Core Concepts of Marketing by John Burnett - HTML preview

CHAPTER 8

COMMUNICATING TO MASS MARKETS

Commitment

FIGURE 8 .4

Goals of integrated marketing communication

the message. Whether it is the message delivered by a salesperson, a newspaper, or a point-

of-purchase display, the message must facilitate reaching the communication objectives.

Money is always an important factor; a typical IMC effort is extremely expensive and

is becoming more expensive every day. Keeping track of these cost

is a full-time

job.

budget for a particular IMC effort can be determined through very sophisticated

computer programs or through intuitive techniques such as experience, following compe-

tition, or simply spending all you can afford. Particular budgetary approaches are summa-

rized in Table 8.1.

Once you decide how much to spend, the amounts to be spent on personal selling,

advertising, publicity, and sales promotion must be decided. After determining the major

allocations, each of these figures must be broken down into much finer increments. For exam-

ple, the advertising budget must be reallocated by media category, then by specific media,

and finally, by particular dates, times, issues, etc.

Evaluating the effer:tiveness of an IMC effort is very important. Three tasks must be

completed when one attempts to measure the results of IMC. First, standards for IMC effec-

tiveness, such as retention and liking, must be established. This means that the market plan-

ner must have a clear understanding of

what the communication is intended to

accomplish. For measurement purposes, the standards should be identified in specific, quan-

titative terms. Second, actual

performance must be monitored. To do this, it is usu

ally necessary to conduct experiments in which the effects of other variables are either

excluded or controlled. The third step in measuring IMC efficiency is to compare these per-

DESIGNING AN IMe STRATEGY

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TABLE 8.1

Summary of Techniques: Setting the IMC Budget

Technique

General Description

Arbitrary Allocation

Management bases budget on personal experience, business philosophy, and

marketing intuition

Affordability

Upper limit of budget based on available company resources

Ratio-to-sales

Amount budgeted is based on some portion of past or forecasted sales

Competitive comparisons

Budget based on amount being spent by major competitors

Experimental approach

Budget based on test market results

Objective-task method

Determine costs of reaching specific promotional objectives and sum amounts

fonnance measures against the standards. In doing so, it is theoretically possible to deter-

mine the

effective methods of marketing communication.

Finally, how a company organizes for IMC depends on the degree to which it desires

to perfonn the communication function internally or to assign this task to outside agencies.

Typically, the sales function is perfonned internally and the sales organization is a part of

the overall, standing organizational plan. Occasionally, as when manufacturer's agents are

used, outside organizations are employed to perfonn personal selling. Advertising services

might be perfonned internally or externally. Sales promotion activities are usually also han-

dled internally, although it is not uncommon for advertising agencies to be consulted in con-

nection with sales promotion plans. The same is true for public relations.

The Promot ion Mix

The manner in which the four components of IMC (i.e., advertising, personal selling, sales

promotion, public relations) are combined into an effective whole is called the fMC mix.

The promotion mix tends to be highly customized. While, in general, we can conclude that

business-to-business marketers tend to emphasize personal selling and sales promotion over

advertising and public relations, and that mass marketers are just the opposite, there are

many exceptions. However, the following factors tend to have an impact on the particular

IMC mix a company might select:

1. Marketing/fMC objectives: Companies that desire broad market coverage or quick

growth in market share, for example, must emphasize mass advertising in order

to create a dramatic and simultaneous impact.

2. Nature of the product: The basic characteristics of product (highly technical) sug-

gest the need for demonstration and explanation through personal selling, or mass

advertising in the case of a product with emotional appeal (perfume) .

3. Place in the product lifecycle: Products in the introductory stage in the life cycle often need mass advertising and sales promotion, those in maturity need personal

selling, and those in decline employ sales promotion.

Available resources: Companies with limited financial and human resources are

often restricted to sales promotion and public relations while those with plenty

of both opt for mass advertising and personal selling.2

The most

fact about IMC techniques is their cross-substitutability. They rep-

resent alternate ways to influence buyers to increase their purchases. It is possible to achieve a given sales level by increasing advertising expenditures or personal selling, or by offering

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