DECLARATION

I, EKTA KHANEJA a student of JESUS AND MARY

COLLEGE, have completed this project on INTEGRATED
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS, which is to be submitted
in partial fulfillment of the degree of B.Com (Hons) from DELHI
UNIVERSITY.

It is a work of independent research carried out by me

under the supervision and guidance of Mr. SUNIL POPLI.

This report is my original work and all data and figures are
true in all sense.

EKTA KHANEJA Mr. SUNIL POPLI

B.Com (Hons) 3rd year (Mentor)
Roll no.: 080902

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMEN
T
I express my deepest sense of gratitude to Mr. SUNIL
POPLI, my project guide and mentor, for his valuable guidance
and constant encouragement in the completion of this project. I
am grateful in acknowledging his sincere effort and interest not
only for this project but also for valuable and timely feedback.

I would also like to thank my college, JESUS AND

MARY COLLEGE, and all the teachers for imparting their vast
knowledge and experience which helped me a lot in completion
of my project.

EKTA KHANEJA

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 INDEX
S. No. CONTENTS PAGE No.

1 Introduction 4
2 Meaning of IMC 7
3 Types of Marketing Integration 10
4 History of IMC 12
5 Importance of IMC 14
6 Communication Tools for IMC 18
7 Steps for Developing An IMC Plan 22
8 IMC Process 25
9 Benefits of IMC 29
10 Barriers to IMC 31
11 10 Golden Rules of Integration 33
12 Integrated Marketing Audit 35
13 Case Studies 37
14 Conclusion 43
15 Bibliography 45

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 INTRODUCTION
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a term used to
describe a holistic approach to marketing communication. It aims to ensure
consistency of message and the complementary use of media. The concept
includes online and offline marketing channels. Online marketing channels
include any e-marketing campaigns or programs, from search engine
optimization (SEO), pay-per-click, and affiliate, and email, banner to latest
web related channels for webinar, blog, micro-blogging, RSS, podcast, and
Internet TV. Offline marketing channels are traditional print (newspaper,
magazine), mail order, public relations, industry relations, billboard, radio,
and television. A company develops its integrated marketing
communication programme using all the elements of the marketing mix
(product, price, place, and promotion).

Integrated Marketing Communication is a concept of marketing that

recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan of a number of
communication disciplines (for example, general advertising, direct
response, sales promotion, and public relations) and combines these
disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communication
impact.

Customers are bombarded with multiple advertisements through multiple

mediums with multiple propositions. Since most companies resort to using

4
more than one channel of communication, the customer is left confused
due to lack of consistency in marketing messages.
By practicing an integrated marketing approach, companies like yours can
get across single proposition across multiple media and benefit from
customers' consistent brand experience. An integrated marketing approach
can rejuvenate your organization's marketing communication initiatives,
which will experience a positive impact.

Integrated marketing communication is integration of all marketing tools,

approaches, and resources within a company which maximizes impact on
consumer mind and which results into maximum profit at minimum cost.
Generally marketing starts from "Marketing Mix". Promotion is one
element of Marketing Mix. Promotional activities include Advertising (by
using different medium), sales promotion (sales and trades promotion),
and personal selling activities. It also includes internet marketing,
sponsorship marketing, direct marketing, database marketing and public
relations. And integration of all these promotional tools along with other

5
components of marketing mix to gain edge over competitor is called
Integrated Marketing Communication.

IMC involves coordinating the various promotional elements and other

marketing activities that a firm uses to communicate with its customers. It
requires that a firm develops a total marketing communication strategy
that recognises how all of a firm’s marketing activities, not just promotion,
communicate with its customers.

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) means different things to

different people. On one end of the scale, large companies today engage in
partnerships and promotions involving advertisers, sponsors and
consumers around Integrated Multimedia Marketing events using
synchronized, integrated marketing efforts from product placement to TV
shows to word-of-mouth advertising and more. On a smaller scale,
Integrated Marketing applies to the small business owner making sure that
each element of his personal Marketing Communication Mix is in sync
with all the others.

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 MEANING OF IMC
According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, “IMC
is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognises the
added value of a comprehensive plan. Such a plan evaluates the strategic
roles of a variety of communications disciplines for example, general
advertising, direct response, sales promotion and public relations and
combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum
impact through the seamless integration of discrete messages.”

“IMC is the coordination and integration of all marketing communications

tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program that
maximizes the impact on consumer and other end users at a minimal cost.”

Integrated marketing communication represents a holistic view of

marketing. Marketing communications is a subset of the overall subject
area known as marketing. Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of
price, place, promotion, product (known as the four P's), that includes
people, processes and physical evidence, when marketing services (known
as the seven P's).

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) focuses on building brand

by creating databases that continuously monitor and respond to market
needs as relationships are fostered between practices and customers (e.g.,
patients, referral sources). The purpose of IMC is the same as traditional
marketing, which is to maximize profitability of a business. IMC is an
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ongoing, circular process that requires continual communication between
an audiology practice and its target markets. This communication dynamic
is what distinguishes traditional marketing from IMC: the former works to
increase profitable transactions, whereas IMC works to increase profitable
relationships.

