IMC
What is integrated marketing communication?
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is defined by businessdictionary.com as an approach to achieving objectives of marketing campaign, through well coordinated use of different promotional methods that are intended to reinforce each other. (1)
American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A) says that IMC recognizes the value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines (advertising, PR, personal selling, and sales promotion) and combines then to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communication impact. (1)
Stirstuff.com wrote in 2014 a new definition of IMC which to me is more clear than the others, they say that true IMC is the development of marketing strategies and campaigns that combine multiple marketing disciplines (paid advertising, earned media/PR, promotion, owned assets and social media) that are used across variety of media to best fit for the goals of the brand. (2)
So to clarify I would say that IMC is combining different ways of marketing to create a comprehensive marketing plans and strategies for specific brands.
 |
| (6) |
How to communicate a value proposition through different channels?
According to John Doerr and Michael Schultz, consultants from rainsalestraining.com (3), to communicate your value proposition effectively one should follow a six step guide:- Target customers. Know them so you can create a message that will affect them
- Need/Business problem. Know the needs you are addressing and how you are helping, so that your customers know when to use you/your service
- Impact of solving need. What are the impacts of you solving customers needs?
- Your offerings. How do you solve problems and run your company and work with customers, in other terms, what is your service approach.
- Proof of concept. How can you show that your approach has worked in solving other peoples problems before and how do people know that what you promise will actually happen.
- Distinction. Why is your offering better than the ones that other ones offer? What differentiates you from them?
Also the 4C's of integrated marketing communication are important to remember.
As stated by Marlene Friis from mindjumpers.com (7) the 4C's are the following:
- Consistency. Make sure you are always sending out the same message. Don’t contradict yourself! That can make you lose credibility.
- Coherence. Be aware of your entire communication process through different channels. All information should be a part of your overall strategy to ensure alignment.
- Continuity. As well as coordinating messages to be consistent and coherent, you must also keep in mind that every channel needs to be monitored – and this should be done on a regular basis to keep up continuity.
- Complementary. Lastly, you need to think of how your communication effort come together, so that when the complementary synergy you create overall can exceed any effort.
How to integrate different channels to convey a coherent message?
 |
| (5) |
What are challenges in IMC? And how do you manage them?
Seven top-rated challenges in integrated marketing by Stefan Tornquist from econsultancy (4) are the following:
Good and bad examples of IMC
Good example of a IMC:
The Redbull stratos jump by Felix Baumgartner was a successful campaign and it combined multiple different marketing disciplines. It was highly visible in print media, social media, print media and it was covered by news stations all over the world.
Sources:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/integrated-marketing-communications-IMC.html
http://www.stirstuff.com/time-to-redefine-integrated-marketing/
http://www.rainsalestraining.com/blog/value-proposition-positioning-statement-and-how-to-create-one/
https://econsultancy.com/blog/62830-seven-top-challenges-to-integrated-marketing/
http://highoctaneboost.com/blog/109/is-integrated-marketing-communication-imc-valuable-to-a-small-business/
http://www.slideshare.net/ProfessorMathur/kotler-chap-16-5what-is-an-integrated-marketing-communications-program
