INTEGRATED MARKETING

Integrated marketing (IM) is a management strategy and meta-discipline

focused on the organisation-wide optimisation of unique value for stakeholders.
Although closely linked to integrated marketing communications (IMC), it should
not be confused with it.
Integrated Marketing is a creative, human and business discipline that reduces
or eliminates these divisions to ensure the brand is appropriately present and
effectively communicating at all the important times in a customer's life in a way
that provides value, creates sustainable profits and benefits shareholders and
employees
The logic of integrated marketing has been described as the management of three
interconnected business drivers
1. Identification and maintenance of the organisation’s or brand’s coherent identity,
which is a reflection of the way it is organized and operated to provide differentiated
value. This has also been described as the DNA of the organization. Influential
characteristics of the organisation include the business model, core competencies,
positioning, product designs, and brand, as well as the heritage of culture and
organisational purpose. In successful organisations, these come together to create
differentiated value for customers. Internal characteristics of the organisation lead to
external actions that become the basis of the brand, brand equity and market positioning.
2. Mobilisation of all employees behind this identity and value, with lean, value-focused
processes and appropriate resources. This is essentially a challenge of implementation
and performance management, achieving integration, coherence and high levels of
performance throughout the organisation. In marketing circles, this has sometimes been
described as "living the brand" (ref), but success draws on that subtly modifies such well-
established disciplines as lean, balanced scorecard/performance management, service
management and internal marketing. It therefore draws on the contributions of HR,
operations, organisation development, finance and other groups.
3. Integrated contact management (integrated communications, creating valuable
experiences for customers). This is where IMC fits, as well as related concepts such as
media neutral planning (MNP) and experience management. Although this is a key area
for the marketing team, it typically also depends on the contribution of sales, operational
and service management functions and processes.
While ultimately focused on the optimal recruitment and retention of customers, it also
explicitly involves and has been shown to benefit employee, shareholder and other
stakeholder groups.

The evidence is that successful Integrated Marketing overturns several very well-
established marketing and communication assumptions, and constitutes a fresh, even
revolutionary vision and an enhanced challenge for both marketing leaders and other
senior executives, including the CEO.
Integrated Marketing provides systematic disciplines for a perennial vision of marketing.
For example, the Uneeda launch in 1899 is a brilliant example of integrated marketing.
Senior executive we interviewed provide consistent ambitions and share common
difficulties.The ANA (American Association of National Advertisers) reported in June
2008 in The Advertiser that Integrated Marketing remains the nation's leading challenge.
Integrated Marketing (IM) is "a management strategy and meta-discipline focused on the
organisation-wide optimisation of unique value for stakeholders" (accessed Sept 8 2009).
Indeed no formal discipline of ‘Integrated Marketing' has until recently existed in the
academic or practitioner worlds, with the term often incorrectly applied to
communications integration alone.
Marketing has evolved into a series of relatively independent tools with different
planning and evaluation criteria. Integrated Marketing not only overcomes the
fragmentation of the recognised marketing disciplines but it also draws on other
disciplines such as lean management, knowledge management and organisation
development. It is a natural progression of the effects of developing concepts of
marketing planning such as IMC, 360 degree branding, relationship marketing and CRM
on organisation change.
Relationship to Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
As a marketing strategy, Integrated Marketing is closely related to and inter-
dependent with Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Indeed, many observers
use the term integrated marketing when they probably mean integrated marketing
communications.

Schultz and Kitchen (2000) identified four stages of IMC concluding with an integrated
value-based model. According to this interpretation, as the organisation becomes more
committed to achieving consistency and differentiation across all customer contact points
the business management challenge moves from marketing and marketing
communication to the whole organisation, requiring a cultural and systemic infrastructure
for integration. This in turn calls on new practices and higher-order levels of organisation
management. For example, at this point IMC and CRM are effectively merged.

Although Schultz and Kitchen identified that whole organisation was involved at this
fourth stage, they did not detail what was necessary to achieve this. In some organisations
such as FMCG/packaged goods brands (e.g. chocolate, baked beans), IMC needs little
more than marketing communications integration. In others, such as organisations with a
high level of service content (e.g. banks, automobile firms and their dealerships, and hotel
chains), the challenge becomes much more difficult. It is in this latter case that integrated
marketing is most important, providing the contextual platform for stage 4 IMC,
implementation of which is also one of itsgoals.

A Model for Integrated Marketing

Integrated Marketing Communication is more than the coordination of a

company’s outgoing message between different media and the consistency of the
message throughout. It is an aggressive marketing plan that captures and uses an
extensive amount of customer information in setting and tracking marketing strategy.
Steps in an Integrated Marketing system are:
1. Customer Database
An essential element to implementing Integrated Marketing that helps to segment and
analyze customer buying habits.
2. Strategies
Insight from analysis of customer data is used to shape marketing, sales, and
communications strategies.
3. Tactics
Once the basic strategy is determined the appropriate marketing tactics can be specified
which best targets the specific markets.
4. Evaluate Results
Customer responses and new information about buying habits are collected and analyzed
to determine the effectiveness of the strategy and tactics.
5. Complete the loop; start again at #1.

