Strategic Integrated Marketing Communication Theory and practice

It has been some 25 years or so since the notion of IMC, integrated market

ing communication, emerged, as it is now understood. And even though

since its inception everyone in the world of marketing communication

seemed to agree it was a good and even necessary thing, there is little evi

dence to suggest it is widely practiced today. There are many reasons for

this, and a number of them are discussed in this book. Nevertheless, even

though true IMC may prove difficult or impractical to effect, the princi

ples of IMC can and should guide marketing communication planning

and execution. It is the aim of this book to provide an understanding of

those principles, and how they may be used for more effective marketing

communication.

At its heart, IMC is really all about planning , and what it takes to

deliver a consistent and effective message. This applies to all marketing

communication, whether consumer, business-to-business, retail, or corpo

rate. A consistent message, especially in terms of visual feel, is what helps

build positive associations in memory that are quickly and easily linked

to the brand. The importance of this to effective communication cannot

be understated.

Ensuring this will happen follows from effective strategic planning.

The strategic planning process for IMC begins with the selection of the

appropriate target audience, and an understanding of how they go about

making decisions in the market. This is critical, for it is this understand

ing that identifies where in that process marketing communication can

have a positive impact. Based upon this, a positioning strategy must be

developed and the appropriate communication objectives set. Finally,

media that are consistent with the communication objectives, and that

will reach the target audience at important touch points in the decision

process, are selected.