Download Chapter 6: Integrated Marketing communication strategy and

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Teoman Duman
Students: Merima Bejtagic-Makic, Ediba Rizvanbegovic.
Chapter 6: Integrated Marketing communication strategy and management
 Marketing communication is the process by which Information about the organization and its
offerings is distributed to the target markets. Information such as:
 The availability of the offering
 The unique benefits of the offering
 The where and how of obtaining and using the offering.
The message could be hard-sell, humorous, or informational. It should be desirable to those to whom it
is directed, exclusive, or unique to the offering being desirable and believable in terms of the benefit
claims made for the offerings.
 Marketing communication mix includes: advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public
relations, internet.
 Integrated Marketing communication: the practice of blending different elements of the
communication mix in mutually reinforcing ways to inform, persuade, and induce consumer action.
 Formulating an integrated marketing communication requires the below are the six major
decisions
1) What are the information requirements of target markets as they proceed through
the purchase process?
2) What objectives must a communication strategy achieve?
3) How might the mix of communication activities be combined to convey
information to target markets?
4) How much should be budgeted for communicating with target markets, and in
what manner should resources be allocated among various communication
activities?
5) How should communication be timed and scheduled?
6) How should the communication process be evaluated as to its effectiveness and
how should it be controlled?
Below are the answers to the above questions in more detail
 Information requirements in purchase decisions: determine how buyers purchase a certain
product and in what stage they are in the purchase-process, see below:
Awareness
Consideration
Preferences
Purchase
The person involved in the stages can play several roles: purchaser, influencer, decision makers and
consumer.
Understanding which stage and who is playing the role is a prerequisite for successfully determining
what the communication message should be, as well as to whom in should be directed and how it
should be communicated. E.g buying a house.
 Setting reasonable communication objectives: this will depend on the
1) Overall offering market strategy of the organization e.g market penetration, market
development, product development.
2) Stage of the product/service life cycle. e.g messages will stimulate primary demand
early in the cycle and selective demand later in the cycle.
Communication objectives have to meet 3 criteria:
1) Common to any integrated marketing communications initiative.
2) Quantifiable for measurement and control purposes
3) Attainable with an appropriate amount of effort and expenditure and within a specific
timeframe. SMART
 Developing an Integrated marketing and communication mix: consider the following factors:
1) The information requirements of potential buyers: purchase-decision process, consumer touch
points(where, when and how customers comes in contact with the product)
2) The nature of the offerings: quality, performance, cheap, not complex, frequently pruchased
3) The nature of the target market: small number of buyers, mass market, geographically
dispersed markets, industries.
4) The capacity of the organization: is the company able and willing to undertake communication
activities? make or buy? Use the company sales force or independent sales representatives. The
decision has both economic and behavior dimensions. See table.
Independent
representative
Economic
Behavioral
sales Cost is variable and not fixed: they Less investment in sales, no cost to
are paid on sales commission only if the firm,
they make sale.
Company sales force
Has both variable cost and fixed cost. Greater control: company selects,
Salaries plus sales commission.
trains and supervises sales personnel.
Flexible and available.
Push versus Pull communication strategy
 Push communication strategy: is one in which the offering is pushed through a marketing
channel in a sequential fashion, with each channel level representing a distinct target market. it
concentrate on channel intermediaries, building relationship with long term benefits, usually
done to wholesalers and retailers. It is typically used when:
1) An organization has easily identifiable buyers
2) The offering is complex
3) Buyer view the purchase as being risky
4) Product or service is early in its life cycle
5) The organization has limited funds for direct to consumer marketing.
 Pull communication strategy: seeks to create initial interest among potential buyers, who in
turn demand the offering from intermediaries, ultimately pulling the offering through a
marketing channel. It emphasizes heavy user advertising, free samples, and coupons. Does an
advertising opportunity exist for the offering? Yes, when
1) there’s a favorable primary demand for a product or service
2) it can be significantly differentiate from its competitors.
3) Has hidden qualities and benefits that can be effectively portrayed through advertising.
4) Strong emotional motives involved, such as buyers concern for health, beauty, status, or
safety.
Marketing websites: engage sellers and potential buyers in interactive communication for the purpose
of selling and organization’s products or services. Two forms:
1) Transactional sites: electronic markets, e-commerce, focus to convert an online browser
into an online buyer. E.g GAP
2) Promotional sites: they promote a company’s products and services, generate awareness
and provide services on how items can be used and where they can be purchased. They
create buzz: word of mouth. It can also assume a unique role in leveraging different
elements of the communication mix. Websites are viewed as complementary to the direct
selling activity by industrial marketers and as supplementary to advertising by consumer
marketers.
 Communication Mix budgeting
The rule is to make the budget equal with the tasks required of the communication activities. Since it’s
difficult to evaluate communication effectiveness and budget size, there are some approaches used to
establish a communication budget:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Percentage-of-sales approach
Competitive-parity approach
All available funds for communication
Objective-task approach
Communication budget allocation: once the budget is set, it should be allocated across the
communication activities.
Advertising budget allocation: there are six Mass media: Televisions, radio, magazine, newspaper,
outdoor (billboards), and internet that an organization can use in transmitting its advertising messages
to target market. Media selection is based on the following factors: cost (CPT), reach, frequency and
audience characteristics, the purpose of the ad and timing(seasonal stuff) or scheduling of the ad.
Sale-force budget allocation: how many sales representative are needed and how should they be
allocated?
Number of sales rep(NS)= Number of customers(NC) *Frequency of calls (FC)*length of average customer call (LC)
Average available selling time per sales rep(less time spend on admin duties) TA
 Evaluation and control of the communication process
Mechanisms for evaluation and control, determine whether the objectives set were achieves, if not
what are the corrective actions. Concept of continuousness: marketing manager should
continuously monitor the execution of any communication plan or strategy to ensure the objectives
are being met.