UNIT 1

Overview of promotion management &

Role of IMC in marketing process: Why Integrate Marketing Communication? IMC planning model,
Marketing and promotion process model. Communication process, steps involved in developing IMC
program, Effectiveness of marketing communications Advertising-Purpose, Role, Functions, Types.
Advertising Vs Marketing mix, Advertising appeal in various stages of PLC. Fundamentals of
MARCOM Decisions: Targeting, positioning, objective setting and budgeting
Elements of Promotional Mix & its Role in IMC
IMC
• Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the process of unifying
a brand’s messaging to make it consistent across all media that the
brand uses to reach its target audience.
• It’s a strategic approach that guides communication and tactics used
across all marketing channels.
Importance of IMC
• Need for consistency throughout the whole customer journey
• IMC helps with brand-building
• Properly using right mix of marketing channels helps boost campaign
effectiveness
• IMC contributes to marketing channels reinforcing each other
Origin of IMC
• In 1989, the American Association of Advertising Agencies (known as
the Four A ’ s) formed a task force on integration that was to define
IMC from the viewpoint of the Four A ’ s agencies.
• The task force came up with this definition of IMC: ‘ A concept of
marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value
of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety
of communication disciplines (e.g. general advertising, direct
response, sales promotion, and public relations) and combines these
disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum
communication impact. ’
Origin of IMC
• In the same year, the investment firm Shearson-Lehman Hutton (1989)
issued a detailed report on consumer advertising, with special emphasis
on diversification into areas that would lead to integration.
• They concluded that a number of changes at work in the marketplace
would force traditional packaged goods marketers to take a much more
integrated approach to marketing.
• They noted that high-involvement non-service products (e.g. automobiles
or cruise vacations) where the selling task is more complicated were at
that time more apt to use integrated strategies. In general, the report
concluded that the dynamics were in place for a surge in demand for
integrated communications from all kinds of advertisers.
Origin of IMC
• In their 1993 book Integrated Marketing Communication (perhaps the first book to really deal
with the subject), Don Schultz and his colleagues talked about IMCs as a new way of looking at
the whole where once we only saw parts such as advertising, public relations, sales promotions,
purchasing, employee communications and so forth ( Schultz et al., 1993 ).
• They saw IMC as realigning communications to look at it in the way the consumer sees it, as a
flow of information from indistinguishable sources. They observed that professional
communicators have always been condescendingly amused that consumers call everything
advertising or public relations.
• Now they recognize with concern, if not chagrin, that that is exactly the point. It is all one ‘ thing
’ to the consumer who sees or hears it. They go on to say that IMC means talking to people who
buy or don ’ t buy based on what they see, hear, feel, and so on, and not just about a product or
service. It also means delivering a return on investment, not just spending a budget.
• This definition ‘ looks back ’at the goals of IMC.
IMC Planning Model
• Step 1: Know your target audience
As a general rule, there is no “general audience”. You always want to communicate with a specific
audience to make the most effective use of your resources.
• Segmenting specific audiences into groups based on characteristics will help you identify who are
most likely to purchase or utilize your products and services.
• Step 2: Develop a situation analysis
Commonly referred to as a SWOT Analysis, this is basically a structured method of evaluating the
internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats that can impact your brand.
• A situation analysis can provide much insight into both internal and external conditions that can lead
to a more effective marketing communications strategy.
• Step 3: Determining marketing communication objectives
In this step, you basically want to document what you want to accomplish with your IMC strategy.
Objectives should be measurable if you truly want to map your campaign’s effectiveness at the end
of your plan’s term.
IMC Planning Model
• Step 4: Determining your budget
Having a realistic idea on what you have to work with is important as it will shape the
tactics you develop in the next step. Once you determine your overall budget, you will
want to come back to this after completing step five to further refine your budget
allocations.
• Step 5: Strategies and tactics
Looking back at the objectives you created in step three, you will want to develop
strategies which are ideas on how you will accomplish those objectives. Tactics are
specific actions on how you plan to execute a strategy.
• Step 6: Evaluation and measurement
Almost as important as the plan as a whole, you want to outline a method of how you will
evaluate the effectiveness of your IMC strategy. Sometimes elements of your plan will
not work. It’s important to know what did or didn’t, try to understand why, and make note
for future planning.
Marketing & Promotion Process Model
Four major Components
• a. Marketing strategy & analysis
• b. Target Marketing Process
• c. Developing the Marketing Planning Program
• d. The Role of Advertising and Promotion
Marketing & Promotion Process Model
• a. Marketing strategy & analysis: A strategic marketing
plan usually evolves from an organization’s overall corporate
strategy and serves as a guide for specific marketing programs
and policies.
Marketing & Promotion Process Model
• a. Marketing strategy & analysis: A strategic marketing
plan usually evolves from an organization’s overall corporate
strategy and serves as a guide for specific marketing programs
and policies.
