INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATIONS
 Chapter Overview

 Promotion: function of informing,

persuading, and influencing the
consumer’s purchase decision
 Marketing Communications:
transmission from a sender to a receiver of
a message dealing with the buyer-seller
 Integrated Marketing
Communications
 Integrated marketing communications (IMC):
Coordination of all promotional activities –
media advertising, direct mail, personal selling,
sales promotion, and public relations – to
produce a unified customer-focused promotional
message
 Success of any IMC program depends critically
on identifying the members of an audience and
understanding what they want
 THE COMMUNICATIONS
PROCESS
 An effective promotional message accomplishes
three tasks:
– It gains the receiver’s attention
– It achieves understanding by both receiver and sender
– It stimulates the receiver’s needs and suggests an
appropriate method of satisfying them
 The above tasks are related to the AIDA concept
(Attention-Interest-Desire-Action) – an
explanation of the steps through which an
individual reaches a purchase decision
 Global Difficulties With the
Communication Process
 In China: KFC’s slogan: “Finger lickin’ good”
came out as “Eat your fingers off”
 Also in China: Coca-Cola had thousands of
signs made using the translation: “Ke-kou-ke-la”
– Depending on the dialect this means . . .
 “Bite the wax tadpole,” or
 “Female horse stuffed with wax”
 In Taiwan: Pepsi’s slogan, “Come alive with the
Pepsi generation” came out as “Pepsi will bring
your ancestors back from the dead”
Objectives of Provide
Promotion Information

 Traditional function of promotion was to

inform the market about the availability of
a particular good or service
 Marketers still direct large portions of
current promotional efforts at providing
information
 Objectives of Increase

Promotion Demand

 Some promotions are aimed at increasing

primary demand, the desire for a general
product category
 More promotions are aimed at increasing
selective demand, the desire for a specific
brand
 Objectives of Differentiate

Promotion the Product

 Product differentiation is a frequent objective

 Homogenous demand for many products
results when consumers regard the firm’s
output as virtually identical to its
competitors’– then, the firm has virtually no
control over marketing variables
 Product differentiation permits more
flexibility in marketing strategy
 Objectives of
Promotion
Accentuate
 Promotion can explain the greater Product’s
Value
ownership utility of a product to
buyers, thereby accentuating its
value and justifying a higher price
 Objectives of
Promotion
 For the typical firm, sales
fluctuations may result from Stabilize
Sales
cyclical, seasonal, or irregular
demand
 Stabilizing these variations is
often an objective of
promotional strategy
 The Promotional Mix
 Promotional mix:
Personal blend of personal
Selling selling and nonpersonal
selling (including
advertising, sales
Nonpersonal promotion, direct
Selling marketing, and public
relations) designed to
achieve promotional
objectives
 Non personal Selling
Advertising
Advertising

 Advertising: paid, non personal

communication through various media
by a business firm, not-for-profit
organization, or individual identified in
the message with the hope of informing
or persuading members of a particular
audience
 Non personal Selling
Sales
Sales promotion
promotion
 Sales promotion: marketing activities other than
personal selling, advertising, and publicity that
stimulates consumer purchasing and dealer
effectiveness (includes displays, trade shows,
coupons, premiums, contests, product
demonstrations, and various non recurrent
selling efforts)
 Trade promotion: sales promotions aimed at
marketing intermediaries rather than ultimate
consumers
 Non personal Selling
Direct
Direct marketing
marketing

 Direct marketing: direct

communications other than personal
sales contact between buyer and
seller, designed to generate sales,
information requests, or store visits
 Non personal Selling
Public
Public relations
relations

 Public relations: firm’s communications

and relationships with its various publics
 Publicity: stimulation of demand for
good, service, place, idea, person, or
organization by unpaid placement of
commercially significant news or
favorable media presentations
 Relating Promotion to the Communications Process

