Integrated Marketing Communications

This document provides a comprehensive overview of integrated marketing communications (IMC) and its importance in promoting products and services. It covers topics such as marketing communications strategic overview, IMC & media research, and research findings. The document also discusses the objectives of marketing communication and the SMART techniques used in the process. Additionally, it explores the IMC mix elements and traditional media vehicles used by Algonquin College to achieve its marketing objectives. The document concludes with primary and secondary research findings related to the target market and the effectiveness of different marketing communication tools.

Integrated Marketing
Communications
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Table of Contents
1) Marketing communications strategic overview..........................................................................3
2) IMC & Media Research............................................................................................................10
3) Research Findings.....................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12
Appendix........................................................................................................................................13
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1) Marketing communications strategic overview
About Marketing
Marketing is an important business activity which is undertaken by a company to promote the
selling or buying of goods and services. It includes the advertising, selling and distribution of
products or services to other businesses and also to consumers. In other words, it is a process of
maintaining relationships with customers while satisfying their needs and demands (Baker,
2016). Bringing a product to market is the main process of marketing which involves the
following steps:
 Broad research of market
 Market targeting and segmentation of it
 Determining distribution
 Strategies of price and promotion
 Communication strategy
 Budgeting
Many areas of marketing process involve brand management, product art, and design,
copywriting, advertising, etc.
Marketing communications
Marketing communications are important techniques that use by the company or business
individual to deliver promotional messages to the customers about their products or services.
Marketing communication experts formulate various different types of persuasive
communication techniques and send it to the target customers with the help of advertising
(Hastings and Stead, 2017).
Marketing communications importance
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The main purpose of communication in marketing is to enhance the sales volume with the help
of positive and persuasive messages. It offers new facts about products or services through
encouraging messages.
Figure: Importance of Marketing Communication
By Author, 2019
Following are the objectives of marketing communication which helps Algonquin College
to achieve their objectives in an efficient manner:
The main objectives of marketing communication are to establish long-term goals for the
company and also establish a relationship with the customers. Marketing communication main
objective is to enhance the sales of products or services and also helps the company to achieve its
targets in an effective and efficient manner (Jackson & Ahuja, 2016).
 It increases awareness in between the customers
 To influence purchase intent
 To drive brand switching
 To change or shaping attitudes
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Importance of
Marketing
Communication
Credibility
Reinforce
ment
Persusaion
Informatio
n

