19 Determining IMC Objectives and Approach

Determine Target Market

It is important to clearly identify the target market or the set of market segments an organization plans to focus on. A marketing plan may include one or more campaigns focused on one or more target segments. Some campaigns may focus on achieving specific goals for a single segment. Other campaigns may focus on a common set of goals using a variety of integrated marketing communication (IMC) activities targeting different segments.

In any case, clearly defining the audience for IMC activities is an essential input. This is because different market segments use different types of media, and they may have other distinctive characteristics that impact the effectiveness of a marketing activity. For example, in 2020, Facebook reached 59 percent of the world’s social networking population. Its usage is growing among older Americans: 52 percent of North Americans aged 55 and overused Facebook (compared with 20 percent in 2012). Meanwhile, 23.5 percent of Facebook users are under 25 (with an additional 32.4 percent of users aged 25–34)—for a total of 55.9 percent of users under 35.^[1]

Your decision about whether to use Facebook in an IMC campaign should depend, in part, on what proportion of the target audience you can reach with this tool. Understanding your target segment(s) and their communication and media habits will make a huge difference in your ability to design IMC programs to reach the people you want to reach.

Determine Marketing Campaign Objectives

Once the audience is defined, the next essential step for a successful marketing campaign is to define what the campaign will accomplish with its IMC efforts. Although many marketing campaigns may be oriented toward a single objective, it is possible for an IMC program to accomplish more than one objective at a time, so long as this doesn’t create confusion for your target audiences.

The objectives should explain the following two items:

1. the impact of campaign activity on target audiences
2. the ultimate results or outcomes that align with the organization’s marketing strategy and corporate goals

While the objective of a marketing campaign often involves increasing sales, this does not necessarily have to be an objective. An entire campaign might focus primarily on building awareness and persuading people to engage with a product or brand in some way, as a stepping-stone towards generating demand and increasing sales.

A good place to help with thinking through campaign objectives is to consider the cognitive stages a customer goes through as they become aware of and eventually decide to buy a brand, product, or service. Many marketers use the AIDA model to guide this thinking and help them pinpoint campaign objectives for a given audience.

Push versus Pull Promotion Mix Strategies

Push and pull strategies are promotional strategies used to get the product to its target market. A push strategy places the product in front of the customer, to make sure the consumer is aware of the existence of the product. Push strategies also create incentives for retailers to stock products and put them in front of the customer. Examples of push tactics include:

• Point-of-sale displays that make a product highly visible to consumers
• Product demonstrations to show off a product’s features to potential customers at trade shows and in showrooms
• Retailer incentives to stock and sell products, such as discounted bulk pricing
• Negotiations with a retailer to stock a specific item in limited store space, along with proof points the product will sell
• Creating a supply chain for distribution that ensures retailers can obtain the product in sufficient quantities

Push strategies work best when companies already have established relationships with users. For example, cell phone providers proactively send (i.e., push) advertisements via text messages to mobile customers regarding promotions and upgrades. This permission-based marketing can become particularly effective when push tactics and offers are personalized to the user based on individual preferences, usage, and buying behaviour.

A pull strategy stimulates demand and motivates customers to actively seek out a specific product. It is aimed primarily at the end-users, rather than retailers or other middle players in the value chain. Pull strategies can be particularly successful for strong, visible brands with which consumers already have some familiarity. Examples of pull tactics include:

• Mass-media advertising and promotion of a product
• Marketing communications with existing customers to make them aware of new products that will fill a specific need
• Referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations from existing customers
• Product reviews from opinion leaders
• Sales promotions and discounts

Using these strategies creates a demand for a specific product. With pull tactics stoking demand, retailers are then encouraged to seek out the product and stock it on their shelves. For instance, Apple successfully uses a combination of pull strategies to launch iPhones or iPads. The music industry has shifted strongly toward pull strategies due to digitization and the emergence of social networking Web sites. Music platforms such as iTunes, Grooveshark, and Spotify all reflect a power shift toward music consumers exploring and demanding music they want, rather than music producers controlling what is available to whet music lovers’ appetites. Likewise, music retailers have adapted their strategies toward pulling in consumers to seek out products.

Most businesses use a combination of push and pull strategies in order to successfully market their products, services and brands. As marketers define the objectives they want marketing campaigns and IMC to accomplish, they can determine whether “push,” “pull,” or a combination of both will be most effective. This helps guide their choices around which marketing communication methods and tools to use.

