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Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), according to The American Marketing Association
American Marketing Association

The American Marketing Association is a Professional body for Marketing. As of 2008 it had approximately 40,000 members. There are collegiate chapters on 250 campuses....
, is “a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.” ()

Integrated Marketing Communications is a term used to describe a holistic approach to marketing.






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Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), according to The American Marketing Association
American Marketing Association

The American Marketing Association is a Professional body for Marketing. As of 2008 it had approximately 40,000 members. There are collegiate chapters on 250 campuses....
, is “a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.” ()

Integrated Marketing Communications is a term used to describe a holistic approach to marketing. It aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media. The concept includes online and offline marketing channels. Online marketing channels include any e-marketing campaigns or programs, from search engine optimization
Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" Search engine results page....
 (SEO), pay-per-click, affiliate, email, banner to latest web related channels for webinar, blog, RSS, podcast, and Internet TV. Offline marketing channels are traditional print (newspaper, magazine), mail order, public relations, industry relations, billboard, radio, and television. A company develops its integrated marketing communication programme using all the elements of the marketing mix (price, place, product, and promotion).


Reasons for the Growing Importance of IMC

Several shifts in the advertising and media industry have caused IMC to develop into a primary strategy for marketers:

  1. From media advertising to multiple forms of communication.
  2. From mass media to more specialized (niche) media, which are centered around specific target audiences.
  3. From a manufacturer-dominated market to a retailer-dominated, consumer-controlled market.
  4. From general-focus advertising and marketing to data-based marketing.
  5. From low agency accountability to greater agency accountability, particularly in advertising.
  6. From traditional compensation to performance-based compensation (increased sales or benefits to the company).
  7. From limited Internet access to 24/7 Internet availability and access to goods and services.


Selecting the Most Effective Communications Elements

The goal of selecting the elements of proposed integrated marketing communications is to create a campaign that is effective and consistent across media platforms. Some marketers may want only ads with the greatest breadth of appeal: the executions that, when combined, provide the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational moments. Others may only want ads with the greatest depth of appeal: the ads with the greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and motivational points within each.

Although integrated marketing communications is more than just an advertising campaign, the bulk of marketing dollars is spent on the creation and distribution of advertisements. Hence, the bulk of the research budget is also spent on these elements of the campaign. Once the key marketing pieces have been tested, the researched elements can then be applied to other contact points: letterhead, packaging, logistics, customer service training, and more, to complete the IMC cycle.

See also

  • Advertising
    Advertising

    Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to Purchasing or to consume more of a particular brand of Product or Service ....
  • Advertising Research
    Advertising research

    Advertising research is a specialized form of marketing research conducted to improve the efficiency of wiktionary:advertising. According to MarketConscious.com, ?It may focus on a specific ad or campaign, or may be directed at a more general understanding of how advertising works or how consumers use the information in advertising....
  • Brand infiltration
    Brand infiltration

    Brand infiltration is a marketing practice that takes a specific approach to strategy, creativity and success tracking, where all three are driven by a thorough understanding of the business objective at hand....
  • Direct Marketing
    Direct marketing

    Direct marketing is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing....
  • Global Marketing
    Global marketing

    The Oxford University Press defines global marketing as ?wiktionary: marketing on a worldwide scale reconciling or taking commercial advantage of global operational differences, similarities and opportunities in order to meet global objectives.?...
  • Marketing
    Marketing

    Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large....
  • Marketing Research
    Marketing research

    Marketing research, or market research, is a form of business research and is generally divided into two categories: consumer market research and business-to-business market research, which was previously known as industrial marketing research....
  • Public Relations
    Public relations

    Public relations is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics. Public relations - often referred to as PR - gains an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment....
  • Sales Promotion
    Sales promotion

    Sales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotional mix. Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability....
  • Sponsorship


External links

, Author, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications Reed School of Journalism School of Journalism Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism Integrated Marketing course School of Journalism, Marketing Communications master's degree program Ageno School of Business, San Francisco