What is Integrated Marketing Communications and why is it becoming increasingly accepted?
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Integrated marketing communication delivers a consistent and clear message May 05.2019 Integrated marketing communications is the process of conveying a unified message
across a variety of channels to drive higher customer engagement for a company’s products and solutions. When General Electric decided to revamp its 24-year old advertising slogan “We bring good things to life,” the odds were stacked against them. Developed in 1979 by ad firm BBDO, before Jack
Welch’s appointment as CEO in 1981, the jingle had positioned GE as an integral part of people’s lives until 2003. Consumer research undertaken in the early 70s had revealed that a ‘typical GE consumer’ was older, unsophisticated, and low-income. As a result, a single brand message that brought all parts of the company together was needed to build brand loyalty. By 1990s, GE’s
ad campaign had proved successful as new research indicated that GE was perceived to be more progressive, energetic, and approachable than before. Several publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal voiced their apprehension about it and termed it
risky. Some experts thought it was a brave attempt at a time when attention spans of consumers were shrinking. “‘We bring good things to life' is a great line and speaks to the benefits we bring, and I was hesitant to move away from it, but we needed a new articulation that is part mission, part vision, and part strategy,''
said Judy L. Hu, GE’s general manager for corporate advertising and marketing communications. Rebranding a company can be a tricky affair, especially for a company like GE, which had until then, spent millions on building its corporate brand image. Jeffrey Immelt had taken over in 2001 amidst a declining share price and
unwanted public attention over Jack Welch’s retirement benefits. However, research showed that the earlier slogan had invoked a sentiment of lighting and appliances amongst consumers - a segment that contributed only about 6-7% of its revenues. What
followed was a brand makeover worth $100 million spread over 18 months with a new slogan ‘Imagination at Work.’ It united all divisions of the conglomerate, including medical, appliances, financial services, aerospace, and biotech under an ‘innovation’ mindset. The 2003 Golden Globe Awards premiered the TV ad featuring the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk aircraft fitted with a modern GE engine. As the plane soars
powerfully, the black and white video gives way to colorful footage showing the competency of GE’s engines. Following its launch, TV ads on primetime shows like Friends and ER were beamed that drew a ‘young’ audience in the 18-49-year-old age group. An
internal company-wide campaign had preceded this launch as employees participated in trivia contests with the ultimate prize being a ticket to the Golden Globes Awards ceremony. No marketing avenue was spared - with an aim to spreading a more broader message, BBDO floated print ads in Forbes, Time, The Wall Street Journal, and other business, news and technology-based publications. BBDO thrust GE into non-traditional advertising including HTML banner ads on AOL, Yahoo! and MSN, and even on gaming sites to reach ‘the widest possible audience.’ To encourage a two-way conversation, the ad agency then launched a campaign called 'The Pen Sketch' that let users put their ideas to work by drawing virtual illustrations on a landing page while controlling the background color, the ink color, and line sizes. Users could email their drawings to friends, making it a viral campaign. These sketches were then uploaded on a website for people to browse through them later. GE's 'The Pen Sketch' campaignSource: AdAge GE’s plan started to fall in place. According to market research reports, months after launching the integrated marketing effort, perceptions that the company was ‘innovative’ increased by 35%, perceptions that it was ‘dynamic’ rose by 50%, and perceptions that it offered ‘high-tech’ solutions spiked by 45%. GE’ integrated campaign launched 16 years ago is much more than just a scattered collection of brilliant content. What makes it so powerful is that the message “Imagination at Work” integrates all its pieces. The message strikes people with pure emotion—GE brings to life what you imagine. You’re likely to latch on to every bit of its infiniteness and ability to deliver the best technology. No matter how you receive this message, GE’s campaign delivers a clear and consistent brand message. Companies produce value, and they must effectually communicate that value to the outside world. A winning integrated marketing communications strategy delivers a steady, compelling and consistent message about businesses and the value of their products and solutions. In this post, we will look at some of the best-integrated marketing communication examples of our times. Our objective is to understand how leading companies have successfully implemented integrated marketing communications by blending a sound strategy with extraordinary creativity to achieve results that outlive the campaign and give incremental benefits. Here is what we have covered in this post:
EXPLAINING Integrated Marketing CommunicationIn our earlier blog, we defined integrated marketing as an approach to creating a unified and consistent experience for customers to interact with a brand or company. According to Philip Kotler, the integrated marketing communications process involves creating, communicating, and delivering value for consumers such that the ‘whole is more than the sum of parts’. It maximizes the individual and cumulative effort of all communication channels, including mass media, advertising, digital media, social media, events, public relations, and mobiles for engaging with customers. Businesses spend millions or even billions of dollars on marketing efforts. Marketing budgets for B2B companies averages around 6.4% of revenues. For a company the size of GE, that amounts to about $2 billion. However, CMOs face a different reality today than they did several years back thanks to a surge in digital communication techniques. The digital era has spawned a revolutionary method of communication for B2B companies - that ranges from TV, print media (newspapers, magazines, publications, brochures, case studies), digital media (mobiles, tablets, websites, blogs, microsites, email, videos, podcasts, webinars), social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, WhatsApp) and so much more. That is why companies need to have an integrated marketing communications strategy that enables them to coordinate their marketing messages for the most significant impact. 5 Reasons Why Integrated Marketing Communications are ImportantAccording to Kantar Media’s 2018 annual state of marketing study, marketers are grappling to understand cross-channel behavior. 82% of marketers said they had integrated marketing strategies, but their efforts are not permeating through to consumers. It shows why B2B marketers must understand how to use the communication process to reach end-consumers by decluttering the advertising process. Let us now understand the importance of integrated marketing communication for companies and the need for a combined strategy: 1. Customers are better informedIn today’s digital age, consumers know what they want, and seek knowledge for it themselves. They do not rely on marketers to tell them what they need, instead gather information through internet research, social media posts, peer reviews, word of mouth, and other means. On average, two-thirds of B2B purchases were significantly influenced by digital media. They can even generate brand messages and relay them to others. Marketers are challenged to find newer ways of reaching their targeted audience. 2. Customer segments are becoming more fragmentedConsider this: a 30-second TV ad beamed in the 1960s simultaneously on three major networks, i.e., ABC, CBS, and NBC would have reached 80% of American women. Today, companies cannot reach the same level of audience even if they advertise with 100 TV channels. As a result, marketers are required to develop more focused marketing programs for narrower customer segments and slender micro markets. 3. Marketing communication is cluttered and intrusiveThe average city dweller is exposed to as many as 5,000 ads versus about 2,000 ads 30 years ago. No matter where you are: at a Superbowl game, a gas station, a pizza joint, a grocery store, driving on a highway, watching your favorite TV series - you are bombarded with short-form videos and ads. Consumers feel that ads have become more intrusive than before. Marketers need to be creative in leveraging technology to engage with customers in a non-intrusive manner. 4. The emergence of newer marketing channelsMarketers at companies traditionally known for spending a chunk of their advertising budgets on conventional advertising channels are beginning to move away towards digital media. Unilever spends about 25% of its $8 billion budget on digital. According to The CMO Survey, a quarter of B2B marketers spend 61-80% of their marketing budgets on digital. A HubSpot survey pegged this number at 47%, which is only expected to increase. Marketers at Salesforce spent nearly half of their budgets (46%) on digital. Old media mainstays have ceded ground to newer forms of marketing, and hence, marketers must reach their audiences through a combination of new age technologies, including mobile, digital, online, and social media. 5. More marketing channels, more chaosAs different forms of new-age communication channels open, it presents a unique problem - marketers are struggling to integrate their messages across a broad range of communication channels. For example, a TV ad (mass media) may convey a specific message, but it may not resonate when transmitted through websites, landing pages, YouTube videos, social media posts. What marketers often fail to understand is that consumers do not differentiate between the source of these messages. What matters to them is the utility value that a brand/product/solution provides. Far too often, marketers are focused on short-term preferences of customers. Instead, a well-planned integrated marketing communications strategy can result in continued engagement, and build customer relationships based on consistent brand experience. Integrated marketing communications are essential because it enables a compelling message, using specific marketing tools that