Integrated Marketing Communications for Startups

This assignment delves into the crucial role of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) for the success of start-up restaurants. It analyzes how various IMC elements, such as advertising, public relations, social media marketing, and sales promotions, can be strategically combined to achieve business goals. The assignment emphasizes the importance of crafting a comprehensive IMC plan that considers target audience, brand positioning, and market dynamics. It also explores real-world examples of successful IMC campaigns implemented by start-up restaurants.

Running head: MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Marketing Communication
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Background
Integrated market communication (IMC), has a key role to play in any business
organization. For a start-up company, the IMC has a major role to play in ensuring the success of
the business. For start-up business, it is essential that advertisement and promotional events are
given adequate importance. Thus, the IMC activities need to be taken care for the start-up
business organization. In this assignment, a start-up restaurant has been chosen. To start with, the
company will have the main objective of serving good quality fast food to the people, along with
establishing themselves as a famous fast food chain. The marketing objectives of the company is
to ensure that the fast food chain is able to attract thousands of customers and food lovers, to the
newly launched fast food restaurant. The company is trying to expand its business in Australia
and establish it as a successful fast food chain. This assignment highlights the IMC plan, along
with focusing on the target audience and communication and marketing objectives. The
alternative advertisement styles are also highlighted in this assignment.
Target audience
The target customers include the residents of Australia, specially the children who are
attracted to the fast food, more than the adults are. However, the adults are also among the target
customers, since they also prefer fast food. The target audience are chosen on the basis of the
demographics as well as the affordability (Korda and Itani 2013). The fast food company will
ensure that the price of the products are kept low and affordable, all the people could buy such
the food. The regular office goers are also targeted as the audience, as they might be interested in
consumption of the fast food. The target audience have been chosen on the basis of the market
segmentation and market analysis that the restaurant has carried out. The food habits and social
trends of the Australian market has been evaluated in order to find the target audience.

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Communication and advertisement objectives
Since the chosen company is a start-up restaurant, hence the communication and
advertisement objectives needs to be developed effectively. The advertisement objectives are as
follows:
1. To ensure the development of the brand awareness
This is one of the essential communication and advertisement objective, that needs to be
taken care and ensured by the start-up company. It is important that the start-up fast food
restaurant develop its brand image, in order to ensure that customers are attracted towards the
newly developed fast food restaurant (Barton and Behe 2017). The brand awareness is developed
by promoting the brand, along with giving high discount and promotional offers to the
customers, to ensure brand awareness. The promotion of the brand image is important, in order
to attract the potential target customers.
2. To promote the products and the variety of the fast food that are sold by the company
Another objective of communication and advertisement is the promotion of the products
and the variety of the items that are sold by the restaurant. This is essential in order to create
awareness among the consumers such that the variety of the products that are sold by the fast
food restaurant (Korda and Itani 2013). This will ensure that the consumers are made aware of
the products, so that they are able to buy the products of their choice.

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3. To influence the consumer buying behavior and decisions
The start-up restaurant has the objective of influencing the buying behavior and the
buying decisions of the consumers. This is essential part of the IMC. The business organization
has to ensure that the customer loyalty that they show to the customers have a strong influence
on the consumer buying behavior and decisions (Korda and Itani 2013). Moreover, the quality of
the products and the freshness of the food that is offered by the start-up restaurant will have a
strong influence on the buying decision of the consumers.
4. To ensure consumer attraction and retention
Consumer attraction and retention has a key role to play in the IMC plan. For any
business organization, it is important that the customers are attracted and retained. In order to
retain the customers, it is important that loyalty reward points be given to the customers (Percy
and Elliott 2016). Moreover, introductory discounts and offers are to be given to the customers,
in order to ensure that customer retention and attraction is done successfully.
These objectives need to be fulfilled by the start-up restaurant, in order to ensure successful
growth of the start-up restaurant.
Basic Features and philosophy of the integrated marketing communications
The basic features of the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) include the core
message of the brand, which is being conveyed to the public. The philosophy of Integrated

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Marketing Communication includes the practice of coordinating various elements of brand
empowerment. The features and philosophy of Integrated Marketing Communication reflects the
respective goal of the brand that can ultimately influence the mind set up and behavior of the
target group of audience for a company.
Belch et al. (2014), have mentioned about the basic features of IMC, which need to
initiate by understanding the buying behavior of the customers and understanding their brand
choosing psychology. The initiation process of Marketing Communication need to include the
process of customer prospect, which will be reflected in the brand identity and thereby
determining the core message that are being published in public domain. The main features of
the messages are being delivered for the process of Marketing Communication includes
optimized information about the brand and the product, which could easily help to attract all
groups of customer.
As mentioned by Parente and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson (2014), it is essential for business
firms to maximize the total number of channels that are used as the medium of marketing
communication. This can help to maximize the channels and allows the company to reach out to
maximum number of channels. This is sometimes referred to as 360 degree of branding, which
comprises of all types of platforms for the communication. One of the important purposes that
are associated with Marketing Communication is the ability to represent the brand image in the
public with the help of same type of message. It is important to ensure that all the messages that
are being delivered from the company have the same category of business ideas.
According to Bacile et al. (2014), one of the important features of the process of
marketing communication is to develop the relationship with the target group of customers. It is

