1) What is IMC and what does it mean for a company to follow IMC?
IMC= Integrated marketing communications
· Integrated Marketing Communications attempts to unify all pieces of marketing communications - advertising, public relations, direct marketing, social media, sales promotion, etc. - to create messaging that is consistent across all channels.
· IMC focuses on the customer and is efficient and cost-effective. The IMC approach leverages all marketing and communications pieces and harnesses the power each provides to ensure customers receive consistent, relevant and powerful messages.
· IMC is ever-evolving. As new forms of media gain popularity, IMC professionals do more than react to those changes - they anticipate them.
Resources:
https://imc.wvu.edu/about/what-is-imc (West Virginal University)
What does it mean for a company to follow IMC?
An IMC approach provides benefits at every level of the organization including:
· Operational level – reduces transaction costs, interdepartmental conflict, and duplication of effort
· Campaign level – creates synergy with the communications mix and provides a higher return on campaign investment vs. the competition
· Brand level – provides clarity and consistency to brand messages to create brand loyal customers
· Customer level – positively impacts consumer awareness, customer attitudes, and customer experiences at every touch point
· Market level – decreases the rate of defection, increases market position, sales, and sales growth
· Financial level – increases the ability to achieve higher sales, sales growth, profitability, return on investment (ROI) and return on brand investment (ROBI) vs. the competition
· Better Results
In the traditional approach to marketing communications, businesses and their agencies plan separate campaigns for advertising, press relations, direct marketing, and sales promotions. Integrated campaigns use the same communication tools to reinforce each other and improve marketing effectiveness.
· Creative Consistency
In an integrated campaign, the different tools feature the same creative treatment. By repeating the headlines, key phrases and images in each communication, you ensure that prospects and customers receive consistent messages each time they see one of the elements of the campaign. Creative consistency helps reinforce the basic campaign themes by increasing the number of times prospects see or hear the same message.
· Cost Savings
Creative consistency in your integrated campaigns can also save you money. By using the same images and adapting the same copy for different media, you reduce copy-writing, design and photography costs.
· Customer Preference
An integrated campaign helps you provide customers with information in the format they prefer. Consumers and business customers can specify if they want to receive product information via email, direct mail, text message or telephone. Integration ensures they receive the same information in all communications. You can also meet the needs of customers who search the Internet for product information by integrating your website design and content with other communications.
2) Who is in charge of IMC? What are the roles of the company and different agencies?
Who is in charge of IMC?
I think IMC is one of the marketing strategies that help firm have more building better brand for the company. Therefore, I think the brand manager should be in charge of IMC.
What are the roles of the company and different agencies?
Roles of the company:
· Company needs to take responsibility for defining roles and responsibilities for all agencies involved. And it also helps if they agree with the rules of engagement between the agencies and their teams. (Managing Director, DM Creative agency)
· Company needs to take full responsibility for integration and build open and transparent communication/collaboration processes between agencies. (New Business Director and Owner, Creative agency)
· Ultimate authority/lead and creator of rules of engagement – and division of responsibilities depending upon the model they adopt e.g., the client as lead or agency as lead. (CEO, Digital agency)
Roles of different agencies:
· Many agencies are now delivering a ‘big idea’ and then demonstrating how this could be executed on multiple channels. This, however, can be costly as then the client tends to have specific ideas executed by specialist agencies. (Founding Partner, Creative and planning services, agency)
· Agencies who try and do it all and manage to do it well are few and far between, so a multi-agency team would be what I would favor as long as the ways of working were instigated to support it. (Managing Partner, agency)
· A simple rule of thumb of remembering no one agency is best at everything, and nothing in life is free (like when media agencies offer ‘free’ PR or social media support,) will help clients reach the right decision. (Chief Executive, Communication/PR agency)
3) How should the companies follow and execute IMC?
This is because different market segments use different types of media, and they may have other distinctive characteristics that impact the effectiveness of a marketing activity.
