DECIDING ON THE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MIX
BY: VIVIAN JAQUE MARTINEZ

QUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED
• What does marketing communication really mean?
• What is the communications mix and how should it be set?
• How do marketing communications work?
• What are the major steps in developing effective communications?
• What is the role of marketing communications?
• How can marketing communications be accounted for?
• What is an integrated marketing communication program and how
it works plus its limitations?

INTRODUCTION
• Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt
to perform, persuade and remind customers directly or indirectly
about their products and brands.
MC represent the voice of the company
Through communication, a company can show how and why a
product is used, by whom, where and when to use such product.
It is a link between the company and their customers.

Historically Communication in marketing was mostly done on a traditional point
of view as there were no advanced technologies or any formal tools of marketing
communications as compared to today and the illiteracy rate was high.
The invention of the first formal communication tool was a newspaper. Some of
the earliest newspapers date back to Ancient Rome where important
announcements were carved in stone tablets and placed in highly populated
areas where citizens could be informed of the announcements as seen below;

Today there is explosive growth of mass media which has brought a drastic
change to marketing communications.
However, over the sequence of time, newspaper costs continue to rise and
the number of newspaper subscribers continue to fall. This has led to a vast
reduction in the number of newspapers and newspaper editions in every
market.
And led to invention of other sources of information as a result of the rising
levels of literacy. Increasing influence of social network media facilitated by
the growth of technology and growth of FM radio and TV channel penetration
have made it quite easy for the companies to bring their messages across to

Communicating the company’s brand, positioning and delivering it to the target
audience is the foundation of the organization’s marketing strategy.
In the field of marketing communications, coordination of efforts towards the
fourth P of the marketing mix – Promotion is a must.
A company needs to develop strong sales and advertising messages that will
connect with its customers instantly and effectively highlight the product’s
quality and differentiation from other brands.

Marketing communications is a subsection of the general subject area known as
marketing.
Marketing as a broad business function includes product research and
development, merchandising and distribution processes and pricing, as well as
communication or promotion.
The communication mix refers to specific methods used to promote the
company and its products to targeted customers.
marketing communications mix refers to;
the specific combination of marketing communication tools that work together
to communicate the marketer’s message, to achieve the marketer’s objectives,
and to satisfy the target market.

Advertising - Any paid form of non-personal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
Examples are:
 Broadcast media
 Display/outdoor media
 Print media
 Network media
 Electronic media
Types of advertising
Print advertising
Website advertising
Television and radio advertising

There are three main objectives of advertising. These objectives
are to: Inform, Persuade, and Remind.
The AIDA model; getting Attention, hold Interest, arouse Desire,
and then obtain Action.

Effectiveness of a headline;
Attracts attention
Communicates a strong benefit
Appeals to the self-interest of the reader. It answers the question,
"What's in it for me?"
Sets the tone for the offer
A headline acts as an identifier to select the right audience.
Once the headline has done its job, then prospects are so involved in
educating and informing the public about the benefits of what they offer
so that they get to know how to access the product or service.
Most advertising today falls short because too much energy is spent on
glitzy art or cool graphic design and the resulting ads absolutely fail in
the first step of interrupting and capturing attention.

COMPARISON, On headings……

COMPARISON, On content and design

Personal selling - Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the
purpose of making sales and building customer relationships.
The personal selling process consists of the following step
1) Prospecting
2) Pre-approach
3) Approach
4) Making the Presentation
5) Overcoming Objections
6) Closing the Sale
7) Follow-up

Sales promotion - Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale
of a product or service.
Examples of devices used in sales promotion include coupons, samples,
premiums, point-of-purchase (POP) displays, contests, rebates, and ruffle
draws or lotteries.
Sales Promotion Strategies
There are three types of sales promotion strategies: Push, Pull, or a
combination of the two.

Car dealers often provide a good example of a combination strategy.
Goals of this communication tool include: increasing revenue and
cash flow, attracting new customers and clearing out extra inventory.
Manufacturer
promotes to
wholesaler
Wholesaler
promotes to
retailer
Retailer
promotes to
consumer
Consumer
buys from
retailer
TYPES OF SALES STRATEGIES
PUSH STRATEGY
Orders to manufacturer
Manufacturer
promotes to
consumer
Consumer
demands
product
from retailer
Retailer
demands
product
from wholesaler
Wholesaler
demands
product from
manufacturer
Orders to manufacturer
PULL STRATEGY

Public relations;
This tool aims at, Building good relationships with the company’s various
publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good "corporate
image", and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and
events.
Public Relations, is the overall term for marketing activities that raise the
public's consciousness about a product, service, individual or issue.
PR is the management of a company's public image that helps the public
understand the company and its products.