Importance of Integrated marketing

Several shifts in the advertising and media industry have caused IMC to develop into
a primary strategy for marketers:

1. From media advertising to multiple forms of communication.

2. From mass media to more specialized (niche) media, which are centered around
specific target audiences.
3. From a manufacturer-dominated market to a retailer-dominated, consumer-
controlled market.
4. From general-focus advertising and marketing to data-based marketing.
5. From low agency accountability to greater agency accountability, particularly in
advertising.
6. From traditional compensation to performance-based compensation (increased
sales or benefits to the company).
7. From limited Internet access to 24/7 Internet availability and access to goods and
services.
Benefits of Integrated Marketing
Although Integrated Marketing Communications requires a lot of effort it delivers
many benefits. It can create competitive advantage, boost sales and profits, while saving
money, time and stress.
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, 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 Integrated Marketing

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: Functional Silos; Stifled Creativity; Time Scale Conflicts and a lack
of management know-how.
Take 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 meet 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.
Here are two difficult questions – What should a truly integrated marketing department
look like? And how will it affect creativity?
It 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.
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.
But this kind of planning is not common. A survey in 1995, revealed that most managers
lack expertise in IMC. But its not just managers, but 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

Communications Theory

How do we communicate? How do customers process information? There are

many models and theories. Let's take a brief look at some of them.
Simple communications models show a sender sending a message to a receiver who
receives and understands it. Real life is less simple - many messages are misunderstood,
fail to arrive or, are simply ignored.
Thorough understanding of the audience's needs, emotions, interests and activities is
essential to ensure the accuracy and relevance of any message.
Instead of loud 'buy now' advertisements, many messages are often designed or 'encoded'
so that the hard sell becomes a more subtle soft sell. The sender creates or encodes the
message in a form that can be easily understood or decoded by the receiver.
Clever encoding also helps a message to cut through the clutter of other advertisements
and distractions, what is called 'noise'. If successful, the audience will spot the message
and then decode or interpret it correctly. The marketer then looks for 'feedback' such as
coupons returned from mailshots, to see if the audience has decoded the message
correctly.
The single step model - with a receiver getting a message directly from a sender - is not a
complete explanation.
Many messages are received indirectly through a friend or through an opinion leader.
Communications are in fact multifaceted, multi-step and multi-directional. Opinion
leaders talk to each other. Customers talk to opinion leaders and they talk to each other.
Add in 'encode, decode, noise and feedback' and the process appears more complex still.
Understanding multiphase communications helps marketers communicate directly
through mass media and indirectly through targeting opinion leaders, opinion formers,
style leaders, innovators, and other influential people.
How messages are selected and processed within the minds of the target market is a vast
and complex question. Although it is over seventy years old, rather simplistic and too
hierarchical, a message model, like AIDA, attempts to map the mental processes through
which a buyer passes en route to making a purchase.
There are many other models that attempt to identify each stage. In reality the process is
not always a linear sequence. Buyers often loop backwards at various stages perhaps for
more information. There are other much more complex models that attempt to map the
inner workings of the mind.
In reality, marketers have to select communications tools that are most suitable for the
stage which the target audience has reached. For example, advertising may be very good
at raising awareness or developing interest, while free samples and sales promotions may
be the way to generate trial. This is just a glimpse into some of the theory. Serious
marketers read a lot more.

Golden Rules

Despite the many benefits of Integrated Marketing Communications (or IMC); there are
also many barriers. Here's how you can ensure you become integrated and stay integrated
- 10 Golden Rules of Integration.

(1) Get Senior Management Support for the initiative by ensuring they understand the
benefitsof IMC.

(2) Integrate At Different Levels of management. Put 'integration' on the agenda for
various types of management meetings - whether annual 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.

(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. Test. Test. Test. Improve each year. 'Kaizen'.

Effective communications elements

The goal of selecting the elements of proposed integrated marketing

communications is to create a campaign that is effective and consistent across media
platforms. Some marketers may want only ads with greatest breadth of appeal: the
executions that, when combined, provide the greatest number of attention-getting,
branded, and motivational moments. Others may only want ads with the greatest depth of
appeal: the ads with the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational
points within each.
Although integrated marketing communications is more than just an advertising
campaign, the bulk of marketing dollars is spent on the creation and distribution of
advertisements. Hence, the bulk of the research budget is also spent on these elements of
the campaign. Once the key marketing pieces have been tested, the researched elements
can then be applied to other contact points: letterhead, packaging, logistics, customer
service training, and more, to complete the IMC cycle.

Importance of Integrated Marketing

Several shifts in the advertising and media industry have caused IMC to develop
into a primary strategy for marketers:
From media advertising to multiple forms of communication.
From mass media to more specialized (niche) media, which are centered around specific
target audiences.
From a manufacturer-dominated market to a retailer-dominated, consumer-controlled
market.
From general-focus advertising and marketing to data-based marketing.
From low agency accountability to greater agency accountability, particularly in
advertising.
From traditional compensation to performance-based compensation (increased sales or
benefits to the company).
From limited Internet access to 24/7 Internet availability and access to goods and
services.
 INTEGRATED MARKETING

[Seminar III]

Submitted by

R. Anto Raja Melba

Submitted to

Mr. J. Jackson Jeevaraj

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

JAMES COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

[Affiliated to Anna University, Tirunelveli]

JAMESPURAM

NAVALKAUD