A Research on the Factors and Development of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

非常感谢写手老师的帮助,这篇文章我很满意,现在就差两个小点要修改…麻烦写手老师了.A Research on the Factors and Development ofIntegrated Marketing Communications (IMC) IntroductionIMC is was first introduced by Don Edward Schultz, a professor in Northwestern University, who has been named one of the 80 Most Influential People in the Sales and Marketing World. Traditionally, IMC consists of a series of marketing methods, such as sales promotion, direct sales, ads, relationship between enterprises and the public as well as all other media platforms. The goal of IMC is to integrate these methods and materialize the best commercial effect for a specific product or service. Otherwise, the ultimate purpose of marketing is to deliver a higher standard of living (Kotler, 2003)[1].1. Definitions and functionalities1.1. The first major definition 没有提到自己对这两个定义的理解There are different views on how to define MIC. According to Association of American Advertising Agencies, A concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communications disciplines - for example, general advertising, direct response, sales promotion and public relations - and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact. Let’s analyze the definition and functionalities of elements forming IMC (Kotler, 2003) [2]. According to this definition, enterprises must mobile all possible tools and tap all resource and then they made an overall analysis to prepare and deliver. From my point of view, the key is to look at the whole picture, streamline the processing, figure out the best move to deliver the culture and spirit of an enterprise.1.2 .Another major definition of IMCBelch & Belch believes one voice, one look and image across all communications which defines the meaning of integrated marketing communications.One VoiceSome products own only one brand name in all cultures and languages across the globe, which enables them to gain widespread popularity easily. For example, the likes of UPS, P&G, Hp are typical successful enterprises that use their original pronunciations when promoting their products globally. Consumers unknowingly keep in mind these brands andcompanies as their names are frequently heard all over the world.I believe with uniform product appearance, images and names worldwide leave people stronger impression of the brand and easily familiarize consumers with the brand. It is focused on the impression recurrence, a psychological marketing tactic.2. Comparison between two major definitions2.1 The similarity between the two definitionsUniformity of marketing communicationThe marketing communications applied in the first definition features consistency while the second definition is characterized with highlight on product image, brands and interpretation across all cultures and languages, a kind of consistency for product quality. Definition 1 utilizes and optimizes all marketing vehicles to deliver one clear and consistent message.An identical business objectiveThe goal of marketing communication in any form is to promote a product, raise people’s awareness of the targeted product or service and shoot up the sales or business operation. Both definitions share the same objective in spite of the different approaches they respectively take.Maximization of the marketing effectMarketing communications are supposed to induce feedbacks from consumers. Generally speaking, the more attention a marketing practice could draw, then the easier a product or service can be recognized. Some companies adopt marketing the combined methods raised in definition 1 take into account every single possible factor, prioritize a host of marketing methods and come up with the best way to evoke people’s curiosity and willingness to consume. For example, McDonald, the biggest fast-food chained restaurant across the globe taps a variety of marketing vehicles to promote their food. They spend awful lot money on TV commercials, periodically launch discount for partial foods and roll out a series of toys or souvenir collection to spur people to buy their food. In definition 2, companies selling products or promoting their services rely on the repetition and globally uniform images to evoke more interest from consumer so as to push for sales. For example, Pepsi Cola, the second biggest beverage producer in the world holds onto their products overall uniformity. From the exterior, including the logo, bottle and color to its flavor, Pepsi remains the same across the globe. So, same colors, same logo, same English name and same color just easily imprint the characteristics of Pepsi Coke into the minds of many more consumers. All in all, both definition 1 and definition 2 aim to solicit the best public reaction and product awareness.2.2 The differences between the two definitions 这里讲的是disadvantage,并没有比较这两个定义之间有什么不同点Definition 1 highly highlights the significance of details along with combination of allpossible marketing means. So, as far as definition 1 goes, the culture, background, translation and religion will be covered and studied.Definition 2 insists on the visual and cultural uniformity over the course of marketing. It promotes the use of the same image, brand names, logo or translation across the whole with no regard to local culture, language or religion.Case: Auto giant Ford once launched a new type of vehicles in Latin America. The vehicle is named Feira. The Ford executive did not pay much attention to its meaning in Spanish, the most widely