Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing is defined as a process of identifying customer needs and wants and fulfilling those needs and wants in a profitable manner. The concept of marketing has been adopted long ago by various organizations for the purpose of promoting their products and services and to keep their target market aware of the new offerings in terms of products and services (Shultz, 2004, p. 112).
In the beginning, marketing or the promotion of the products/services was primarily done through the usage of media which involved TV, newspapers, radio, billboards, brochures and other channels but with the passage of time, marketing modes and channels got transformed and managed to shape up with a unified concept of Integrated Marketing Communication which basically involved integration of all marketing tools so that organizations can promote their offering in a most cost effective manner. Integrated Marketing Communication includes marketing of products/services through Advertising, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling, Sponsorship Marketing, Direct Marketing and Public Relations (Belch, 2001).
Today, large multinational organizations heavily make use of Integrated Marketing Communication tools for the purpose of promoting and selling their offerings. Some companies advertise their products/services on various media (TV, Internet, Magazines) where as other companies consider one to one, direct marketing and personal selling concept so that they manage to build up close ties with their clients.
The objective of each IMC tool is to market the product or the service in the best way possible. Advertising mainly aims at spreading the product knowledge and news of its existence to a large market segment. Sales promotion is that IMC tool which gives the incentive to the buyer to purchase more. Such incentives include coupons, redemptions, and free gift hampers. Personal selling and direct marketing interact direct with the prospect. This leads towards conveying marketing message to the prospect as well as convincing the prospect in making the purchase decision. Lastly, Public relation is that tool which has the duty of maintaining sound relations with the target market community and ensuring them that the company’s offering is best for their interests (Wood, 2007, p. 109)
Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign
A marketing campaign normally aim towards combining all the IMC tools for the purpose of achieving and meeting all the marketing goals of an organization therefore when an organization starts off with an IMC campaign it clearly defines the message that has to be delivered to the target market and must ensure that the message must have ample weight to convince the target customers to take purchase decision (Blakeman, 2005, p. 87)
For Instance, Unilever launches a new washing detergent especially designed for cleaning cloths of the school going children therefore the target market for the product becomes all those family houses comprising of school going children. The best form of media which can be adopted by Unilever would be to advertise the detergent on TV as families tend to watch television and furthermore door to door selling i.e. personal selling too could be the next best option for the Unilever to make sure the product gets proper awareness in the target market and the prospects are convinced that the new detergent would be able to fulfill their buying expectations.
To conclude, all IMC tools have their own importance and must be used effectively and efficiently by organizations while launching their IMC campaigns to ensure best results for their respective organization.
References
Shultz, D. (2004) the new marketing paradigm: Integrated Marketing Communication.
Blakeman, R. (2005) Integrated Marketing Communication: Creative strategy from idea to implementation.
Wood, B. (2007) Marketing Plan Handbook (fourth edition).