are carefully synchronized. How Does the Integrated Marketing Communications Process Work?Customer segments are becoming refined, and so a well-coordinated integrated marketing program will need to be created for specific customer segments, niches, or even individuals. In this section, we will examine every component of the integrated marketing communications process. Let us understand the components and how they come together to form a well-rounded process that enables marketers to set aside their budgets more efficiently and effectively. Integrated Marketing ProcessSource: Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing To help readers understand effectively, we have defined the different components of integrated marketing communication identified with a Microsoft Super Bowl 2019 Xbox commercial. The commercial was launched at Super Bowl 2019 and later in YouTube where it has garnered more than 29 million visits. The integrated marketing communications process has two parties, four functions, and two communication tools. Sender: The source of this message, in this case, Microsoft. Encoding: The process of assembling marketing collateral like this by McCann, including creating a narrative, identifying actors, creating scripts, shooting, into a YouTube video that conveys a strong message. Message: The actual ad packaged as a video sponsored by Microsoft. Media: Which media is used to bring the message to its audience - in this case, it is YouTube. There could be other channels through which it appears. Decoding: How does the target audience interpret the video’s message? Receiver: The party receiving the message. In this case, it is anybody who sees this video (fans at a stadium, people watching it on a TV/mobile/tablet) Response: What is the expected outcome for the video? Does Microsoft expect people to buy Xboxes, follow them on social media channels, engage with their content or do nothing at all? Feedback: The response back to the sender after seeing the video: do Xbox fans rave about it on social media or they don’t like it at all? Noise: Ignore this component at your peril. When a receiver receives a message which is entirely different from its intent, that is ‘noise.’ If you are a marketing communicator, the success of your communication depends on many factors. For example, unless a video creator is empathetic to the emotions of an Xbox fan, he might not be able to create a video that resonates with them. Benefits of Integrated Marketing CommunicationsIntegrated Marketing Communications has tangible benefits to B2B companies. It is a fusion of a company’s promotion tools to communicate value to customers and build customer relationships persuasively. Here are the benefits of an integrated marketing communications strategy: 1. Helps build good customer relationshipsCompanies want to develop and nurture relationships with their customers - it cannot be achieved simply by creating a great product, pricing it appealingly, and making it accessible to your target audience. An Integrated marketing communications strategy can enable your brand to convey the intended message across marketing channels and mediums, that resonate with your targeted audience. This way, marketers are not left wondering how their audience is perceiving it. Marketers often gather a lot of fans but fail to interact with them. However, American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A, lets their fans know when they open a new store through social media announcements. They even feature employees from their store to add a human touch to their messages. 2. Enables personalized communicationsHave you ever wondered why you get so many emails about the latest fashions and offers from clothing retailers? It is only a select few who have indicated a desired to be informed get these messages. Statistics suggest that when customers receive a birthday message tend to think positively about the company, that also results in increased brand loyalty. One way of building increased personalization is through loyalty programs. When it comes to loyalty programs, nobody does it better than Starbucks. Their reward program features a mobile app that rewards loyal customers with limited time, bonus offers, and extends it even for merchandise purchased outside their stores. Starbucks has reported a 14% rise in members to 16.3 million people in Q1, 2019. The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington increased their customer count by 300% by identifying postcodes of their most-frequent customers and engaging others within those locations with discount campaigns. 3. TARGETING SEGMENTED GROUPSIn an era where consumer groups are becoming increasingly segmented, integrated marketing communications enables B2B companies to target consumer segments based on their preferences, needs, attitudes, and interests. Segments can be based on:
Source: New York Times
