MMPM-007

Integrated Marketing
Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Management Studies
Communication

BLOCK 1
Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communication 3
BLOCK 2
Advertising Campaign Planning and Execution 35
BLOCK 3
Marketing Communication Mix 105
BLOCK 4
Strategies for IMC 189
COURSE DESIGN AND PREPARATION TEAM

Prof. K Ravi Sankar Dr. Rajeshwari Malik

Director, Woxen University
School of Management Studies, Hyderabad
IGNOU, New Delhi
Dr. Syeedun Nisa
Prof. Rakesh Khurana Jamia Hamdard
Gurgaon Haryana New Delhi
Prof. Ravi Shanker Dr. Sunder Rajdeep
IIFT, New Delhi University of Mumbai
Mumbai
Prof. Jaishri Jethwaney
New Delhi Mr. Atif Rahman
Exec – V.P. Ogilvy Ad Agency
Prof Shruti Jain Gurgoan
Greater Noida
UP T.V. Vijay Kumar
(Course Coordinator & Course Editor)
School of Management Studies,
IGNOU, New Delhi

MATERIAL PRODUCTION
Mr. Tilak Raj
Assistant Registrar
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
March, 2023
(c) Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2021
ISBN:
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 MMPM-007
Integrated Marketing
Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Management Studies
Communication

Block

1
INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATION
UNIT 1
Introdcution to IMC 5
UNIT 2
Digital Era: Integration of Communication 22
BLOCK 1 INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATED
MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Welcome to the course MMPM-007: Integrated Marketing Communication.
This course is structured into four blocks, each with a specific focuses. All
the four are focused on conceptual and expositions in line with the needs of
modern marketing communication methods for businesses.

The special feature of this block is that you are also introduced to the Era of
Digital Marketing, which has revolutionized the way marketing is conducted
by businesses across nations with the speed of light swift, volatile and
seamless in their operations. In this block there are two units.

Unit 1 Introduction to IMC: Apart from describing the role and importance
of marketing communications the unit takes you through the historical
perspective of IMC. All the methods/elements of IMC are being discussed
and highlighted for the purpose of integration as a strategic tool for
businesses adopt.

In Unit-1 we made a conscious attempt to refrain discussing the following

methods of IMC i.e. Sales Promotion, Direct Marketing and Public Relations
as these three methods are discussed exhaustively as standalone units in this
course as Unit-7 Unit-8 and Unit-9 respectively.

Unit 2 Digital Era: Integration of Communication, the onset of new digital

technologies in place and their constant evolving into better updated versions
has paved way for people to use these digital technologies more frequently,
and marketing needs to happen where people are. With a wide variety of the
digital tools which are available both for the marketers as well as the
customers to connect and keep pace with the rapidly changing marketing king
environment both domestically and globally. Each of these digital marketing
tools is discussed with their merits and their intrinsic caveats.
 Introduction
UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO IMC to IMC

Objectives

After reading this unit you should be able to:

• distinguish marketing communication and integrated marketing

communication
• understand the various definitions and interpret in the context of IMC
• discuss the various steps in the IMC process
• ascertain the need for IMC
• explain the rationale for adopting IMC
• appreciate the significance of promotion mix elements in the scheme of IMC
• describe all the methods of promotion mix their role and importance

Structure

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Integrate Marketing Communication (IMC): An Overview
1.3 Definitions of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
1.4 Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Process
1.5 Rationale for Adopting Integrated Marketing Communications
1.6 The Promotions Mix
1.7 Need for Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
1.8 IMC and Marketing Campaigns
1.9 IMC-Advertising
1.10 Public Relations: Getting Attention to Polish Your Image
1.11 Sales Promotion
1.12 Personal Selling
1.13 When and Why Firms Employ Personal Selling?
1.14 Summary
1.15 Self- Assessment Questions
1.16 Further Readings

1.1 INTRODUCTION
It is important that customers have to know if you have a great product to
offer to the market. This is where one of the P’s of Marketing mix i.e.
Promotion comes into play. All marketing communication (MC) tools of
Promotion mix has to connect to your target audience for communicating
what you can offer.
5
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing In today’s marketing environment integrated marketing communications
Communication (IMC) is involved. In brief, IMC involves bringing together variety of tools
to deliver a common marketing message and make desired impact on
customer’s perceptions and behavior. In English speaking media, you have
participated in someone’s IMC effort (when you have either liked a TV show,
article or meme on Facebook).

What is Marketing Communications? (MC)

Defining marketing communication is not simple and easy task, since

everything an organization does has a communications impact. Manner in
which a product is priced, and distributed has an impact. MC refers to
activities deliberately focused on promoting an offering among the target
audiences. The above components define what MC is.

1.2 INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATION (IMC) : AN OVERVIEW
Integrated Marketing Communication is primarily a marketing concept of the
1990’s. It is being evolved with the passage of time to emerge as an
indispensable concept in centuries to come for its survival. The beginning of
integration is causing marketers to take a fresh look at all the components of
marketing, specifically all the elements of promotion mix and the unique
dimension that public relations bring to the marketing function.

It is process of integrating of all these activities across different

communication methods. The central theme of definition is persuasion i.e.
persuading people to believe in something, to desire something, or to do
something. Effective MC is goal directed, and it is aligned with
organization’s marketing strategy. MC aims to deliver a particular message to
a specific audience with a targeted purpose of altering perceptions and /or
behavior.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) makes marketing activities

more efficient, and effective since it relies on multiple method of
communication and customer touch points to deliver customer messages in
more (compelling) ways.

It is a management concept that is designed so that all the marketing

communication which consists of advertising, sales promotion, public
relation, and direct marketing work together as a unified force rather than
each of those marketing communication work in isolation. Besides, it acts as
an aggressive marketing plan because it sets and tracks marketing
strategy that captures and uses extensive amount of customer information. It
also ensures that all forms of communications and messages are carefully
linked together to achieve specific objective.

6
1.3 DEFINITIONS OF INTEGRATED Introduction
to IMC
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC)
There are a good number of IMC definitions proposed by various authors,
agencies and institutions etc which are defined below

Thus Integrated Marketing Communication is defined as the coordination and

integration of all marketing communication tool, avenues and sources within
a company into seamless program that maximize the impact on customer and
other end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all firm business-
to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed
communications.

According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), it

defines as “A concept of marketing communication planning that recognizes
the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a
variety of communication disciplines, e.g. general advertising, direct
response, sales promotion and public relations – and combines these
disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communication
impact.”

While the Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism defines

IMC as “The process of managing all sources of information about a
product/service to which a customer or prospect is exposed which
behaviorally moves the customer toward sale and maintains customer
loyalty.”

