Reference no: EM132401638

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) seemed to be a rather simple concept at first, that is, aligning and co-ordinating a marketer's messages and incentives and directing them to customers and prospects. Yet, in retrospect, it has proven to be one of the major marketing innovations of the past decade. While the marketing concept has supposedly always focused on consumer needs, the practice of IMC has truly provided the first major effort to really put the customer in the centre of the firm's marketing activities. The attempt to integrate, align and co-ordinate marketing communication programmes challenges many of the traditional organisational structures that have grown out of the industrial age. Indeed, in implementing an IMC programme, many organisations have found that they literally have to turn the organisation upside-down, starting with customers and prospects, not products and services and combining efforts from the view of the customer rather than from the view of the organisation. IMC may be obvious to managers but it is not easy to implement. The rise of electronic commerce and communication, i.e. the Internet and World Wide Web revolution, has provided an even more pressing need for integration. Indeed, it is these very technologies that have not only made IMC possible, but they have created the demand for integration in all areas of the firm. Where once we spoke of 'one sight, one sound' for external communication as being the goal of IMC, today we speak of organisational integration and the management of brand contacts, in other words, every place and every way in which the organisation touches its customers, employees, shareholders and stakeholders. Thus, IMC has moved from being simply a method of co-ordinating and aligning external messages the firm wanted to send to relevant populations towards a more holistic view of communication as the backbone of not just the marketing function but the entire business enterprise as well. In this chapter, you will find a comprehensive definition of integrated marketing communications and some of the major features of an IMC approach. One thing you should keep in mind as you read, however, is that IMC is not a task or a tool or even a function that is to be mastered and implemented. Instead, IMC is a 'work in progress' for as communication changes and evolves so must IMC. Learn what is here for that will provide the basis for your understanding of what is likely to come. The concept of marketing communications and emphasised that it covered a range of promotional activity targeted towards one or more specified audiences. It follows that the greatest marketing communications impact will be achieved if all the elements involved are integrated into a unified whole. By integrating the range of promotional mix elements so that they work in harmony or synergy with each other, opportunities are created to improve the effectiveness of the total marketing communications effort. The notion of integrated marketing communications is not a new idea although it has become much more popular in recent years. Intellectually there is a lot to commend integration but it is not easy to achieve for reasons explained later in this chapter. What is integrated marketing communications? 22 Professional perspective Integrated marketing communications (IMC) seemed to be a rather simple concept at first, that is, aligning and co-ordinating a marketer's messages and incentives and directing them to customers and prospects. Yet, in retrospect, it has proven to be one of the major marketing innovations of the past decade. While the marketing concept has supposedly always focused on consumer needs, the practice of IMC has truly provided the first major effort to really put the customer in the centre of the firm's marketing activities. The attempt to integrate, align and co-ordinate marketing communication programmes challenges many of the traditional organisational structures that have grown out of the industrial age. Indeed, in implementing an IMC programme, many organisations have found that they literally have to turn the organisation upside-down, starting with customers and prospects, not products and services and combining efforts from the view of the customer rather than from the view of the organisation. IMC may be obvious to managers but it is not easy to implement. The rise of electronic commerce and communication, i.e. the Internet and World Wide Web revolution, has provided an even more pressing need for integration. Indeed, it is these very technologies that have not only made IMC possible, but they have created the demand for integration in all areas of the firm. Where once we spoke of 'one sight, one sound' for external communication as being the goal of IMC, today we speak of organisational integration and the management of brand contacts, in other words, every place and every way in which the organisation touches its customers, employees, shareholders and stakeholders. Thus, IMC has moved from being simply a method of co-ordinating and aligning external messages the firm wanted to send to relevant populations towards a more holistic view of communication as the backbone of not just the marketing function but the entire business enterprise as well. In this chapter, you will find a comprehensive definition of integrated marketing communications and some of the major features of an IMC approach. One thing you should keep in mind as you read, however, is that IMC is not a task or a tool or even a function that is to be mastered and implemented. Instead, IMC is a 'work in progress' for as communication changes and evolves so must IMC. 

How do we communicate:

Source of communication must know the target audience characteristics to align communications with their needs. 

Encoding process of combining thoughts and ideas into symbolic forms words, phrases, pictures illustrations,logo.

Media how the message transported from the sender to the marketplace. Message encoded information intended for the end target audience.

Decoding how the message recieve and interpreted by the TA.

Reciever is the TA

Response result of how they interpret the message.

Feedback monitors the responses to the process, and the outcome after the communication has been decode by TA and they have a response 

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