Step 2: Determine purpose and objectives for the IMC campaign
Define what the campaign will accomplish with its IMC efforts. Although many marketing campaigns may be oriented toward a single objective, it is possible for an IMC program to accomplish more than one objective at a time, so long as this doesn’t create confusion for your target audiences. Many marketers use the AIDA model to guide this thinking and help them pinpoint campaign objectives for a given audience.
Marketers should set specific goals for their IMC programs using S.M.A.R.T. criteria aligned with the marketing strategy. S.M.A.R.T. is acronym organizations and managers use to set clear, measurable goals.
Step 4: Define the message
With the marketing campaign’s objectives determined and goals defined, marketers can revisit and refine campaign messaging to fit the approach they have selected. Refer to the “Defining the Message” section of this module for further guidance and recommendations around developing a messaging framework and getting the messaging right.
Step 5: Select marketing communications methods and tools
As marketers consider marketing communication methods, several factors shape their choices: Budget, Timing, Audience, Existing Assets, and Organizational Strengths
Step 6: Determine the promotional mix
Which tools to use, when, and how much
Step 7: Execute the campaign
How to create effective communication and marketing plans that simplify execution and follow-through.
Step 8: Measure results and refine approach, as needed
Measuring the success of IMC efforts. Tracking and understanding the results is how marketing teams and managers monitor progress and know when they need to adjust course.
· Alignment — The most important aspect of an IMC is that all aspects are aligned. The various channels or mediums used should all deliver a cohesive message. Team members should be clear on the goals and overall messaging so every effort works to strengthen the others. All team members should be running toward the same finish line, so to speak. When executing an efficient and successful integrated marketing campaign, there is no time for misunderstandings.
· Clear leadership — As mentioned earlier, an integrated marketing campaign often requires teamwork from different teams or departments. Your group should decide early in the process who is the ultimate authority for the campaign. This reduces chances of discrepancies later on. It also gives you a person to turn to when things go wrong, such as going over budget or when there are disagreements about the overall message.
· Goals — Having your goals determined before beginning an IMC could be the difference between success and failure. You should never begin a campaign without understanding what you expect to gain from it. Do you want more engagements? Are you looking to increase your overall annual recurring revenue?
· Clear workflow — An integrated marketing campaign has about a million or so moving parts if we’re rounding up. Establishing a clear and defined workflow from the beginning ensures no steps are left out, nothing gets lost in the shuffle, and all deadlines are met. Especially with teams working together that may never have collaborated before, it’s important that every contributor knows where to send their work after they’ve done their part.
4) Find good (well integrated) and unsuccessful (un-integrated) IMC executions
Good (well integrated) IMC executions
An example of a brand with a consistent message is Nike with its “Just Do It” campaign. The campaign is used across all media since its inception in 1988. Nike created a strong brand, through its effective branding using consistent messaging across all communication platforms.
The benefits of a strong brand include differentiation from its competitors, a barrier to entry, the ability to demand a higher price, and the opportunity to experience higher revenues. Nike is a prestige brand that adds value to its products communicating an upscale image identified by the Nike swoosh logo distinguishing the purchaser as a selective individual.
The image is especially important in the highly sporting goods market with fierce competition from Under Armour, Adidas, and Reebok. These competing brands cannot compare to Nike in terms of consistent brand message over time.
In the case of Reebok, they have changed brand messages several times over the years. Nike’s marketing excellence with a consistent brand message has propelled the company to economic success and established Nike as a prestige brand with significant brand equity.
Unsuccessful (un-integrated) IMC executions
The King at Burger King
One of the advantages that companying following IMC is to positively impacts consumer
awareness, customer attitudes, and customer experiences at every touch point.
One of the advantages that companying following IMC is to positively impacts consumer
awareness, customer attitudes, and customer experiences at every touch point.
However, when Burger King tried to make a star out of its Burger King mascot for years starting in 2003. The king was featured in TV commercials and franchise promotions but people just could not connect with the strange looking king. The campaign officially ended in 2011. Nobody wanted to wake in the morning to an old plastic expressionless king who had no relevance with burgers. According to company reviews, the king had no influence on sales and consumer awareness.
Thank you for sharing the great post.
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