Class 7 - IMC

Question 1

Why Integrate?

Answer 1

In an ideal world, all of these channels work together:

Advertising: Create beautiful TV and digital ads promoting the launch

Sales: Trains sales employees on the selling features of the new phones

Digital: Implements targeted ad campaign on social media and engages in search-engine marketing for the new launch

PR: Organize press events, launch parties, and exclusive previews to showcase the new iPhone to journalists, influencers, and industry insiders.

Question 2

All these channels need to agree on:

Answer 2

Core message: What new features do we want to highlight for consumers?

Timing: When should each of these be enacted? (e.g., the sales team should be ready for questions by the time the first ad is launched)

Data sharing: Determining which tactics and messages are effective during the campaign and reinforcing those across all channels

Budget: Teams need to prioritize and allocate budgets based on strategic objectives, expected and performance metrics

Question 3

What is integrated marketing ?

Answer 3

Definition: The processes concerned with the consistent development and coordinated delivery of company’s messages with its target audiences.
includes both content and process:

Content : Message consistency across platforms such that brands achieve “one voice, one look” across all marketing materials

Process : An organizational structuring of a company or brand such that all the various communication disciplines are brought together

Question 4

Types of Process integration

Answer 4

Non-integration is when most of the key channels are separate departments in the organization (or separate hired agencies), with no oversight or coordination.

Advertising - Public relations - Digital - Sales promotion - Sales

Fix the separate department problem: Putting all these functions within the same department (or by hiring them all out to the same ad agency).
Fixing the no oversight problem: Or you can fix this by designating one person (or a small group of people) to oversee all departments
Fixing the no coordination problem: Or you can fix this by having one or more people from all departments meet regularly to agree on goals. (regular meetings)

Question 5

What is being integrated ?

Answer 5

Marketing mix :
All consumer touchpoints with the brand should be consistent
Promotional strategy should be consistent with price, product, and placement

Branding :
The brand should be able to adapt to different targets yet retain a consistent core proposition

Strategy :
The message of MarComms should align with the brand’s strategy
Ex. Ads discussing price with a low-cost strategy
Ex. Ads discussing added value and not price for differentiation

Employees :
All customer-facing employees of the brand should reflect the brand
Can be done through hiring decisions, training, and in-house documentation

Agencies :
If working with multiple ad agencies and contractors, it is important to provide them all with a consistent image for your brand so they can produce integrated products

Question 6

Why is IMC important …

Answer 6

… within an organization

Enables an organization to become efficient & synergistic with its communications, which can lower costs
Increases accountability for all communications spending, which can help limit costs
Can provide direction and purpose for employees

… within the market

Being consistent across communication tools fosters trust and commitment from consumers
In a crowded media landscape, non-integrated communication can lead to information overload and misunderstandings
Reinforcing the same message across platforms may lead to better comprehension and recall

Question 7

How to write an IMC

Answer 7

Step 1: Situational Analysis (3Cs)
Step 2 : Segmenting, targeting

Question 8

3Cs

Answer 8

Customer: How does our product provide value to the customer?

Company: Who are we? Is the way we want to market consistent with our mission? Will people trust this message coming from us?

Competition: Who is competing to meet our customers needs? What is their value proposition?

Question 9

Step 2 : Segmenting, targeting

Answer 9

Segment your market based on sociodemographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural, and/or profitability

Choose the target market that is likely to be the most profitable based on size, growth, competition, and accessibility.

Question 10

Marketing communications plans consist of the following elements

Answer 10

1. Context analysis
2. Communication objectives
3. Marketing communications strategy
4. Coordinated promotional mix
5. Resources (human & financial)
6. Scheduling and implementation
7. Evaluation and control
8. Feedback

Question 11

1. Context analysis

Answer 11

Purpose: To understand the key market and communication drivers that are likely to influence (or are already influencing) a brand’s ability to meet its long-term objectives.
Should include…

Who is Your Target?
What do we know about our target market (their needs, perceptions, motivation & attitudes)?
Should be based on market research

Media Preferences
What media does our target audience use?
What media do they trust?
Should be based on market research

Time Scales
How long is the campaign expected to run?
How long are we given to prepare it?

Resources
What is the monetary budget for the campaign?
Are there other resources (e.g., personnel, spaces) available?

Outsourcing
Which, if any, tasks should be outsourced to a marketing agency?

Question 12

Communication objectives

Answer 12

Communication objectives should consist of two main elements:

Marketing Objectives
Derived from the marketing plan
Often sales-related (like desired market share, revenue, volume sold, ROI)

Marketing Communication Objectives
Goals regarding awareness, perception, knowledge, &/or attitudes

All objectives should always be formulated as SMART Goals

Question 13

SMART objectives

Answer 13

Specific : The goal is concrete and tangible - everyone knows what it looks like

Measurable : The goal has an objective measure of success the everyone can understand

Attainable : The goal is challenging, but should be achievable with the ressources available.

Relevant : The goal meaningfully contributes to larger objectives like the overall mission.

Timely : This goal has a deadline or, better yet, a timeline of progress milestones.

