Integrated Marketing Communication and Promotion
The IMC idea
Integrated marketing communication coordinates all promotional tools so the audience receives a consistent message. The promotion mix: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct/digital marketing. Know the communication process - sender, encoding, message, media, decoding, receiver, noise, feedback - and the AIDA and hierarchy-of-effects models linking communication to purchase.
Budgeting and media
Budget methods: affordable, percentage of sales, competitive parity, objective-and-task. The objective-and-task method is theoretically superior because it links spend to defined goals. Media planning covers reach, frequency, impact, continuity and timing (continuous, flighting, pulsing).
Tools and traps
- Advertising builds awareness; sales promotion drives short-term action but can erode brand equity if overused.
- Public relations has high credibility but low control.
- Personal selling suits high-value, complex or organisational purchases.
- Digital and social media offer targeting and measurement but raise trust and privacy issues.
Traps: confusing reach (how many) with frequency (how often); assuming the biggest budget wins; treating sales promotion as brand building; ignoring message consistency across channels; forgetting that communication must fit the stage in the buying process.
Worked example
A new brand has low awareness and a limited budget. Objective-and-task: target 30% awareness among 100,000 buyers, requiring a defined number of impressions at a stated frequency, then select media that deliver it. That beats a percentage-of-sales figure pulled from last year.
Rule of thumb
Match the tool to the objective: awareness → advertising/PR; trial → sales promotion; conviction and closing → personal selling; retention → direct and digital.
Marketing Planning, Strategy and Control
Planning hierarchy
Know the levels: corporate mission and strategy, SBU strategy, marketing plan. The marketing plan typically contains executive summary, situation analysis (SWOT, PESTLE, 5Cs), objectives (SMART), strategy (STP and mix), action programmes, budget and controls.
Strategy tools
- Ansoff matrix - market penetration, market development, product development, diversification.
- BCG matrix - stars, cash cows, question marks, dogs, plotted on growth and relative share.
- Porter's generic strategies - cost leadership, differentiation, focus.
- GE/McKinsey matrix - industry attractiveness and competitive strength.
Control
Control has four types: annual-plan control (sales analysis, market share, expense ratios), profitability control, efficiency control and strategic control (marketing audit). The control loop is: set standards, measure performance, compare, take corrective action. Know the marketing audit as a comprehensive, systematic, independent review.
Traps in questions
- Confusing market development (new market, existing product) with diversification (both new).
- Treating a dog as always to be divested; it may support others.
- Calling a sales-variance report strategic control - it is annual-plan control.
- Writing objectives without a metric or time frame.
- Forgetting that control requires corrective action, not just measurement.
Worked example
A firm sells its existing coffee to offices abroad. Existing product, new market = market development in the Ansoff matrix. If it also launched a new tea line to those offices, that would be diversification.
Rule of thumb
Ansoff: ask whether product and market are each new or existing. Control: every standard needs a measurement, a comparison and a corrective action.