Publicity as an important part of PR
Publicity aims to create interest in a person about a particular product, idea,
organization, or business establishment generally through the generation
and placement of favorable stories in the news media such as newspapers,
magazines, TV, and radio.
Unlike advertising which relies on purchasing power to get a message across,
publicity relies solely on the quality of content to persuade others to get the
message out. Good publicity helps journalists find and report legitimate news
that is important to their audience to consider the company in question as
the best.
Anyone can buy advertising space but not just anyone can earn the respect of
media in order to establish an effective PR campaign.

Direct marketing;
Involves, Direct communications with carefully targeted individual
consumers to obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer
relationships.
Direct marketing usually is carried out through digital or social media
channels such as Twitter, Facebook, email, blogs, telephone that is
telemarketing and telesales, direct mail that is brochures, catalogs, flyers,
direct-response broadcast advertising which is television & radio, online
computer shopping, and television commercials and home shopping
networks.

There are many benefits of direct marketing both to buyers and
sellers.
For example;
 Customers enjoy the convenience of direct marketing as they do not have to
battle traffic, find a parking space, or shop through stores.
 Buying through direct marketing channels is also private and easy and does
not have to involve a face-to-face interaction with a salesperson.
 Direct marketing can also offer a wider selection of products while making
comparison shopping choices.
 direct marketing is immediate and goods can be purchased immediately in
the exact desired alignment.
Sellers also enjoy many benefits of direct marketing.
 It is a great tool in customer relationship building as it provides direct
communication with customers.
 Direct marketers can also gather a great deal of information about their
customers.

Examples include;
 Catalog Marketing,
Catalogs save time, appeal to those who are fearful of shopping due to crime
rates, offer convenience, allow leisurely decisions, offer privacy, often offer
toll-free telephone numbers to place orders, and allow comparison of quality
and price.
Mail-order clubs, online or print surveys and infomercials are other examples
of direct marketing communication.

Event Sponsorship
Event sponsorship is the element sometimes left out of the five-elements
communication mix. Many models include it within advertising. The sponsorship
may include a mix of benefits including booth representation during the event
to hand out samples, gifts and literature, name mention during the event and ad
spots connected to the event.
Event sponsorship can be an effective way to connect with a loyal, targeted
customer base.
Interactive Marketing
This the newest and fast growing channel of communicating and selling directly
to the customers through the internet. The internet provides marketers and
consumers with opportunities for much greater interaction and individualization.
Examples include; websites, search ads, display ads and emails.
Word of mouth
Customers use “word-of-mouth” to talk about dozens of brands each day, from

PROCESS OF DECIDING THE MARKETING COMMUNICATION MIX
 Relative strengths and weaknesses of each component of the mix,
 Define your total budget first and then,
 Decide upon the best way to control the different elements of the mix
to maximize the return on your investment.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
Reaches large and geographically dispersed audiences, often with
high frequency; Low cost per exposure, though overall costs are
high, Consumers perceive advertised goods as more legitimate,
Dramatizes company/brand, Builds brand image, may stimulate
short-term sales however it is Impersonal, one-way
communication and Expensive.

Most effective tool for building buyers’ preferences,
convictions, and actions; Personal interaction permits feedback
and adjustments. It is Relationship-oriented, Buyers are more
attentive; Sales force represents a long-term commitment
however it is the most expensive of all the promotional tools.
May be targeted at the trader or ultimate consumer; Makes
use of a variety of formats: premiums, coupons, contests,
among others; Attracts more customers, offers strong
purchase incentives, dramatizes offers, boosts wilting sales;
Stimulates quick response; But it’s Short-lived and ineffective
at building long-term brand preferences.
Highly credible; Very believable; involves many forms like news
stories, news features, events and sponsorships, among
others; Reaches many prospects missed via other forms of
promotion, Dramatizes company or product however it is often
the most under used element in the promotional mix yet it
relatively inexpensive compared to other promotional tools.