The definition according to Kotler and Armstrong, Integrated Marketing

Communications (IMC) is a concept in which a “company carefully
integrates and coordinates its many communication channels–mass media
advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct
marketing, packaging, and others–to deliver a clear, consistent, and
compelling message about the organization and its products.”

Integrated Marketing Communication according to Schultz and Kitchen “is a

strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute, and evaluate co-
ordinate measurable, persuasive brand communication programs overtime
with consumers, customers, prospects and other targeted, relevant external
and internal audience.”

Tom Duncan defined IMC as “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 other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages
sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialogue with
them.”

In a nut shell,, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is “Joint

planning, execution and coordination of all areas/elements/methods of 7
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing marketing communication and also understanding the consumer and what the
Communication consumer actually responds to.”

1.4 INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATIONS (IMC) PROCESS
Like any other process and procedure IMC does follow certain steps and
stages which may again depends on the firm its objective and goals to
achieve. The key steps involved are discussed below:

1. Identification of Target Market Segments: Planning for promotional

activities must start by way of identifying the well defined target
audience by using the segmentation as a key tool. Try and ascertain the
buying preferences and characteristics of buyers and dividing them into
segments. The goal of identify target audiences is to design promotional
strategies that can meet the customer expectations more accurately. Thus,
IMC which integrating and coordinating of all types of marketing
promotional tools that maximize satisfaction of buyers will be very
useful to the firm’s promotional strategies. This is because IMC can help
the company by providing customer databases to sellers and marketers to
identify information about the buyers precisely and accurately.
2. Ascertain Communication Objectives: Sequentially this is considered
as the second stage, the firm needs to develop a clear set of objective and
the goals of promotional strategies. The objectives of promotional
strategies include creating products and services awareness in the buyers’
mind, developing competitive advantages against competitors, creating
brand equity of buyers, retaining current buyers and changing buyers’
behaviors.
3. Plan and Design Communication Messages: An effective message will
get the attention from buyers and maintain their interest toward the
messages about their brand of products. Therefore, communication team
of the firm should design the messages by using all the relevant
promotional tools of IMC in a way that they are in line with the needs of
each segment enabling the messages to be delivered effectively. This is
because each of the promotional tools used should achieve the same
communication objectives and goals within the firm.
4. Implementation of Promotional Strategy: Marketers do have two
categories of communication channels to employ namely personal as
well as non personal communication channels to select accordingly
based the need and relevance for each of the segments. No single channel
can dominates in all aspects, which means that the channels need to be
adjusted based of the markets needs and changes from time to time. This
has proven that IMC which integrating and coordinating of all types of
marketing promotional channels can be very useful when it comes to the
implementation of promotional strategy process.
8
5. Collecting Feedback: It’s essential for firms to carry out some survey Introduction
for the purpose of feedback from the target audience as the final step in to IMC
the IMC process. For instance , the firm can seek the effectiveness of the
message delivered to the target audience, such as how many times the
audience saw the advertisement or can the audience remember what the
message marketers are going to inform and etc. Based on feedback the
firm can determine and capture in the form of a report about the behavior
resulting from the message, such as how many of the target audiences
buy the product or visit the store after they saw the advertisement.
Information of this kind is of utmost important for the firm in its future
decision making related to the firm promotional strategies.

1.5 RATIONALE FOR ADOPTING INTEGRATED

MARKETING COMMUNICATION
IMC represents as an evolutionary and a holistic approach over the traditional
method of treating the various components of promotion mix elements
virtually as separate activities. The IMC approach helps companies identify
the most appropriate and effective methods for communicating and building
relationships with their customer as well as other stakeholders such as
employees, suppliers, investors, interest groups and the general public.

Companies look at Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) as a way to

coordinate and manage their marketing communication programmes to
ensure that they give customers a consistent message about the company or
its brands. The below mentioned are the key considerations that firms
consider IMC strategy in their businesses.

• Consolidating company image and fostering customer relationship

Integrated Marketing Communications focuses on all the advertising and

promotional efforts towards delivering the same united message. It
ensures that all the proposed future information and messages including
slogans, quotes, facts, and figures are in consistent while transmitting
messages from the producers to buyers. This helps the firm in
consolidating its image , establish a dialogue and nurture its relationship
with customer.

Clear, specific, focused and consistent marketing messages are able to

reach the target market segments of the campaign in the shortest time
without confusion to the intended audience. These customers could be
present or future, internal or external. This will help company to keep the
profitable customer for life. On the contrary, if a different division
handling their own marketing activities in the company, it may result in
the situation in which sales people giving out different marketing
message while corporate department giving out another inconsistent
message that may lead to confusion. Thus lack of inconsistency
messages may confuse or distract the buyers. In addition, it also helps
9
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing buyers to shorten their buying process, especially at the stage of search
Communication information about each alternative of products and brands available in
the market. Eventually, IMC’s role is to deliver a consistent image and
credible message.

 Reduces confusion of the product:

Through IMC, buyer can reduce their misunderstanding and uncertainty

while choosing a product or a service offering which can deliver a truly
genuine value and satisfaction to them by way of well planned and
presenting them with the right communication tools in a more logical
sequence influencing their buying behavior. IMC also help buyers by
way of regular updates new information about a product its application
or special offers; give reminders about existing product timely and
others. Therefore, buyers and consumers can afford a new product within
fastest time and repurchase a product when they are always persuaded by
the communication tools such as advertising or buy additional services
and products from the same sellers.

 Increase profit through increase in IMC effectiveness:

Intelligently planned and well executed Integrated Marketing

Communication campaign will certainly have a bearing on the
profitability of the business. This is because the impact of unified
message on the customer’s mind is superior to impact of disjointed
myriad of messages. By using Integrated Marketing Communication, all
the messages so transmitted has a better chance of cutting through the
barriers of commercial message that bombard customer each day. As and
when customers receive a crystal clear message about the product and
service, they will tend to build a long term relationship with the company
and hence the market share will increase gradually. It will be profitable
for the company for long term. By providing clearer messages and by
developing a strong positioning strategy in the minds of the customers
will have an edge over its competitors thereby having competitive
advantage leading to rise in sales, profits as well as customer satisfaction
in the long run.

 IMC can improve sales by extending the message across several

communication tools:

It is profitable when customer practice Integrated Marketing

Communication which will deliver superior value more effectively by
using a combination of variety communication channel like sales
promotion and direct marketing. By stretching messages across several
communication tools, purchases or buying can be increased gradually
because it creates more avenues for customer/consumers to become
aware about the product/service offering and its associated benefits. It
will definitely enhance sales considerably. This is because by using the
10 integrated marketing communication, the firm can deliver the most
 appropriate messages, communication and information to well identified Introduction
target audiences. It is like a more specialized media compare to any other to IMC
media used in isolation. Thus it can reach the target customer with the
high accuracy and the probability of those customers to purchase product
offer is higher. It can maximize the effect on customer with lower cost if
integrated marketing communication is used wisely.