IMC is based on continual exchange between marketer and customer. The

former seeks and stores information on each individual customer in a
database. The latter, through transactions, surveys, and other methods is
encouraged to communicate back. Thus the fields of experience of both
become greater and more useful to both parties.

IMC strategically searches and selects premium long-term relationships to

simultaneously build premium brands and maximize profitability, making
it a superior marketing method for acquiring, retaining, and nurturing
profitable relationships.

Marketing guru Philip Kotler defined IMC as, "the concept under which
a company carefully integrates and coordinates its many
communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent message". This
concept is expanded on in the 4Cs of IMC which define how various
Marketing Communication Mix tools should be coordinated in the
following ways:

Coherence: Do your various marketing communications make sense

together as a whole? Each message within your Marketing Communication
Mix should be part of the "bigger picture" in how it relates to other
messages and your core sales and marketing theme.

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Consistency: Are your various marketing communications saying the
same thing? The messages your customers receive through your various
promotional efforts should not be contradictory and should all repeat your
core sales and marketing theme.

Continuity: How does your marketing message change over time? As

well as coordinating communication tools and messages to be consistent,
thought must be given to how the message you convey evolves through
various stages in the sales cycle.

Complementary: How does the sum of the parts of your communication

effort come together? The beauty of a well-managed Integrated Marketing
Communication effort is when the complementary synergy you create
overall exceeds any one effort.

Integrated Sales and Marketing means two things: the various Marketing
Communication Elements you employ should (a) deliver the same
message and (b) create maximum marketing effect through synergy.

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 TYPES OF MARKETING
INTEGRATION

1. Vertical Integration: This implies that communication objectives

fit with marketing objectives and overall organisational objectives.

Just as various company departments should be aligned around your
marketing message, so the various management tiers within your
company should be similarly aligned. Ideally, CEO, VPs, Directors,
Managers and frontline employees should all be able to articulate
your message and tie it to the various needs and benefits of peers
within the customer organization as well as corporate objectives.
2. Horizontal/ Functional Integration: This means that marketing

communication activities blend with other business functions of

manufacturing, operations and human resource management. Sales
and marketing is not the sole prerogative of just the Sales and
Marketing departments. Every department within a company should
be aligned around creating value and creating customers. As such,
it is not simply your responsibility but the total organization's
responsibility to be aware of your go-to-market message.
3. Marketing Mix Integration: This means that the marketing mix

decisions of product, price and distribution are consistent with the

promotion objectives.

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4. Communications Mix Integration: All the communications tools

are used to guide the customer through each stage of the buying
process and all of them are consistent in the delivery of the message.
5. Creative Design Integration: The creative design and development

of the product are uniform and consistent with the positioning of the
product.
6. Internal/ External Integration: This implies that all internal

departments and external organisations are working together

towards a consistent and agreed plan.
7. Financial Integration: It implies that the budget for

communication is used in the most effective and efficient manner to

ensure that economies of scale are achieved and long-term
investment is optimized.
8. Data Integration: Tying back to an earlier point, a key aspect of

IMC in any shape or form is making sure that all players have
access to the same customer and marketing data. As newer customer
data is collected and as the marketing message and new initiatives
are refined and developed, employees and partners should have
access to the latest data via your Customer Relationship
Management or other centralized data system.

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 HISTORY OF IMC
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is a strategic business process
used to plan, develop, execute, and evaluate coordinated and measurable
persuasive brand communication programs over time with consumers,
customers, prospects, and other targeted, relevant external and internal
audiences.

IMC grew out of the need for marketing organizations to move beyond
functionally driven, internally focused approaches to marketing and
communication. It attempts to shift focus from an “inside-out,” internal
orientation to one that is “outside- in”. It employs a variety of traditional
and non-traditional communication tools and methods to deliver messages
to customers, prospects, and other important audiences, coordinating all
activities to achieve consistency and synergy. However, IMC, as it has
been practiced by leading organizations, does not end with coordinated
message delivery. The ultimate goals of IMC are to institute customer-
oriented sensibilities and business processes in all aspects of the
organization and its operations to add value for customers, provide a
framework for resource allocation, and achieve sustainable competitive
advantages.

The History of Marketing in the 20th century and earlier is a complex and
still not fully explored subject, mixed up as it is with a history of trade and
economics. The concept of integrated marketing is focused on the creation

12
of value, arguing that the organization needs to be united in the creation of
distinctive or differentiated value in order to achieve productive synergy.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) was developed during the

1990s as an Endeavour to achieve consistency across marketing
communications disciplines and media that had become fragmented over
time through the cultivation of individual disciplines, competition and the
development of independent communication objectives. By 2000, it was
recognized that there was a logical and practical need in what was called
stage for IMC for this to be extrapolated across all organizational contact
with customers and therefore across the entire organizational business
processes.