Has many forms: Telephone marketing, direct mail, online
marketing. Four distinctive characteristics: Nonpublic,
Immediate, Customized, Interactive but it is well-suited to
highly-targeted marketing efforts.
When deciding upon your unique marketing communications mix, you should
also consider the Product Life Cycle.

Pre-Introduction: Needs light advertising and pre-introduction publicity.
Introduction: Heavy use of advertising, public relations for awareness, events
and experience followed by personal selling to gain distribution coverage, sales
promotion and direct marketing to induce trial.
Growth: Growth has its own momentum through word of mouth and interactive
marketing.
Advertising, public relations, branding and brand marketing and personal selling
for distribution.
Maturity: Here advertising, events and experiences, and personal selling all
become more important. There is need for reminder and persuasion of the
public about the relevance of the product.
Decline: Sales promotion remains strong, other communication tools are
reduced and salespeople give the product only minimal attention for distribution
purposes.

OTHER FACTORS;
 The target audience and its characteristics
 Type of product and its market
 Consumers’ readiness to purchase
 Availability of media and its effectiveness
 Consumers’ preferences for various media
 Regulations, competitors, and environmental factors
 Promotional Budget available

MARKETING COMMUNICATION BUDGET
By
Karishma

What is a marketing communication
budget?
• This refers to the estimated projection of costs required to promote a
business’ products or services.
This budget typically includes all promotional cost including marketing
communications tools i.e. website development, advertising, sales promotion
etc.
A marketing communication budget provides a formal process for planning,
tracking and measuring the impact of your expenditures on marketing
communications activities such as advertising, direct marketing, online or
events.
The budget sets out the funding required to meet your communications
objectives and provides a method of managing the expenditure over a budget

FEATURES OF A MARKETING BUDGET
• Objectives; The objective of the marketing communication budget is to achieve
the communication goals as cost effectively as possible and demonstrate a
successful return on investment.
• Scope; The budget covers the direct and indirect costs of communications
programs.
• Time; The budget also sets out the timescales for expenditure over the year
• Efficiencies; Putting together a budget can highlight opportunities to reduce
marketing communications costs.
• Tracking; Budgets enable you to track planned expenditure against actual
costs
• Metrics; Use the budget to measure how well the program achieved
communications objectives. Use metrics to measure factors such as changes in

DETERMINING A BUDGET
• Marketing budgets aid in the planning of operations by forcing managers to
prioritize activities and consider how conditions may change.
• Essential purpose of budgeting include:
-To control resources
-To communicate plans to various responsibility center managers
-To motivate managers to strive to achieve budget goals
-To evaluate the performance of managers
-To provide visibility into the company's performance
Marketing plans are resource driven and they affect the budget. Therefore, two
big budgeting decisions should be resolved up front,
1. How shall these efforts be funded?
2. Who will benefit from the new program?

BUGDETING UNDER INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION.
When determining a budget for an integrated marketing plan, it is important for
managers to understand the components of IMC in order to allocate funds
properly, these include:
-The foundation
-The corporate culture
-The brand focus
-Consumer experience
-Communications tools
-Promotional tools
-Integration tools

HOW TO PREPARE A MARKETING COMMUNICATION BUDGET?
There are six steps considered when making or drafting a communications
budget and these include;
1. Calculate overall marketing communication budget
2. Decide what communication tools to use through out the year
3. Review previous year’s communications budget
4. Assign a budget to each section of your promotional campaign
5. Set aside some funds in the marketing communication budget for new
promotion ventures
6. Include a segment of the advertising budget for marketing materials i.e. flier
printing, t-shirts and giveaway products

PRESENTED BY: NISTA & AZIA

What is integrated Marketing Communications?
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is an approach to brand
communications where the different modes work together to create a seamless
experience for the customer and are presented with a similar tone and style that
reinforces the brand’s core message.
Its goal is to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising,
sales promotion, public relations direct marketing, online communications and
social media work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to
work in isolation, which maximizes their cost effectiveness.