 Integrated marketing communication can help the company to save

money:

Any communication tool should integrate with and draw on as many

other communication tools as possible in order to maximize cost
effectiveness. Companies adopting integrated marketing communication
strategies are more cost effective in their promotional efforts as
compared to those which refrain IMC strategies. This helps enable the
company to reduce unnecessary costs by cutting down number of
agencies to minimal as per the need of the business where all the
activities of marketing communication are handled by one or maximum
by two agencies. A rationale approach in this direction with certainly
save duplication of work, time saving, and low manpower requirement to
plan and execute all the IMC activities in a more consistent, focused and
timely manner.

 Reliability of the messages:

Companies which use stand alone marketing communications tools in

isolation tend to send out disjointed messages and information to buyers.
As a result, it directly dilutes the impact of messages, while many
messages will fail to arrive, misunderstood, simply ignored by buyers
because of its reliability. Besides, for not using IMC method, it may lead
to anxiety, frustration and confusion to the buyers, leading to lose
confidence and trust in the product or bran d in question. This will have a
bad effect and impact in market place where there would be no buyers
for the product and even if there are a few buyers they are unlikely to
buy the product because of its performance not matching to meet their
expectations. This behavior of the market will have a direct affect on the
sales and profitability of the business. In such a scenario the only
solution that a company has at its disposal is to adopt an IMC approach
in all their communication needs. Adopting an a suitable IMC strategy
enables the company to target all the well identified market segments in
the most cost effective manner with creditability at all times.

 Customer database:

In addition, IMC provides customer databases to companies and

marketers to identify data about buyer’s tastes and preferences precisely
and accurately. Sellers can have detail data and information about buyers
and all other details starting from their name to their buying patterns and
behavior during their life time. Based on the information available in the 11
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing customer databases, sellers and marketers can decide which promotional
Communication strategy should be used to create effectiveness in targeting their market.
In simple terms, customer databases are the best marketing tool in IMC
to track buyer’s interest precisely.

1.6 THE PROMOTION MIX

The fourth P of marketing mix elements is Promotion which constitutes a
range of integrated marketing communication (IMC) methods to execute
marketing activities. Different methods of IMC have their own advantages,
disadvantages, complexities and limitations.

IMC methods evolve over time as new tools become available to marketers
and people they target

The most common methods of IMC are mentioned below:

1. Advertising
2. Public Relations (PR)
3. Personal Selling
4. Sales Promotion
5. Direct Marketing
6. Digital Marketing
7. Guerrilla Marketing
 Advertising
Is any paid form of presenting goods or services by identified sponsor.
Traditionally, advertising messages are addressed to a mass audience,
such as radio, television, newspaper and magazines. Advertising may
also address individuals according to their profile characteristics,
examples being weekly ads addressed by supermarkets or online banner
ads addressed to individuals based on sites they visit.
 Public Relations (PR)
The purpose of PR is to create goodwill between organization (and
things it promotes) or the target segment it is trying to reach. This is
through unpaid or “Earned” promotional opportunities like articles, press
and media coverage presentations at conferences etc. getting favorable
attention through news articles. Organizations may spend significantly
on organizing events and conferences and people who generate attention.
 Personal Selling( PS )
Personal Selling uses people to develop relationship with target
audiences. Personal selling goes in for face-to-face interaction, trying to
understand customer needs and explaining how the product or service
provides value.
12
 Sales Promotions (SP) Introduction
to IMC
These are marketing activities that aim to temporarily boost (or try to)
sale of a product or service by adding value such as “Buy one, get one
free” type of offers or “buy a dozen, and get 15% discount” to
distribution channel members.
 Direct Marketing (DM)
As the name suggest direct marketing primarily aims at selling product
or service directly. The traditional tools of DM include catalogues, snail
shopping brochures, Direct shopping TV channels and tools involve
rapidly as technologies change. The tools include digital technologies for
marketing to organizations, for products and services, ideas, and
experiences.
 Digital Marketing (Di M)
Digital marketing has expanded fast and includes websites, search
engines, content, and social media marketing. The DiM has evolved fast
with technological changes and the umbrella term includes all of ways in
which digital technologies are used to market or sell organizations,
products, services, ideas and experiences.
 Guerilla Marketing (GM)
This is a newer category of MC which involves unconventional tactics to
generate attention, and achieve maximum exposure. Generally, GM is
experimental. It creates a memorable experience, or a novel situation
which a consumer connects to a product or brand.

1.7 NEED FOR INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATION (IMC)
Marketing initiatives involve multiple methods of communication of
information sharing therefore the need for IMC is inevitable any every
businesses. Each of these methods will be discussed later in this unit.

Objectives of marketing communications

Basic objectives of MC are to:
a. Compete
b. Convince
c. Communicate
In order to be effective, information which organizations communicate has to
be;
a. Truthful
b. Useful, and
c. Clear
13
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing d. Accurate to the stakeholders
Communication
Being truthful and accurate is a matter of legality also. Marketing
Communication is the key to competing effectively. Especially where
products are very comparable – price, place wise.

Only through MC, can an organization find a way to appeal to certain

segments remaining more convincing or appealing than competitor’s message
is a continuing challenge. MC is the key to competing effectively.

MC is convincing of it presents ideas, products or services in such a

compelling way that target segments are led to take a desired action. These
days brand loyalties are not permanent. Just because a person buys a product
twice, or for a month or even years is no guarantee that person will not shift.

This is the reason that marketer would like to make sure that she/he is
reminded of unique benefits of the product repeatedly.

1.8 IMC AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

The challenge for marketers is making the right choice of communication
methods and how best to use these methods in devising marketing planning
and promotional strategy. To make their job easier, marketers use a campaign
approach.

What is a Campaign?

It is a planned event with coordinated series of marketing communication

steps built around a single theme or idea and designed to reach a particular
goal, while the term has been used for quite some time in context of
advertising, it is equally applicable to entire IMC program.

Organization may conduct many types of IMC campaigns, and several of

them may run at the same time. Geographically, an organization may run a
local, regional, national or international campaign (e.g. Apple for I-phone).
This depends upon objectives, funds and market scope. Campaigns can also
be aimed separately at consumers, retailers, and wholesalers. Campaigns can
also be tailored at different segments in a differential way. Marketers often
use a marketing plan (often called IMC plan) to track and execute a set of
campaigns over a given period of time.