4. Improved brand perceptionA successful integrated marketing communications program that can position a product appropriately in the consumer’s mind so that she can compare it with other competitors. A unified message helps in creating a healthy and positive brand image. Industrial equipment manufacturer Scott Equipment was spread across 25 different locations in the US with each region creating different brand images for their products. Scott Equipment hired Peter Mayer advertising agency to integrate their marketing under a tagline named ‘Heavy-Duty Commitment’ that let consumers know of the support they can expect. Such well-targeted communication programs can provide positive assurance to consumers about what to expect irrespective of where it is purchased. 5. Increased Customer RetentionIntegrated marketing communications enable higher levels of customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty. Moreover, maintaining repeat customers is less expensive than replacing customers who move away. While marketers can use integrated marketing communication programs to sell products, and acquire new customers, increasing retention and loyalty should be their primary focus. When a customer logs on to a website and is greeted with a message saying “Welcome back, Jennie!”, that means Jennie has been on the website in the past, and the website content can be customized to display information on products/solutions that Jennie wants to purchase. 6. Measure the ImpactAn integrated marketing approach connects brands with each customer through various channels, collectively or sequentially. It produces meaningful insights across multiple channels that enable marketers to measure the impact of every component of a campaign. It lets brand managers identify the channels that are working and the components that resonate with the target audience. Integrated marketing communications have exponential benefits to businesses, provided there is sufficient emphasis on customer engagement through consistent and clear messages. Disadvantages of integrated marketing communicationsWhen a tree falls in a forest, how many people notice it? Unfortunately, too many integrated marketing communications programs have ‘fallen’ due to various reasons without causing as much as a rustle. In a world where viewer attention spans are getting shorter, a user seeing half a screen for two seconds counts as a view. As Keith Weed, CMO of Unilever, whose prime responsibility is to derive a higher ROI for Unilever’s ~$8 billion marketing budget, says “Can you imagine seeing half of a TV screen for two seconds and we’d say that is a TV ad view? I certainly wouldn’t consider it as such.” Integrated marketing communication is not easy because it needs different marketing channels to act coherently in a synchronized manner. Let us examine its disadvantages and why it could go wrong if not carefully managed: 1. High costsIt is quite expensive to launch marketing campaigns across all channels simultaneously. It is because it involves the creation, production, and distribution costs. Marketers might fall short of budgets while running campaigns at such a large scale. 2. Challenging to reach national/international audiencesDespite allocating millions of dollars to it, an integrated marketing communication might not succeed because of an inability to standardize or adapt them to local cultures. What works in a TV ad in Brazil may not work in India. 3. Information overloadFar too many marketers make the mistake of putting too much information out there for consumers. That results in information clutter, and consumers don’t get the message. It defeats the purpose of having a well-crafted integration marketing communication program. 4. Managing contentAll integrated marketing campaigns have loads of content that is shared with consumers directly. However, managing content can be a challenge, especially if it is across marketing channels, geographies, and consumer segments. Updating every piece of marketing collateral, publishing it, customizing it to audience needs is not easy. 5. Measuring ROI can be difficultKantar’s research shows that 40% of marketers are relying on short-term ROI metrics, despite 85% saying that a mix of both short and long-term metrics are ideal. The sheer number of marketing channels (e.g., TV, magazines, publications, digital, web, social media) participating in a coordinated marketing program - such that demonstrating measurable results can be a challenge. Different metrics/parameters to measure the impact of different marketing channels can prove to be a marketer’s nightmare. 6. Not geared for all businessesAn integrated marketing campaign may not be possible for small businesses as they may lack the resources for putting it together. It needs imagination, creativity, skill, and experience to pull it off, which small businesses may not have. Despite its obvious disadvantages, integrated marketing communications can help the business grow through existing accounts and add newer customers. When carried out properly, it becomes a powerful marketing weapon. Integrated Marketing Communications examplesThings always change. No company can remain bottled up for too long if they aspire to grow. Integrated marketing communications programs are designed to change this status quo to either reinforce popular belief about a brand or change consumer views. Marketers at B2B companies then create consistent messages designed to educate and inform buyers. A Heinz marketing statistic revealed that companies with $200 million in annual revenues experienced a 3X higher effectiveness of their marketing initiatives versus those companies that did not have integrated marketing