COMPONENTS OF IMC
Corporate image/media
Branding
Market segmentation
Media selection
Promotional tools
Customer relationship management
Consistent messages
Sales promotion
Advertising
Direct mail

Why is IMC important?
 Integrated marketing communication plays an integral role in communicating
brand message to a larger audience.
 Integrated marketing communication goes a long way in creating brand
awareness among customers at a minimal cost.
 Integrated marketing communication scores over traditional ways of
marketing as it focuses on not only winning new customers but also
maintaining long term healthy relationship with them.
 Marketers do not also have to think really hard as to which marketing tool is
really effective in creating brand awareness. Integrated marketing
communication saves time which is often lost in figuring out the best
marketing tool.

TOOLS OF IMC
• Advertising :
Advertising is one of the most effective ways of brand promotion. Advertising
helps organizations reach a wider audience within the shortest possible time
frame.
Advertisements in newspaper, television, radio, billboards help end-users to
believe in your brand and also motivate them to buy the same and remain loyal
towards the brand.
Advertisements not only increase the consumption of a particular
product/service but also create brand awareness among customers. Marketers
need to ensure that the right message reaches the right customers at the right
time. Be careful about the content of the advertisement, after all you are paying

SALES PROMOTION:
Brands (products and services) can also be promoted through
discount coupons, loyalty clubs, membership coupons, incentives,
lucrative schemes, attractive packages for loyal customers,
specially designed deals and so on.
Brands can also be promoted effectively through newspaper
inserts, danglers, banners at the right place, glorifiers, wobblers
etc.
DIRECT MARKETING:
Direct marketing enables organizations to communicate directly
with the end-users. Various tools for direct marketing are emails,
text messages, catalogues, brochures, promotional letters and so
on. Through direct marketing, messages reach end-users directly.

PERSONAL SELLING:
• Personal selling is also one of the most effective tools for integrated
marketing communication.
Personal selling takes place when marketer or sales representative sells
products or services to clients. It goes a long way in strengthening the
relationship between the organization and the end-users.
Personal selling involves the following steps like:
1. Prospecting
2. Making first contact
3. The sales call
4. Objection handling
5. Closing the sale

Public Relation Activities:
Public relations activities help promote a brand through press releases,
news, events, public appearances to mention but a few. The role of
public relations officer is to represent the organization in the best
light/way possible.

LEVELS OF IMC
• Level 1: tactical coordination and marketing communications initial, IMC focus
is on the tactical coordination of diverse marketing such as advertising,
promotion, direct response, public relations, and special events. This level
focuses on delivering “one sight, one sound” via marketing communication.
• Level 2: Redefining the scope of marketing communication the organization
begins to examine communications from the customer’s point of view.
Marketing communication begins to give consideration to all sources of brand
and company contact a customer has with the product or service.
Management broadens the scope of communication activities to encompass and
coordinate internal marketing employees, suppliers, and other business partners
and align with the existing external communication programs.

• Level 3: Application of information technology an organization’s application of
empirical data using information technology to provide a basis identity, value,
and monitor the impact of integrated internal and external communication
programs to key customer segments over time.
• Level 4: Financial and strategic integration the emphasis shifts to using the
skills and data generated in the earlier stages to drive corporate strategic
planning using customer information and insights. Organizations re-evaluate
their financial information infrastructure.
IMC entails coordinating the organization’s promotional mix to communicate a
clear, consistent & compelling company & brand message.
The IMC program must blend these elements to inform, persuade, remind &

BASIC REASONS FOR COMMUNICATION IN IMC
Inform – increase new product awareness, inform about specific brands,
educates about product features/benefits
Persuade – persuading consumers to try new products, brands or services
to create product demand (& secondary demand)
Remind – keep the firm’s brand fresh in the consumers memory, ‘creating
top of mind awareness’
Add value – altering consumer perceptions, innovation, improving quality,
delivering sales promotions
Assist other efforts – assist sales reps, pre-sell products

Wraps communication around customers: Helps consumers helps to move
through various stages of the buying process.
Increases profit: It increases profit through increase effectiveness. As its most
basic level, a unified message has more impact than a disjointed myriad of
messages.
Enables relationship marketing: It cements a bond of loyalty with consumers
which can protect them from the inevitable onslaught of competition. The ability
to keep a customer for life is a powerful competitive advantage.
Makes messages more consistent. IMC makes messages more consistent and
thus more believable.