A campaign runs around an idea, theme, focal point or purpose. This theme
permeates all IMC efforts and works to unify the campaign. The theme may
also refer to shift in consumer attitudes or behavior that a campaign focuses
on. A theme may take the form of a slogan like Coca-Cola’s “Taste the
feeling” campaign or Deebeers “A diamond is forever”.

A Swiss outdoor advertising company created a slogan based theme “where

brands meet people” and asked their clients to participate in dramatizing it.
Dozens of the companies gave their brands as “Tales” to dramatize it.
14
In a successfully operated campaign, all activities will be well coordinated to Introduction
build on one another and increase the overall impact. to IMC

Components of a Campaign

A single campaign might include:

● Advertising- of related well-timed carefully placed TV ads with print

advertising in selected magazines and newspapers.
● Direct Marketing- Direct to consumer mail pieces sent to target segments
in selected geographic areas.
● Personal selling- Preparing sales refers about the campaign to train them
to explain and demonstrate the product benefits stated in advertising.
● Sales promotions – In store displays of materials reflecting same
messages and designs as the ads, emphasizing point of sale impact.
● Digital Marketing – Promotional information on website. Similar
information may be posted on website, YouTube, Facebook and shared
in other social media.
● Public Relations – A press release announcing something news worthy in
connection to campaign focus, objectives and target (segments).

For each IMC campaign, new display material must be prepared, all
reflecting common objectives, messages, design, and other elements to
maximize campaign’s impact.

Staff responsible for physical delivery of products and services must ensure
that distribution points are well stocked. While staff managing public and
media relations should be made aware of marketing planning allowing them
to identify opportunities for earned media attention.

In addition conference event are planned and organized outside the

organization; it is useful to give them enough lead time to help implement the
overall campaign.

1.9 IMC- ADVERTISING

Advertising by payment:

It has been formally defined in Part-1. Ads are measured in impressions

(number of times consumers are exposed to an advertisement). Roots of
advertisements go to ancient times.

Practices have changed substantially as media have evolved and even

bypassed earlier media.

People can watch programs including Ads remotely or tape them for later
viewing.

Across the board, TV viewership has fallen and has fragmented.

15
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing Print media are also in decline and newspaper subscriptions have stagnated.
Communication People are relying more on digital sources for news, and entertainment
companies need to move beyond traditional channels to reach consumers.

Purpose of Advertising: The rationale for adverting is mentioned below:

• Informative Advertising

Create awareness of brands informing about new products and programs.

Educate public about attributes of program.

• Persuasive Advertising

This refers to convincing customers that company’s products and

services are the best. Its goal is to influence consumers to take action and
switch brands.

• Reminder Advertising

As the name suggests it reminds a person or people about the need for a
product or service, or the features and benefits it will provide when
product is purchased – focused are also top – of – the mind awareness
ads.

• Institutional Advertising

It goes beyond products to promote organization, issues, events, political

figures and places.

PSA (Public Service Announcements) are a category of institutional

advertising such as against drug abuse, drunken driving etc.

PSAs are usually sponsored by Non-Profit Organizations and Govt.

agencies.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising

1. The major advantages include a sense of awareness, credibility, and

legitimacy. Ads can convey a sense of quality and legitimacy when an
organization invests in presenting itself and its products in a public
forum.

2. Ads can convey a sense of quality and permanence. Advertising can

message at intervals selected strategically. Advertising can generate
drama and human interest by featuring people and situations that are
engaging and exciting.

3. Ad can introduce images and symbols and it can show how a product or
demand compares favorably.

4. Compared with competitors as advertising becomes more digital it

becomes a powerful tool to track customers, interests and preferences.
16
5. With the power of digital media, friends can share interesting ads Introduction
amongst themselves, thus they have a potential of going viral and to IMC
viewership can skyrocket.

Major disadvantage of advertising is its high cost.

While TV ads are most expensive, print ads and digital ads are less
expensive. Ads can also be easily tuned out in today’s crowded media
marketplace.

1.10 PUBLIC RELATIONS: GETTING

ATTENTION TO POLISH YOUR IMAGE
Public relations (PR) is the process of maintaining a favorable image and
building beneficial relationships between an organization and the public
communities, groups, and people it serves. In contrast to advertising, public
relations does not use by payment media.

PR strives to earn a favorable image by drawing attention to newsworthy and

attention-worthy activities of the organization and its customers. Therefore,
PR is often referred to as “free advertising”.

However, PR is not a costless form of promotion. It requires wages to be paid

to people who oversee and execute PR strategy. Expenses associated with
events, sponsorships and other PR-related activities have to be paid.

PR techniques can help marketers turn the following types of events into
opportunities for media attention, community relationship building, and
improving the organization’s public image:

Note: At this juncture you are advised to read Unit-9 topic on Public
Relations which has been exclusively dealt in detail. .

1.11 SALES PROMOTION

Sales promotions are a marketing communication tool for stimulating
revenue or providing incentives to distributors, sales staff, or customers over
a short time period.

Sales promotion activities include special offers, displays, demonstrations,

and other nonrecurring selling efforts that are not a part of the ordinary
activities. As an additional incentive to buy, these tools can be directed at
consumers, retailers and other distribution partners, or even the
manufacturer’s own sales force.

Many different forms of media can be used to communicate about sales

promotions, such as printed materials like posters, coupons, direct mail
pieces, and billboards. Radio and television ads; digital media like text
messages, email, websites and social media, can also be used.

17
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing A successful sales promotion tries to prompt a target segment to show
Communication interest in the product or service, try it, and ideally buy it and become loyal
customers.

Note: At this juncture you are advised to read Unit-7 topic on Sales
Promotion which has been exclusively dealt in detail.

1.12 PERSONAL SELLING

Personal selling uses in-person interaction to sell products and services. This
type of communication is carried out by sales representatives, who are the
personal connection between a buyer and a company or a company’s
products or services. Salespeople not only inform potential customers about a
company’s product or services, they also use their power of persuasion and
remind customers of product characteristics, service agreements, prices,
deals, and much more. In addition to enhancing customer relationships, this
type of marketing communications tool can be a powerful source of customer
feedback, as well. Later we will cover marketing alignment with the sales
process in greater detail. This part focuses on personal selling as one
possible tool in the promotional mix.

Personal selling addresses the buyer’s needs and preferences. The seller
should give honest responses to any questions or objections the buyer has and
show that he cares more about meeting the buyer’s needs than making the
sale. Attending to these aspects of personal selling contributes to a strong,
trusting relationship between buyer and seller.

