Integrated Marketing Communications: Analysis for Marks and Spencer

This report provides an analysis of the integrated marketing communications (IMC) strategies employed by Marks and Spencer (M&S), a multinational British retailer. The report begins by outlining various marketing communication channels, including direct marketing, advertising, sales promotions, and personal selling, and their respective roles in achieving communication objectives within an organizational context. It evaluates the effectiveness of each channel for M&S, considering factors like cost, reach, and impact on customer loyalty and awareness. The report then critically assesses the integration of these channels to add value and maximize resources. Furthermore, it designs specific communication objectives for M&S, considering its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Finally, the report justifies the selection and integration of chosen communication channels, focusing on online advertising, direct marketing, and sales promotion techniques, and how these channels can be effectively utilized to improve brand awareness, increase customer base, and enhance overall sales performance for M&S. The analysis emphasizes the importance of adapting communication strategies to leverage digital technologies and address the competitive landscape within the retail sector.

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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channel is customized and a bit costly because sales persons are required to be paid salaries
for their person to person communication (Nejad, Tran and Corner, 2016). Due to this reason
it becomes difficult for M&S to use this marketing channel as it will increasing their overall
marketing cost.
M 1 Critical evaluation of ways in which marketing communication channels are integrated
within organizational context in order to add value and maximize resources
Marketing communication channels are directly integrated with organization and its
business operations and strategies. Marketing communication channel helps the organization in
increasing or boosting overall sales of their products and services by adding value to those
products and services (Nejad, Tran and Corner, 2016). Effective marketing from marketing
channels helps in increasing value of their products and services which further helps in
sustaining current customers and attract a greater number of customers. this further helps the
organisation in adding more value to the products and services by maximizing resources used by
the organization. But it also has a negative impact upon company i.e. any kind of mis
communication can directly impact overall reputation of the company.
ACTIVITY B
P 2 Design communication objectives for the organization
There are various specific processes are used by the organization for the communication process.
Selection of the particular communication strategy is dependent on the type of communication
channel that is used in the communication process. For different type of communication channel
specific type of communication process is used by companies. Apart from the selection of the
communication process this is also important for the company to to effectively specify their
needs and requirement for the promotional process they need to use. On the basis of organization
objective company can use effective process of communication for the product in the market
place (Finne and Grönroos, 2017).
Situational analysis
Strengths
 High brand recognition
 Organic and healthy food products
 Over 80,000 employees working for them
globally
Weaknesses
 High priced products
 Negative image of selling products for
people above 30 years
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Opportunities
 Expansion in online selling
 Introducing clothing for young people
Threats
 Still sells products majorly in mega stores
 Already established competitors such as
Tesco, ASDA etc.
Main suitable objectives for given situation are:
 To promote the products and service through the electronic communication process
within 6 months.
 Increase customer base by 10 percent within 12 months.
 To improve their brand value and brand awareness in market place within 12 months.
Suitable communication channel that are used for achieving set objectives are- online
advertisements though social media, internet etc. These processes can be used for achieving
desired objectives and can also help in enhancing customer base and increasing overall sales of
the organization. These promotional processes are most commonly used in retail store to improve
the sales of the Retail firm.
For the direct marketing process organization can use various tools and technique to
make direct communication with customer. For this process M & S can use E-Mail Marketing,
and Telephone Selling. Advertisement and sales promotion is also important process of
marketing. In Advertisement marketing process organization can use Digital advertisement
process to improve the marketing process of organization. Sales promotion and personal
marketing can be performed using normal face to face communication process (Blakeman,
2018). So, E-Mail, telephonic, digital promotion and oral communication process will be used to
improve the sales of the company in market place to gain competitive edge over other
organization who are in the same retail business.
These processes can be used to improve the marketing function of organization to attract people
to buy the products and services from Marks and Spencer. Most effective promotional process in
the business organization are related to the Digital and IOT technology. This process are most
efficient cause of fast speed and cost effective process. For example organization can implement
digital marketing process in the marketing process of M & S. this is how M & S can use all these
process in specific communicational channel to get better result with marketing operation (Porcu,
Del Barrio-Garcia and Kitchen, 2017).