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 IMPORTANCE OF IMC
In today's world when there is a trend towards old wine in a new bottle
thinking many a people don't take integrated marketing seriously. They
simply consider it to bet yet another fad, here today gone tomorrow.
However, this is not the case. In fact, integrated marketing is an
amalgamation of all the marketing roles, resources and responsibilities
catering to all kinds of customers. These customers could be present or
future, internal or external. The function of integrated marketing is to
attract the customers through marketing, promotional and customer service
activities. It is due to the far reaching approach of integrated marketing
that many companies consider it to be the smart option.

There are various models of marketing followed by different companies.

Some companies have separate departments for advertising, public
relations, marketing and sales, this is a very old model, where energies of
different departments work at separate levels and may not be using all the
resources to their optimum. Integrated marketing helps the company to
project a unified message and image of the company, and help to keep a
strong brand image.
Different divisions handling there own marketing activities will lead to
sales people giving out a different a marketing message and the corporate
department giving out another message.

Integrating all aspects of marketing into one department ensures that your
company's strategic marketing plan is being followed because it can be

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led, driven, monitored and championed by one or two individuals. If each
department does their own marketing, it's difficult to measure and evaluate
the results effectively. Also, why leave the marketing up to accountants,
assistants, and IT people? Marketing should be done by marketers.
Accounting should be done by accountants. It just makes sense to get
certain professionals to do the jobs they are trained for.

IMC Is More Important These Days Because:

1. More Contact Points. It used to be that traditional mass media (radio,

print, TV) was the way to go when it comes to advertising a product,
service or brand. While they still have their uses, your customers now
interact with your brand in so many ways beyond this. It is the aim of any
Integrated Marketing Communications practitioner to cover ALL these
contact points: including customer service, store design, direct marketing,
word-of-mouth marketing, the internet, after-sales service, new media etc.

2. More specialized media. It used to be that mass media was enough to

cover any advertiser’s needs. But with ever-increasing ad clutter, shorter
attention spans and greater resistance to advertising, your customers now
tend to be a lot more selective: they shut out the stuff they feel they don’t
need, and go with the stuff that they want. So media now tends to zero in
on a particular niche market: you now have a cable channel just for
kids.You’ve seen magazines that cater to entrepreneurs, pet owners,
budget travelers, mothers and sports fans. Recently, we’ve seen even more
specialized media: you have podcasts now that talk about starting up a
successful small business, viral video clips of cats, and blogs on cheap
hotels and resorts in the Asia-Pacific.

3. More than ever, customers are king. The power has shifted from the
manufacturers (those who make a product) to the retailers (those who

15
actually sell the product). We all know it: it’s easier to keep an existing
customer happy than it is to win back a customer you lost. Retailers now
place greater emphasis on protecting their clientele- and take great pains in
whipping up the best possible experience for their patrons- before, during
and after the sale.

4. Marketing in now more data-based. When a client blows US$10

million on a local TV ad campaign, does it know exactly how many people
watched his ad? Out of those who did see the ad, how many of them
actually remembered it was all about? And of those who did manage to
remember what it was about, how many answered the call to action?

More advertisers are reluctant to shell out wads of cash for media buy- and
rightly so. How do you know you’re getting your media investment
back? Understandably, they want to see figures- to see exactly how that
quarterly ad campaign budget is spent, and ask themselves: is it really
worth all the time, money and effort? Particularly among small- to
medium-scale enterprises, you now have all kinds of marketing tools for
any given promotional campaign. As business becomes more cutthroat,
business owners who are also now more involved in the marketing process
hang on tightly to their media budgets- and let go after carefully choosing
the right mix of media- both traditional and non-traditional.

5. More widespread internet use. Thanks to the worldwide web, your

customers can check out what they want anytime they feel like it.
Conversely, it also means that your business can also exist outside your
regular business hours, and therefore have the opportunity to keep selling
24/7. Every company should have an online presence now- and it doesn’t
have to be a static brochure-type website. Company blogs give a more
human face to your business, allowing you to interact with your online

16
audience. Innovative promotional activities can help bring in new
business. And you can expect your clientele to talk about you- particularly
so if your product, service or brand has made a tremendous impact on
them- both in good and bad ways.

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 COMMUNICATION TOOLS
FOR IMC
The tools that marketers commonly use to achieve their
communication objectives are:

1. Advertising: Advertising can be used to build up a long term image

for a product or trigger quick sales. Advertising can efficiently reach

geographically dispersed buyers. Certain forms of advertising (TV)
can require a large budget, whereas other forms (newspaper) do not.
Just the presence of advertising might have an effect on sales;
consumers might believe that a heavily advertised brand must offer
good value. Because of the many forms & uses of advertising it is
difficult to make generalization.

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2. Personal Selling: Personal selling includes all person-to-person

contact with customers with the purpose of introducing the product

to the customer, convincing him or her of the product's value, and
closing the sale. It is the most effective tool at later stage of the
buying process, particularly in building up buyer preference,
conviction & action.
3. Sales Promotion/ Sponsorships/ Exhibitions: Sales promotions are direct

inducements that offer extra incentives to enhance or accelerate the

product's movement from producer to consumer. Sales promotions
may be directed at the consumer or the trade. Companies use sales
promotion tools - coupons, contests, premiums, & the like - to draw
a stronger & quicker buyer response. Sales promotion can be used
for short run effects such as to highlight product offers & boost
sagging sales.

