Integrated Marketing Communications: 5 Primary Communication Tools

Communication is always one of the most important and vital strategic areas for the success of an organization. You may have the best or most innovative products or services, but if your internal and external communications are weak, then the demand for your products or services is a personal concern. When communicating the value of your products or services, you want to focus on how they will benefit your customers.

When planning your strategy for integrated marketing communication, or IMC, you’ll want to engage your customers in dialogue by inviting interaction through coordinated efforts of content, timing, and delivery of your products or services. By ensuring the direction, clarity, consistency, timing and appearance of your messages, delivered to your target audience, these factors will help avoid any confusion about the benefits of your brand, through the connection of instant product recognition. .

When looking at your marketing mix, you’re looking at pricing, distribution, advertising, and promotion, along with customer service. Integrated marketing communication is part of that marketing mix included in your marketing plan. IMC Strategies define your target audience, set goals and budgets, analyze any social, competitive, cultural, or technological issues, and conduct research to assess the effectiveness of your promotional strategies.

If companies plan, communicate, and follow industry guidelines ethically, they are more likely to earn the trust of their customers and target audiences. There are five basic integrated marketing communication tools:

1. Advertising:

This tool can efficiently deliver your messages to large audiences through media such as radio, television, magazines, ROPs, the Internet, billboards, and other mobile communication technology devices. This method can efficiently reach a large number of consumers, although the costs can be somewhat high.

2. Sales promotion:

This tool is used through coupons, contests, samples, prizes, demonstrations, exhibitions or incentives. It is used to accelerate short-term sales by building brand awareness and encouraging repeat purchases.

3.Public Relations:

This integrated marketing communications tool is initiated through public appearances, news/press releases, or event sponsorships, to build trust and goodwill by presenting the product, company, or person in a positive light.

4.Direct Marketing:

This tool will use email, snail mail, catalogues, encourage direct responses to radio and television, in order to reach specific audiences to increase sales and test new products and alternative marketing tactics.

5. Personal selling:

Scheduling appointments and sales meetings, house parties, making presentations and any type of one-on-one communication, to reach your customers and strengthen your relationship with your customers, launch this IMC tool.

Decisions that link overall objectives and strategies during the marketing planning phases help evaluate and refine specific integrated marketing communication activities. Before selecting an IMC tool, marketing, product, and brand managers must consider social, competitive, legal, regulatory, ethical, cultural, and technological considerations. One thing you want to avoid when turning on integrated marketing communication tools is reaching inappropriate audiences and causing controversy. That could be detrimental when it comes to building brand awareness and encouraging consumer spending at your company. When marketers examine their target audience’s beliefs, emotions, and behavior toward their brand, they can influence their beliefs to achieve product awareness, drawing attention to their promotional campaigns.