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Now that you are familiar with the various forms of marketing promotions, how do you use them? Because consumers are all different—no matter how they fit into your target market—it is important to reach them through a combined approach, using a variety of methods in the marketing promotion mix. The method of using various forms of the promotional mix to send the same message to the target audience is called integrated marketing communications.
All successful integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaigns start with a good foundation and a carefully written and executed plan. Every step in the marketing process should be driven by research; the same is true for the IMC planning process.
Identify the Target Audience: Understanding the audience is integral to creating an effective IMC campaign. Marketers employ many tools to understand the target audience. Both primary and secondary marketing research can provide significant insights. A clear understanding of the consumer allows the marketer to create messages that resonate with the needs and wants of the target audience.
Determine the Marketing Communications Objectives: Marketing campaigns must start with clear objectives. Objectives define what needs to be done, and they help to keep the strategy and tactics clearly aligned. Good objectives will help marketers create cohesive messaging across all the promotional mix methods. Objectives need to be simple, and they should be written in such a way that they provide an opportunity for analysis. If done correctly, marketers should be able to analyze if the messaging and the medium are working.
Design the Message: A key element of integrated marketing communications is creating the message. Messages are designed to fulfill the established objectives. Depending upon the objective and the desired action of the consumer, the marketer may create the message to meet the various stages in the customer journey and have a call to action.
Create the Message Content: When creating the message, the marketer must consider the stage of the customer journey and the product’s features and benefits. Other factors to consider in the message content include the media and the traits and characteristics of the target market. All of the segmentation bases should be considered when creating the appeal. The biggest part of the message design is the content of the message. To move the consumer to the point where they act, marketers have at their disposal various forms of appeal. The appeal is the approach used to attract the attention of the target audience or to persuade it to take action.
IN CONTEXT
Rational appeals prompt the consumer to make the choice for the product because of all the ways they will benefit from using it. When Toyota advertises the features of alternative-fuel vehicles and tells the consumers how those features benefit them, it creates a rational appeal. Consumers have a wide variety of emotions. Advertising messages can play to all those emotions. A few of the typical emotional appeals include happiness, fear, trust, sadness, anger, and guilt. It can be quite effective to create fear if the customer does not purchase the product. Some examples of common fear appeals include skin care products and the fear of the effects of aging on skin. A moral appeal pushes the consumer to want the product because of a sense of morality or social good. The messaging may encourage the consumer to do the “right thing.” If they do not do what is being asked of them, the situation will get worse.
Promotional messages generally have common elements, which include a slogan, the text or content, and the graphics. The graphics can include photos and brand identification. Messages can tell stories with words or lead the audience to their own conclusion based on the graphics.
EXAMPLE
When Apple first promoted its iPod, the company used the imagery of a very colorful background, a completely black silhouette, and the stark contrast of the all-white iPod with white headphones. The graphic alone conveyed the message that the iPod would allow consumers to “jam” to their own tunes through this new device.The format of the message depends largely on the media being used to send the message. For example, a television ad combines sight and sound, while radio is reliant only on sound. The same is true for print, billboards, and various digital campaigns. Formatting the message needs to take into consideration the target market as well as the medium of the message.
Determine the Budget: Promotional budgets are determined based on many variables. In developing the promotional budget, it is important to consider where the consumer is in their journey. Additional considerations include the current level of brand awareness for the product, accessibility of the target market, creation of the promotion, and specific media under consideration. There are several commonly used methods of creating promotional budgets.
Develop Strategies and Tactics: The promotional strategies include the promotional methods the marketer chooses to achieve the objectives. Within the promotional methods, the tactics are the specifics the marketer must use to achieve the objectives.
EXAMPLE
If Panera Bread wants a 10 percent increase in brand awareness for its decorated Christmas sugar cookies from November 26 to December 30, it may choose to use the following strategy and corresponding tactics. A strategy might be to create an Internet/digital messaging campaign focused on creating awareness with a message to try the Panera Christmas sugar cookies for a limited time. The tactics might then be developed as follows: develop push ads through the Panera Bread mobile app; publish pop-up banner ads through Google; post campaign messages on Instagram; post campaign messages on Facebook.Select the Promotional Tools: The marketer must decide on a mix of promotional tools based on the established marketing objectives. Choosing the mix of promotional methods is also primarily dependent on the consumer and how best to reach them. When Timmy Global Health, a not-for-profit organization, wanted to do an end-of-year fundraising ask, it chose to reach its donor base through direct mail. The organization chose an email campaign for the segment of its market that is responsive to email and has an email address in the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. For a small segment of its market, those who are older and not responsive to digital marketing, it chose to do a direct mail campaign with a postcard mailed through the U.S. Postal Service.
Designing the Promotion: In considering the target market and the message to send, the marketer must think of the desired response. Three prominent issues arise in the design of the promotion: what to say (message), how to say it (creative), and who should say it (source). This leads the marketer to the overall message strategy, which will look at the appeal as it relates to the brand positioning. A marketer will consider the following in designing a promotion.
IN CONTEXT
A good message strategy must tie the brand to the target audience. What will appeal to them? What action do you want them to take? How does the brand positioning need to be portrayed? The marketer may choose to highlight how the product compares to the competition (points of parity), or the marketer may choose to focus on how the product is different (points of difference). In doing so, it is important to highlight the product or service through the value it will bring to the target market. Ultimately, the customer wants to know “What’s in it for me?”
Through a creative strategy, the marketer can translate their message into words, images, and sounds. If the message and the creative do not match up, the communication objectives may miss their mark. The creative strategy helps the marketer cut through the clutter and get the attention of the target audience. A properly done creative strategy serves as the guiding principle to develop good content.