Sponsorships, or event marketing, combine advertising and sales

promotions with public relations. Sponsorships increase awareness
of a company or product, build loyalty with a specific target
audience, help differentiate a product from its competitors, provide
merchandising opportunities, demonstrate commitment to a
community or ethnic group, or impact the bottom line. Like
advertising, sponsorships are initiated to build long-term
associations. Organizations sometimes compare sponsorships with
advertising by using gross impressions or cost-per-thousand
measurements. However, the value of sponsorships can be very
difficult to measure. Companies considering sponsorships should
consider the short-term public relations value of sponsorships and
the long-term goals of the organization. Sports sponsorships make
up about two-thirds of all sponsorships.

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 Exhibits, or trade shows, are hybrid forms of promotion between
business-to-business advertising and personal selling. Trade shows
provide opportunities for face-to-face contact with prospects, enable
new companies to create a viable customer base in a short period of
time, and allow small and midsize companies that may not be
visited on a regular basis by salespeople to become familiar with
suppliers and vendors. Because many trade shows generate media
attention, they have also become popular venues for introducing
new products and providing a stage for executives to gain visibility.

4. Public Relations: Public relations is defined as a management

function which identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually

beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics
upon which its success or failure depends. Whereas advertising is a
one-way communication from sender (the marketer) to the receiver
(the consumer or the retail trade), public relations considers multiple
audiences (consumers, employees, suppliers, vendors, etc.) and uses
two-way communication to monitor feedback and adjust both its
message and the organization's actions for maximum benefit. A
primary tool used by public relations practitioners is publicity.
Publicity capitalizes on the news value of a product, service, idea,
person or event so that the information can be disseminated through
the news media. This third party "endorsement" by the news media
provides a vital boost to the marketing communication message:
credibility.
5. Direct Marketing: Direct marketing, the oldest form of marketing,

is the process of communicating directly with target customers to

encourage response by telephone, mail, electronic means, or

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 personal visit. Users of direct marketing include retailers,
wholesalers, manufacturers, and service providers, and they use a

variety of methods including direct mail, telemarketing, direct-

response advertising, online computer shopping services, cable
shopping networks, and infomercials. Direct marketing allows a
company to target more precisely a segment of customers and
prospects with a sales message tailored to their specific needs and
characteristics. By identifying those consumers they can serve more
effectively and profitably, companies may be more efficient in their
marketing efforts.

6. Database Marketing: Database marketing is a form of direct

marketing that attempts to gain and reinforce sales transactions

while at the same time being customer driven. Successful database
marketing continually updates lists of prospects and customers by
identifying who they are, what they are like, and what they are
purchasing now or may be purchasing in the future. By using
database marketing, marketers can develop products and/or product
packages to meet their customers' needs or develop creative and
media strategies that match their tastes, values, and lifestyles. Like
IMC, database marketing is viewed by many marketers as
supplanting traditional marketing strategies and is a major
component of most IMC programs.

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STEPS FOR DEVELOPING
AN IMC PLAN
1. Identify the Target Audience: The process must start with a clear
target audience in mind: potential buyers of the company’s product,
current users, deciders or influencers, individuals, groups, particular
publics, or the general public. The target audience is a critical
influence on the communicators decision o what to say, when to
say, where to say & whom to say it. The target audience can
potentially be profiled in terms of any of the market segments. It is
often useful to define target audience in terms of usage & loyalty.
2. Determine the Communication Objectives: Marketers should set
up the communication objectives as this will give focus to the plan.
Rossiter & Percy identify four possible objectives, as follows:
• Category need: Establishing a product or service category as
necessary to remove or satisfy a perceived discrepancy
between a current motivational state & desired emotional
state. A new-to-the-world product such as electric cars would
always begin with a communications objective of establishing
category need.
• Brand awareness: Ability to identify (recognize or recall)
the brand within the category, insufficient detail to make a
purchase. Recognition is easier to achieve than recall
consumers are more likely to recognize the distinctive red-
and-white packages of Colgate Dental Cream than recall the

22
 brand if asked to think of a brand of toothpaste. Brand recall
is important outside the store, brand reorganization is
important inside the store. Brand awareness provides a
foundation for brand equity.
• Brand attitude: Evaluation of the brand with respect to its
perceived ability to meet a currently relevant need. Relevant
brand needs may be negatively oriented (problem removal,
problem avoidance, incomplete satisfaction, normal
depletion) or positively oriented (sensory gratification,
intellectual stimulation, or social approval).
• Brand purchase intention: It implies self instruction to
purchase the brand or to take purchase related action.
Promotional offers in the form of coupons or two-for-one
deals encourage consumers to make a mental commitment to
buy a product. But many consumers do not have an expressed
category need & may not be in the market when exposed to
an ad, making intentions less likely to be formed.
3. Designing A Message: An effective message should get attention,
hold interest, arouse desire, & obtain action (AIDA model). In
practice, few messages take the consumer all the way from
awareness to purchase, but the AIDA framework suggests the
desirable qualities of a good message. In putting the message
together, the marketing communicator must decide what to say &
how to say it.
4. Choose The Media Through Which to Send The Message: There
are two broad types of communication channels –
• Personal Communication Channels: In personal