used language in Latin America. Three months after the vehicle made its debut, the sales was extremely low. After thorough investigation, Ford’s executive finally found that Feira means ugly old woman which was disgusted by people in Spanish-spoken countries. Then he immediately ordered a change of the name. In just one month, the vehicle sales witnessed a U-turn.On the other hand, if Ford’s executive followed the strategy cited in definition 1, then he would have done a background check on the meaning of brand name, logo and their translation in the targeted culture. Therefore, he could have prevented this misunderstanding from happening in the first place.From the above cases, we learn that the one name one logo marketing strategy will sometimes clash with regional culture. The first definition, which combines general advertising, direct response, sales promotion and public relation, could take into account all the details including perspective misunderstanding caused by cultural disparity.3. Driving force for IMCIn the 1990’s the global village has taken shaped thanks to the evolution of information industry, which coincided with the birth of IMC. Before 1990, enterprises all over the world consider advertisements, marketing, media, direct sales and promotion are independent factors. At the advent of the information revolution, enterprises realize they can not just separate these factors. On the contrary, they need to interweave these factors and come out with the optimal marketing mix to boost their enterprise image and product popularity [3]. At that point, the need for marketing communication integration first emerged. The internet was first connected in the year of 1994, from that moment onwards; new model marketing has come into being. If an enterprise still applies the separate methods to take up marketing, then they will have to spend a lot more money and resource and that the outcome may fall short of expectation.3.1. Major reasons for the growth of IMCFactor 1: Enterprises internal marketing reformThe need for marketing transformation inside an enterprise is the fundamental factor pushing for the application of IMC. For example, in the days ahead of the internet age, the major marketing strategies applied by Coca Cola encompassed TV commercials, posters,flyers and advertisements printed on various outdoor objects. In addition, Coca Cola organized a host of promotional events in shopping malls or any other place where the flow of customers is big. When it comes to public relation scheme, Coca Cola won over the officials and institutes by all means. It also from time to time, offered discount to consumers to boost sales. However, it did all of this in a separate manner as it never occurred to Coca Cola that integration of these marketing strategies could bring more merits. In that case, Coca Cola has spent a lot of resource and money on something costly but not necessary if it would realize the effectiveness of integrating all marketing communications. Public relation, ads, sales promotions are interconnected. They can raise the merit of each other and bring out the best in one another if properly handled. By maintaining a good public relation with the government and other non-profit organizations, Coca Cola could expand its popularity to more people from home and abroad. For example, by chipping in donation for disaster relief efforts, Coca Cola can gain more popularity and win over favors from the mass consumers. By showing more affection and kindness, the media will give it more positive assessment which could lead more people to trust it. A heightened public image combines regular promotional events, say offer giveaways or discounts to consumers. By doing this, it could largely to shoot up its sales.This is actually a process of dispersion. Coca Cola should combine all these marketing methods. Media, TV commercials, sales promotions should be united as one to optimize the general effect of marketing communications.Factor 2: The evolving needs of consumersThe second factor that drives up the growth of IMC is the ever-changing and ever-complicated needs from consumers. As long as people have needs for a certain product or service, IMC will prevail. Therefo re, people’s n eeds should be considered to be a basic driving force for IMC. In the past, major IMC methods manifested in the form of TV commercial and promotion sales. TV commercial can have a long-term influence. Many successful enterprises employ catchy commercial lines to have their products etched into consumers’ memories.With the advancement of technology prevalent in people’s life, their needs are getting more and more diverse and complex. Therefore, enterprises always need to work on their IMC to sell their products.There are a number of products of top brands on the street, say Channel cosmetics or LV handbag. People prefer buying them according to what mass media advertised. On the country, if your neighbor told you she prefer using cosmetics sold at the flee market, you probably would not follow her. This may because people have vanity and group psychology and always want to follow the fashion, and mass media can tell what the fashion is [4]. That is the effect of IMC, which makes the most of media effect. Therefore, vanity and group psychology among the general consumers are also an invisible force that pushes for the growth of IMC.Factor 3: The arrival of internet ageThe internet, which heralded its initial global connection in early 1990s, has changed theway people work and