, design and planning brought the
perfect mix of effective communication.

Nowadays, digital communication firms and agencies works together to build a perfect
communication plan to be client – consumer. So marketers, need a well-grounded and
comprehensive criteria and a well – designed IMC program to communicate the same
message in different ways. This message needs to provide the “Seven C’s,” clear, concise,
concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous.

Understanding The Communications Challenge.

o The New Communication Environment

 Technological developments
 Equal empowered between consumers and firms
 Limitless information
 Consumers can choose engaged brand
 Firms choose getting involve

o Communication options
 Paid media (traditional as TV, print, direct email)
 Owned media (company-controlled)
 Earned media (virtual, word of mouth, press coverage, etc.)
Paid and owned media are preferred for marketers- better IMC- most direct control.

Advertising Sales Events & PR & Online & Mobile Direct/Database Personal
Promotion Experience Publicity SocialM Marketing Mkt Selling
Mkt
Print/ Adds Contest/Games Sport Press Websites Text msg Catalogs Face2 Face
Insert/ Outer Gifts/ Sampling Festivals Speeches Emails Online Mkt Mailings Samples
Cinema Fair/ Trade Arts Seminars Search/ Social Media Telemarketing Incentive
Brochure Exhibits Causes Reports Display Adds Apps Electronic Meetings
Posters Demonstrations Company- Donations Blogs TV shopping Fairs/ Trade
Billboards Coupons Tours Publications Chatrooms Fax
Displays Rebates Museums Community Forums Telephone
POP display Allowances Street- Lobbying FB/Twitter
Directories Tie-ins Activities Magazine Youtube
 o Communication objective
 Create awareness and salience
 Convey detailed information
 Create imaginary/ personality
 Build trust
 Elicit emotions
 Inspire action
 Instill loyalty
 Connect people

o Consumer heterogeneity
 Consumers wants to get involve
 Consumers manage own time
 Consumers decide engaged brand (talking, posting, reviewing)
 Consumers lives brand experience (influence)

o Conceptual Foundations
 Understanding how consumers process communications (mental resources/
mindsets: knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Drawing feelings and making
judgments)
 Understanding how consumers make buying decisions: problem recognition
(search/ information, evaluation/ judgments, purchase, experience, post
purchase, engage and loyalty)

Mixing and Matching Communications Options.

o Mixing:
 Choosing multiple communication options are likely to create different
effect. Creating potentially stronger associations through “direct
experience” and creating brand awareness through social media, TV adds
and TV advertisement.
o Matching
 Strategically designing communication. Rich and vivid graphics. Diverse of
touch-points.

Developing the optimal IMC Program

DEFINITION
CRITERIA
Proportion of the target market reached by each communication option, as well
COVERAGE
as how much overlap exists among communication options.
The financial efficiency associated with the communication options and
COST
program.
The inherent ability of communication option to create the desired of
communication effects and achieve the desired communication objectives,
CONTRIBUTION
independent of prior or subsequent exposure to any other communication
options for the brand.
The extent to which communication option is designed to create communication
COMMONALITY
effects and achieves communication objectives that are also the focus of other
communication options.
The extent to which communication options are designed to explicitly work
CROSS-EFFECTS
together such that interaction or synergy occurs and enhanced communication
effects emerge as the result of exposure by consumers to both options.
 The extent to which communication works across target market consumers
regardless of their communications history or other characteristics.

Communication Conformability. – Effectively communicating to consumers who

have or have not seen and will or will not see other communications for the
CONFORMABILITY
brand. (Effects of advertising with positive or negative publicity varied
depending on which was seen first.)

Consumer Conformability. – How well inform or persuades target market

consumers.

Using the IMC Choice Criteria

o Choice criteria provide guidance

o Evaluate Communication Options and Programs: two main ways to apply IMC
options
 Bottom Up: evaluates individual communication
 Top Down: evaluate proposed IMC, what marketers care about
o Establish priorities and Trade – Off
 Commonality and conformability will often be positively related
 Commonality and complementarity will often be inversely related
 Conformability and complementarity will also often be inversely related
 Contribution, complementary and cost do not share and obvious
relationship
 Commonality and conformability do not share an obvious relationship

Conclusion

To be able to effectively manage the marketing communications function in this modern

communication environment, marketers must first understand how consumers make brand
and product decisions and based on this understanding marketers must then design a set of
communication. The seven IMC choice criteria force marketers to consider how integrated
their IMC programs really are in very concrete way and from many different angles.