Communication channels, two or more people communicate

directly with each other. They might communicate face-to-face,

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 over the telephone, through the mail or even through an internet
chat. Personal Communication channels are effective because
they are allowed for personal addressing the feedback.
• Non- Personal Communication Channels: Non personal

communication channels include – print media like

newspapers, magazines etc.; broadcast media like radio,
television; electronic media etc.
5. Selecting The Message Source: Messages if delivered by highly
creditable sources are more persuasive. Thus, marketers hire
celebrity endorsers-well known athletes, actors, and even cartoon
characters- to deliver their messages. Many food companies hire
doctors, dentists and other health care providers to motivate and
recommend their products to the patients. For E.g. Boost is being
endorsed by sport personalities like Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag,
etc.
6. Collecting Feedback: After sending the message, the
communicator must find its effect on the target audience with the
help of Dagmar (Defining advertising goals for measuring
advertising results) which was given by Russell Colley in the year
1961. This involves asking the target audience members whether
they remember the message, how many times they saw it, what
points they recall, how they felt about the message, and the past and
the present attitudes towards the product and the company.
Feedback on marketing communications may suggest changes in the
promotion programme or in the product itself.

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 IMC PROCESS
IMC process is circular and data driven, using database information to link
consistent and continuously refined messaging and dialog with target
markets in an accountable manner. IMC can use any mix of Marketing
Communications components depending on the audiology practice.

Customer Acquisition, Retention and Growth

All businesses must acquire new customers by some means while holding
onto their established clienteles. IMC is not a solution for these business
imperatives, but it does present a new way of thinking about how to

25
accomplish them. IMC replaces the traditional 4Ps of marketing with 4Cs
of a customer-centric business approach.

The 4Ps of Marketing and the 4Cs of IMC.

Acquisition by Direct Response and Event Marketing

New audiology practices often rely heavily on direct response marketing,
usually in the form of direct mailings using a purchased list segmented by
demographics (zip code, age, household members, household income, etc)
or other metrics (e.g., primary care physicians, gerontologists, etc). The
more personalized and specific the addressing of the piece, the greater the
chance that the marketing effort will reach the targeted consumer and
evoke a response.

Retention and Growth through Personal Sales

Personal sales are the most important part of relationship-building in an
audiology practice. In IMC parlance, we are engaged in “solution selling”
– working in collaboration with every customer, developing customer-
specific dialogues to extract the most from our brand features to solve as
many of the customers’ problems as possible and retain the customer
within the practice. One of the great strengths of personal selling is that it
allows flexibility to each provider as a means to integrate customer
needs/wants/demands with the practice’s offerings.

Profitable Relationships

26
Relationship marketing has received a good deal of audiology press in
recent times. Relationship marketing is an important part of the IMC
process for a number of reasons:

• Lost customers typically voice their dissatisfaction to at least nine

other people, causing brand erosion and lost revenues.

• Selling to old customers costs less than acquiring new customers.

• Relationships allow a practice to recoup its customer acquisition

costs over time.

• Relationships increase lifetime customer value (LTCV), which

estimates how much of the practice’s profit is due to a customer’s
purchases over time.

• Because of the LTCV, small increases in customer retention

produce large revenue increases.

• Brand loyalty creates pricing opportunities. Loyal customers will

pay 7-10% more than non-loyal customers for a retail brand.

• Customers benefit from brand relationships by reducing their risk of

purchase, having to make fewer decisions, avoiding switching costs,
receiving more latitude and special treatment from the practice, and
gaining a personal association with the brand.

Super-Profitable Relationships
Some of our customers are so loyal, knowledgeable, social, excited, or
influential that they are “contagious”, spreading a message until it

27
becomes a social epidemic. Such people constitute a tiny sliver market that
practices need to discover and capture.

Levels of customers’ brand loyalty to a practice.

IMC recognizes four levels of brand loyalty and associated brand value: no
loyalty, inertial loyalty, latent loyalty, or premium loyalty. IMC aims to
identify all patients in each group and nurture them according to their level
of loyalty. Although premium loyalty patients receive the most attention, it
is important to direct some IMC towards those in the inertial and latent
loyalty groups, who compromise the “long tail” of practices’ profitability
and may eventually be converted to a higher loyalty level.

