Rethinking Integrated Marketing Communication Essay.

Consistency that is creative

Discuss about the Rethinking Integrated Marketing Communication.

Integrated Marketing methods can be defined as the strategy which organizations coordinate their efforts in communication as well as branding their products. According to Belch for communication to work, it has to rely on a variety of disciplines. He outlined the following the disciplines as follows: Direct response, general advertising, Public relations and sales promotion. After the disciplines are bent and combined consistency, clarity and impacts of maximum communication are provided or become the effective outcome (Van Riel & Fombrun, 2007).

According to the ancient approach to communications relating to marketing, businesses arrange detached campaigns for relations of the press, advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing.  The integrated campaigns use the same tools of communication by which they reinforce each other and improve the effectiveness of marketing. Rising of awareness of a product can which the goal is to generate sales at the end of the day can be done by an advertisement which happens to be a discipline of integrated communication. Through press releases and article featuring the same information is communicated reinforcing the purpose and message intended in the advertisement. Emails or direct emails can be used to follow up inquiries from the advertisement or the campaigns used in the press providing the prospects with more information (Lane Keller, 2001). Telemarketing is used to turn the prospects into customers where by sales are made directly or sales team appointments are made. The effective ways are helpful and have advantages that come with the disciplines. The merits, in turn, help the organization to evaluate the disciplines and models that are useful in the integration of the marketing communication.

Integrated Marketing Method is used by Coca- Cola so as to efficiently and effectively communicate with its specific target. The company communication process which might be the all rounded presents the dire need to get in touch with its prospects and customers through creation of links by looking for the customers wherever they are. The plan of communication, in consideration, should be taken in regards to the society, market, the product positioning and the potential.The dire need and will to get close to its customers and consumers and to be a part of their daily life and to get attached to them some kind of ritual activity should lead to provocation of using social marketing and social media via responsibility of the social. Creation of emotions and affiliation feelings towards the esteemed customers should be a priority. Coca Cola should adapt to their same message to their targeted market basing themselves on the values (Holm, 2006). The following are the merits that come with using the Integrated Marketing Communication in a company.

Preference of the customer

In a campaign that is integrated, the same creative treatment is featured by the different tools. Repetition of the phrases which are key, headlines and images in every communication it ensures that the existing customers and prospects get a message that is consistent every time they view the elements of the integrated campaign. Consistency which is creative aids in the reinforcement of campaign themes that are basic by elevating the number of times the customers and prospects hear or see the repetitive message (Naik & Raman, 2003). Not only is it created within the prospects image at that time but it is recurrent since it appears constantly in the mind of the prospect now and then creating a psychological bond which results to a force of attraction towards the specific product advertised.

The consistency in the creative integrated campaigns gets to save money. Adapting the same copy and the same images for media which is different, one reduces the design, copy writing and photography costs. In case the Coca Cola Company is working with external suppliers in communication the fees for the agency for working with a single firm is reduced. Using of specialists agencies from outside not only does it increase the costs but also time-consuming (Duncan & Moriarty, 1998). It's cost effective to use the same agency to produce images and designs for the integrated campaign as the process eliminates brokers who not only are out to make profits but may produce work which is not very attractive as compared to the single firm agencies who their intention is to offer good work at a reasonable cost and consume the little time available in order to make good relations.

A campaign that is integrated gives consumers information in a preferable format. Communication integration makes sure that reception of the information is done in all communications (Smith & Taylor, 2004). To meet the demands of all customers then the company must be strategically aware of the customers who are busy looking for information on the website by integrating the website content and design to make sure obsolete messages are not existent. Business customers and consumers can instruct or specify the manufacturers how they would want to receive the information of the product through direct message, email, telephone or text.

Talking about the possibility of how the customers give specifications of how they would want to receive a product leads the discussion to how Coca Cola besides using the above merits gets to approach the Integration Marketing Communication. Coca-Cola approach to integration campaign takes two major approaches (Thrassou & Vrontis, 2009).

Coca-Cola approach to Integration Marketing Communication

The inside out approach is one sided as it only takes the view of the organization and neglects those of the customers. The company preferences are put first and this gives customers or prospects a chance to give their thoughts on the products. Lack of thought on the customer say on the strategies of IMC makes it impossible to attract prospects and at further view makes the existing customers feel unvalued by the company. The strategy deprives the customers their right to have a word in the communication campaign of Coca Cola.  The approach is an exhibit of the poor orientation of customers (Stammerjohan, et al, 2005). A company has its own notion makes the customers feel like an outcast and thus the approach is not instrumental in the IMC. 

