Integrated Marketing Communications

INTEGRATED
MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is one of the most important part of an organization which is required to be
focused upon by business organizations. marketing of a product or service helps in establishing a
strong communication between business and customers. For effective marketing it is important
for organizations to choose a proper communication channel and develop an effective
communication plan which will help them to communicate with their consumers easily so that
marketing of their products and services can be done in a proper and effective manner (Hänninen
and Karjaluoto, 2017). this assignment will focus upon marketing communication and techniques
used by Marks and Spencer. M&S is a multinational British retailer that sells products like food,
cloths and home products to their customers. It was established in 1884 and it headquarter is in
Leeds, United Kingdom. This assignment will majorly lay emphasis upon different types of
marketing communication channels, communication objectives of organization, channel
selection and integration, content appropriate to the channel and communication objectives and
communication strategy, channel choice and creative content.
ACTIVITY A
P 1 Different types of marketing channels and ways in which they serve communication
objectives within organizational context
There are various kinds of responsibilities that a communication officer needs to fulfil
within an organization. One of the main roles of communication officer is to maintain and opt an
appropriate communication channels that can be used by organizations so that they can
effectively communication objectives (Falát and Holubčík, 2017). Marketing communication can
be defined as a means adopted by organizations in order to convey message about products and
services. Communication channels plays a vital role in attracting targeted customers towards
products and services offered by the organization. There are many different kinds of marketing
channels and each of these channels can be used in different manner for serving communication
objectives of Marks and Spencer. Some of the most common types of marketing channels are as
follows:
 Direct Marketing: It is a kind of marketing which is done with the help of emails, telephone
selling etc. In this marketing products and services are directly sold to the customers by
different ways. this method is used by organizations for pre- selected customers only but for
large organizations like M & S, this marketing channel is not much effective and is difficult
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to be used for selling their products and services directly to their customers present globally.
Even if this channel is used by M & S the it is completely customized (Valos and et. al.,
2016). Cost associated with this marketing channel is associated with communication cost
though emails, telephones etc. But implementation of this communication channel can
enhance relationship of an organization with their customers but for a large organization like
Marks and Spencer it is quite time consuming.
 Advertising: It is another commonly used marketing channel which is used by organizations
like M&S for promotion of their products and services. it is a paid form of marketing in
which products and services are openly sponsored by the organization. There are various
kinds of communication channels though which advertising can be done such as newspaper,
television, billboards, and many more. It plays a vital role in promotion and development of
M&S brand by increasing customer loyalty, awareness, perception of customers towards
their products and services (Shen and et. al., 2016). it is one of the most appropriate
marketing channel that can be used by M&S to serve their communication objectives because
with the help of advertising organization can reach large number of customers can increase
products and service awareness offered by them. But it has one limitation i.e. it can be a bit
costly.
 Sales promotions: is a kind of marketing channel that comprises of different kinds of
communication activities that helps in providing some benefits to customers immediately
after sales of their products or services. it is quite a flexible marketing channel that can be use
for bringing changes within customers behaviour in short run (Kim, Kang and Lee, 2019).
This technique can be used by Marks and Spencer to serve their communication objectives
and for attracting a greater number of customers. Using this channel, M&S can provide
discounts, free sample, coupons to the customers so that more numbers of customers get
attracted. Another reason because of which this channel can be used by M&S to serve their
communication objectives because it is can be used to measure results and its effectiveness
easily. It has a limitation i.e. it is generally for shorter duration due to which it can be
difficult to be maintained.
 Personal Selling: It is another preferred marketing channel which is used by organization. In
this sales person of the organization interact with the customers person to person. It helps in
enhancing personal communication between organization and customers. However, this
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