BENEFITS OF IMC
Although Integrated Marketing Communications requires a lot of effort it
delivers many benefits. It can create competitive advantage, boost sales

28
and profits, while saving money, time and stress. Research by the Centre
for Integrated Marketing determined hat the typical scale of benefit for
marketers adopting Integrated Marketing was 10 – 25% enhancement in
business performance.
IMC wraps communications around customers and helps them move
through the various stages of the buying process. The organisation
simultaneously consolidates its image, develops a dialogue and nurtures its
relationship with customers.
This 'Relationship Marketing' cements a bond of loyalty with customers
which can protect them from the inevitable onslaught of competition. The
ability to keep a customer for life is a powerful competitive advantage.
IMC also increases profits through increased effectiveness. At its most
basic level, a unified message has more impact than a disjointed myriad of
messages. In a busy world, a consistent, consolidated and crystal clear
message has a better chance of cutting through the 'noise' of over five
hundred commercial messages which bombard customers each and every
day. At another level, initial research suggests that images shared in
advertising and direct mail boost both advertising awareness and mail shot
responses. So IMC can boost sales by stretching messages across several
communications tools to create more avenues for customers to become
aware, aroused, and ultimately, to make a purchase.
Carefully linked messages also help buyers by giving timely reminders,
updated information and special offers which, when presented in a planned
sequence, help them move comfortably through the stages of their buying
process... and this reduces their 'misery of choice' in a complex and busy
world.
IMC also makes messages more consistent and therefore more
credible. This reduces risk in the mind of the buyer which, in turn,

29
shortens the search process and helps to dictate the outcome of brand
comparisons.
Un-integrated communications send disjointed messages which dilute
the impact of the message. This may also confuse, frustrate and arouse
anxiety in customers. On the other hand, integrated communications
present a reassuring sense of order.
Consistent images and relevant, useful, messages help nurture long
term relationships with customers. Here, customer databases can identify
precisely which customers need what information when... and throughout
their whole buying life.
Finally, IMC saves money as it eliminates duplication in areas such as
graphics and photography since they can be shared and used in say,
advertising, exhibitions and sales literature. Agency fees are reduced by
using a single agency for all communications and even if there are several
agencies, time is saved when meetings bring all the agencies together - for
briefings, creative sessions, tactical or strategic planning. This reduces
workload and subsequent stress levels - one of the many benefits of IMC.

BARRIERS TO IMC
Despite its many benefits, Integrated Marketing Communications, or IMC,
has many barriers. In addition to the usual resistance to change and the
special problems of communicating with a wide variety of target
audiences, there are many other obstacles which restrict IMC. These
include:

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1. Functional Silos: Rigid organisational structures are infested with

managers who protect both their budgets and their power base.
Sadly, some organisational structures isolate communications, data,
and even managers from each other. For example the PR department
often doesn't report to marketing. The sales force rarely meets the
advertising or sales promotion people and so on. Imagine what can
happen when sales reps are not told about a new promotional offer!
And all of this can be aggravated by turf wars or internal power
battles where specific managers resist having some of their
decisions (and budgets) determined or even influenced by someone
from another department.
2. Stifled Creativity: shouldn't matter whose creative idea it is, but

often, it does. An advertising agency may not be so enthusiastic

about developing a creative idea generated by, say, a PR or a direct
marketing consultant. IMC can restrict creativity. No more wild and
wacky sales promotions unless they fit into the overall marketing
communications strategy. The joy of rampant creativity may be
stifled, but the creative challenge may be greater and ultimately
more satisfying when operating within a tighter, integrated, creative
brief.
3. Time Scale Conflicts: Add different time scales into a creative brief

and you'll see Time Horizons provide one more barrier to IMC. For
example, image advertising, designed to nurture the brand over the
longer term, may conflict with shorter term advertising or sales
promotions designed to boost quarterly sales. However the two
objectives can be accommodated within an overall IMC if carefully
planned.
4. Lack of Management know-how: A survey in 1995 revealed that

most managers lack expertise in IMC. But its not just managers, but

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 also agencies. There is a proliferation of single discipline agencies.
There appear to be very few people who have real experience of all
the marketing communications disciplines. This lack of know how
is then compounded by a lack of commitment.

10 GOLDEN RULES OF
INTEGRATION
Despite the many benefits of Integrated Marketing; there are also many
barriers. Here's how you can ensure you become integrated and stay
integrated:

1. Get Senior Management Support for the initiative by ensuring they

understand the benefits of IMC.
2. Integrate at Different Levels of management. Put 'integration' on the
agenda for various types of management meetings - whether annual

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 reviews or creative sessions. Horizontally - ensure that all managers,
not just marketing managers understand the importance of a
consistent message - whether on delivery trucks or product quality.
Also ensure that Advertising, PR, Sales Promotions staff are
integrating their messages. To do this you must have carefully
planned internal communications, that is, good internal marketing.
3. Ensure the Design Manual or even a Brand Book is used to maintain

common visual standards for the use of logos, type faces, colours
and so on.
4. Focus on a clear marketing communications strategy. Have crystal
clear communications objectives; clear positioning statements. Link
core values into every communication. Ensure all communications
add value to (instead of dilute) the brand or organisation. Exploit
areas of sustainable competitive advantage.
5. Start with a Zero Budget. Start from scratch. Build a new

communications plan. Specify what you need to do in order to

achieve your objectives. In reality, the budget you get is often less
than you ideally need, so you may have to prioritise
communications activities accordingly.
6. Think Customers First. Wrap communications around the
customer's buying process. Identify the stages they go through
before, during and after a purchase. Select communication tools
which are right for each stage. Develop a sequence of
communications activities which help the customer to move easily
through each stage.
7. Build Relationships and Brand Values. All communications should
help to develop stronger and stronger relationships with customers.
Ask how each communication tool helps to do this. Remember:
customer retention is as important as customer acquisition.

