Practical Imc Marketing Communication Messages example essay topic

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is a communications process that entails the planning, creation, integration and implementation of diverse forms of marketing communications (advertisements, sales promotions, publicity releases, events, etc) that are delivered over time to a brands targeted customers and prospects. The goal of IMC is ultimately to influence or directly affect the behaviour of the targeted audience. IMC considers all sources of contact that a customer / prospect has with the brand as potential delivery channels for messages and makes use of all communications methods that are relevant to customers / prospects and to which they might be receptive. IMC requires that all of a brands communication media and messages deliver a consistent message.

The IMC process further necessitates that the customer / prospect is the starting point for determining the types of messages and channels that will serve best to inform, persuade and induce action. (Ship 2003) With nearly 2,500 staff and offices throughout the Asia Pacific region, KAZ Group (KAZ) provides exceptional business and technology services to organisations and governments across a variety of industries including banking, finance, retail, manufacturing, logistics and utilities. By establishing long-term and trusted partnerships with clients, KAZ is able to develop innovative and flexible solutions giving organisations a competitive edge in the market. We pride ourselves on our strong focus on client needs and our ability to improve the way companies do business. And through our research and development, we are continually one step ahead to meet client's changing needs. Using experienced people, leading technology and proven procedures, KAZ provides the full range of business and information technology capabilities.

KAZ is at the forefront of business process outsourcing, where companies transfer their non-core parts of their business to an external specialist to manage. This frees up critical resources, allowing clients to focus on their key business, resulting in greater value for stakeholders. KAZ specialists in a number of business process outsourcing areas including customer contact centres, document imaging and processing, and claims management and processing. KAZ is also recognised as a leading developer of software solutions for the finance industry and governments through its membership administration products and document management solutions. Theory of IMC Over the years IMC has had much criticism on weather it was a new theoretical concept or a management fashion. Due to its lack of definition, IMC cannot be clearly inferred from practice, it cannot be stated as to what it is or isn't, its ideas influence as a management fashion can be profound in the general and popular ideas that it disseminates and the rhetoric that it provides to practicing managers.

The difference in opinion about the historical context and the emergence of IMC hangs closely together with the lack of a definition of the concept (No wark and Phelps, 1994; Phelps and Johnson, 1996; Kitchen, 1999). While writers appear to agree on the areas of coverage by IMC with concern for both organisational processes of structuring and co-ordina ting working practices of marketing communication professionals, as well as the execution and content of communication programs (Nowak and Phelps, 1994; Prensky et al., 1996; Petri son and Wang, 1996). There has been little research done on the theory of IMC. "While there is considerable debate and discussion of the subject, i.e. who does it, how it is done, etc., the formal presentation of research, theory development, and other materials by either practitioners or academics has been slow in coming". (Schultz and Kitchen, 1997) In effect, having no clearly defined definition contributes to the lack of operational measures of IMC (Phelps et al., 1996), which makes it difficult to identify or evaluate specific organisational processes or campaigns in marketing communications disciplines. The apparent ambiguity has allowed for various interpretations and the loose use of the term IMC and has allowed researchers to choose whichever conceptualization best fits their research agendas at any given time.

As a result, definitions and measurement scales have been peculiar to individual research studies. Phelps et al. (1996), for instance, examined whether companies have individual or consensus decision making communications strategy. They found that the use of a consensus approach, where the heads of various communications functions work together to develop communications strategies is on the increase. The claim that IMC is a management fashion is based on five arguments, some of which are derived from management research on management fashions (e.g. Abrahamson, 1991, 1996; Gill and Whittle, 1992; Sperber, 1990). A fad can be seen as a popular technique or idea, which has no positive impact at all on management practice in the longer term and should on that basis be discarded from further thought by academics and practicing managers alike.

A management fashion, in comparison, can be seen to have an affect on practice, albeit transitory, in the general ideas and rhetoric that it provides. Abrahamson (1996) defines a management fashion as. ".. a relatively transitory collective belief, disseminated by management fashion setters, that a management technique leads to rational management process". The first argument is that IMC theory can be recognised as a field lacking academic rigor (Gill and Whittle, 1992). The lack of academic rigor may be the result of IMC's fashionable status as a "pop management" theory (Gill and Whittle, 1992).

It has been argued that ideas put forward within varieties of "pop management" theories have little academic underpinning (Sperber, 1990). This is seen as a conscious policy, since it makes the ideas more acceptable to practicing managers. The second argument is that the IMC theory offers little more than simplistic and prescriptive "turnkey" solutions to organisational problems of marketing communications. These panaceas frequently consist of checklists detailing the actions seen as essential for organisational success. In order to attract the attention of managers, these panaceas have to offer quick, simple solutions, in addition much work on IMC is rather prescriptive and does not take into account how marketing communications is actually managed across companies.

Abrahamson (1991) argues that, under conditions of uncertainty (i. e., the move away from the mass communication model toward new marketing communications practices), organisations and managers will imitate techniques employed by influential's seen to be "fashionable" (e.g. advertising and consulting firms, business media, and prominent marketing researches). The difference between management fashions and other perhaps more-efficient and grounded perspectives in Abrahamson's (1991) analysis lies in the reasons for adoption by managers and organisations. When a particular idea or technique is applied for technological or economic reasons, the decision to do so is based upon perceived performance gaps. In contrast, where techniques or ideas are adopted by managers as a result of psychological needs and social pressures, these can be typified as management fashions.