programs. In this section, we have narrowed down on three top examples of successful integrated marketing campaigns undertaken by B2B companies that have stood the test of time. Some of these campaigns (like GE’s) are a little old, but serve a reminder to us that no matter what your business is or how small your budget is, integrated marketing campaigns can give you exponential returns if you stick to basics, i.e., understanding customer needs, communicating a consistent message, focus on. Let’s dive right in then! INTEGRATED MARKETING CAMPAIGN EXAMPLE #1‘Intel Inside’: The Insider StoryIn 1991, Intel launched a coordinated marketing campaign to promote its computer chips. It had lost a legally bruising battle with AMD a year earlier (that continued to gnaw at it in the remainder of 90s and 2000s) and personal computers hadn’t yet become a household necessity. People were hardly aware of what a ‘transistor’ in a chip meant, let alone make purchasing decisions for computers. Intel saw an opportunity in what others could not see. The ‘Intel Inside’ campaign was designed to turn Intel into a brand that symbolized quality, trust, commitment, and experience. In 1993, Intel booked an ample exhibit space at CES mirroring what they’d done at other events. Intel’s Executive Vice President Craig Barrett and his team put up a grand show with multimedia videos to convince audience members about what the future of consumer technology looked like and how they were at its forefront. It then followed it up with TV campaigns ubiquitously equipped with ‘Intel Inside’ branding and a 5-tone jingle that let consumers know to look for it while purchasing a computer. Despite not having direct access to its consumers, the TV campaigns had consumers believing that Intel chips meant high-performance computing products and services. As troves of personal computers started taking off, Intel pounced on the opportunity and convinced PC manufacturers to feature the ‘Intel Inside’ logo on their products and product advertisements. Intel's earliest ad campaignSource: Flickr It then designed a co-op marketing program to contribute to PC manufacturer ads directly. If a manufacturer participates in this program by purchasing chips from Intel, it will reserve a percentage value of the transaction as a corpus amount for co-op ads. PC manufacturers will then be reimbursed 50% of his advertising costs for featuring the ‘Intel Inside’ logo from the corpus amount. PC manufacturers could then get their ads done at half the rate. Manufacturers who jumped on this opportunity included tech giants like IBM, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Sony. (Later, in 2008, this co-op program required manufacturers to spend 35% of Intel’s contribution to spending on online marketing.) Dell's ad with the 'Intel Inside' logoSource: Amazon Intel’s competitors began feeling the brunt of its campaign when in the mid-1990s, higher-powered chips such as K-6 by AMD and PowerPC (designed by top-notch manufacturers) failed to cut ice with consumers. People purchasing computers without the ‘Intel Inside,’ logo were becoming consciously aware of it and were ready to pay a premium for it rather than settle for anything less. INTEGRATED MARKETING CAMPAIGN EXAMPLE #2Buick: No longer the ‘sofa on wheels’When you mention Buick to someone, the first impulse is that of someone who is old, old-fashioned, owned by older people, a car you would expect your grandfather to drive. No wonder then that in 2009, the average age of a Buick LaCrosse buyer was 55. Rather than going down with a whimper just as how the 107-year old GM Oldsmobile did in 2004, Buick mounted a major comeback effort by appealing to a younger audience including millennials. It started with designing elegant looking automobiles. The problem, though, was more than just an image makeover. Years earlier, the automobile company had discontinued an extended range of its cars, including Saturn, Saab, Hummer, and Pontiac to focus on a four-brand model for the US market. Even then, in 2015, about 80% of the approximately 500,000 Buicks on the road were no longer in production. It realized early on that letting go of older models in favor of new SUVs to differentiate with its competition, was the first step in the right direction. Its product transformation effort yielded attractive-looking vehicles like Enclave, Verano, and the Encore - compact crossover. Although Buick experienced a spurt in initial growth, it started to level off after a few years. Consumer perception of Buick was a grandpa vehicle that was piled up in a scrap yard or outside bingo parlors. It was time for a change. Buick had to do something surprising to shrug off its old-fogey reputation. The company decided to launch an integrated marketing campaign centered around the ‘That’s a Buick?’ theme. These self-deprecating ads poked a little fun on Buick’s image. The ads showed older people and millennials seeing a new Buick for the first time and being wowed by it because ‘It doesn’t look like a Buick.’ One ad showed a grandmother hardly able to control her disbelief while noticing her grandson’s new Buick. A valet worker looking for a dull-looking Buick is surprised to see a stylish vehicle blinking when he presses the car’s key chain buttons. In another spot, a girl isn’t able to spot her friend in a Buick that is parked right in front of her. Another ad campaign with the tagline ‘24 Hours of Happiness Test Drive' showed how millennials were test driving a Buick for 24 hours to convey a sense of well-being and happiness that Buick owners have. Along with traditional ads, Buick used alternate marketing channels, including videos, imagery, press releases, and podcasts aimed at millennials and baby boomers to create a sense of good feeling overall. Print ad showing Buick's integrated marketing campaignSource: Buick In 2016, Buick debuted on the Super Bowl to introduce its newest convertible in 25 years, the Cascada. The ad showed Emily Ratajkowski catching a wedding bouquet similar to New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham’s gravity-defying catch. Beckham is at hand in the commercial as well. Buick’s website traffic surged by 100% the following day. Over the years, Super Bowl commercials have attained iconic status given the large fanbase and chatter it generates. Influencers such as Beckham and Ratajkowski have more than 8 million followers combines that offer an opportunity to appeal to create social media buzz and access to international markets. Buick followed up the 2016 commercial with another one in 2017 featuring Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and model Miranda Kerr. Buick’s integrated marketing campaign coupled with its product makeover, resulted in 1.18 million vehicle sales in Asia in 2017, becoming the number 4 brand in China. Buick is expected to continue these their campaigns for a while to create a new image in the minds of millennials and/or boomers, who don’t yet have one. Like these integrated marketing communication examples? Read the best case studies that we’ve shortlisted to bolster your understanding of integrated marketing further. FEATURES of Integrated Marketing Communication for B2B companiesFor B2B companies, an integrated marketing communication plan requires coordination between the company’s marketers and any agency the company employs. These groups are responsible for connecting products to their marketing messages and communication methods. Integrated marketing campaigns are successful when existing customers become even more loyal to the brand, and newer customers are added in the process. Here is how a B2B company can plan for an integrated marketing program: 1. Objectives for Integrated MarketingIntegrated marketing programs need to have clear and consistent communications objectives, which helps marketers to design the actual marketing messages. These are subsets of overall marketing objectives that include more sales, increased market share, higher profits, and improved ROI. However, here are examples of objectives that a B2B integrated marketing program may have:
For Alicia Hatch, Chief Marketing Officer at Deloitte Digital, the marketing objective is “Surrounding my customer with a total brand experience and not just serving up content…the idea is to provide the right content to the right consumer at the right time.” 2. Communications researchThe planning for communication begins with research. B2B customers are keenly interested in the value of a product, such as:
Comprehensive research enables B2B marketers to know their audience, their competition, objectives, financial goals, etc. Product-specific research helps in unearthing critical product features that are selling points. For example, a cloud-based supply chain company can provide B2B users with configurable models to cut costs and make quicker decisions. Marketers can use consumer-oriented research to learn the context of a product’s use. Business consumers might use an internal-only communications/messaging platform to collaborate between themselves and work remotely with colleagues. A target-market research earmarks business users who will receive this communication. For instance, auditors, accountants and book-keeping administrators (a unique set of individuals) need nimble software that can help them store and retrieve files digitally over a secure platform - a solution that nobody else in the company needs. 3. B2B Market SegmentationThe next step is to segment the market as not all companies need a B2B product. Marketers often use the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) to identify companies in specific industries such as real estate, construction, and human resources. Industry segmentation allows B2B marketers to focus on one industry instead of spreading all over. Segmenting B2B companies by sales volume or number of employees helps in tailoring marketing to specific groups of companies. Companies with 100,000 employments have requirements different from smaller peers. A large prospect company, like Citibank, may hire an external vendor for customer support. However, mid-sized and smaller companies may have in-house staff doing it over SaaS-based chat platforms. Segmenting based on geographic location helps in identifying prospect companies in a city/town/industrial area. For example, banks and financial institutions in New York’s Manhattan may need compliance software versus community banks in Texas who may need retail lending software. Marketers often use segmentation based on customer value. As B2B prospect companies report sales numbers, segmenting them on their capacity to spend helps in positioning products better. When identifying market segments, marketers should narrow down on groups that best fit their goods and services as well as the brand’s overall message. 4. B2B Product PositioningB2C marketers rely on variables such as price differentials, product quality, distribution, availability, packaging, imagery, reviews, and description to position their product. However, product positioning for B2B integrated marketing campaigns varies significantly as compared to B2C marketing. It is primarily because:
Here is how B2B products are positioned for successful integrated marketing campaigns: 5. Thought LeadershipB2B integrated marketing communications must have a core ‘Thought Leadership’ element to it. Being a thought leader can help B2B companies differentiate themselves from competitors and educate B2B buyers. Recall how GE positioned itself as a futuristic company at CES conferences year after year? Thought leadership involves creating original content in the form of white papers, blogs, videos, infographics, and more. Digital content artifacts used for thought leadership purposes have longer lifetime value and help B2B companies build trust and confidence amongst prospects. 6. Ability to customizeB2B companies have unique needs, and products/solutions must be customized to meet their requirements. B2B marketers must differentiate their products by conveying that customers will experience customized versions of their products/solutions suited to their needs. Therefore, transmitting the same ad to every B2B buyer who visits a website will not work. Today, technology can help marketers to customize websites and landing pages with specific offers for B2B companies. For example, CRMs can use mass customization techniques for both communications and products. Such tools that let marketers personalize messages and record effective and ineffective communication are essential for successful integrated marketing campaigns. 7. Faster and efficient responsivenessThe main motivations of B2B customers are satisfaction and resolution of problem issues. Hence, B2B marketers must design an integrated marketing communication plan that communicates their ability to respond to customer needs faster with quality control mechanisms, customer service desk, and technical support. 8. Vendor identificationThe next step is to evaluate vendors who are capable of executing a B2B integrated marketing campaign. An initial screening of proposals can whittle down the playing field to three to five competitors. Selection criteria include quality of output, delivery, performance history, warranties, workforce, geographic location, and technical capabilities. Once the terms are agreed upon by both parties, pricing details are worked out. A detailed integrated marketing communications process helps in identifying the primary goals at the beginning of the campaign and working towards it. Integrated marketing communication ToolsThe integrated marketing communication system has three significant variables.
Every company or business that implements/ is planning to implement an integrated marketing communication plan must take into consideration the variables mentioned above to design a compelling and successful campaign. To do that marketers (like us) need to how each variable interacts with the consumer’s response. How? We use the Persuasion Matrix. The matrix has two sets of variables.
1 - Can the receiver/audience of your integrated marketing campaign understand your ad? Is your ad filled with jargon that only a highly-educated person can comprehend? Your ad should convey a sense of familiarity using symbols, expressions, and words that your audience would understand. 2 - Which channel maximizes your reach? If you are promoting a product that is widely used across all age groups a spot on Primetime television might prove useful. It is also essential to consider this: there will always be channels that have higher reach in terms of viewers, readers and so on. But while choosing a channel, the target audience has to be kept in mind. If you advertise to 20 million people who aren’t your target audience, your campaign will not run at its peak efficiency. To be able to use the right channels, we have to understand them in depth. Choosing the channels involves gauging its pros and cons to arrive at a decision. The following section of the blog will talk about each channel in-depth and equip you with the information to make the right decision. Integrated marketing communication tools - #1TelevisionTelevisions have been around for over 90 years and the first ad on tv aired in 1941. Since then it has been the go-to channel for marketers to reach a broad audience. Technology has grown leaps and bounds in the television space. From 30 channels on cable to over a hundred via satellite. The advent of the DVR also has been a landmark with over 43.4 million households using it to record and watch their favorite shows at their convenience. These changes and developments that occur in the television industry are essential as they influence one of the largest advertising mediums at our disposal. Advantages of Television
3. Attention and Captivity 4. Selectivity and Flexibility
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