1.12.1 Personal Selling Tools and Techniques

Common personal selling tools and techniques include the following;

• Conversations: It’s all about relationship-building dialog with

prospective buyers for the purposes of influencing or making sales
• Sales presentations: Face to face in-person or virtual presentations to
inform prospective customers about a product, service, or organization
• Addressing objections: Identifying and addressing the concerns of
prospective customers, to remove any perceived obstacles to making a
purchase
• Retail selling: In-store assistance from a sales clerk to help customers
find, select, and purchase products that meet their needs
• Door-to-door selling: Offering products for sale by going door-to-door
in a community
• Consultative selling: As the name suggests that consultation with a
prospective customer, is at the core of this method where a sales
representative (or consultant) learns about the problems the customer
wants to solve and recommends solutions to the customer’s
18 particular problem
• Field selling: A method where sales calls by a sales representative to Introduction
connect with target customers in person or via phone to IMC

• Demonstrations: It is about demonstrating how a product or service

works and the benefits it offers, highlighting advantageous features and
how the offering solves problems the customer encounters
• Reference selling: Very effective method of using satisfied customers
and their positive experiences to convince target customers to purchase a
product or service

Key Deliverables of Personal selling:

It minimizes wasted effort. It promotes sales, and boosts word-of-mouth

marketing. Personal selling measures marketing return on investment (ROI)
better than most tools, and it can give insight into customers’ habits and their
responses to a particular marketing campaign or product offer.

1.13 WHEN AND WHY FIRMS EMPLOY

PERSONAL SELLING?
It’s an expensive technique because the proceeds of the person-to-person
sales must cover the salary of the sales representative—on top of all the other
costs of doing business. Whether or not a company uses personal selling as
part of its marketing mix depends on its business model. Most often
companies use personal selling when their products or services are highly
technical, specialized, or costly—such as complex software systems, business
consulting services, real estates, and automobiles.

Conditions conducive for Personal Selling: Includes the below mentioned

1. Market situation: Personal selling is effective when a firm serves a

small number of large-size buyers or a small/local market. Also, it can be
used effectively when an indirect channel of distribution is used for
selling to agents or middlemen.

2. Product situation: Personal selling is relatively more effective and

economical when a product is of a high unit value, when it is in the
introductory stage of its life cycle, when it requires personal attention to
match consumer needs, or when it requires product demonstration or
after-sales services.

3. Consumer behavior situation: Personal selling should be adopted by a

company when purchases are valuable but infrequent, or when
competition is at such a level that consumers require persuasion and
follow-up.

4. Company situation: Personal selling is best utilized when a firm is not

in a good position to use impersonal communication media, or it cannot
afford to have a large and regular advertising outlay.
19
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing It is important to keep in mind that personal selling is most effective when a
Communication company has established an effective sales-force management system
together with a sales force of the right size, structure and design.
Recruitment, selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of the sales force
also obviously play an important role in the effectiveness of this marketing
communication method.

Advantages of Personal Selling:

1. A significant strength of personal selling is its flexibility. Salespeople
can tailor their presentations to fit the needs, motives, and behavior of
individual customers. A salesperson can gauge the customer’s reaction to
a sales approach and immediately adjust the message to facilitate better
understanding.
2. It also minimizes wasted effort. Advertisers can spend a lot of time and
money on mass-marketing message that reaches many people outside the
target market (but may not result in additional sales). In personal selling,
the sales force pinpoints the target market, makes a contact, and
focuses effort that has a strong probability of leading to a sale.
3. One additional advantage of personal selling is that a salesperson is in an
excellent position to encourage the customer to act. A one-on-one
interaction means that a salesperson can effectively respond to and
overcome objections all the objections, concerns or reservations about
the product.
Disadvantages of Personal Selling:
1. One primary disadvantage of personal selling is the high cost involved.
With increased competition, higher travel and lodging costs, and higher
salaries, the cost per sales contract continues to rise. Many companies try
to control sales costs by compensating sales representatives through
commissions alone, thereby guaranteeing that salespeople are paid only
if they generate sales. However, commission alone may put salespeople
at risk thus they tend to become risk averse and only call on clients who
have the highest potential return. These salespeople, then, may miss
opportunities to develop a broad base of potential customers that could
generate higher sales revenues in the long run.
2. Another disadvantage of personal selling is the problem of finding and
retaining high-quality people. Experienced salespeople realize that the
only way their income can outpace their cost-of-living increase is to
change jobs. Moreover, because of the push for profitability, businesses
try to hire experienced salespeople away from competitors rather than
hiring college graduates, who take three to five years to reach the level of
productivity of more experienced salespeople.
3. An additional weakness of personal selling is message consistency.
Many salespeople view themselves as independent from the
organization, so they design their own sales techniques; use their own
message strategies, and engage in questionable tactics to generate sales.

20
4. An additional disadvantage of personal selling is that sales-force Introduction
members have different levels of motivation. Salespeople may vary in to IMC
their willingness to make the desired number of sales calls each day or to
take full advantage of the technologies made available to them.

1.14 SUMMARY
Promotional activities are a key to the success of a product, brand, service
offering and business enterprise irrespective of their nature, size and location.
By employing the elements of promotion mix the firm can build a
communication link between the marketer and its potential customers for
creating awareness about the company products and services on a continuous
basis. In today’s marketing environment merely using any single method of
marketing communication message to influence customer’s perception and
behavior does not work nor fetch the desired results. Therefore an integrated
approach of communication is the hour of the day thus Integrated Marketing
Communication (IMC) comes into play in accomplishing the goals of the
business. All the elements of Promotion mix are blended in way that it has a
direct bearing on the customer perception and behavior. All the key methods
or tools of marketing communication are discussed in terms of their nature,
characteristics, merits, demerits and all details.

1.15 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Define promotion mix, marketing communication and integrated
marketing communication.
2. What is integrated marketing communication? Illustrate by taking an
example of your choice.
3. Explain the various stages involved in the IMC process with a
hypothetical example.
4. Discuss the key factors that firms consider in adopting IMC strategy in
their businesses.
5. Identify and discuss the elements of IMC that a passenger car company
can employ in promoting their maiden e-car in the Indian market.
6. What is a campaign? Bring out the relationship between marketing
campaign and IMC with an example.
7. Public Relations are all about getting attention to polish your image.
Discuss the statement.

1.16 FURTHER READINGS

https://www.mbaknol.com/marketing-management/introduction-to-
integrated-marketing-communications-imc/

21
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing
Communication
UNIT 2 DIGITAL ERA: INTEGRATION OF
COMMUNICATION

Objectives

After reading this unit you should be able to:

• explain the uniqueness of digital marketing and its characteristics

• appreciate Website as a marketing technique
• discuss the relationship between content marketing and SEO
• stress the role and importance of social media marketing and its
application areas.

