What is Integrated Marketing Communication? How to Apply it in Business
Business Marketing |
| What is Integrated Marketing Communication |
For those of you who have a business and are marketed online, you must understand Integrated Marketing Communication. If you are an advertiser who must pursue sales targets, then, you also have to start learning them for the progress of your sales.
This is closely related to how potential customers can understand your product, and how they see your product in the long term. To understand a deeper understanding of Integrated Marketing Communication, we will describe the meaning and examples in full.
Definition Integrated Marketing Communication
Integrated Marketing Communication according to Kotler and Armstrong is a concept in which the company coordinates various communication channels to send clear, consistent, and convincing messages regarding the company and its products. Meanwhile, around the 80s, Don Schultz put forward this concept with the notion of a strategy to communicate the same message in all marketing channels.
From the two statements above, it can be concluded that what is meant by Integrated Marketing Communication is a process of forming a communication between brands and customers through various marketing channels. The messages given on each channel have the same band, although in different ways.
For example, if a brand is introduced as something fancy on social media, then other channels such as billboards or billboards on the street should also convey the same impression. The promotional image may be different, the advertising writing will be different, but the message conveyed is the same.
The purpose of Integrated Marketing Communication is to influence people to remember your product psychologically, and want it until they finally buy your product. There are two kinds of promotion methods, namely; soft sell and hard sell.
Soft selling is soft and unconscious, such as advertisements, aid funds, public relations, and so on. Meanwhile, the hard sell is open promotion, for example, such as selling directly to people, storing products in stores, and so on.
Examples of Integrated Marketing Communication in Business
To understand in more detail, you can see several types of Integrated Marketing Communication as below.
Advertisement
Advertising is a subtle promotion, the aim of which is to show the superiority of the product and how it stands from other competitors. In Integrated Marketing Communication, advertising is included in soft selling which aims to build a brand in the minds of potential consumers.
You must have seen cigarette advertisements that have nothing to do with the product. It is an attempt to show how the impression appears in consumers when using these products. Like cigarette advertisements that often smell like adventure, there is hope that when consumers consume these cigarettes, consumers can feel the nuance of adventure. That's the message the company wants to convey.
Public Relations / Public Relations
Have you ever called a company to ask for a product but the person on the other side of the line responded curtly? You will feel annoyed and don't want to contact him again, right? If so, then the company has failed to implement the Integrated Marketing Communication concept.
Customer Service is a part of public relations. They become a window for potential customers to get to know your company/business. Friendly and cheerful public relations will give a positive impression to potential customers and invite consumers to come back again. This is a form of Integrated Marketing Communication to increase consumer confidence in your brand.
Sales Promotion
The next example is sales promotion. This is a form of promotion from sales such as discounts and bonuses. Anyone likes a discount, it remains how you set it up as a businessman to stay profitable.
What is most often done, for example, is to apply buy 1 get 1 or a discount if you spend a certain amount. The most important thing is that you succeed in attracting existing customers and the interests of other potential customers.
Event & Experience
Marketing channels commonly used in other Integrated Marketing Communication concepts are events & experiences. For example, such as a brand that holds a music concert or event for young people. The brand usually acts as a sponsor, then subtly raises a figure who becomes a community idol as an ambassador for the product.
In essence, in this strategy, you must be able to maximize the events you create. Do not let you not take into account the losses, when you run the event you are targeting participants to become users of your product.
Direct Selling
The last example is direct selling or direct selling. That is, you openly sell your product, show its strengths, and influence people to feel they need the product.
Direct selling can be in the form of selling from person to person or displaying products in stores such as supermarkets. The point is you are directly asking other people to buy your product because your product is superior and good. That is the message to be conveyed to all marketing channels in Integrated Marketing Communication.