Boosts sales: IMC can boost sales by stretching messages across several
communications
tools to create more avenues for customers to get aware, aroused, and
ultimately, to arrive
at a purchase.
Eases the consumers in their buying process: Carefully linked messages
also help buyers
by giving timely reminders, updated information and special offers which,
when submitted
in a planned sequence, help them move comfortably through the phases
of their buying
process…
Saves money in the long run: IMC saves money as it gets rid of duplication
in areas such
as art and photography since they can be portioned out and used in say,
advertising,

Examples of companies using IMC
1. Walt Disney company in south Africa

2.Guinness company

3.Coca cola company
Coca cola uses integrated marketing communications in order to communicate
with its target. It is a pioneer company in 360 communication tools as they
rapidly understood they had to come in touch with consumers to create links,
and to look for them wherever they are. The communication plan is adapted
regarding the market, the society, the potential and the product positioning.
Coca cola is willing to be close to its customers, to be a part of their daily life, to
become a kind of ritual attached to specific moments, for that they use social
media and social marketing through social responsibility, for e.g. Creating
emoticons and feelings of affiliation towards its consumers. It always focusses
on fun and entertainment as it is the main message they want to deliver. They
adapt their message to the target market but they are always based on the same
values; sharing happiness, fun, tradition of coke.

BARRIERS TO INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION
• Functional silos
• Stifled creativity
• Time scale conflicts
• Lack of management know how

GOLDEN RULES OF IMC
• Get senior management support for the initiative by ensuring they
understand the benefits of IMC
• Integrate at different levels of management
• Ensure the design manual or even a brand book is used to maintain
common visual standards for the use of logos, fonts, colors and then on.
• Focus on a clear marketing communications strategy.
• Start with a zero budget
• Think customers first
• Build relationships and brand values.
• Develop a good marketing information system, which determines who
needs what data when
• Share artwork and other media

WHAT IS A BAD IMC?
One of the most common failure of IMC is the use of too
many tools for the social media. For e.g. Some
brands/companies use social sites like Facebook, twitter,
Instagram etc. When the audience really pays attention to
those channels, what ends up happening here is that
although one channel looks nice and engages in meaningful
conversation, the other look like a barren wasteland that
ignores their audience ,which is not good at all.
But even when you have someone concentrating specifically
on your social media, they need to not only be conversant of
the messaging they are attempting to convey, but the
manner in which they are communicating that message.
Even then, it doesn't always go well !!

CASE STUDY: “3 IDIOTS”
• How the producers of the film “3 idiots” promoted it

The producers of 3 idiots- a successful Bollywood hit of 2009 used a
variety of communication vehicles to rake in a record of 240 crore in both
domestic and international markets in just the first ten days…….
Question is, how did they do it??
 Movies take quite a while to reach the semi-urban and rural areas in
India. The producers of “3 idiots” noticed this gap and planned
promotional campaigns targeted at rural and semi-urban audiences.
 Interviews were conducted by regional movie stars in rural areas.
 The concept of alternative reality gaming was used in relatively bigger
cities.

CONTINUATION;
Aamir Khan Sachin Tendulkar

An interactive website, www.Idiotsacademy.Com was also designed
in keeping the name of the movie. Additional activities included tie-
ups with reliance life insurance for “all-is-well insurance plans”
named after a popular song in the movie, “aal izz well”,

T-shirts, rickshaws and butt chairs at multiplexes were
all used in the promotion of the movie

IN CONCLUSION;
Once the overall marketing strategy has been determined and the marketing plan has been
outlined, it is necessary to develop a set of operational communication objectives. It is only when
this is done that an appropriate marketing communications mix can be designed. There are,
however, a number of intervening factors to be considered before the communications mix is
finalized. These include the nature of both the product and the market, the stage at which the
product lies in its life cycle and the relative value of the product in terms of its price to potential
purchasers. Having decided upon the communications mix, the promotional message can be
determined and the medium or media best suited to delivering this message can be chosen. At
this point, the budgetary implications of the decisions made so far have to be considered. If the
cost of the communications program exceeds the resources available to the organization, then
there may have to be an adjustment in the communications mix. In some instances, the
organization may conclude that it can adjust the communications mix to reduce the cost to an
affordable level but that the revised communications package is unlikely to achieve the original
objectives. Faced with this situation, the organization may resort to revising its marketing
communications objectives. Once the budget has been set the program can be implemented.
The effectiveness of the program has to be measured against its objectives and, if necessary,

FOR BEING A GREAT AUDIENCE