1. Allen Waiters
Com 621
IMC Final Paper
RunDogs has shown some growth and success over the years for being a medium-sized
athletic shoe manufacturer. The company will have to devise new strategies to entice
customers and develop a marketing communication tactical plan to compete with large
conglomerates like Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Sketchers, and New Balance.
The primary goals of the organization is to increase retail business in the United States
by fifty percent and to penetrate foreign markets such as Canada and countries in Europe
within the next five years. In order to accomplish these goals, we will implement
recommendations from the various literature reviews and will use the them to what we have
learned based on the research to create a marketing communications tactical plan
It is important that we implement the approaches recommended by various authors to
make this plan viable and successful. The use of the approaches will give an insight in how to
make an integrated marketing plan that will help the company reach its goals.
To make this plan work accordingly, I will look deeply into vital components of the plan
such as consumer behavior, branding, channels, consumer relationships, and finding the
customer’s love mark.
We also need to appeal to not only to our current customers but also to potential
customers in new markets. We want to also penetrate new markets but in order to do that we
will need to stick with our philosophy, which is function over fashion. We are appealing to

2. customers who are very active in their life and we need to appeal to them that our product is
superior to our rivals Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Reebok, and Sketchers. We would need to
appeal to our customers that we offer something that our rivals can’t offer which is that our
product is made by various technologies to meet diverse needs of athletes and has a specialized
suspension system for more comfort.
While many customers do prefer running shoes as a fashion statement, if we can appeal
to consumers by proving that our performance characteristics are superior to our competitors
then we can build upon this and make RunDogs a competitive global firm that can rival the top
brands like Nike.
In this integrated marketing plan, I will highlight our objectives, strategies and tactics to
accomplish the primary plan which elevates RunDogs to a global firm. The company has done a
SWOT analysis which will help the company succeed in the long run. We know that our price is
a little higher than our competitors for our products but proving that our performance of our
running shoes will be a vital key to the success of our plan.
The objectives that the plan will focus consumer channels, build customer loyalty, and
building our brand as a well-respected product and love mark that consumers will want to buy.
The strategies we will implement will ensure that the objectives will be met and to set out
tactics that will evaluate the strategies that will ensure success.
The first component that will affect the integrated marketing plan is the various
channels consumers have access to. Consumers have unprecedented access to information
about products and consumers are more knowledgeable about products. One of the biggest

3. channels that consumers rely upon and trust is word of mouth. This channel is still effective
among consumers, even though word of mouth is vastly different than it was in the twentieth
century. Word of mouth is now mostly electronic and in the form of consumer reviews.
Today’s consumer’s will read consumer reviews from consumers who have purchased products
even though they have never met in person and still value their opinion on a specific product.
“Positive consumer reviews on a product or company are one of the best predictors of
business growth (Keller, 2007)” (Sher & Lee, 2009). RunDogs should have as much positive
consumer reviews on our products because it can lead to growth in business, obtaining new
customers, and expanding our business into new markets. Consumer skepticism can have the
adverse effect on our company and can lead profit loss if there is too many negative reviews on
RunDogs products.
I propose using an elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to determine consumer behavior
and to make an effective way of communicating marketing messages. It is recommended that
marketers profile the population of consumers by high skepticismand low skepticismto target
and segment consumers effectively. Doing this will help marketers target the population of
who have low skepticismand make an effective way of marketing messages to them.
Continuing using ELM, the second proposal is to convince consumers to rely less on
online reviews by other consumers and write their own positive reviews of RunDogs products.
According to Sher and Lee, “If they wish to influence these consumers more effectively,
marketing executives and software developers should articulate a more user-friendly interface
that simplifies the process of posting reviews and therefore induces the participating intention”

