CHAPTER 12Connecting with the Customer:

Integrated Marketing Communications and Interactive Marketing

M A R K E T I N GReal People, Real Choices

Fourth Edition

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How Many Can You Answer?

• Name the tiger that says, “They’re grrrrrreat!”

• Name one or more products for which Tiger Woods is a spokesperson.

• What character is featured in Energizer battery ads?

• At Burger King, you can have it “ ___,” whereas at Hardee’s the burgers are _____.

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Functions of Marketing Communications

• Inform– “A tree fell in the forest. Did it make a sound?”

• Persuade– Prefer one brand over another

• Remind– Consumers have short memories

• Build relationships– Retaining old customers is cheaper than getting

new customers• Continuous communication to build relationships

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The Communication Model

• The sender (business) encodes the idea into a message

• Uses a medium to communicate the message

• The receiver (consumer) decodes the message back to the idea

• Noise as interference in the encoding and decoding of message

• Feedback from receiver (consumer)

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Traditional / Non-traditional Forms

• The Promotion Mix– Advertising– Sales promotion– Special events– Salespeople– PR– Direct Marketing/Mail– Billboards– Posters, brochures,

flyers– Train transfers/bus

transfers

• Product Placements– Movies and TV

shows– Books, Plays, Works

of Art (Andy Warhol)• Viral Marketing• Guerilla Marketing• Infomercials• Corporate gifts• Other non-traditional

forms

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Mar Com Matrix

Factor Advertising PR Events DR SP Placements

Intensity ofeffect

Low Mod High High High High

Effectduration

Short Mod Mod Short Short Mod

Control Total Low High High High Mod

Ability totarget

High Low Mod Very high Mod Low

Customizabil-ty of message

Mod Low Low-high High Low-high Mod

Credibility Low High Mod Low Mod High

Closes sale Low Low Low Mod High Mod

Greatestapplication

Broad,,large TA

Credibility isvital

Image Uniqueconsumer needs

Encourage Trial

Discourage attributions

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Role of IMC

• Promotion is communication by marketers that informs, persuades, reminds, and builds relationships with potential buyers of a product to influence an opinion or elicit a response

• IMC is a plan for optimal use of the elements of promotion

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Putting It All Together

• Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is “a strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute, and evaluate unified, coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand communication programs over time with consumers, customers, prospects, and other targeted, relevant external and internal audiences.”

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Appeals

• Personal appeals allow for direct interaction between a company representative and a customer

• Mass appeals seek to reach many prospective customers at the same time

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New Appeals

• Guerrilla marketing– “ambush” consumers in unexpected places

• Viral marketing– Customers act as selling agents against

some consideration• Buzz (word of mouth generated by customers

which is considered authentic) and hype (propaganda planted by companies; not seen as authentic)

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Advertising

• Non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using the mass media can:

– convey rich and dynamic images

– establish and reinforce brand identity

– communicate factual information

– remind customer to buy

• Credibility issues

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Sales Promotion

• Programs that build interest or encourage purchase of a product through the use of an incentive in a specified time period

– coupons

– contests

– rebates

– premiums

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Publicity and Public Relations

• Portray an organization and its products positively by influencing the perceptions of various publics

– writing press releases

– holding special events

– conducting and publishing consumer surveys

– putting a positive spin on negative news

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Characteristics of an IMC Program

• Creates a single unified voice• Begins with the customer• Seeks to develop relationships• Involves 2-way communication• Focuses on stakeholders• Generates a continuous stream of

communication• Measures results based on actual

feedback

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Step 2: Establish Promotion Objectives

• Objectives will change depending on where consumers are on the path to loyalty

• Possible objectives– create awareness (repetitive ads, slogans, jingles)– inform the market (detailed copy, infomercials,

brochures, website)– create desire (status and sex appeals, celebrity

endorsements, product placement)– encourage trial (sales promotions like discounts,

free samples, etc.)– build loyalty (direct mail, website)

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Step 3: Determine Total Promotion Budget

• Top-down budgeting techniques

– percentage-of-sales method• During periods of slow sales, you may risk

reducing your advertising

– competitive parity• Specific initiatives are ignored

• Bottom-up budgeting technique

– objective-task method• Sometimes difficult to accurately estimate costs

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Push vs. Pull strategy

• Push– Pushing consumers to buy (hard-sell

approaches)– Pushing the channel to sell (discounting,

rebates and other price-offs)• Pull

– Relying on the power of the brand name to bring in the customers (image advertising and some sales promotions, PR, placements, etc.)

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Effects of Time and the PLC

• Introduction phase: push strategy; mix relies heavily on advertising, sales promotions, and public relations

• Growth phase: heavy advertising with emphasis on differentiation

• Maturity phase: emphasis on sales promotions to encourage brand switching

• Decline phase: dramatic reductions in promotional spending

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Step 4: Designing the Promotion Mix

• Which elements of promotion will be used?

• What message is to be communicated?

– Type of appeal?

• What communication channels should be employed?

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The AIDA Model

• Attention

• Interest

• Desire

• Action

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Step 5: Evaluate the Effectiveness

• Is the plan working?– Measure response to sales promotions– Measure brand awareness, recall, and

image before and after ad campaign– Analyze and compare sales performances

by territory and sales force– Clip articles appearing in media

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Interactive Marketing

• Attention Economy– The amount of information seems infinite;

our ability to get it is limited by the time we can spend looking

– Interactive media are in the business of making wanted information easily accessible

• Customized marketing communications yield a measurable response in the form of a purchase or request for more information

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Levels of Interactive Response

• First-order response: product offer directly yields a transaction

• Second-order response: product offer results in some form of customer feedback but it isn’t a transaction

– request for more information

– request NOT to receive more information

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Database Marketing

• Critical to interactive marketers as they seek to track responses to messages and develop a dialogue with customers

• Allows the organization to learn customer preferences, fine-tune and test offerings, build relationships

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Database Marketing

• Is interactive

• Builds relationships

• Locates new customers

• Stimulates cross-selling

• Is measurable

• Is trackable