Personal Sales Direct Public

Selling Advertising Promotion Marketing Relations
Permits Reaches a large Produces an Generates an Creates a
measurement of group of potential immediate immediate positive
  effectiveness. consumers for a consumer response. attitude toward
Elicits an relatively low response. Covers a wide a product or
immediate price per Attracts attention audience with company.
response. exposure. and creates targeted Enhances
Tailors the Allows strict product advertising. credibility of a
message to fit control over the awareness. Allows product or
the customer. final message. Allows easy complete, company.
Can be adapted to measurement of customized,
either mass results. personal
audiences or Provides short- message.
specific audience term sales Produces
segments. increases. measurable
results. 
 Relating Promotion to the
Communications Process (Continued)

Personal Sales Direct Public

Selling Advertising Promotion Marketing Relations

Relies almost Does not permit Is nonpersonal Suffers from May not
exclusively upon totally accurate in nature. image permit
the ability of the measurement of Is difficult to problem. accurate
salesperson. results. differentiate Involves a high measurement
Involves high Usually cannot from cost per reader. of effect on
cost per contact. close sales. competitor’s sales.
Depends on
efforts. quality and Involves much
accuracy of effort directed
mailing lists. toward
nonmarketing-
May annoy
oriented goals.
consumers.
DEVELOPING AN OPTIMAL
PROMOTIONAL MIX
 Factors that influence the
Nature of Market effectiveness of a
promotional to mix:
Nature of Product – Nature of the market
– Nature of the product
Stage in PLC
– Stage in the product life-
cycle
Price – Price
– Funds available for
Funds Available promotion
 Factors Influencing Choice of Promotional Mix

Personal Selling Advertising

Nature of the market Limited number Large number
Number of buyers Concentrated Dispersed
Geographic
Business purchaser Ultimate consumer
concentration
Type of customer
Nature of the product Custom-made, complex Standardized
Complexity Considerable Minimal
Service Business Consumer
requirements
Type of good or Trade-ins common Trade-ins uncommon
service
Use of trade-ins
Stage in the product life Often emphasized at every stage; Often emphasized at every stage;
cycle heavy emphasis in the heavy emphasis in the latter part
introductory and early growth of the growth stage, as well as
stages in acquainting marketing the maturity and early decline
intermediaries and potential stages, to persuade consumers to
consumers with the new good or select specific brands
service
Price High unit value Low unit value
 PULLING AND PUSHING
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES
 Pulling strategy: promotional effort by a seller
to stimulate demand among final users, who will
then exert pressure on the distribution channel to
carry the good or service, pulling it though the
marketing channel
 Pushing strategy: promotional effort by a seller
to members of the marketing channel intended to
stimulate personal selling of the good or service,
thereby pushing it through the marketing channel
 Promotional Budget Determination
Method Description Example
Percentage-of-sales Promotional budget is set as a “Last year we spent $10,500 on promotion
method specified percentage of either past or and had sales of $420,000. Next year we
forecasted sales. expect sales to grow to $480,000, and we are
allocating $12,000 for promotion.”

Fixed-sum-per-unit Promotional budget is set as a “Our forecast calls for sales of 14,000 units,
method predetermined dollar amount for and we allocate promotion at the rate of $65
each unit sold or produced. per unit.”

Meeting competition Promotional budget is set to match “Promotional outlays average 4 percent of
method competitor’s promotional outlays on sales in our industry.”
either an absolute or relative basis.

Task-objective Once marketers determine their “By the end of next year, we want 75 percent
method specific, promotional objectives, the of the area high-school students to be aware
amount (and type) of promotional of our new, highly automated fast-food
spending needed to achieve them is prototype outlet. How many promotional
determined. dollars will it take, and how should they be
spent?”
 MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF PROMOTION

 Two basic measurement tools:

– Direct sales results measures the effectiveness of
promotion by revealing the specific impact on sales
revenues for each dollar of promotional spending
– Indirect evaluation concentrates on quantifiable
indicators of effectiveness like:
 Recall - how much members of the target market remember
about specific products or advertisements
 Readership – size and composition of a message’s audience