The Role of IMC in the Marketing Process
After reading
this lesson you would be able to answers to the following questions:
1. How a marketing
process works?
2. What is the role
of advertising and promotion in an organization’s Integrated marketing program?
3. What is Target
marketing?
4. Role of Market
segmentation and its use in IMC program?
5. What are the
different positioning and repositioning strategies?
We
use the model in Figure below as a framework for analyzing how promotion fits
into an organization’s marketing strategy and programs for creating a coherent
and effective integrated marketing communications plan.
This
model consists of four major components:
a) The organization’s marketing
strategy and analysis
b) The target marketing process
c) The marketing planning program
development (which includes the promotional mix)
d) The target market
Marketing
and promotions process model
Marketing Strategy and Analysis
Let’s examine the different steps of the marketing strategy and
planning process:
Opportunity Analysis
It refers
to the market opportunities or the areas where there are favorable demand
trends, where the company believes customer needs and opportunities are not
being satisfied, and where it can compete effectively.
Competitive Analysis
In
developing the firm’s marketing strategies and plans for its products and
services, the manager must carefully analyze the competition to be faced in the
marketplace. This may range from direct brand competition (which can also
include its own brands) to more indirect forms of competition, such as product
substitutes.
Target Market Selection
After
evaluating the opportunities presented by various market segments, including a detailed
competitive analysis, the company may select one, or more, as a target market. This
target market becomes the focus of the firm’s marketing effort, and goals and
objectives are set according to where the company wants to be and what it hopes
to accomplish in this market.
To reach
out to the selected target market, the marketers follow the below mentioned
process:
The target
marketing process
Identifying Markets
Target
market identification isolates consumers with similar lifestyles, needs, and
the like, and increases our knowledge of their specific requirements. The more
marketers can establish this common ground with consumers, the more effective
they will be in addressing these requirements and informing and persuading potential
consumers that the product or service offering will meet their needs.
Market Segmentation
Market
segmentation refers to the dividing up of a market into distinct groups that have
common needs and (b) will respond similarly to a marketing action.
The segmentation process
involves five distinct steps:
1. Finding
ways to group consumers according to their needs
2. Finding
ways to group the marketing actions usually the products offered available to
the organization
3.
Developing a market-product grid to relate the market segments to the firm’s
products or actions
4.
Selecting the target segments toward which the firm directs its marketing
actions
5. Taking
marketing actions to reach target segments
Bases for Segmentation
Geographic Segmentation refers to
the dividing of the markets into different geographic units. These units may include
nations, states, counties, or even neighborhoods. Consumers often have
different buying habits depending on where they reside.
Demographic
Segmentation is dividing
the market on the basis of demographic variables such as age, sex, family size,
education, income, and social class.
Psychographic Segmentation is dividing
the market on the basis of personality and/or lifestyles.
Behaviouristic
Segmentation refers to dividing
consumers into groups according to their usage, loyalties, or buying responses
to a product.
Market Positioning
Positioning Strategy refers as to how you want to be perceived in the
minds of prospects versus your competition. It must clearly distinguish you
from competitors and make it obvious you are the best available choice.
Approaches to
Positioning
There
are generally two strategies for positioning based on whether the focus is on
the consumer or the competition.
a) The former does focusses on the
benefits the consumer will derive from the product or creating a favorable
brand image
b) While the latter approach
positions the product by comparing it and the benefit it offers with the
competition
Developing a Positioning Strategy
Repositioning is one
final positioning strategy which involves altering or changing a product’s or
brand’s position. Repositioning a product usually occurs because of declining or
stagnant sales or because of anticipated opportunities in other market
positions.
Developing the Marketing Planning
Program (Marketing Mix)
Product Decisions
Price
Decisions
From an
IMC perspective, the price must be consistent with the perceptions of the
product, as well as the communications strategy.
Higher
prices, of course, will communicate a higher product quality, while lower
prices reflect bargain or “value” perceptions. A product positioned as highest
quality but carrying a lower price than competitors will only confuse
consumers. In other words, the price, the advertising, and the distribution
channels must present one unified voice speaking to the product’s positioning.
Distribution Channels Decisions
Promotional
Strategy: Pull or Push?
The Role of Advertising and Promotion
The
marketing program includes promotion both to the trade (channel members) and to
the company’s ultimate customers. Marketers use various promotional-mix
elements e.g. advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations,
and personal selling—to inform consumers about their products, their prices,
and places where the products are available. Each promotional-mix variable
helps marketers achieve their promotional objectives, and all variables must
work together to achieve an integrated marketing communications program.
The development
and implementation of a successful Integrated Marketing Communications program
is depends on how strong the foundation is, which includes market analysis,
target marketing and positioning, and good coordination of the various
marketing-mix elements.
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