 To stimulate trial purchases
 Imparting knowledge
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SMART Techniques
Technique Marketing Marketing Communications
Objectives
S (Specific) Target a particular area for
improvement in the marketing
policy and also identifying
new opportunities to launch a
new bachelor’s degree in
college.
In this, the college
management decides which
one is the best marketing
communication tool which
helps them to achieve their
targets.
M (Measurable) It specifies the goal of
developing new courses in
college.
It specifies which
communication method is
used to attract more and more
students towards new
programs.
An (Assignable) It allots the targets in between
marketing team.
It allocates the targets while
using the marketing
communication tool like
college can use social media
to attract the students towards
the new programs.
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R (Realistic) This states that the techniques
and resources that will be
utilized to attain the objectives
are proportioned well in
between resource availability
and time.
This states that the
management of college adopts
the traditional or non-
traditional techniques to
achieve their objectives in an
effective manner.
T (Time- related) The targets will be achieved
before the starting of a new
session.
Before commencing a new
session, the target of attracting
new students towards new
programs will be achieved by
the college.
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IMC mix elements are those which are used for gaining marketing objectives of Algonquin
College. However, there are certain traditional media tools which are going to use along with the
IMC in order to meet the marketing objectives of the cited college. Here are 4 IMC mix elements
are used by the management of Algonquin College for promoting its bachelor’s program
(Kitchen & Burgmann, 2015). These areas under:
Advertising: By way of advertisement, college management will promote college bachelor
course among the Kuwait students’. As per the research, almost 30% of students enrolled due to
the advertisement (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2019).
Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. are the social media tools which are
now popular among youngsters. Every people have their account over the social media. This is
considered to be the best media platform to meet marketing objectives (Tuten & Solomon, 2017).
Public Relation: This is one of the best tools which can be used by the marketing manager to
promote their products or services. With the help of this, marketing manager promotes services
in an effective manner.
Emails: It is used by the marketing team to disburse the information about the product or
services. By taking potential students data, they will disseminate the information to the students.
With the help of these tools, Cited College will disseminate the information and tried to convince
them in order to meet its marketing objectives. On the other hand, traditional marketing tools are
discussed which are as under:
Radio: This is the traditional tool which ultimately assists to disseminate the information at bulk.
It is a cheap and fast communication process. The cited college can able to streamline their
integrated marketing strategy and be more cost- effective with their marketing spend by taking
advantage of bundled packages offered by stations (Bowen, et. al., 2017).
Television: Television helps in reinforce advertisers’ messages and maximize ad impact. There
are four reasons why television marketing and audience engagement go hand in hand.
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 For demonstration, TV is an unmatched medium
 TV prompts the audience to action
 The TV is still now considered as the “GOLD STANDARD FOR MARKETING”
 TV advertising can now be targeted more effectively
Traditional media vehicles
Media Marketing Marketing communication
objectives
Radio Nowadays, a radio station
provides many marketing
services outside of radio ads.
They have professional staff,
marketing expertise and also
have the ability to make
powerful marketing messages
which attracts the target
audience (Jackson & Ahuja,
2016).
With the help of it, the cited
college can easily attract the
audience which includes
student, parents, etc.
Television With the help of TV
marketing, the cited college
can easily communicate their
new program and facilities to
their target audience.
The cited college can achieve
their communication
objectives in an effective
manner by creating a long-
term relationship with the
audience.
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IMC Mix Elements
Media Marketing Marketing communication
objectives
Advertising With the help of advertising
marketing, the cited college
can present their ideas and
innovation about the new
program with the students and
their parents.
Advertising helps the
marketing department of the
college to achieve their
objectives in an effective
manner.
Social Media Social media is an effective
marketing method that helps
the cited college to
communicate with students
without investing any money.
Marketing communication
objectives can easily and
effectively achieve by the
marketing department with
this method of social media.
Public Relations With the help of this method,
the college can easily interact
with the students and their
parents in an easy manner. It
is also an effective marketing
method (Ahmad & Salleh,
2019).
With this method support the
college marketing department
can create goodwill between
the college and target
audience.
Emails Email is a cheap and fastest
marketing method which
supports the cited college to
communicate with the
With the help of this method,
the college can send emails to
the student regarding the new
launch program, fees
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students in an appropriate
manner.
structure, and facilities which
they provided.
2) IMC & Media Research
The IMC elements that are used in support of the marketing plan of the cited college
 Advertising
 Social Media
 Public Relations
The above three elements can help Algonquin College in enhancing their marketing effectiveness
by:
 Firstly, it creates awareness in between the students and their parents about the new program
which launch by the college.
 Secondly, by selecting the non- traditional and traditional media of marketing
communication the college can communicate their message to the targeted audience in an
easily and appropriately manner.
 Lastly, by using the marketing communication method will save the time and money of the
college and also increase the size of students.
For each traditional media and IMC element identified in the strategic overview above,
provide the following points
Detailed data Traditional Media IMC Element
Audience Profile 100 out of 200 200 out of 200
Scheduling, Lead time 5 minutes 10 minutes
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Rates, discounts, buying
plans
10% 5%
Key contacts Marketing experts of radio and
television
Hiring marketing expertise for
marketing
3) Research Findings
Primary Research Support
The key media used by the target market is the advertising on social media, TV and also on the
radio. About 90% of people of Kuwait use the internet and also connect on Instagram, Snapchat
and also on Twitter which helps the cited college to connect with the students. It is one of the
cheap communication methods. To gain more students in the college while using an appropriate
marketing campaign on social media and introduce the bachelor’s degree to gain students.
Secondary Research Support
While using data from outside like use of magazines, articles and past data of colleges and
universities in which they use their marketing communication tools to attract the students in their
colleges or universities. Media Digest provides accurate data about the student ratio in the
college and what programs offered by it to their students.
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References
Ahmad, A., & Salleh, S. M. (2019). Brand Related Capabilities and the Process of Integrated
Marketing Communications (IMC): A Resource Based View (RBV). Journal of
Contemporary Research in Social Sciences, 1(2), 136-150.
Baker, M. J. (2016). What is marketing?. In The Marketing Book (pp. 25-42). Routledge.
Bowen, B. D., Luedtke, J., Holt, T. B., Ehrensperger, D., & Watson, H. M. (2017). Impact Factor
and Scholarly Research: The Traditional Media with a Social Media Influence.
Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2019). Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
Hastings, G. and Stead, M., (2017). Social marketing. Taylor & Francis.
Jackson, G., & Ahuja, V. (2016). Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the marketing
mix. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 170-186.
Kitchen, P. J., & Burgmann, I. (2015). Integrated marketing communication: making it work at a
strategic level. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(4), 34-39.
Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2017). Social media marketing. Sage.
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Appendix
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