The forth argument, the prevalence of rhetoric's in marketing and management research (Abrahamson, 1996) thus generally indicates that in an a theoretical debate is prevalent in a particular field or discipline. IMC has, with its associated terms "synergy", "holism", and "ion", been heavily premised on a rhetorical presentation and appeal of its ideas. These rhetoric's, together with the already mentioned lack of theoretical debate on IMC can thus be seen as symptomatic of management fashion. (Sperber, 1990). The final argument, the transient pattern of influence, which is associated with management theories offers a guide to the existence of a historical thought within marketing and management research. A number of writers (Miller and Rose, 1994; Hutton, 1996; Kitchen, 1999) have described IMC as transient in its influence.

Such a transient pattern of influence can be described as "bell shaped" (Kisser, 1997) or as a "life cycle model" (Gill and Whittle, 1992) in that these fashions are popularized and discarded within a relatively short time period. The five arguments presented in support the claim that IMC can be seen as a management fashion. These arguments involve IMC's status as a theory, the reasons for practitioners to admit to having adopted IMC and IMC's transient influence in the literature. Useful insights may be gained from the argument that IMC might have a practical bearing in the general ideas and rhetoric that it provides to practicing managers, in addition to an inference of the concept from particular aspects of marketing communications or the view that IMC can be directly applied as a management technique.

Kliatchko (2001) provides an overall summary of the driving forces behind IMC, For KAZ to further increase its brand awareness and decrease costs involved with its marketing campaigns, KAZ would need to look into the following: 1. Decreasing message impact and credibility: Consumers today are more critical of advertising messages. They are no longer easily impressed by commercial messages or the increasing media clutter. 2.

Decreasing cost of using databases: With consumer databases becoming more affordable to many organisations, the process of segmenting consumers and prospects has become more sophisticated and accessible to all marketers. 3. Increasing client expertise: Clients of agencies are increasingly concerned over cost effectiveness and have realised that there are more effective ways of reaching their markets. 4.

Increasing mergers and acquisitions of marketing communication agencies: In recent years, many top multinational ad agencies have expanded their services and developed extensive networks and strategic alliances with below-the-line agencies. 5. Increasing mass media costs: Cost of advertising, particularly TV, continues to escalate. This trend has led clients to reassess their marketing communications budget to other non-media based below-the-line promotional efforts. 6. Increasing media fragmentation: Media vehicles are becoming more expensive, they are also becoming more fragmented as more specialised offerings in TV, radio, and print emerge.

Duncan (2005) emphasizes that internal marketing is also an important part of IMC, which organisations such as KAZ need to adopt, internal marketing has three functions: 1. Informs employees, such as through a company intranet for employees. 2. Empowers employees by authorizing employees to make decisions on their own to help customers. 3. Listens to employees by encouraging everyone to suggest better ways of dealing with customers.

Practical IMC Marketing communication messages that are not recognizable, are not related to each other, conflict with what has already been stored, or are simply unrelated or unimportant to the person will simply not be processed, but ignored. Communication only occurs when the consumer accepts, transforms, and categorizes the message. The storage and retrieval system works on the basis of matching incoming information with what has already been stored in memory. If the information matches or enhances what is already there, then the new information will likely be added to the existing concepts and categories.

If it doesn't match, the consumer has to make a choice, either the new information can replace what is already there or the new information can be rejected. If rejected, the consumer would continue to use existing concepts and categories and ignore the new. This is called a 'judgment system' in that consumers match or test new information against what they already have and then make a judgment to add to, adapt, or reject the new material. When consumers reject the information or do not add or attach it to what they already have, there is a failure to communicate.

In many cases, the failure to communicate is the result of the marketer being unable to match his or her messages or fields of experience with those of the prospect or customer. Consumers use the same information processing approach whether the new data comes from advertising, sales promotions, a salesperson, an article in a newspaper or magazine or from what their neighbour is telling them. The marketer who presents non-integrated messages risks not having any of his or her messages processed because of the conflict that occurs in the consumer's information processing system. If for no other reason that the risk of confusion, marketers must integrate their messages or consumers will simply ignore them. Integration is the key to developing the strategies and tools of marketing communications. Mc Goon (1998) states that integration requires a high degree of interpersonal, and cross-functional communication within the organisation, across business units and with outside suppliers.

Integration of marketing communication involves integration of all different stages. Siggy (1988) puts more emphasis on the integration process and suggests that the awareness of the need for integration is the initial step in developing anime program. He considers several forms of integration. These include: o Image integration - this includes activities such as message and media consistency by having consistent messages of verbally and visually. o Functional integration- all functions of marketing activities must work towards a common goal. o Coordinated integration - all elements of promotional mix need to be integrated. o Consumer based integration - This can be undertaken by understanding consumer needs and wants and trying to meet these consumer needs. o Stakeholder based integration - Stakeholders must be considered in developing the IMC program. o Relationship management integration - the development of the IMC must consider developing relationships with not only their internal and external customers but all parties related to that organisation. KAZ's business revolves around marketing and selling its services to other Businesses (B 2 B). KAZ use's various Mar Com strategies and media to send a unifying message to its prospective clients about the company and the services it provides.

The following Mar Com strategies are used: Trade Shows KAZ advertises and promotes its services to other companies in IT trade shows. Trade show attendees include most of the industries important manufacturers and major customers. This encapsulated marketplace enables KAZ to accomplish both selling and non-selling functions. The advantages that KAZ gets with trade shows is that it can, service present customers, identify prospects, introduce new services, gather information about their customers and enhance the companies image. Advertise in professional publications KAZ advertises in the following publications.

These publications are targeted to the Information Technology (IT) decision maker. Advertisement in the various publications are scheduled on a weekly basis to re-enforce the KAZ brand image. All the advertisements portray the same look and feel of the KAZ brand image.