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also possible for the customers to easily relate themselves with that of the marketing activities.
One of the major goals of the marketing communication is due to the process that it can help to
change the matters related to the customer’s behavior. One of the important features of
marketing communication is to deliver effective and optimize level of messages. This can help to
improve upon the awareness level of the customer and enhance their attitude towards the brand.
Hence, it is important for effective Marketing Communication to encourage the customers
change their behavior your response that can help to improve upon the brand popularity. The
features of the Integrated Marketing Communication are designed with parallel with that of the
marketing strategies. Hence, it can be said that the characteristics of Marketing Communication
depends upon the marketing strategies that are implemented by respective brands.
Alternative advertising styles
Other advertising strategies and styles that could be adopted includes giving high
discounts to the customers in order to ensure that the new products of the start-up restaurant so
that new customers could be attracted (Seo 2016). The restaurant might start giving free samples
to the consumers, in order to accustom them with the taste of the restaurant. Moreover, the
restaurant might open street outlets of the restaurant in the office areas and market place, such
that the regular office goers might try the food and drop in to the restaurant, if they like the food.
Application of communication techniques to develop solutions to marketing
communication challenges
According to Shen et al. (2016), few of the Major marketing challenges includes
identifying the target audience and use of the perfect medium in order to reach out to the
customers. It is also essential for marketing communicators to ensure that the correct and

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optimize level of information are obtained to the customers. This can be a major challenge while
dealing with deciding upon the content of the communication channel. It is also relevant to
mention that translation of business communication in the Global market can be a major
challenge due to the fact that the demand of different people over across the globe varies hugely.
Schultz et al. (2014), have mentioned about the importance of the use of the effects of
Hierarchy, which is one of the Essential elements of Marketing Communication theory. The
main aim of the marketing communication theory is to influence the audience by increasing the
level of awareness and interest towards a particular brand product. This can influence by creating
a Desire and enforcing them to take action in the form of making purchase. It is essential in this
context to deliver the message according to the buying behavior of target audience. Using the
theory of message transformation, it is possible to deal with the challenge of converting the
message, which can be understood by the target audience group. Generating awareness is one of
the prime elements of the marketing communication theory, which can help to deal with the
challenge of lack of knowledge and information about the brand image. High level of awareness
among the target audience is believed to be one of the effective ways to connect with the target
audience. Hence, it is possible to deal with the challenge of lack of brand awareness and brand
recognition among the target customer group.
Key Marketing Communication theoretical concept
Writing skills of marketing communication is one of the essential elements, which
decides upon the messages that are being delivered to the customers. Köhler et al. (2016), have
mentioned that the writing skills of the advertisers are one of the essential parts of the marketing
communication that can develop the sense of interest among the target groups of customers.

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Written Communications Skills is also one of the essential parts of nonverbal communication
mode, which is used by various companies to connect with the target groups. The content of the
advertisement is one of the essential parts of digital marketing, which is one of the most popular
medium of reaching out to the customers. Well written content in the digital and social media
marketing can help the company to easily engage with the audience and able to deliver the
proper optimized level of message (Schultz et al. 2014). The skill of the copywriters, are highly
essential in the context of helping them out with better level of marketing and thereby create the
perfect opportunity for the companies. It is essential for them marketing communicators to
conduct an efficient research, which can help them to decide upon the marketing channels.
Media plan
In order ensure effective advertisement and promotion, the social media could be used.
The use of social media is effective in ensuring effective promotion and advertisements of the
products of the startup restaurant. The social media is an effective promotional platform. This is
because with the changing trends, people have been more active on the social media. With the
social media promotion and advertisements, the company will gain popularity and the effective
promotion of the products of the restaurant will be ensured (Korda and Itani 2013). Moreover,
the social media publicity is important, since the word-of-mouth and the personal experiences are
also shared on the social media (Wachman and Rose, 2013). Adequate budget needs to be
allocated for the media plan, in order to ensure that the promotional events as well as the
advertisement plans. Promotion and advertisement has a key role to play in enhancing the
business of a start-up restaurant, in order to enhance the sale of the restaurant. The use of social
media is effective to communicate with the target audience (Shen et al. 2016). This is because,
most of the target audience of the start-up restaurant are active of the social media. Hence, the

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restaurant can enhance their business effectively by reaching the potential customers
successfully.
Evaluation
The evaluation of the IMC plans is important. This is because based on the evaluation of
the IMC plan; the development of the further plans will be carried out. If the social media
marketing is not effective, then revision of the plan needs to be done. If the promotion and
advertisement events are of the social media are successful then the start-up restaurant is likely to
get more customers, than before the campaigning media. However, if the number of customers
are not increased remarkably, then it could be concluded that the social media promotion is not a
successful one (Korda and Itani 2013). Moreover, with the expansion of business, the demands
of the customers’ need to be understood and implemented successfully. This will ensure to
attract more customers. the promotional events taken up has to be successful enough to promote
the start-up business and ensure success and growth. The success of the business depends on the
promotional events and advertisements that are taken up by the start-up restaurant. Thus, the
IMC plans are effective in ensuring the success of the start-up business.

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