Target Marketing Process
Different Segmentation with
Examples:
• Geographic: Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd divided markets
according to geographical units for their tabloids
• Demographic: Age: HUL launched ‘Pepsodent kids’ toothpaste,
GSK’s Women Horlicks, Gender: HUL Fair & Lovely, Emami Fair
and Handsome
• Psychographic: personality: Raymond advertises its fabrics with the
tag ‘The Complete Man.’ and/or lifestyles (VALS): Mercedes
• Behaviouristic: usage: Sony Play Station, benefit: Peter England-
wrinkle-free trousers
Developing a positioning strategy:
Positioning by (with examples)
• Product Attributes and Benefits (Apple)
• Price/Quality (Mahindra XUV)
• Use or Application (Red Bull, Surf Excel is positioned as stain remover ‘Surf
Excel hena!’)
• Product Class (Dove: soap to mild shampoos category)
• Product User (Sony webcam & phones with HD recordings)
• Competitor (Avis, which positioned itself against the car-rental leader,
Hertz, by stating, “We’re number two, so we try harder.”)
• Cultural Symbols (Humara Bajaj, Tata “namak”)
• Repositioning (Cadbury- Emotional- Energy- softness)
Developing the Marketing Planning
Program
The Role of Advertising and
Promotion
• Interactive marketers use the various promotional-mix elements
• —advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, publicity/public
relations, and personal selling
• —to inform consumers about their products, their prices, and
places where the products are available.
MARCOM
• MARCOM is short for marketing communications and helps deliver an organization's
message through channels such as radio, television, magazines, or mail.
• Marcom's primary purpose is to increase the equity of your brand.
• Brand equity helps consumers develop a perception in the consumer's mind and the
value it brings to the consumer.
• Marcom is an essential process for a company to get the consumer to purchase
products and to make sure the consumer is delivered the proper advertising message.
• There are some crucial steps that need to be taken to ensure Marcom is carried out
correctly.
• Marcom is carried out through the use of targeting, positioning, objective setting, and
budgeting.
MARCOM
• The model consists of:
A set of fundamental decision
A set of implementation decisions
Program evaluation
MARCOM
 Fundamental decisions influence implementation decisions regarding the mixture of
communications elements and the determination of messages, media, and momentum.
 The expected outcomes from these decisions are enhancing brand equity and affecting
behaviour.
 Program evaluation is essential to determine whether outcomes match objectives. Corrective
action is required when performance falls below expectations. –
 The objective of marketing communications is to enhance brand equity (the goodwill/reputation
that are had by a brand).
 In turn, brand equity can be improved by encourage customers to do favorable action toward the
brand (try, repurchase, become loyal).
 Enhancing equity and affecting behavior depend on the suitability of all marketing-mix elements
—e.g., product quality and price level—and not just marcom per se (itself) –
 Marcom efforts nonetheless play a pivotal/important role by informing customers about new
brands and their relative advantages and by elevating brand images
Fundamental Marcom Decisions
• a) Targeting
• Goal: deliver messages more precisely and prevent wasted coverage
to people falling outside the intended audience.
• A critical step toward effective and efficient marcomm for both B2B
and B2C companies.
• Companies identify potential target markets in terms of
demographics, lifestyles, product usage patterns, and geographic
considerations.
Fundamental Marcom Decisions
• b) Positioning
• → represents the key feature, benefit, or image that stick in the
target’s collective mind.
• → they should decide a brand positioning statement: central idea that
expresses the meaning and their difference with competitors.
• → made for targets and based on idea of how brands are to be
positioned and distinguished from competitive offerings.
Fundamental Marcom Decisions
• c) Setting Objectives
• The decision of marketing communicators has to be based on
objectives.
• For example, whereas mass media advertising is made for creating
consumer awareness of a new or improved brand, point-of-purchase
communications are perfect for influencing in-store brand
selection, and personal selling is for informing B2B customers and
retailers about product improvements.
Fundamental Marcom Decisions
• d) Budgeting
• → Each companies has different budgeting procedures.
• → Most budgeting practices involve a combination of top-down and
bottom-up budgeting (BUTD or TDBU)
• → top-down budgeting (TD), in which senior management decides
how much each subunit receives.
• → bottom-up budgeting (BU), in which managers of subunits (such as
at the product category level) determine how much is needed to
achieve their objectives; these amounts are then combined to
establish the total marketing budget.
Fundamental Marcom Decisions
• e) A Concluding Point It is an important point used to capture the
preceding (happening before someone or something) discussion of
fundamental marcom decisions.
• A Concluding Point: All marcom should be:
• (1) directed to a particular target market,
• (2) clearly positioned,
• (3) created to achieve a specific objective, and
• (4) undertaken to accomplish the objective within budget
constraint/limit.
Marcom Implementation Decisions
• Fundamental decisions → conceptual and strategic
• Implementation decisions → practical and tactical
• Marcom managers have to make implementation decisions in the pursuit of:
• - Accomplishing brand-level objectives
• - Achieving the brand’s positioning and targeting requirements.
• They have to:
• → choose communications elements that can be best combined together to achieve target
market with limited budget.
• → decide:
• a. what types of messages that will accomplish the desired positioning
• b. which media are appropriate for delivering messages
• c. what degree of momentum is needed to support the media effort