Structure

2.1 Introduction
2.2 What Makes Digital Marketing Tools Unique?
2.3 Web-Site as a Marketing Technique
2.4 Web Sites as Marketing Tools
2.5 Web Site Marketing: Advantages and Disadvantages
2.6 Content Marketing and SEO: An Introduction
2.7 How SEO works?
2.8 How Content Marketing Works?
2.9 SEO and Content Marketing: Advantage and Disadvantage
2.10 Social Media: Digital Marketing
2.11 How Social Media Marketing Works?
2.12 Some Common Social Media: Marketing Tools
2.13 Social Media Marketing: Advantages and Disadvantages
2.14 Summary
2.15 Key Words
2.16 Self – Assessment Questions
2.17 Further Readings

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Across the board there are many useful ways of describing and discussing the
term Digital Era, At this juncture we will restrict the term in the context of
Integrated Marketing Communication alone. Digital Era is characterized by
technology which increases the speed and breadth of marketing/business
communication by marketers for productive transactions between the firm’s
offerings and its customers/ buyers for a long term mutual relationship.
22
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for using digital tools to promote and Digital Era:
Integration of
market products, services, organizations and brands. As customers and Communication
businesses become more reliant on digital communications, the power and
importance of digital marketing have increased.

The direct marketing section of Unit 1 discussed two digital tools: email and
mobile marketing, which fit into both categories. In this unit we will discuss
other essential tools in the digital marketing tool kit: such as Web sites,
content marketing and search-engine optimization (SEO), and social media
marketing.

2.2 WHAT MAKES DIGITAL MARKETING

TOOLS UNIQUE?
Digital marketing is critically important because people use digital
technologies frequently, and marketing needs to happen where people are.
Digital marketing tools also have other unique capabilities that set them apart
from traditional (pre digital) marketing communication tools. These
capabilities make them suited to the goals of marketing. Digital marketing
tools are:

• Interactive

A primary focus of many digital marketing tools and efforts is to interact

with target audiences, so they become actively engaged in the process,
ideally at multiple points along the way. This may happen by navigating
a Web site, playing a game, responding to a survey, sharing a link,
submitting an email address, publishing a review, or even “liking” a post.
Asking consumers to passively view an advertisement is no longer
enough: now marketers look for ways to interact.

• Highly measurable and data drive

Digital technologies produce mountains of data about who is doing what,

when, how, and with whom. Likewise, digital marketing tools
enable marketers to determine very precisely whom they want to reach,
how to reach them, and what happens when people begin the process of
becoming a customer. By tracking and analyzing these data, marketers
can also identify which channels are most productive for bringing people
into the site and what types of interactions are most efficient at
converting them to customers.

• Mobile and portable

Today’s digital technologies are more mobile and portable than ever
before. This means digital marketing tools are also mobile and portable:
consumers can access them–and they can access consumers–virtually
anytime and anywhere through digital devices. Digital marketing can
reach people in places and ways that simply were not possible in the
23
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing past. A tired mother stuck in traffic might encourage her child to play a
Communication game on her smart phone, exposing both child and mother to marketing
messages in the process. A text message sent to a remote location can
remind an adventurer to renew a subscription or confirm an order. Many
physical limitations fall away in the digital world.

• Synergistic with other marketing activities

Digital marketing tools offer quick, easy, and inexpensive ways to

repurpose marketing messages and content from other marketing
communication methods. They help amplify and reinforce the messages
targeting consumers through other media. For example, uploading a
TV ad to YouTube creates a piece of digital marketing content that can
be posted to Facebook, tweeted on Twitter, embedded in a Web-site
page, and shared via an email from a sales representative engaged in
personal selling to a target customer.

• Shareable

Because digital marketing tools are digital, it is easy to share them at low
or no cost–a benefit for marketers and for consumers who find content
they want to share virally. People routinely share videos, games, Web
sites, articles, images, and brands—any number of overt or covert
marketing artifacts. In fact, the degree to which something is shared has
become a key metric to confirm how successful it is as a marketing
vehicle. Sharing has always been a primary means of spreading ideas.
Digital marketing tools now facilitate extremely rapid, efficient, global
sharing.

2.3 WEB-SITE AS A MARKETING TECHNIQUE

Web sites represent an all-in-one storefront, a display counter, and a
megaphone for organizations to communicate in the digital world. For digital
and bricks-and-mortar businesses, Web sites are a primary channel for
communicating with current and prospective customers as well as other
audiences. A good Web site provides evidence that an organization is real,
credible, and legitimate.

A variety of online Web-site-building services now available make setting up

a basic Web site relatively simple and inexpensive. Once the Web site is
established, it can be fairly easy and inexpensive to maintain if the
organization uses cost-effective and user-friendly tools.

On the other hand, sophisticated Web sites can be massively expensive to

build and maintain, and populating them with fresh, compelling content can
devour time and money. But organizations can adjust the scope, scale, and
resources required for their Web sites in proportion to their business
objectives and the value they want their Web sites to deliver.

24
 Digital Era:
2.4 WEB SITES AS MARKETING TOOLS Integration of
Communication
Web sites are very flexible, allowing organizations to build the kinds of
features and capabilities they need to conduct business effectively. Common
marketing objectives and Web-site functions include the following:

 Expressing the brand of an organization through design, looks and

feel, personality, and voice
 Providing general information about an organization such as the value
proposition, products and services, and contact information
 Lead generation, capturing information about Web-site visitors to use
in ongoing sales and marketing activity
 Capturing customer feedback about the organization, its products,
services, content, and the Web-site experience itself
 Recommendations that direct customers to information, products,
services, and companies that meet their interests and needs
 Proof points about the value a company offers, using evidence in the
form of case studies, product reviews, testimonials, return on investment
data, etc.
 Demonstrating products, services, and expertise, including the customer
experience, features, benefits, and value they provide
 Publishing value-adding content and tools for informational or
entertainment purposes to bring people in and draw them back to the
Web site
 Shopping, providing tools for customers to research, find, and select
products or services in the digital environment
 Communication about company news, views, culture, developments, and
vision through an electronic newsroom or a company blog, for example
 Communities and forums for target audiences to share information and
ask/answer questions
 Sales, the ability to conduct sales and transact business online

Before building a Web site, the marketing manager should meet with other
company leaders to lay out a common vision for what the Web site should
accomplish and the business functions it should provide. For example, if a
business does not plan to handle sales online, there is no need to build a
“shopping cart” function or an e-commerce engine.