The approach of IMC is out to understand the wants and needs of customers. This specific kind of approach makes sure that significant progress is established. In-depth-knowledge on the customer's preferences is made because the organization is accommodative of the customer's requirements which they are ready to fulfill. Coca-Cola creates a relationship with its customers which means it takes the views of the customers and works with them Problem is that Coca-Cola cannot satisfy every customer which brings about the impossibility of catering for all its customers leaving out others. After concentrating on the customers the company then decides on the most cost effective communication and marketing method which is cost effective thus IMC merits are attained in another way (Belch, 2004).

Coca has taken up elements of IMC mix that depends on the objectives but not solely on the product and market. Coca Cola IMC mix is of three types that are of mass media. Print Media, banner advertisement, and T.V advertising. The mix of IMC should work in unison in order to deliver a persuasive and consistent message to the audience that is targeted.

Advertising:  The tool is very important for Coca Cola as for a very big number of consumer's world -wide which it caters for. The building of the image is achieved by advertising which makes the company a globalized company. Advertising possesses characters that make it a unique IMC tool. It is very persuasive in nature and its non-personal. The two unique characteristics help the tool cater for every body’s needs without seclusion or segregation. Through it dissemination through media the Coca Cola company advocates for it since it is a cheap way of getting the intended message to its targeted consumers. By using a slogan Coca Cola gets to be memorable among its consumers. The intended message conveyed in their slogan is also universal. Coca Cola uses POS, T.V commercials, print media, and billboards as examples of advertisement as a tool of IMC (Duncan & Everett, 1993).

Direct marketing enhances communication is directly made within end consumers and organizations directly. Coca-Cola takes upon itself to make direct contact with its customers through various tools under this category.  Through emails and text messages Coca Cola finds easy and convenient to look for customer's views and perceptions which use the approach of outside-in approach (Duncan, T., & Caywood, 1996). Direct marketing helps to create a sense of belonging which most customers want and this helps boost business and it is not different for Coca Cola who have found tremendous results using the tool. Other tools are brochures, catalogs, promotional letters and etc. Offerings that are done throughout partnership for instance hotels and restaurants also hugely assist.

In this era, technology has advanced and this has led to companies changing how they market themselves. Coca Cola has made a trend where they use social media to get to their customers. The updated pages got an attractive appeal to the eye of the customers making it easy for the customers to fall in love with their products. Compared to other companies who are competitors to Coca Cola the company has out done the rest by using a strategy known as ‘after hour’ which simply means that at no time are their social pages dormant when it comes to updating (Keller, 2009). The constant updating creates a bond to the customer which means that the product of the company is reviewed many times. In the social media, the company gets to interact with its customers which help the company diversify the other tools through social interacting. Its application is one that makes the company stand out leaving a space of no competition to no other. Coca Cola also uses social media in the launching of their products which also makes social media a way of advertisement. Through social media, prices are introduced creating awareness when it comes even to the brand.

Coca Cola as a company has faced struggles when it comes to the IMC. Recommendations pertaining the IMC mix and strategy should be highly advisable for the company. The company should know its audience better in order to make the IMC successful. Knowing the consumer's preferences would give Coca Cola a better chance when it comes to the delivery of their services and products. The company should do a thorough research where planning follows so as to know the purchase patterns and also know the lovable of their customers. To make the company’s marketing strategy a success the efforts to evaluate even the prospects should be keenly undertaken so as to make the customer trends be known. Another thing is that the company should make the entire message consistent (Finne & Grönroos, 2009). Consistency brings about identity. With identity customers would like to be associated with the company since the brand is well known and has a value on it. Consistency enables accompany to have a constant reputation and its identification makes even prospects want to be associated with the company. Another recommendation is the tools of IMC should be carefully used so as to build the reputation of a company. The tools also make the company unique since the IMC tools convey a specific, message which is only reputable to a company.  The IMC success depends on all of these factors and so as to integrate the marketing communication deep measures should be strictly followed to make it all a success.

References

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Van Riel, C. B., & Fombrun, C. J. (2007): Essentials of corporate communication: Implementing practices for effective reputation management. Routledge.

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Keller, K. L. (2009)L: Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal of marketing communications, 15(2-3), 139-155

Naik, P. A., & Raman, K. (2003): Understanding the impact of synergy in multimedia communications. Journal of Marketing Research, 40(4), 375-388.

Duncan, T., & Moriarty, S. E. (1998): A communication-based marketing model for managing relationships. The Journal of Marketing, 1-13.

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Stammerjohan, C., Wood, C. M., Chang, Y., & Thorson, E. (2005): An empirical investigation of the interaction between publicity, advertising, and previous brand attitudes and knowledge. Journal of Advertising, 34(4), 55-67.

Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2004). Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective,(6 Th. New York: NY: McGraw-Hill.

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Finne, Å., & Grönroos, C. (2009): Rethinking marketing communication: From integrated marketing communication to relationship communication. Journal of Marketing Communications, 15(2-3), 179-195.