Integrated marketing concept is a
management concept that is designed to make all aspects of marketing
communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and
direct marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each
to work in isolation.
According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies,
integrated marketing communications " ... recognizes the value of a comprehensive plan that
evaluates the strategic roles of a variety
of communication disciplines advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion and combines them to provide clarity, consistency, and
maximum communication impact."
This is an approach to achieving the objectives of a marketing campaign,
through a well coordinated use of different promotional methods that are
intended to reinforce each other. Integrated
Marketing Communications is a simple concept which ensures that all forms of
communications and messages are carefully linked together.
At its most basic level, Integrated Marketing Communications,
or IMC, means integrating all the promotional tools, so that they work together
in harmony. All of these communications tools work better if they work together
in harmony rather than in isolation. Promotion is one of the Ps in the
marketing mix. Promotion has its own mix of communications tools.
Basically,
IMC is a way of getting all the various components of a business to work
together to develop and promote a salable product or service. There are four basic types of integrated marketing
communication: external, internal, horizontal and vertical. By taking these
different elements together to form a marketing strategy, firms and businesses
will be able to achieve whatever goals that have been set for them in an
efficient manner. This is enhanced when
integration goes beyond just the basic communications tools.
Integrated marketing communications
involves identifying the target audience and shaping a well-coordinated
promotional program to obtain the desired audience response.
Advertising, public relations, personal
selling, sales promotion and direct marketing are all forms of IMCs.
ADVERTISING
is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor advertising can reach masses of geographically dispersed buyers at a low cost per exposure, and it enables the seller to repeat a message many times. (e.g. television advertising can reach huge audiences). Beyond its reach, large-scale advertising says something positive about the seller’s size, popularity and success. Because of advertising\s public nature, consumers tend to view advertised products as more legitimate.
Advertising also has some shortcomings. Although it reaches many people quickly, advertising is impersonal and cannot be as directly persuasive as can company salespeople. For the most part, advertising can carry on only a one-way communication with the audience, and the audience does not feel it has to pay attention or respond.
is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor advertising can reach masses of geographically dispersed buyers at a low cost per exposure, and it enables the seller to repeat a message many times. (e.g. television advertising can reach huge audiences). Beyond its reach, large-scale advertising says something positive about the seller’s size, popularity and success. Because of advertising\s public nature, consumers tend to view advertised products as more legitimate.
Advertising also has some shortcomings. Although it reaches many people quickly, advertising is impersonal and cannot be as directly persuasive as can company salespeople. For the most part, advertising can carry on only a one-way communication with the audience, and the audience does not feel it has to pay attention or respond.
PERSONAL SELLING
This is the most effective tool at certain stages of the buying process, particularly in building up buyers’ preferences, convictions, and actions. It involves personal interaction between two or more people, so each person can observe the other’s needs and characteristics and make quick adjustments. Personal selling also allows all kinds of relationships to spring up. The effective salesperson keeps the customer’s interests at heart in order to build a long-term relationship. Personal selling is also the company’s most expensive promotion tool.
SALES PROMOTION
Is a short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or
sale of a product or service sales promotion includes a wide assortment of
tools – coupons, contests, cents-off deals, premiums, and others. They attract consumer
attention, offer strong incentives to purchase.
Sales promotions invite and reward quick response – whereas advertising says, “Buy our product”, sales promotion says, “Buy it now”. Sales promotion effects are often short-lived, however, and often are not as effective as advertising or personal selling in building long-run brand preference.
Sales promotions invite and reward quick response – whereas advertising says, “Buy our product”, sales promotion says, “Buy it now”. Sales promotion effects are often short-lived, however, and often are not as effective as advertising or personal selling in building long-run brand preference.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
It involves building good relations with the company’s
various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate
image, and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and events.
Public relations are very believable – news stories,
features, sponsorships, and events seem more real and believable to readers
than ads do. Public relations can also reach many prospects who avoid
salespeople and advertisements – the message gets to the buyers as “news”
rather than as a sales-directed communication.
DIRECT MARKETING
This uses direct communications with carefully targeted
individual consumers – the use of telephone, mail, fax, e-mail, the Internet,
and other tools to communicate directly with specific consumers although there
are many forms of direct marketing – telephone marketing, direct mail, online
marketing, and others – they all share four distinctive characteristics. Direct
marketing is nonpublic: the message is normally directed to a specific person.
Direct marketing is immediate and customized: messages can be prepared very
quickly and can be tailored to appeal to specific consumers. Finally, direct
marketing is interactive: it allows a dialogue between the marketing team and
the consumer, and messages can be altered depending on the consumer’s response.
REFERENCES
Chartered Institute of Marketing.
www.businessdictionary.com/definition/integratedmarketing
.com
·
About.com.
·
Arens Bovee: Contemporary Advertising
·
Belch and Belch: Advertising and
Production
·
Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong