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P 3 Justification for selection and integration of chosen communication channel
There are different methods and processes are used by the organization to improve their brand
value and brand awareness in market place. Main channels of marketing that are used by M & S
are – Direct marketing, Advertisement, personal selling and sales promotion. But out of these
channels online advertainments and marketing channel can be used by M&S as it is one of the
most effective channel though which they can achieve their desired objectives. Online
advertainment will help them to reach their target customers in a much better and appropriate
manner. These process are commonly used by the retail sector organization to attract more
consumers to buy the products and services from the organization. Each communication process
that is used in the marketing process is based in the implication of the process that can help the
organization to communicate the information about their products and services to the customer in
much effective way. In the direct marketing process telephonic process and E-mail marketing
processes are used by company (Kim, Kang and Lee, 2019). This process is used by organization
to develop loyalty in the customer by making effective relationship with them. in this process
customers are made feel special to keep them loyal to the organization. Loyalty can encourage
the customers to buy all the products and services from the organization. In advertisement
process company can use various processes like digital marketing and digital tools to promote
the product and services of the organization in market place. Digital technique of the promotion
or marketing is much easier, much effective and way more faster hen the other process that are
used to promote the products and services of organization in market place. This is how digital
technology can be used by organization in advertisement process to attract more customers to
buy products and services from the organization. The other channels that is used in the
organization is personal marketing process and sales promotion is performed by the organization
through th personal communication process. Customers are communicated using oral
communication. In sales promotion process employees of organization tries to influence the
customers with in the buying process when they visits the local retail store. In this process they
used for provide various type of information to the customer to influence their mind set to make
final decision about the buying process (Yoga, Korry and Yulianti, 2019). This is how
organization can use the employees to influence the customer’s decision making process. The
last process that is used by the organization like M & S is personal promotion. This is most
common process that is used by the organization to deliver information about the products and
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services of the organization in market place. Employees of organization make contact with
customer by using different strategy to make them aware of the information that is need to be
provided to them.in this process door to door promotion process is used by the employees of
company to develop awareness of the customer about the products and service that are offered by
the organization.
P 4 Creation of marketing communication plan that effectively meets communication objectives
for organization
Exclusive Summery- This marketing plan has been created in order to meet all the business
goals of the organization related to the marketing operation. In the marketing communication
plan various strategies and processes has been used in order to improve the knowledge of the
customer regarding their products and services. By this process organization’s sales goals are
completed by the company. Various type of information has been used in the marketing
communication plan to efficiently complete the business objectives of the organization that are
related to the profit of the company.
Mission- The mission of the organization is to make more customer aware of the services and
products that are provide by the company and influence them to select the products that are sold
by M & S in market place.
Aim- To improve the awareness of the customers regarding new products and services.
Objectives-
 To promote the products and service through the electronic communication process
within 6 months.
 Increase customer base by 10 percent within 12 months.
 To improve their brand value and brand awareness in market place within 12 months.
STP Plan
Segmentation- To improve the promotional or marketing plan of organization people who lives
in local are need to be considered as target audience. On the basis of demographic and
Geographic segmentation criteria. In the demographic segmentation people from economically
medium class and upper class will be targeted (Pearson and Perera, 2018). The target process
will be based on the large joint families and families that have 3 to 4 members in home. In the
geographic targeting process people with in the city will be targeted for the promotional process.
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Targeting- From the selected group in the segmentation process people with large number of the
family number are need to be considered in order to meet organizational profit needs. The middle
class people will be targeted in the marketing process.
Positioning- in the promotional process organization will be using experiential positioning to
develop better effective relationship with the customer in order to improve the performance of
the organization in market place. The positioning of the organization will be based on the making
emotional connection with target customers.
Marketing Communication Strategy- Different strategies will be used in the marketing process
in order to meet the organization’s promotion related goals in effective manner. various
strategies will be used to improve the brand image of the organization in market place. Some of
the most common strategies that will be used in the marketing communication plan are-
 Use various marketing channel to make promotional process more effective in target
market.
 Implementation of digital technology in the organization processes in order to make the
marketing plan more effective in market place.
 Set up better network in market place on basis of market research to meet the needs of the
organization in effective manner.
 By using traditional marketing and communication process to develop better relationship
with customer.
 Effectively use the customer relationship management process to keep customers loyal to
the organization.
Execution of Marketing Channel-
For this advisement marketing channels will be used in which online advisement of
products and services will be done though digital promotion, social media marketing. These
objectives will help in meeting desired objectives of the organization within specified time
period.
This is how various strategies will be followed in the marketing plan to make customers aware of
the products and services that are provided by the company.
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M 2 Evaluation of applications of communication objectives in relation to the marketing
communication mix and organizational business objectives
As per the communication objective and marketing communication plan main target of the
organization is to develop effective relationship with customers in order to improve the sales of
company in target market. In the marketing communication plan organization has selected
various process that are based on effective communication process in the marketing and
promotion process. This is how organization will be able to perform the marketing process more
effectively. For example, organization can use the communication processes that are selected in
the marketing communication process. This is how organization will be able to meet all the
needs of marketing and promotional process. Evaluation of communication objectives in relation
to marketing communication mix can be done in many ways. First is by evaluating market
reaction and customer response i.e. response of customers can help in evaluating marketing
communication plan objectives in a proper manner. Other than this measurement and analysis of
sales performance can also be done used for evaluation of marketing communication mix.
P 5 Evaluation of marketing communication plan in relation to communication strategy, channel
choice and creative content
There are different elements of the organization are considered in the marketing plan of the
organization. To make the marketing plan more effective this is important for the organization to
meet the marketing objectives of organization. There are different processes that are used in the
marketing process to meet the objective of organization which are related to customers
relationship management (Copuš and Čarnogurský, 2017). To make the marketing and
promotional plan more this is important for the organization to consider various channel for
communication process and use of various technology to make the communication channel more
effective for organization. Technologies like digital technology and various other tools can be
used by the organization in the marketing process to develop effective relationship with customer
to make the loyal to the organization and develop long term relation with them. This is how
effective use of different technology can improve the marketing communication plan of M & S.
Apart from all these this is also important for organization to use effective content to make
effective impact on the customers. Effective content can effectively use by the organization to
develop effective impact on the customers. This is how all the marketing goals of the
organization can be achieved.
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Currently organization uses different kinds of communication channels such as
advertainment, online promotion of their products and services, posters, banners etc. They can
bring improvement within their current communication strategy. Here are few recommendations
that can be used for bringing improvement within their current communication plan: They can
focus upon adopting social media networking as a communication channel as it will help them to
reach more number of customers and will also help in enhancing promotion and marketing of
their products and services in a much better and appropriate manner.
M 3 Review success of the monitoring and impact of the marketing communication plan
The success of the marketing plan is highly depended on the execution of the strategies that
are explained in the marketing process. This is important to keep the strategies on top to meet the
demands of organization’s marketing process. Effective technologies can be used by the
organization to perform all marketing communication process to meet the goals of organization
in market place. Success of monitoring and impact of marketing communication plan can be
done in four steps: First is be determining whether overall aim and objectives have been met or
not. By assessing and comparing achievement of plan against its determined aim and objectives.
This will help the organization in identifying whether the campaign was a success or a failure.
CONCLUSION
This report is explaining the importance of marketing communication process for
organization. Various communication channel that can be used in the marketing process has been
explains in the report. All the communication process that can be used by the organization to
meet communication channel needs has been explained in report. Complete marketing plan has
been developed in report that can be used by the organization to meet marketing and promotional
goals of organization in target market. the importance of communication channel,
communication strategies and marketing content has been evaluated in report.
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REREFENCES
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