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 8. Develop a Good Marketing Information System which defines who
needs what information when. A customer database for example,
can help the telesales, direct marketing and sales force. IMC can
help to define, collect and share vital information.
9. Share Artwork and Other Media. Consider how, say, advertising
imagery can be used in mail shots, exhibition stands, Christmas
cards, news releases and web sites.
10.Be prepared to change it all. Learn from experience. Constantly
search for the optimum communications mix.

INTEGRATED MARKETING
AUDIT
The Integrated Marketing Audit is used to identify message
inconsistencies and strategic gaps in a company's marketing
communication program. For example, an audit found that 24 percent of
all printed messages were not targeted to any of the high priority
stakeholder groups identified by management, and only 1 percent was
specifically directed to the target audience rated most important by
management.

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 With today's marketplace emphasis on customer relationships- i.e.
retaining and growing the value of existing customers-new internal
systems and operations are needed to manage the communication demands
of relationship marketing. Consequently, companies are setting up cross-
functional processes and making other structural changes to better manage
brand relationships. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of such efforts,
there is an increasing need to audit these internal processes to make sure
that they are, in fact, integrated, and operating efficiently and effectively.
Although process controls such as financial audits have been used for
years, few companies have a system for auditing the processes they use for
managing brand relationships even though both TQM and ISO 9000
standards require companies to continuously monitor all their processes
and procedures, even marketing communication.
Because this audit evaluates more than just traditional marketing
communication (i.e. personal sales, advertising, marketing PR, direct
marketing, sales promotion, packaging), we call it an integrated marketing
[IM] audit rather than an IMC Audit. We're concerned with
inconsistencies in planned messages, but we're also concerned with all the
messages being sent by a company and how they reinforce or contradict
the messages in the planned communications.
An IM audit should be done by an outside, objective team and should
be a census (not just a sample) of the managers of all departments
impacting on brand relationships. At the audit orientation meeting with top
management, the audit instruments are reviewed and customized to fit the
organization's structure and needs.
Although the IM Audit was designed to be an evaluation tool, it also
provides a road map for showing how a company can become more
integrated.
The audit provides an objective, well-documented list of what must be

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changed in order to strengthen brand relationships.
If the process used for building brand relationships is not properly
managed, it can produce confusion and conflicting messages rather than
value-added communication.

CASE STUDIES
Case study 1: Coca Cola India Launches Integrated
Marketing Communication For 2007
Coca-Cola, India’s largest beverage company continues its trend of
creating the most powerful and appealing brand messaging for its
consumers in the country. Having made “Thanda” synonymous with
“Coca-Cola”, the company announced the launch of an intensive
integrated marketing communication program for the summer of 2007.
Based on the theme “Sabka Thanda Ek”, the campaign has been designed

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to build the Coca-Cola brand from its refreshment platform to a higher
order of emotional benefit by establishing it as the universal choice which
brings people together.

As part of the integrated communication plan, a range of initiatives

including mass media advertising and leveraging the digital space like the
internet are being rolled out. The new TV commercial to feature- who else
but Aamir Khan, the Coca-Cola brand ambassador in an all new avatar. In
the ad, Aamir appears as a no nonsense attendant traveling in a train,
connecting consumers with Coca-Cola. The campaign has been
conceptualized by the, Chairman & National Creative Director. The
company also plans to leverage the internet by building and promoting
online communities. According to Venkatesh Kini, Vice President-
Marketing, Coca-Cola India, "Over the years we have made ‘Thanda’ and
refreshment synonymous with Coca-Cola. The new campaign ‘Sabka
Thanda Ek’ strenghtens the universal appeal of the brand amongst
consumers. It offers a higher order of emotional benefit of bringing people
together. And who else to better communicate this message, but our brand
ambassador Aamir Khan, in a never been seen appearance.”

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Case Study 2: Barack Obama's Integrated Marketing
Communications Strategy

This case is about Barack Obama, the 44th President of the US, and
how he used integrated marketing communications (IMC) to win the 2008

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US Presidential elections. For the first time in the history of the US
Presidential Elections, the Internet was used widely and effectively for
both campaigning and fund raising purposes. Obama also used the
traditional methods of marketing which accounted for 50% of his fund
raising. The case shows how Obama carefully tailored his campaign by
targeting people of different age groups, communities, and professionals
systematically to achieve success in the elections. Obama tapped the
growing community of people who preferred the Internet and mobile
phones to television. Other G7 countries had in the past tried to use the
Internet as a tool for campaigning but it was not used as effectively and
consistently in the past, according to experts.