If cultivating lively dialog with an active customer community is an

important business objective, this capability should be incorporated into the
Web-site strategy and design decisions from the outset. The Web-site strategy
must be effective for achieving the organization’s goals to inform, engage,
entertain, explore, support, etc.
25
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing 2.5 WEB-SITE MARKETING: ADVANTAGES
Communication
AND DISADVANTAGES
Web sites have so many advantages that there is almost no excuse for a
business not to have one. Effective Web-site marketing declares to the world
that an organization exists, what value it offers, and how to do business. Web
sites can be an engine for generating customer data and new business leads.
An electronic storefront is often dramatically less expensive than a physical
storefront, and it can serve customers virtually anywhere in the world with
internet access. Web sites are very flexible and easy to alter. Organizations
can try out new strategies, content and tactics at relatively low cost to see
what works.

Websites also carry costs and risks. They do require some investment of time
and money to set up and maintain. For many organizations, especially small
organizations without a dedicated Web-site team, keeping Web-site content
fresh and up-to-date is a continual challenge.

Organizations should make wise, well-researched decisions about

information infrastructure and Web-site hosting, to ensure their sites remain
operational with good performance and uptime. Companies that capture and
maintain customer data through their Web sites must be vigilant about
information security to prevent hackers from stealing sensitive customer data.
Some company Web sites suffer from other types of information security
challenges, such as electronic vandalism, trolling (offensive or provocative
online posts).

2.6 CONTENT MARKETING AND SEO: AN

INTRODUCTION
The acronym SEO (Search-engine optimization) is the process of using
Internet search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, to gain notice,
visibility, and traffic from people conducting searches using these tools.

SEO works in lockstep with content marketing, which takes a strategic

approach to developing and distributing valuable content targeted to the
interests of a defined audience, with the goal of driving sales or another
profitable customer action. In other words, content marketers create
worthwhile Internet content aimed at their target audiences. Then
organizations use SEO tactics to get this content noticed and to generate new
traffic and sales leads.

Together, SEO and content marketing can help boost awareness and brand
perceptions about the value a company provides. Content marketing can help
an organization gain visibility as an expert or leader in its competitive set.
Together these marketing communications tools help organizations get
noticed.
26
 Digital Era:
2.7 HOW SEO WORKS? Integration of
Communication
The basic premise behind search-engine optimization is that: People conduct
Internet searches. The search terms they use bring up a given set of results.
When someone is searching for the types of things your organization offers,
as a marketer you want your results to be at the top. One can boost
your search rankings by identifying and applying SEO and content marketing
strategies to the search terms people use when they are looking for products
or services like yours. It may even be worth paying to get their attention,
because people searching for the things you offer are likely to be qualified
prospective customers.

Since the supply of Internet content on any given topic is continually

expanding, and as search-engine companies regularly fine-tune their search
algorithms to deliver ever more helpful results, SEO is not a one-time task.

2.8 HOW CONTENT MARKETING WORKS?

There is a popular saying among digital marketers: “Content is king.” Good
content attracts eyeballs, while poor content does not. Content marketing is
based on the premise that marketers can use Web content as a strategic asset
to attract attention and drive traffic of target audiences.

As a marketer, part of your job is to help the organization publish substantive

Web content such as–articles, videos, e-books, podcasts, images, info
graphics, case studies, games, calculators, etc. that will be interesting for
your target segments. When you do this, you should incorporate your optimal
search terms into the content, so that it’s more likely to show up in organic
search results.

You should also look for ways to link to that content from other Web pages,
so that search-engine “bots” (or computer programs) responsible for
cataloguing Web sites will think your content is popular and well regarded by
the Internet-user community. As your content appears in search results, it will
rank higher as more and more people click through to your content.

2.9 SEO AND CONTENT MARKETING:

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
Internet search is a fact of life in the modern world. It is a critical tool for
customer decision making in B2B and B2C markets. Practicing the basic
tenets of SEO helps an organization get into the search-engine fray.

When marketers do it well, they can easily track the results, see what works,
and adjust course to improve outcomes. When organizations generate high-
quality content, it can be relatively inexpensive to achieve great SEO results,
particularly as search engines themselves increasingly reward the “real deal”:
good information and true substance targeted to a specific audience.
27
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing Since, SEO and content marketing are powerful tools, they are also rather
Communication like puppies that need ongoing feeding and care. Both require regular
monitoring to check whether they are effective. The Internet is a crowded and
competitive place, where organizations from around the globe can compete
with one another for attention and customer loyalty. It takes persistence and
hard work to get on top of the Internet content world and continue to be there.

2.10 SOCIAL MEDIA: DIGITAL MARKETING

Social Media Marketing: A Snapshot

Social media marketing is the use of online applications, networks, blogs,

wikis, and other collaborative media for communicating brand messaging,
conducting marketing, public relations, and lead generation. Social media are
distinctive for their networking capabilities: they allow people to reach and
interact with one another through interconnected networks.

This “social” phenomenon changes the power dynamic in marketing: no

longer is the marketer the central gatekeeper for all communication about a
product, service, brand, or organization. Social media allows for organic
dialog and activity to happen directly between individuals, unmediated by a
company. Companies can (and should) listen, learn, and find ways to
participate effectively.
Social media marketing focuses on three primary objectives:
1. Creating buzz: Developing and publishing messages (in a variety of
formats e.g., text, video, and images) that is disseminated via user-to-
user contact
2. Facilitating two-way communications: Online conversations are not
controlled by the organizations. Instead, social media promotes and
encourages user participation, feedback, and dialogue
3. Fostering community: Building ways for fans to engage with
one another about a shared interest in a brand, product, or service

2.11 HOW SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

WORKS?
Organizations have opportunities to engage in social media for marketing
purposes in several ways: paid, earned, and owned social media activity.