Question 14

Ex : marketing objectives

Answer 14

Increase market share to 25% within our target market by the end of 2025

Increase our 6 month repeat purchase rate to 3 by the end of 2025

Question 15

Marketing Communication Objectives

Answer 15

Increase the number of views on our social media to an average of 10,000/post by the end of 2025

Increase repeat website visits to 40% by the end of 2025

Question 16

Communications strategies

Answer 16

Push :

Encourages retailers to push products out to consumers
Retailers carry your product because you have marketed it to them directly
Generally uses a personal selling approach supported by trade shows and trade advertising.

Pull:

Encourages customers to “pull” products through the distributors.
Retailers decide to carry your product because consumers want it.
Generally, a results in a mass media strategy supported by sales promotions

Profile-positioning

Concerned with marketing your brand to other interested parties, like governments, financial analysts, employees
This form of marketing is generally not focused on the product, but rather in making sure that interested parties have a positive view of the brand

Question 17

Coordinated Communication Mix :

Answer 17

The steps :
1. Define your key message
2. Decide if you will be taking an emotional or rational approach
3. Decide the tone of your visual messages
4. Based on the previous steps, state the tools and media to be used in the campaign.

Question 18

Step 1 : Define your key message

Answer 18

Your key message is the main idea you want to communicate with your campaign. It should answer the following questions:

What do you want to tell the target audience about your product?
Why is it important to them?
Why is it unique or different?
What concerns or questions might your audience have?

A key message is not a positioning statement or a tagline

A positioning statement reflects how the brands wants to be seen in the minds of consumers over a long period of time – it’s bigger than a key message
A tagline is part of branding – a phrase that consumers come to associate with the brand. A key message drives what we put in our marketing communications, but may never actually be seen verbatim by consumers.

Question 19

Step 2 : Will you be taking an emotional or rational approach ?

Answer 19

Emotional

Goal : Sell the consumer on how the product will make them feel.

Message balance : Often one-sided

Message construal level : Often abstract

When :
1. Decisions consumers are unlikely to consider deeply (cheap, no risk)
2. Persuade goals / Remind & Reassure goals
3. Hedonic purchases

Rational

Goal : Inform the consumer about the practical benefits of your product

Message balance : Often two-sided

Message construal level : Often concrete

When :
1. Decisions consumers are likely to consider deeply (expensive, risky)
2. Inform goals
3. Utilitarian purchases

Question 20

Step 3 : What is the tone of the visual messages ?

Answer 20

Subtle or Bold
Traditional or contemporary

Contemporary-Bold
Contemporary-subtle
Traditionnal-subtle
Traditionnal-bold

Question 21

Subtle or Bold

Answer 21

Subtle visuals include softer colors, toned down graphics, and less-busy photography.
Bold visuals are louder, more vibrant, and compositionally energetic.

Question 22

Traditional or contemporary

Answer 22

Contemporary visuals often use sans serif fonts, geometric graphics, and dynamic photography.
Traditional visuals often use serif fonts, more detailed graphics, and quieter photography

Question 23

Contemporary-Bold

Answer 23

Contemporary-Bold
Color: High contrast
Fonts: Heavier weights (i.e., bold), sans serif
Photography: Incorporate pops of color, movement, and community.
Graphics: Prominent use of solid colors, thicker line weights.

When to use it ?
Conveying excitement & fun
Informal communications
Younger consumers

Question 24

Contemporary-subtle

Answer 24

Color: Low contrast
Fonts: Lighter weights, sans serif
Photography: Incorporate pops of color, movement, and community.
Graphics: Sparing of solid colors, thinner line weights.

When to use it ?
Conveying excitement & subtle confidence
More formal communications
More mature consumers

Question 25

Traditionnal-subtle

Answer 25

Color: Low contrast
Fonts: Mix of lighter and heavier weights, serif
Photography: Muted colors, little movement, and no crowds. Focus on quieter scenes.
Graphics: Sparing of solid colors, thinner line weights.

When to use it ?
Conveying sophistication
Formal communications that require a personal touch

Question 26

Traditionnal-bold

Answer 26

Color: High contrast
Fonts: Mix heavier weights, serif
Photography: Muted colors, little movement, and no crowds. Focus on quieter scenes.
Graphics: Prominent use of solid colors, thicker line weights.

When to use it ?
Conveying importance
More reserved communications
Mature audiences

Question 27

Step 4 : Based on the previous steps, state the channels to be used in the campaign.

Answer 27

Consider :

What is my communication goal? (Recall: different channels are effective for different goals)
Where does my target audience tend to encounter messages?
What resources do I have available?

Question 28

The resources required to support the plan include …

Answer 28

Money
time
People/expertise

Question 29

Scheduling & implementation

Answer 29

Schedule the deployment of the methods and the media, in line with the goals.

Remember that different channels are more effective for different stages (e.g., inform, persuade, differentiate, remind)

Gantt Charts, like the one presented on the next slide, are a particularly helpful planning tool

Question 30

Evaluation and control

Answer 30

The most important thing to evaluate is your progress towards your stated (marketing and communication) objectives.

If possible, the company should change any communication tasks that are not working as expected.

Question 31

Feedback
At the end of the campaign, companies should ask themselves…

Answer 31

What went well? What went poorly?
Were there sufficient resources?
Was the strategy appropriate in the first place?
What unforeseen problems occurred?

And use the information gleaned to improve in the future.