Think of the communication channel as the delivery mechanism, taking the message from the company to the consumer. Determine which channel is generally guided by the audience, the message, and the creative strategy. Channels can be nonpersonal or personal. The channel options are as varied as the consumers themselves. Personal communication channels can include social networks like friends, family, and neighbors. They can also include paid or unpaid experts and even the company’s own sales force. Nonpersonal communication channels include everything from television and radio to billboards and direct mail.
In designing the promotion, the marketer can mix and match the message, creative, and communication strategies until they have the right combination to execute their objectives and connect with the target market.
EXAMPLE
When World Food Championships wanted to reach home cooks, professional chefs, and aspiring chefs to participate in its Food Sports events, it enticed them with the opportunity for a big payout in winnings. And it created a connection with them through smaller local qualifying events. When the winners of smaller events received a Golden Ticket to compete, they were instantly excited. Then they realized the competition would allow them to meet with even bigger food celebrities and increase their chances of television fame.Scheduling the Promotion: Knowing when to promote and how often to promote is a critical juncture in the promotional process. For scheduling purposes, it is important to understand the complexity of the message and the medium or channel for delivery. If the average of 5,000 promotional messages a day is correct, the consumer will need to see a message many times in order to become aware and act. To move them down through the customer journey, the message must cut through the clutter and stick.
IN CONTEXT
Reach is the number of consumers who will be exposed to the promotional message at any given time. Frequency is the number of times the consumer will be exposed to the message. Using the combination of reach times frequency, the marketer can determine the promotional schedule. Marketers typically work to create promotional schedules that optimize the exposure to the target market. Once again, we see that having extensive knowledge of the target market is critical to creating effective campaigns.
Evaluate and Measure the Objectives: Before starting a promotional campaign, marketers must establish objectives. Including measurable and time-bound objectives is important. The marketer must evaluate the campaign on a continual basis to ensure that every element in the campaign is working to achieve the objective. Measuring and evaluating the campaign on a continual basis allows the marketer to evaluate the elements and make changes. Typically, objectives also have financial accountability. Changing elements of a campaign avoid overspending on components that are not working to meet the objectives.
Marketers have many forms of communicating through the various methods available in the promotional mix. However, it is important to send the same message in different ways to reach different customers within the target market, and consumers need to hear the same message many times and in many different forms.
IN CONTEXT
Benefits of an integrated marketing campaign are many. As a marketer seeks to create awareness, stimulate demand, or even encourage product trials, they are continuously seeking methods of cutting through the clutter and noise and trying to reach their intended audience: the customer. When using one method, they may reach a few customers; when using two or more methods, the odds begin to increase; and when using all of their available promotional mix methods to reach the consumer with a consistent message, marketing becomes more effective. The benefits of the integrated approach are significant.
Without an integrated approach, the marketing message and methods of delivery will be disjointed. Different members of the marketing team may be sending very different messages to the consumer. The consumer will then be confused as to what they should do. Think of it as a bike with all the pieces lying on the sidewalk—the bike doesn’t work very well. However, when the pieces all come together to form the bike, it glides smoothly along the sidewalk. It is the same when the message comes together.
EXAMPLE
When Taco Bell wants to tell the consumer that the Grilled Steak Burrito is only available for a limited time, it can send the message in many ways. The consumer soon knows the Grilled Steak Burrito is only available for a limited time. They have received the same message through ads on television and radio, an email, a photo and reminder on Instagram, and a billboard on their way to work. After receiving the same message in many ways, the consumer realizes there is some urgency in getting to Taco Bell to try the new Grilled Steak Burrito. When the customer is in physical proximity to their local Taco Bell, apps such as RetailMeNot can send push notifications to customers when they pass the location. The offer can include BOGO (Buy One Get One) or other promotions to convince the customer the time to purchase a Grilled Steak Burrito meal is now.Increased Efficiency: Having streamlined communication channels all working toward a unified goal reduces waste and increases productivity. The marketing effort should not create divergent messaging. Through integrated marketing communications, the creation of a clear and simple message allows the marketing team to focus on the single message while each team member uses their skills to push the message through their unique specialization, be it public relations or advertising. Everyone comes together through a shared goal.
Improved Brand Awareness: You can tell a small child to brush their teeth multiple times, and chances are good that it still will not happen. But when a parent tells the child to brush their teeth, the dentist provides them with a toothbrush and tells them to brush their teeth, and Elmo shows them the importance of brushing their teeth, soon the child understands that it is a good idea to brush their teeth. The same happens when Southwest Airlines publishes all its fares and fees on its website, broadcasts ads on television and radio, sends emails to its Southwest Rapid Rewards customers, and advertises on its mobile app.
Repeated Success: Through an integrated approach, marketers are finding repeated success. Success is generally based on the metrics chosen for the campaign objectives. Typically, marketers are concerned with objectives such as return on investment, cost per impression, cost per lead, and customer lifetime value. With a truly integrated campaign, you will see the objectives remain the same while the execution strategies change across the various promotional methods.
Customer Satisfaction: When customers know the brand promise and they hear it repeated often with increased company connection, customers are more educated and have more realistic expectations. The combination of connection and knowledge leads to increased customer satisfaction.
Source: THIS TUTORIAL HAS BEEN ADAPTED FROM OPEN STAX’S PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING COURSE. ACCESS FOR FREE AT https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-marketing. LICENSE: CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION 4.0 INTERNATIONAL.
