We all know a friend who’s really great at designing, thinking out of the box, and creative when it comes to contributing ideas for a fun nightout or conversation topics. But when it comes to delivering unique content that drives actions, can he/she be put up for the test?
We will be diving into more complex perspectives, so get your brain juice ready to absorb these rich marketing insights!
Integrated Marketing Communication
Marketing Communication, in its essence, refers to the ways businesses deliver messages of the products/service/brand they offer, to consumers, with the intention to persuade them to purchase.
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) refers to integrating all communication tools to deliver a message in a clear and concise structure to maximize its efficiency in marketing to a firm’s intended target audience and ensure cost-efficiency. It focuses on delivering a one unique and consistent message to its intended audiences, to maintain their brand image and character.
Based on the Evolution of IMC Approaches and Associated Brand Structures, firms’ (or a marketers’) approach to IMC has evolved as consumer powers increase over the years.
1. Linear IMC – “one-to-many” communications approach, where companies decide on a marketing campaign and broadcast across all channels, without much of the consumers’ opinions and preferences in mind.
2. Interactive Brands (Relationship-focused) – where companies integrate traditional and innovative tools of communication to focus on customer-relationship management.
3. Multidimensional IMC – Businesses managing multiple communication channels, allowing both the brand and the consumers to co-create value for the brand.
With changing consumer preferences and power, businesses grew to realize the importance of integrating consumer-centricism into their branding and marketing communications strategies.
Factors to consider when planning for an integrated IMC
For an IMC to be effective, digital media as well as communication channels need to be aligned in an integrated approach. For that to happen, lets look at the 4Cs.
- Coherence – having each individual communication channels being logically connected for the brand.
- Consistency – Multiple messages help to support and reinforce the brand, instead of contradicting each other (speaking in one voice)
- Continuity – Ability to sustain a consistent communication content throughout
- Complementary- Each element of the marketing communications mix should work well with each other and combine for maximum efficiency.
Out-of-home Advertising as a tool for Multidimensional IMC
Out-of-home (OOH, what a nice acronym) Advertising refers to any visual advertising media that can be found outside of the home. Some examples would be billboards and signs, ads on street furnitures such as bus stops, train station or even at the cinema!
How do businesses use this as a tool to better increase 2-way value creation and generate performance for themselves? Check out this video below!
Well, there you have it, some innovative ideas to add to your marketing campaign direction, making use of emerging technological trends like 3D, Augment and Virtual Reality, Motion Sensors and even the IoT, overall boosting your engagement value, involving consumers in value creation for your own brand!
I hope this post has helped to give you a whole new perspective of the plethora of marketing tools that will aid you in your conquest to reach out to the world! Have ideas? Drop them below at the comments section!
The Digital Marketing Handbook 
What an interesting and knowledgeable read!! Pretty relatable in today’s society & workforce and definitely an useful article as i would be able to use some of the information in my school work!! LUV LUV LUV
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Which advertising tool is the most useful?
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Hi Mandy!
It really would depend on the needs of the business! For an eCommerce business you will definitely expect more investments into online advertising tools such as Social Media marketing, Email marketing, Search Engine marketing! It also depends on the structure of the business, whether it is for B2B or B2C, product/service offered, etc. Most businesses nowadays would integrate both traditional advertising platforms like Television, Radio, Print media, etc with new advertising medias! You can research on that, or wait out for my next few posts to learn more about them!
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Thank you for the valuable information, new perspective gained on marketing! Great example to illustrate the use of tools such as 3D, Augment and Virtual Reality.
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Hi Jason, great read! I agree that it is important for businesses to use not just one form of channel to advertise their message. It should be an integration of all the necessary channels to speak the same message!
In order for a business to adopt a multidimensional IMC approach, what are some digital tools that can help them to achieve their goal and what are the disadvantages that comes along with it?
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Hey Weihan! I believe there are a plethora of digital tools to help businesses adopt their multidimensional IMC approach! Some of the popular ones would be the Google Analytics, Social Media Analytics, Google Adwords. Content, Affiliate, and Influencer Marketing are also considered the few top options that businesses would go for these days. I believe when it comes to disadvantages there will be plenty for each individual tools, so it would take more than a comment, probably a blog, for me to explain key disadvantages for these tools. Well, If you have time, do check out one of the popular tools that I discussed about over here! https://digitalmarketinghandbook.business.blog/2020/03/12/search-engine-the-most-powerful-engine-in-the-world/
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Great view on the IMCs, but do you think by adopting this IMC would companies really boost their branding and Image??
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Hey Terence, I believe to a strong extent, any IMC strategy would be able to put a business in a favourable spot as long as they are carefully curated towards a specific target audience, to position themselves ahead of their competitors!
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