• Earned: Earned social media activity involves news organizations,

thought leaders, or other individuals who create content about an
organization. It is particularly suited to supporting public relations efforts.
• Owned: Owned social media activity happens through social media
accounts that an organization owns (e.g., Facebook page, Twitter handle,
Instagram name, etc.). This activity is ideal for brand awareness, lead
generation, and goals around engaging target audiences.
28
• Paid: Paid social media activity includes advertisements on social media Digital Era:
Integration of
(placed in various locations), sponsored posts or content, and retargeting Communication
advertisements that target ads based on a consumer’s previous actions.
This type of social media activity is best suited for sales, lead generation,
event participation, and incorporation into IMC campaigns.
Effective use of social media to reach target audience requires more
effort by an organization than the traditional marketing methods. An
organization should create unique content and messaging, but it must be
prepared to engage in two-way communications regarding the content
that it produces and shares on social media. To be effective at using
social media to reach target audiences, an organization should;
• Ask questions: To foster engagement, an organization must solicit
feedback from users, customers, and prospects. This is critical to
creating conversation, insight, and discussion on social media platforms.
• Try different formats: Most social media platforms provide users with
the option to add images and video to text. Social media is becoming an
increasingly visual medium, where content that performs the best usually
includes an image or video. Try to convert messages into images and
video when possible for maximum reach.
• Create short-form media: Most social media platforms have character
limits per post. Users on social media expect to be able to scan their feed.
Long posts (even within character limits) tend to underperform. The
more succinct an organization can be, the better.
• Create unique content, often: Social media, unlike traditional methods,
cannot rely on static content. An organization must regularly publish
new, unique content to stay relevant on any social media platform.
• Use a clear, immediate call to action: Social media works best for
achieving marketing goals with a clear call to action that a user can do
immediately from their computer or mobile device. Examples include the
following:
1) Web traffic (click-through),
2) downloads of content (e.g., white papers, articles, etc.),
3) online purchases, and
4) engagement (comment, like, share, view, read).

2.12 SOME COMMON SOCIAL MEDIA

MARKETING TOOLS
What’s new and important in social media is a moving target, but the
following table provides a listing and description of major social media
platforms.

29
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing
Communication
Tool Description

Long- or short-form medium for communicating with

Blogs
audiences

Long-form (up to 2,000 characters per post) medium for

Facebook
sharing text, images, videos, and other multimedia content

Long-form medium for sharing text, images, videos, and other

Google
multimedia content

Image-based social network that is intended as a visual

Instagram medium. Does not have capabilities to drive click-through
rate (CTR) because posts offer no link option

Long- or short-form medium for sharing text, images, videos,

LinkedIn and other multimedia content targeted to the business
community

Medium for sharing photos and visual content categorized by

Interest
theme

Short-form (140 character) “micro blogging” medium that is

Twitter
intended for text and image sharing

YouTube Video-hosting social media site

2.13 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
The advantages and benefits of social media marketing focus heavily on the
two-way and even multidirectional communication between customers,
prospects, and advocates for a company or brand. While listening and
engaging in social media, organizations are better equipped to understand and
respond to market sentiment. Social media helps organizations identify and
cultivate advocates for its products, services, and brand, including the
emergence of customers who can become highly credible, trusted voices to
help you sell. Unlike many other forms of marketing, social media are very
measurable. They also allow marketers to track customer behavior online.

They also help to track how target audiences respond to content created by
the organization. Social media offers a virtually unlimited audience for
communicating and sharing key messages in the market. It also offers
marketers the ability to relatively easily target and test the effectiveness of
content using the various targeting capabilities of social media for location,
interests, income, title, industry, and other differentiators.
30
Social media carry a number of inherent challenges. Social media are Digital Era:
Integration of
dynamic environments that require significant effort to monitor and stay Communication
relevant always. It is also difficult to continually create “share-worthy”
content. The variety of social media tools makes it a challenge to
understand which platforms to use for which target audiences.

Crisis communications can be difficult, too, particularly in the public

environment of social media, in which it is difficult to contain or control
communication. This means it can be difficult to mitigate the impact of a
crisis on the brand.

One of the biggest challenges facing organizations is determining who in the

organization should “own” the social media platforms for the organization.
Too few hands to help mean the burden of content creation are high on a
single individual. However, too many people often result in duplication or
overlap of efforts.

2.14 SUMMARY
We have seen that Marketing Communications have entered the Digital Era
and a wide variety of tools have become available and are in place for
marketers to choose from and keep pace with the changing marketing
environment both domestic and globally. The traditional communication
tools like promotion, advertising, direct marketing also utilized the digital
technologies increasingly. Each of these new digital tools has been discussed
to help you understand when where and how these tools can be used
highlighting their merits and demerits from both the marketer as well as from
the buyer perspective.

2.15 KEY WORDS

Physical Evidence: It is the additional marketing mix element for services
which includes all the physical cues in the ambient, design and social
environment of the service interface which reassures the consumer of the
quality of service.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process or procedure to make the

content of the website efficient with respect to the keyword search so as to
quantity and quality of website traffic.

Social Media Marketing: Social media marketing refers to connecting with

people, sharing or exchanging information, promoting our offerings and
creating awareness about our existence over the social media platforms

Green Marketing: refers to systematic designing, developing and promoting

products and services in such a manner that they fulfil the needs of the
consumers with respect to quantity, quality and price without negative impact
on the environment and natural resources.

Haats: They are periodic markets (usually weekly) that form an integral part 31
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing of the rural distribution system in India. This is a location which witnesses a
Communication public gathering of buyers and sellers at fixed times and at fixed locations

Mela: Mela in Sanskrit means "gathering" or a "fair". It comprises of

gatherings and can be religious, commercial, cultural or sport-related.

Data Warehouse: A data warehouse is a large collection of business data

used to help an organization make decisions.

Data Mining: It is the process which the companies adopt to retrieve

information from raw data by using different software. It helps them in
learning more about their customers and design their marketing strategies.

Customer Relationship Management: Customer relationship management

(CRM) is a set of practices, techniques, and strategies used by businesses to
monitor and interpret customer relationships and data during the customer
lifecycle.

Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA): Online behavioural advertising

(OBA) is the practice of collecting data from a particular computer regarding
internet browsing activity for the purpose of understanding and predicting
user’s preferences to deliver highly personalized advertising.

Consumer to Consumer (C2C) Marketing: C2C marketing refers to online

transaction of goods between consumers. C2C eCommerce provides the
individuals a platform to sell something they no longer need or to sell
products made by them in a home-based business

Direct to Consumer (D2C) Marketing: Direct to consumer marketing

involves direct promotion and selling of products and services to the end
consumer, thereby removing all the intermediaries

2.16 SELF -ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1) Distinguish traditional marketing with digital marketing.

2) What is Digital Marketing? Explain citing two suitable examples of your

choice.

3) Why will you prefer Digital Marketing over Traditional Marketing?

Justify giving reasons for your choice.

4) Enumerate the various fields in Digital Marketing and discuss each one
of them with an example.

5) Discuss with an example why Web site is considered as a marketing

technique?

6) Explain the reasons for digital marketers consider “content is king” in

digital marketing.

32
 Digital Era:
2.17 FURTHER READINGS Integration of
Communication
Lovelock, C. and Chatterjee Jayanta (2017); Services Marketing | People
Technology Strategy | 8th Edition, Pearson publication

Pradeep Kashyap (2016). Rural Marketing.3rd Edition. Pearson publication

Mullick, N.H. (2016). Customer Relationship Management. Oxford

University press. India

33
Introduction to
Integrated Marketing
Communication

34