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, Democratic Senator, Barack Hussein

Obama (Obama), was elected as the first African-American President of
the United States of America. The opening lines of his victory speech at
Grand Park, Chicago, Illinois, were, "If there is anyone out there who still
doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still
wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still
questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."4 Analysts
believed that 2008 had been a historical election for two reasons: Obama
was the first African American to be elected President of the country and
second, the Internet had been used extensively as a campaigning tool.
Never in the history of the presidential elections of the US had the Internet
been put to such a use.

Experts felt that Obama had revolutionized election campaigning by

using this unconventional and economic method of marketing. He tapped
social media both for raising funds and for campaigning. He made his
supporters campaign for him by allowing them to sign up in his website

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and get phone numbers of people whom they could call and talk to. In this
way, he changed the task of supporters and made them campaigners on the
web.

The consistency with which he publicized his personal information

uniformly on all his websites and also targeted specific information at
individual websites, depending on the age groups of the people, the
communities they belonged to, and also what religious backgrounds or
professional backgrounds they belonged to, caught the imagination of
analysts. The information contained in each of the websites was different
and that lent a personal touch to them and also added to his credibility.

He managed to get the attention of the younger generation, a segment

that was ignored by other candidates as a group of people who could not
contribute funds. This group of people, who also were the main users of
the Internet, got involved in the elections, campaigned for Obama, and
also surprised analysts by turning up in large numbers to vote.

They also contributed small sums which added up to a substantial

amount for the campaign, thanks to the sheer number of contributors.
Obama also had a dedicated website called "FighttheSmears" with the sole
aim of addressing and combating any false accusations about himself as
and when they appeared. The entire campaign was well structured to
project a consistent image of Obama and every action taken by the
campaigners was well thought out. Experts believed that Obama used the
Internet with skill, efficiency, and care and his labor had borne fruit in the
form of his victory. David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, was the
one who maintained all campaign communications and kept a tab on
information releases.

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 In his acceptance speech, Obama said, "To my campaign manager
David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign
team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and
I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done."

Obama ended his victory speech with the following words: "This is our
time, to put our people back to work, and open doors of opportunity for
our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim
the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of
many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met
with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will
respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes,
we can. Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States
of America".6 Analysts felt that Obama's innovative campaign had not
only helped overcome some potentially debilitating barriers on his way to
the White House, but also firmly established him as a strong brand.

So much so that lawyers in the White House were mulling copyrighting

'Brand Obama' to curb misuse of the brand to promote goods, etc.,
considering the global fascination for the US's first African American
President.7 According to marketing expert John Quelch, the campaign was
nothing short of a "case study in marketing excellence".8 At the same
time, analysts were keeping a close watch to see to what extent (and in
what ways) Obama would fulfill his pre-election promise of remaining in
touch with the people.

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 CONCLUSION
Marketing communication has become an integral part of the social and
economic system. Consumers rely on the information from marketing
communication to make wise purchase decisions. Businesses, ranging
from multinational corporations to small retailers, depend on marketing
communication to sell their goods and services. Marketing communication
has also become an important player in the life of a business. Marketing
communication helps move products, services, and ideas from
manufacturers to end users and builds and maintains relationships with
customers, prospects, and other important stakeholders in the company.
Advertising and sales promotion will continue to play important roles in
marketing communication mix.

Integrated Marketing is here to stay and to develop. The name might

change, but the concept will not. It is a way of thinking and operating that

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enhances value for customers, employees and the organization and leads to
the resolution of many of the current frustrations within the marketing
industry.

Marketing strategies that stress relationship building in addition to

producing sales will force marketers to consider all the elements in the
marketing communication mix. In the future new information gathering
techniques will help marketers target more precisely customers and
prospects using direct marketing strategies. New media technologies will
provide businesses and consumers new ways to establish and reinforce
relationships that are important for the success of the firm and important
for consumers as they make purchase decisions. The Internet will become
a major force in how organizations communicate with a variety of
constituents, customers, clients, and other interested parties.

Integrated marketing helps the company to project a unified message and

image of the company, and help to keep a strong brand image. Different
divisions handling there own marketing activities will lead to sales people
giving out a different a marketing message and the corporate department
giving out another message. This kind of a chaos will lead to scattered
effort, unclear messages and ultimately ineffective marketing campaigns.
If this kind of situation is there in your company then you need to take
corrective steps now - integrate the marketing activities of your company
as soon as possible.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Advertising and Personal Selling – C.B. Gupta
2. www.wikipedia.com

3. www.scribd.com

4. www.answers.com
5. www.workz.com

6. Article by Scott Geld

7. Integrated Marketing Communications – Bharati S Gopal,

Marketing Mastermind
8. Integrated Marketing Audit – Tom Duncan & Sandra Moriarty,

Travel Marketing Decisions

9. Audiology Online
10.MMC Learning

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