Discussion (mk)

Week 7 Learning Activities.html

WEEK 7

1.  Integrated Marketing Communications

The concept of integrated marketing communications is more than just putting together good ad campaigns. It is a fully integrated set of promotion mix tools communicating the same clear, consistent, and compelling message about the offering. For example: 

• TV ad campaign to create interest in the product using a celebrity spokesperson (advertising creating awareness) 
• Appearance of the celebrity on a TV talk show (public relations to generate interest) 
• E-mail from the celebrity endorser offering a promotional price (direct marketing to spark desire to purchase) 
• Point-of-purchase display featuring celebrity endorser (sales promotion to remind consumer of product benefits and encourage purchase action) 
• Demonstration by sales clerk (personal selling to close the sale bringing consumer to action) 
• Facebook page hosted by the celebrity (post-purchase activity to reduce purchase dissonance) 

In this case, the celebrity endorser is the common thread communicating the company's message. The company may have decided to use a celebrity endorser who is well respected and highly visible to its target market. This is part of the creative strategy for encoding the message to consumers. In other cases, the common thread (sometimes known as the Big Idea) might be a particular graphics approach, a character created solely for the company (e.g. Flo for Progressive Insurance), or other creative device that carries forth in all communications. 

Here is a tongue-in-cheek video demonstrating how advertising and public relations were two tools used in an IMC campaign. The message to communicate was how to pronounce a last name. See how this was done using IMC principles.

Schiess, M. (2011, November 7). Integrated marketing communications [Video].  YouTube. https://youtu.be/4JxVHCc_wIU

Can you think of an IMC campaign? Progressive is one example, but there are plenty out there. Feel free to go back in history and think of campaigns like IBM's launch of the personal computer using the Charlie Chaplin-like character or Coke's I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing campaign, or Apple's IMC campaigns used on every new product launch. Remember, don't just focus on the advertising. Find those other promotion tools they used to convey the selling proposition. You may want to read most of the week's readings before tackling this discussion topic to get a better idea of what all the promotion mix tools are, and how the AIDA model (as noted in the reading highlights in the example above) works.

2.  The Promotion (Communication) Mix

This section does a good job of explaining each of the promotion mix tools and how they are used to support IMC and achieve marketing communications objectives. A major point here is how more traditional promotion mix tools like broadcast and print media are decreasing in terms of the percent of the budget spent in favor of the new media. Here is an infographic demonstrating just how big social media has become as a communication media.

Mohsin, M. (2020, February 7). 10 social media statistics you need to know in 2020 [Infographic]. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/social-media-marketing-statistics#:~:text=Here%E2%80%99s%20a%20summary%20of%20the%20Social%20Media%20Statistics,on%20social%20networks%20and%20messaging.%20More%20items...

Are you surprised by these numbers? Have you noticed your own behaviors as a consumer being influenced by social media than traditional media?

3.  The Promotion Mix, Communication, and Buyer’s Perceptions

Two major thoughts are highlighted in this section of this week's readings: the concept of push vs. pull promotion strategy and the communications model.

Push vs. pull: We discussed this concept briefly in our prior week on channels, and here it refers to whether the marketer wants to convince consumers to buy so that channels will work to fill demand (pull), or whether the marketer wants to convince channels to move the product to the end user (push). In reality, most marketing communications efforts are some combination of promotion mix tools used to pull and push the product. 

Marketing communications model: This model of communications is not unique to marketing communications. It is the same model we use to speak to someone, or in our personal writing and other ways we communicate with one another. What is important in the marketing context is the encoding process, or the development of the message highlighting the unique selling proposition and Big Idea we discussed in the section above. 

Here's a slide presentation giving even more detail as to how this model works in marketing communications. Pay special attention as to how the AIDA model is used to determine the right promotion mix tool to use.

B2B Whiteboard. (2011, August 17). The marketing communication process: Overview. http://www.slideshare.net/nbairstow/marketing-communication-process-8892140?related=1

This slide presentation will give you more than you need to know for this course, but you may find it interesting to see all the theories of marketing communications and the role of marketing research to know your customer before you communicate with him or her.

4.  Message Strategies

Remember all those new media (especially social media platforms) you learned about earlier?  New media has prompted the advertising agencies to rethink the notion of one Big Idea as a message strategy but rather having several Big Idea message strategies.

Research the Big Idea in advertising and consider whether you think it is still relevant in today's highly fragmented media landscape.

5.  Public Relations Activities and Tools

This section of the Week 7 readings highlights the basics of public relations tool and activities. These tools include:

• press releases 
• sponsorships 
• cause-related marketing 
• product placement

Many companies with small budgets mistakenly think they can use "free" advertising as they define public relations. Indeed, some companies do rely only on public relations only if the unique selling proposition is so newsworthy that the news media will be the carriers of the company's message. Apple is a master at this whenever that company launches a new product.

Can you think of any other product that relied solely on public relations? What was it about its unique selling proposition that made this feasible for this company?

6.  Sales Promotion

The most important point on sales promotions is that they should be used for short-term sales boosts. A promotion run all the time only devalues the product image, and the lower price becomes the regular price. 

The sales promotion techniques discussed in the readings are noted in the chart. Be sure to note that some of these techniques are better for pushing the product to the consumer and others are better suited for pushing the product through the channels.

7.  Professional Selling

Most marketers begin their jobs in a professional selling capacity. This can be for both consumer products, like car salespeople, or more likely in a business-to-business environment, which is discussed in greater detail in Week 8. 

Large companies find it useful for all employees to work directly with customers before landing in other positions within a company. This is consistent with our course's focus on the customer in the center of all marketing activities. There are also opportunities for those with skills to elevate their careers to selling the companies technical products. This is common for engineers and others who began working for a company in another capacity. 

Here is an audio clip of Ted Schulte, who enjoys his job in personal selling. Hear how his career developed and what it is about professional selling that excites him. 

http://app.wistia.com/embed/medias/74f3b720c9

This section of the week's reading should give you a good idea of what professional selling is all about, how it adds value for consumers, and its role in integrated marketing communications.

8.  The Promotion Budget

By now, you should have a greater appreciation as to the role of setting marketing communications objectives prior to the development of any of the promotion tools discussed in this week's readings. Without knowing what you want to accomplish, it is difficult to figure out how to get there. 

That is where budgeting comes in and the strength of the objective and task promotion budgeting method discussed in the readings. The objective and task method begins with those objectives and then outlines the specific tools and tasks to be performed to reach that objective, including the metrics to be used to measure and monitor the results.

Recap of Week 7 Learning Activities

The most important activity this week is understanding how IMC works. So, most of our focus is on the first Discussion Forum, Topic 1: IMC. Of course, IMC planning is more complicated than we outlined, and if you interested in the topic or are a marketing major, you will be learning much more in MRKT 354, Integrated Marketing Communications.