live. The old-school marketing methods like TV commercials are becoming less influential and less popular as more and more people prefer to use internet every day. How to make the most of the internet to communicate with consumers has become a hot topic. More and more enterprises turn to popular website to post their ads or organize online promotional activities. While a lot of search engines have become the hot advertisement spots for enterprises collect more popularity. As time progresses, a host of promising B2B website is mushrooming, which prompts the appearance of E-commerce. Nowadays, enterprises across the world flock to these B2B website to present themselves. In this case, the vehicles of marketing have been expanding given the internet is providing a myriad of channels for enterprises to communicate with consumers in the world. The cyber world has been exerting extensive influence on IMC, be it ads, direct sales, sales promotion or public relation development. The coordination, consistency and accuracy of IMC’s factors could optimize the cyber marketing communications for enterprises and vice versa.4. The development and outlook of IMCWith the rapid development of information technology, internet and media, IMC has been evolving over time. The scope of IMC is widening. Over 60 years ago, there was no television, the only marketing method is to sending out flyers, put up posters, billboards or spread ads on the radio. After the television was invented, marketers started using television to promote their products. Later, the emergence of internet was followed by mobile phone internet access. Some mass media today, like Television, has no powerful influence on audience or customers as interpersonal communication media like cell phone, MSN, BBS or other mouth marketing approaches. In that case, the traditional marketing communication approaches like Advertising will not as powerful as new marketing communication approaches like Direct Marketing or Personal Selling, etc (Alain Thys, 2009).The form of marketing is becoming unprecedentedly diverse and interesting. Marketers should integrate all marketing channels and figure out the best possible methods to maximize marketing effect.The world is entering an era of cyber media. So, the traditional advertisement agency and corporate marketing department should cope with the rapidly changing forms of marketing communication. The cyber media will bring about abundant information and diverse form of multi-media communications, which cover blogs, forum, IM, SNS, online video portal, etc. Agency and enterprises should keep a close eye on these mushrooming communications of wide diversity and swiftly broaden their marketing scope and communications. For instance, ad agency or enterprise should set up specific online forum to cater to the consumers’needs, a move could also arouse their curiosity and enable them to in on more information upon the enterprise, the brand and the products. For example, Dell, one of the major PC producers globally has introduced a website and forum. It also hires PC professionals to manager the forum, in which consumers can raise any questions regarding the computer or software. In response, the professionals could offer solutions or suggestions. Besides, these professionals periodically update information and PC knowhow on the forum to present a better service mode to users orprospective clients. Apple and Nokia will often resort to all sorts of online video portals to debut their latest products. It can help reach out to more prospective clients as these days, video portals like U-tube, has become one of the most visited websites with tremendous popularity and influence. So, the multi-media + internet mode is inevitably changing the way enterprises to market their products as IMC is diversifying. So, the cyber media is bound to be the future of IMC development. Who dominates marketing in the virtual world will dominate the market in life.If industries retain the old-school way to commit themselves to IMC, they will be easily edged out of the market. Cyber media is developing so fast that all industries should learn to beef up adaptability in a timely manner. The old-fashioned media or IMCs could not arouse people’s consumption desire any more. For those ad agency or enterprises that fail to transform IMC, their business performance will suffer and be eliminated over time. IMC will be transforming at an incredibly fast pace, enterprises should grasp the chances to innovate marketing communications. Otherwise, the one-time heavy competitor will be drowned by the mass and dazzling IMC applied by enterprises focused on IMC innovation.How IMC is going to evolve and what should we do to fit in?‘Can we adapt to the new market place? That's the hardest part. The economies are never going to go back to the way they were. The communication systems are never going to go back to the way they were. So we have to think about what transformations we need (Don Edward Schultz, 2009).’ [5] All in all, IMC strategy should be people-orientated and in conformity of market development.5. References[1] Kotler, P. (2003), Marketing Management, 11th ed., Prentice-Hall/Pearson Education, Englewood Cliff, NJ, .[2] Kotler, P. (2003), Marketing Management, 11th ed., Prentice-Hall/Pearson Education, Englewood Cliff, NJ, .[3] Don E. Schultz.(2009) China CEO annual meeting[4] Huang Li (2009) Some Thoughts on "I am the Media"[5] Don E. Schultz. (2009) Interview mit dem …Erfinder“des Northwestern IK Modells. Don E. 。