Essentials of the Integrated Marketing Communication Process

The American Marketing Association (AMA) addressing marketing professionals defines marketing as “The entire process of planning and executing the conception, prices, promotion and distribution of ideas, products or services to produce exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives.”

How to analyse customer data to glean insights for tailored marketing strategies and improved customer experiences, ensuring business success.

Effective marketing mandates that managers recognize the interdependence of these activities as sales and promotion and how they may be combined to build up an advertising and marketing program. In marketing, exchange is really a central concept. For exchange to happen there has to be several parties with something of worth to each other, a wish and skill to stop that something with other party, and a method to talk to one another.

Marketing facilitates the exchange process and the introduction of relationships by carefully analyzing the wants and needs of consumers, developing a service or product that satisfies these needs, offering it in a certain cost, which makes it available via a particular place or funnel of distribution, and creating a program of promotion or communication to produce awareness and interest. The main focus of market driven companies is on developing and sustaining relationships using their customers. It has brought to a different focus on relationship marketing that involves creating, maintaining and enhancing longterm relationships with individual customers along with other stakeholders for mutual benefit.

The marketer’s task would be to devise marketing activities and fully integrated marketing activities and assemble fully integrated marketing programs to produce, communicate and deliver value for purchasers.

Advertising and promotion play a huge role within the exchange process by informing consumers of the organisation’s service or product and convincing them of being able to satisfy their demands or wants. The American Association of Advertising Agencies developed meaning of Integrated Marketing Communication as “A perception of marketing and sales communications planning that recognizes the additional worth of an extensive plan that evaluates the proper role of a number of communication disciplines – advertising, direct response, sales promotion and pr – and combines these disciplines to supply clearness, consistency, and maximum communications impact.” Integrated Marketing Communication involves coordinating the different marketing elements. Six major marketing tools are advertisement, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, publicity/pr, online marketing.

The Integrated Marketing Communication approach helps companies identify the best and efficient means of communicating and building relationships using their customers along with other stakeholders for example employees, suppliers, investors, interest groups and everyone. Companies send messages to customers along with other stakeholders through every aspect of their marketing mixes, not only promotion. Consumers make inferences in regards to a product based on elements for example its design, appearance, performance, prices, service support, and how and where it’s distributed. For instance a high cost may symbolize quality to customers, as could be the shape or style of an item, its packaging, its brand, or even the picture of the shops that is offered.

The Integrated Marketing Communication method of marketing and sales communications planning and technique is being adopted by small and big companies and it has gain popularity among firms marketing consumer services and products in addition to business- to-business marketers. By coordinating their marketing and sales communications efforts, companies can avoid duplication, make the most of synergy among marketing tools, and develop more effective and efficient marketing communication programs.

To maneuver to Integrated Marketing Communication also reflects an adaptation by marketers to some altering atmosphere, particularly regarding consumers, technology and media. Major changes have happened among consumers regarding census, lifestyles, media use and purchasing and shopping patterns. Media strategy involves figuring out which communication channels will be employed to provide the message towards the audience. Two most significant facets of the advertising program are growth and development of the content and media strategy. Message development, referred as creative strategy involves figuring out the fundamental appeal and message the advertiser desires to convey towards the audience. When the message and media strategies happen to be determined, steps must automatically get to put them into action. Most large companies hire advertising agencies to organize and convey their messages and also to evaluate and buy the press which will carry their ads. Marketing Communication will easily notice or show consumers why and how an item can be used, by what sort of person, and when and where. They are able to find out about who helps make the product and just what the organization and brand are a symbol of plus they could possibly get a motivation or reward for trial or usage. Marketing and sales communications allow companies to link their brands with other people, places, occasions, brands, encounters, feelings and things.