4. (2009). In order to entice consumers to create their own reviews, our company will need to
have some incentives that will motivate the consumers to write a positive review. RunDogs
could offer consumers’ incentives like a random prize drawing, a five percent discount on their
next purchase, or a gift card. These incentives will motivate consumers to do an online review
which will help spread the Company’s name and our products to new potential customers.
Another approach that will help with the integrated marketing plan is building consumer
relationship. As we know, customer behavior and motivation can be difficult to predict and
interpret. Our goal as an organization is to develop a better relationship with the customers.
There are several theories that can be applied to improve our relationship with our
customers. The social exchange theory is “based on each partner’s motivational investment and
anticipated social gain” (Dewulf & odkereken-Schroder, 2001). So there has to be a mutual
motivation between the consumer and the company to establish a relationship.
From the consumer perspective, they are expecting a functional product that is worth
their investment and in return the company will gain the customers’ business while building a
relationship with the customer. The same can be said for negative motivation of the consumer
which also can lead to consumers to our company because they may have had a negative
experience from another company or they were dissatisfied with a product from the other
company.

5. Dissatisfaction with a rival company can draw customers to RunDogs because their
motivated to obtain a better product which motivates the company to satisfy the customers’
need and build a better relationship with our company.
“Corresponding to the assumptions of social exchange theory, consumer-firm exchanges
are driven by self-interest and are intended to mutually beneficial economic and/or non-
economic outcomes” (Dewulf & Okderkan-Schroder, 2001). RunDogs will have to exceed
customer expectations and make our competitors look inferior to obtain a long term
relationship with customers.
Another theory that can be applied to establishing customer relationships is the equity
theory. Customers want to feel that what they are inputting is equal to the outcome. Basically
to establish a relationship with the customers, our product must meet the expectations of the
customers which in turn will result in satisfaction between the consumer and the company. If
the customer feels there is an inequity, it can lead to dissatisfaction, resentment, and mistrust.
The key for RunDogs is to achieve equity with customers is to make sure the company
can meet or exceed the customers’ expectation to keep them satisfied and not have the
customer feel taken for granted.
To develop a long term relationship customers both the company and customers will
have to give up something to meet a mutual interest. What can be given could be lowering cost
for the company while the customer may have to pay a little more to have the advantages from
the relationship.

6. Another approach that the company has to way in is the branding our product has a
lovemark. RunDogs is an up and coming company but to compete with Nike and Reebok we
have potential customers think of our brand as a love mark. To do this we will have to
communicate effectively with current customers and potential customers. Effective advertising
and word of mouth. Lovemarks are the next big thing in branding and in order to do so we
have to get our customers build and emotional bond with RunDogs products and strengthen
the bond.
“To create a Lovemark Marketers need to build not just respect but to overlay onto that
a loving and close relationship. Lovemark high love is infused with three intangible, yet very
real, ingredients: mystery, sensuality, and intimacy” (Pawle & Cooper, 2006). Marketers would
need to find a way to measure the effectiveness of the lovemark by assessing the layers of
conscience that can tug on the emotions of the consumers.
Marketers will have to create an advertisement that can hit all three of the intangible
parts of a lovemark. For mystery, the advertisement can be a story that can appeal to
consumers like motivational story such as a woman who wants to bring awareness for breast
cancer by wearing pink RunDog running shoes. This can also apply to sensuality because it
creates a brand experience.
For the integrated marketing plan to be success, I believe the approaches stated above
will be integral for success. Using various channels, building customer relationships, and
establishing a lovemark will be the key components to making a successful integrated

7. marketing plan that will help RunDogs achieve its goal of expanding into foreign markets,
increase revenue by fifty percent, and compete with conglomerates such as Nike and Reebok.
Sher, P. & Lee, S. (2009). Consumer Skepticism and Online Reviews: An Elaboration
Likelihood Model Perspective. Social Behavior and Personality, 37(1), 137-144.
Pawle, J. & Cooper, P. (2006). Measuring Emotion-Lovemarks, The Future Beyond
Brands. Journal of Advertising Research, 38-44.
DeWulf, K. & Odekerken-Schroder, G. (2001). A Critical Review of Theories Underlying
Relaionship Marketing in the Context of Explaining Consumer Relationships. Journal for the
Theory of Social Behaviour 31:1, 74-101.