Engagement Strategies

In the age of IMC, it is essential for marketers to think creatively about what they are trying to accomplish with target customers through the campaign. Beyond just “pushing” a product through channel partners or “pulling” a customer in through advertising and awareness-building, marketers should consider how the campaign will draw attention, make an impact, and invite target audiences to take action amidst a crowded marketplace. Exposure alone is no longer sufficient to create brand equity and loyalty; interaction is now the name of the game.

Marketers today have many different avenues for creating engagement opportunities focused on making a desired impact in the mind–and behaviour–of the customer. By thinking through campaign objectives at this level, marketers can better pinpoint not only a winning strategy for the campaign, but also the types of IMC tactics and tools to help them deliver the desired results. For example:

Define the Message

With the marketing campaign’s objectives determined and goals defined, marketers can revisit and refine campaign messaging to fit the approach they have selected. Refer to the Defining the Message section for further guidance and recommendations around developing a messaging framework and getting the messaging right.

Part of the messaging is the call to action. As marketers hone in on the marketing communication methods and tools they will use, each touchpoint should include a call to action aligned with the campaign strategy and goals. The calls to action should be appropriate to the AIDA model stage, the audience, and the tool being used. For example, as a prospective customer progresses through the sales cycle, the following set of appropriate calls to action might be built into Web content:

Select Marketing Communication Methods

As marketers consider marketing communication methods, several factors shape their choices:

Budget

What is the budget for the marketing campaign, and what resources are available to execute it? A large budget can incorporate more expensive marketing communication techniques—such as mass-market advertising and sales promotions—a larger scale, a broader reach, and/or a longer time frame. A small-budget campaign might also be very ambitious, but it would rely primarily on in-house labor and existing tools, such as a company’s Web site and content marketing, email marketing, and social media capabilities. It’s important to figure out how to get the biggest impact from the available budget.

Timing

Some IMC methods and tactics require a longer lead time than others. For example, email and Web marketing activities can usually be executed rapidly, often with in-house resources. Conference presentations and events require significantly longer lead time to orchestrate. It’s important to choose the tools that will make the biggest impact in the time available.

Audience

Effective IMC methods meet audiences where they are. As suggested above, the media habits and behaviours of the target segments should guide marketers’ choices around marketing communication. For example, if you know your target audience subscribes to a particular magazine, visits a shortlist of Web sites to get information about your product category, and follows a particular set of bloggers, your IMC strategy should build a presence in these media. Alternatively, if you learn that 60 percent of your new business comes as a result of Yelp and FourSquare reviews, your marketing campaign might focus on social-media reputation building and mobile touchpoints.

Existing Assets and Organizational Strengths

When considering marketing communications and the promotional mix, marketers should always look for ways to build on and make the best use of existing assets. For example, if a company has a physical store or space, how is it being used to full effect to move prospective customers through the sales cycle? If a company has a well-respected founder or thought leader as an employee, how are marketers using this asset to generate interesting content, educate prospects, differentiate the company, and create a desire for their brand, products, or services? Does the organization have a Website and, if so, how does it support each stage of the AIDA model? Organizations should be aware of these strengths and design IMC programs that use them to best advantage. Often these strengths become competitive advantages that competitors cannot easily match or replicate.

Advantages of Various Marketing Communication Methods

Different marketing communication methods lend themselves to particular stages of the AIDA model, push vs. pull strategies, and ways of interacting with customers.

• Advertising is particularly well-suited to awareness-building
• Public relations activities often focus on generate interest, educating prospective customers and sharing stories that create desire for a product or brand. Similarly, experiential events can create memorable opportunities to interact with product, brands and people.
• Personal selling typically focuses at the later stages of the model, solidifying desire and stimulating action
• Sales promotions, depending on their design, can be focused at any step of the AIDA model. For consumer products, they often focus on point-of-sale touchpoints to induce buying.
• Direct marketing can also be focused at any step of the AIDA model, depending on the design. It is often used to generate interest, providing information or an offer that motivates prospective customers to dig a little deeper and learn more.
• Digital marketing offers a plethora of tools that can be deployed at any stage of the AIDA model. Paid digital ads, search optimization and social media word-of-mouth all support awareness-building and generating interest. Blogs, newsletters, digital case studies and customer testimonials can be powerful tools for stoking desire. How the website engages customers through the purchasing process is key to persuading prospects to become customers.
• Guerrilla marketing, like digital marketing, can be designed to impact any stage of the AIDA model. It is often used by newcomers for awareness-building, to make an impact in a new market. Marketers also use it frequently for engaging experiential activities that solidify desire and create an emotional bond with the consumer.

Marketers should think creatively about the methods available to them and how they can come together to deliver the overall message, experience, goals and objectives of the campaign. Fortunately, if marketers plan well, they also have the opportunity to evaluate effectiveness and revise the approach to improve outcomes.