Marketing Communications Strategy

1. Marketing Communications Strategy

2. The Promotions Mix • Advertising • Sales promotion- • Public Relations- • Personal selling- • Direct marketing-

3. Advertising • any non paid form of personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor • Suffers from low credibility as audiences are less likely to believe the message • High degree of flexibility as it can be used to communicate with a national audience or a specialized segment. • Cost per contact can be the lowest of all the tools in the mix

4. Sales Promotion • short term incentives to encourage the purchase or sales of a product or service • This comprises various marketing techniques which are used tactically to provide added value to an offering with the aim of accelerating sales and gathering market information • It also has a greater capability to be targeted towards smaller audiences • It is controllable and the associated costs are much lower than advertising • Credibility is not very high • The ability to add value and to bring forward future sales is strong and plays a vital role in short term financial performance.

5. Public Relations • building good relations with the company’s various publics by building a good image, handling favorable/unfavorable rumours, events, etc. • There is high credibility attached to this form of communication as reflected in its wider use. • This involves the dissemination of messages through third-party media (magazines, newspapers, news programmes) . There is no charge for the media space or time but there are costs incurred in the production of the material. • Tools include event management, sponsorship and lobbying • It is difficult to control a message once placed in the channels, but the endorsement offered by a third party can be very influential and have a far greater impact on the target audience.

6. Direct Marketing • Direct connection with targeted individual consumers to obtain immediate response and cultivate lasting relationships • DM seeks to target individual customers with the intention of delivering personalized messages and building a relationship with them based on their responses. • In contrast to conventional approaches DM attempts to build a one-to-one relationship, a partnership with each customer, by communicating with the customers on a direct and personal basis. • The promotion component is different, i.e. direct-response media is used. • If an organization chooses to use direct marketing then it has to incorporate the approach within a marketing plan. This is because distribution is different and changes in the competitive environment may mean that prices need to change. • E.g: Charges for packing and delivery need to be incorporated.

7. Personal Selling • Personal presentation by the company’s sales force; making sales and building relationships • This involves face-to-face activities undertaken by individuals in order to inform, persuade or remind and individual or group to take appropriate action • Costs associated with this tool is large • Lacking in relative credibility and control as the point of contact is free to deliver a message other than that indented. • Over the years the use of direct marketing has shifted in focus from mass to personalized communications. (Direct mail, telemarketing, etc..)

8. Effectiveness of the tools

9. Selection criteria • Control- The degree of control required over the delivery of the message message control is complicated by interference or negative ‘noise’ which can corrupt and distort messages. E.g.: an airlines' advertising may be discredited by a major news story about safety checks or even an accident. • Financial Resources- Financial resources available to pay a third party to transmit messages. Each media type carries a particular cost and the resources of the organization may not be available to use particular types of media, even if such use would be appropriate on other grounds. • Credibility-Level of credibility that each tool bestows on the organization. PR scores heavily on credibility factors. This is because receivers perceive the third party as unbiased and to be endorsing the offering. Because of this organization’s often use celebrities and ‘experts’ to endorse their offerings. The credibility of the spokesperson is intended to distract the receiver from the sponsor’s prime objective, which is to sell the offering. • Size and geographic dispersion – Size and geographic dispersion of the target audiences. A national audience can be reached effectively only if tools of mass communication are used. (Advertising). The tools of marketing communications can enable an organization to speak to vast national and international audiences through advertising and satellite technology, or to single persons or small groups through personal selling and the assistance of word-of-mouth recommendation.

10. Integrated Marketing Communication

11. Definition • Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a process for managing the customer relationships that drive Brand value. More specifically, it is a cross-functional process for creating and nourishing profitable relationships with customers and stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialogue with them. • It is a process which involves the management and organization of all ‘agents’ in the analysis, planning, implementation and control of all marketing communications contacts, media, messages and promotional tools focused at selected target audiences in such a way as to derive the greatest enhancement and coherence of marketing communications efforts in achieving predetermined product and corporate marketing communications objective. • In its simplest form IMC is the bringing together of all marketing communications activities or integrating all elements of the promotional mix. • For IMC more than one creative treatment- message or image- may be used, but where more than a single treatment is employed, they should be mutually consistent.

12. Benefits of IMC

13. Elements in the communication process

15. Steps in developing effective communication

16. Identifying the target audience • It is self evident that customers or potential customers should be a focus for attention, but this may also blind us to the fact that very many more audiences may need to be selected. • Groups such as the media, friends, colleagues, opinion leaders may be strong influencers in purchase decisions and it may be wise for any marketing communications plan to attempt to favorably influence the influencers. • Decision making units need to be considered. • The target audience will affect the communicators decisions on what will be said, how it will be said, when, where and who

17. Determining the communication objective • Understand the Buyer readiness stage • Is the Objective to create awareness, induce purchase, convince, etc.. • Buyer readiness stage- the stage consumers normally pass through on their way to purchase, including awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase

18. Designing a message • Ideally the message should follow the AIDA model • Message content- decide on using a emotional appeal, rational appeal, humour, negative appeals, moral appeals • Message structure- whether to present the strongest argument first or last/ asking questions and letting buyers come to their own conclusions/whether to present a one sided or two sided argument • Message format- colour, font, style, order of presentation, facial expressions, dress, etc.

19. Choosing media • Personal communication channels- Channels through which 2 or more people communicate directly with each other, including face-to-face, phone, mail, etc… • Word of mouth-personal communication about a product between target buyers and neighbours, friends, family members and associates • Buzz marketing- cultivating opinion leaders and getting them to spread information about a product or service to others in their communities.

20. Choosing media • Non-personal communication channels- media that carry messages without personal contact or feedback, including major media, atmosphere and events. • Use of opinion leaders to carry the message to others • They step between mass media and their audiences and carry messages to people who are less exposed to media

21. Selecting the message source • The message’s impact on the target audience is affected by how the audience view the communicator • Messages delivered by highly credible sources are more persuasive • E.g: doctors, dentists, athletes, actors, etc… • Companies must be careful when selecting celebrities; picking the wrong person can tarnish the Brand image

22. Collecting feedback • To assess the impact on the target audience • Do they remember the message, how many times they saw it, what point do they recall, how they felt about the message, etc.. • On analysing the feedback, companies can identify any issues with the communication strategy, product, pricing, etc • E.g: how many can recall the advert as opposed to the number who would try the product/service and who would remain loyal to the brand