Integrated Marketing Communications are used to promote a message using many strategies which work together and strengthen one another. For instance, when a company is making a new logo or a slogan via various sources like media, television, and social networking, every source will work differently but deliver the same message to their audience.
With the advancement of digitalization and technology, you can use multiple sources to deliver this message creatively. IMC is known to be a reliable way as it combines modern and traditional marketing strategies helping in communicating effectively with the audience.
Here the plus point will be how pure the message is being passed out without being disrupted or adulterated. This is how IMC works, when next time you get a doubt on what is IMC? Then you can find an answer in this article.
Target Audience:
It is very important to analyze and determine the target audience, hence developing an IMC plan is essential. When you can identify and categorize your customers based on age, education, income, gender, etc. it will be easier for implementing the IMC plan. In this case, the customer will get what he is looking for on the internet making the boost in sales and customer satisfaction.
How to approach the audience?
Every company has its strategies to target their customer, for this they will need to plan out how to approach the audience. The most basic type of IMC plans are discussed below:
- Internal marketing: This plan involves the action from high-level management making a point to make their customers satisfied and happy. This means the customer will be excited upon learning about the launch of the new product helping in creating excitement in public. Through this approach, the workers will secretly leak a few details of the new product in such a manner that the product is already a hit before launching.
- External marketing: This approach is done by a digital marketing agency or firm, no inside worker is involved in marketing rather a full team of experts will plan out different strategies to make the product famous. Through this plan, there are more chances of gaining customers as the marketing experts will work hard in making such strategies which will help in increasing the revenue of the company.
- Vertical approach: This type of strategy requires that the product which is being developed must fit in the corporate policy while being in the structure of the company. This plan is only possible when the new product is within the company’s goal.
- Horizontal approach: through this approach, the marketing plans ensure that different departments are working together on the same purpose but in different ways. For this, there has to be proper communication within all the departments involved with the undisturbed flow of information.
Importance of IMC:
Integrated Marketing is known for a long time but still has not left the market, it is used by many firms to increase their ROI. There is an increase in marketing channels when there are different people with good experience working on the same project you tend to get positive results efficiently.
With the use of Integrated Marketing Communications, one can make sure the visibility of their brand is extended properly and there are no loopholes or miscommunication. Nowadays, there are many negative reviews about the product available by social media users which makes the customers think twice before buying any new product. But with Integrated Marketing, there is no such thing happening rather the information sent is pure and clear regarding the product.
Components of Integrated Marketing:
- Foundation of the product: the foundation process involves a detailed analysis of the product and the target audience. When the marketing experts understand the brand and product well, they can deliver it to the perfect set of customers. Apart from this, your competitors will also be working on selling the product and increasing the revenue. Hence you must keep a close eye on your rivals.
- Corporate culture: With this component, the marketers will ensure that the product is always in line with the motive and culture of the brand. There has to be aligned together to keep it genuine. The product and brand services cannot be different, they have to be the same to win the confidence of the customers.
- Focus: the marketer must always focus on the brand more than the product. This will help in increasing the visibility of the company in various departments and fields. When the brand gets good visibility it automatically gathers the audience for its product.
- Communication Tool: this stage will ensure that your product is being targeted correctly using various platforms like social media networks, advertisements, and promotions.
- Customer experience: taking feedback from the customer makes a very good impact on the sales of the product. Hence the expert marketers must always be ready to accept the positives and negatives coming from the customers. Negative reviews will help in improving the product and positive reviews will directly affect your sales. The product must meet the expectation of the consumer.
Career in IMC:
With holding a bachelor’s or master’s degree in IMC, individuals can explore various career paths in the public as well as private sectors. Areas like market research, social media, consulting services, and public relations are giving a good scope for such candidates.
If you hold a master’s degree in IM then you can pursue your career in the fields of firm designing, marketing agencies, private corporations, social media agencies, etc. However, we will discuss a few career paths below:
- Marketing Director
- Public Relations Director
- Marketing specialist and
- Director of consumer affairs
IMC is a vast field wherein the jobs and career options are open to those who aspire to become experts in this field. You must work hard and have the skills to make any firm come on top of the list. There are many applications requirements for jobs in the Integrated Marketing field and it completely depends on the nature of the position the employee is looking for. With good experience, one can excel in this field and make an impact on self and the company.
