Consistency of Messages In Integrated Marketing

In integrated marketing, all copy is written or edited centrally. Although technical information will vary by product or service, each publication, campaign or marketing communication will include ‘positioning’ messages that stress generic customer benefits such as quality of service, customer focus, corporate strength and other key factors. This consistency is impossible when copy is produced separately for advertisements, direct mail, product literature, etc. Integrated marketing will ensure that every form of customer contact reinforces the customer’s positive perception of the company.
Visual standards also help to reinforce the consistency of integrated communications. By imposing corporate design standards on all promotional material and utilizing key visual elements on advertisements and all other communications material, a company can reinforce the visual identity. A corporate identity is a major investment for any company, but it pays for itself in increased recognition and stronger perceptions. Integrated marketing reinforces the benefits of a corporate identity programmed by applying it to all media and ensuring that the company is immediately recognized. Different products, different campaigns, information from separate divisions can all be co-ordinate by introducing consistent messages.

Integrated Marketing

Integrated marketing provides an opportunity to improve the precision and effectiveness of marketing programs by handling all aspects of marketing through a single source. An integrated marketing solution uses the most appropriate media and communications techniques to achieve marketing objectives. There is no ‘lead’ technique, and the solution could include any of the following: advertising, direct marketing, telemarketing, web marketing, e-mail communications, public relations, internal communications, incentives, sales force communications, distributor communications, retail support, product and technical information, corporate identity and corporate communications, presentations and exhibitions, and or relationship marketing.

In traditional marketing, many of these activities would be handled by separate specialist agencies or suppliers. The marketing effort is fragmented and the results could be conflicting communications that confuse the customer. In integrated marketing, all communications are channeled through a central coordinator and handled by a single agency. The key benefits are creative integrity, consistency of messages, unbiased marketing recommendations, better use of all media, greater marketing precision, operational efficiency, and cost savings.
In more complex business-to-business markets, integrated marketing is used to build effective relationships with the many different people involved in the purchase decision-making process. Although all communications use a consistent message, that message can be tailored to the interests and concerns of individual decision makers.

An Effective Advertisement

In order to be effective, any advertising must be seen, must be read, must be believed, must be remembered, and must be acted upon. An effective advertisement is one that commands attention, leading to Interest in the product, thence to desire to own or use the product, and finally to action (normally purchase or at least a step towards it, e.g. logging on-line for more information). All commercial communications that weigh on the ultimate objective of a sale must carry a prospect through four levels of understanding. The prospect must first be aware of the existence of a brand or company, they must have a comprehension of what the product is and what it will do for him, they must arrive at a mental suspicion or conviction to buy the product, and finally they must stir themself to action. it is clear that the purpose of marketing communication is to help move a potential customer along a continuum from a state of ignorance towards a position of decision and action.

The Role of Advertising in Selling

The advertising’s objective is to get people to place orders for what is on offer. The way that advertising works is on a scale of immediacy; direct response advertising being the most immediate while some campaigns reinforce attitudes and beliefs about the organization or brand advertised.
There are many factors at work beyond the advertised message: price, availability of offer and of alternatives, level of distribution, peer pressure, and competitive advertising all play a part. Moreover, for many products, such as ice cream, weather plays a significant part. Advertising will frequently be only one influence among many on how consumers behave and what they buy. This is why it has proved to be so difficult to measure the effect of advertising alone among so many influences.
It was the recognition that advertising was only one factor in the total process of selling that led to the development of a series of advertising models. These are largely based on the idea that advertising can help move consumers through a series of steps that gradually build up the necessary conditions for a sale.

Effective Advertising

Advertising is to give notice of or to give public information about merits claimed for or to draw attention to or offer for sale by public notice, printed or broadcast or to inform or give notice. So, simply speaking, it is just about communication. Therefore to be effective, it must be based on a precise definition of to whom we are trying to communicate, a clear idea of what we need to communicate, an understanding of what effect we expect the communication to have, and a clear understanding of how the communication process works. If we can understand all elements and define what we expect to happen as a result of the advertising, then we can set out to measure whether it has been achieved or not.

Viral Marketing

A very important (perhaps the most important) means of marketing communication is ‘word of mouth’. People looking for ways of satisfying a need do not merely talk to salesmen and read advertisements and sales literature. They read relevant newspaper and magazine articles, listen to the radio and watch TV, but, above all, they talk to each other. People contemplating buying a new car, or a new washing machine, talk to friends and relations and get their reactions. People who buy a new product and like it recommend it to their friends. If they dislike it, they warn off their friends. On the Internet, this word-of-mouth technique is called ‘viral marketing’.

In essence, viral marketing creates an incentive for others to communicate your marketing message through the Internet or email, via methods such as attachments or sign-up forms. Attachments allow one to add a degree of personality to a brand and encourage consumers to interact, as well as to find out more about you and your product or service. Just like their more dangerous cousins, viral marketing campaigns can spread across the entire Internet in a matter of days. No other method of marketing has been found that can generate such massive ‘recommendation’ marketing status with such a relatively small outlay.

The Seven C to Satisfying The Customer Needs

To satisfying the customer needs we can use "the seven C":

1. Customer value. The product, viewed from the customer’s point of view. Customers go after what they value. So, identifying what customers’ value will be paramount.
2. Cost to the customer. This may include time, effort, inconvenience, etc., as well as money to satisfy a need.
3. Convenience. Place, from the customer viewpoint, is convenience.
4. Communication. This is crucial and better than promotion since it should be viewed as a two-way mechanism with customers rather than a one-way ‘promotion’. Customers like to be heard, really listened to, rather than promoted to.
5. Competency. From the customer’s viewpoint, when the customer interacts with a person delivering that service, it is the ‘competency’ of that person that is crucial. Not just people. The customer experiences how capable the people are (competent not only in caring for the customer, but capable of making decisions that solve the customers’ problems, find the product and deliver a personal or often individual service).
   
6. Customer relationship management. Having purchased a product, the customer does not want to be told that there is a system that they must follow if they wish to complain. The concern with many of these processes is that they do not track customers’ interaction with the organisation until they have the problem. That is not what the customer wants. More important, is the way that the organisation manages all the customers’ interactions, thus building a relationship over time. Rather than process, the focus should be on ‘customer relationship management’.
7. Context. After all context is all-important.