Integrated Marketing is one of the best ways to improve your corporate marketing as it ensures that your customers have enough avenues to have brand and product awareness. In this way, you can develop loyal customers that will help you retain credibility in the market. However, how do you ensure that all your integrated marketing efforts will succeed? Simple. Make an integrated marketing communication plan that will help you create a strategy that will ensure all necessary outlets for your marketing and advertising. To help you with that we have examples and guides to help you create one fast. Check it today.
An integrated marketing communication plan is a plan document that people use to ensure the cohesion of their integrated marketing communication. Huge companies such as Coca Cola, Starbucks, and Apple use this to keep their business on the edge of success.
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) takes a big budget. It is an effort that can boost your b2b as well as your b2c that’s why it is essential to your business. If you want to learn more about it, listed below are the six individual elements of it and their descriptions.
Your foundation is your current data and feelings about the product and the market. This is wholly based on your overall strategy and plans. This component may change depending on the movement of the market.
Your company’s culture tells much about your business in the market, especially when it comes to branding strategy and other branding efforts. This element largely depends on your company’s vision, mission, values, and other factors that develop flavor for your brand.
Brand focus is those elements that are easily seen by the people, such as the tagline, icon, logo, corporate colors, and other visual signs. This is one of the easily seen elements of integrated marketing.
This element is all about what the customer sees, feels, and experiences on your product or service. Some of these elements may include your packaging, service, and general experience.
Communication tools are the major facets of your company to communicate with the consumer. Factors included in this element are social media, customer service, advertising, and direct marketing.
This component is more on the promotional efforts of the company such as advertising campaigns, personal selling, public relations, and all other factors that provide more exposure in the market.
Integration tools are software and tools that your team uses to analyze data and information. This software or application may include customer relationship management, market automation, web analytics, and inbound marketing software.
Although Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is a complex web of different marketing and advertising avenues. As a communication plan, it still holds the basic elements that make it as such. It may vary differently compared to a project management communication plan or a construction project communication plan. However, the basics are still relevant. Listed below are steps you can use in creating one.
Your first concern when creating an integrated marketing plan is the goal of the whole plan. If you need to you should ensure that you have enough time to do goal setting. You can use a goal setting sample or template for this if you want to make things easier.
The next thing that you should think of is the budget of the whole project. You should make sure that you check all the six elements of integrated marketing communications so you can be sure that you are not missing out on anything. If your company already has a person with this assignment you will be in luck; however, if not, then you do this yourself.
Every project needs a method to measure its success. Without it, people will tell unscientific and unproven scores, which will not help the whole project at all. This remains true if you are the executive of the whole project.
Word-of-mouth has been one of the oldest marketing methods in the entire world. It started when one man shared with the other about the goodness of a product, service, or destination. However, this marketing method is not dead. Nope. With the current advancements in communication technology, this method became persistent. That’s why for your communication plan, make sure that you will use this marketing method to the fullest to ensure that you have better ways to increase your sales and profits.
IMC or Integrated Marketing Communication has five components that can be divided into five steps. Listed below are the five steps and components of IMC.
1. Identify customer behavior
2. Determine customer value and prospects
3. Create a Message
4. Calculate ROCI
5. Budget, execute, assess, and repeat.
Marketing has five traditional communication tools. Listed below are these five traditional marketing communication tools.
1. Advertising
2. Direct Marketing
3. Personal Selling
4. Public Relations
5. Sales Promotion
Direct marketing is the process in which the company does not use third-party methods in its marketing efforts. Some of these methods include email newsletters, snail-mail, lead generation, etc.
The world is full of people who know how to excel. However, everyone hinges on the importance of communication—for we are all communicative creatures. That’s why, for your marketing and advertising efforts, make sure that you have enough communication lines between you and your customers. In this way, you can be sure that your efforts will be impactful and efficient in the long run.
