Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a strategic approach to marketing that involves coordinating and aligning all aspects of a company's communication and messaging. The goal of IMC is to create a unified and consistent brand image and message across all channels and touchpoints. Key components of IMC include: 1. *Advertising*: Using paid media channels such as television, radio, print, and digital to promote a product or service. 2. *Public Relations*: Managing the company's reputation and image through media coverage, crisis communication, and community engagement. 3. *Sales Promotion*: Using tactics such as discounts, contests, and loyalty programs to incentivize sales and drive revenue. 4. *Direct Marketing*: Using targeted communication channels such as email, direct mail, and telemarketing to reach specific audiences. 5. *Digital Marketing*: Using online channels such as social media, search engine optimization, and content marketing to reach and engage with customers. 6. *Brand Identity*: Creating a consistent visual and tone-of-voice identity across all marketing channels. The benefits of IMC include: - *Consistency*: A unified message and brand image across all channels. - *Efficiency*: Reduced costs and improved resource allocation. - *Effectiveness*: Improved brand awareness, customer engagement, and sales. - *Competitive Advantage*: A well-coordinated IMC strategy can differentiate a company from its competitors. By integrating all aspects of marketing communication, companies can create a cohesive and impactful brand message that resonates with their target audience.

1. What is Integrated Marketing
Communication
M. Matiki-MA- TMCD/BBC/CIM/Dip PR
0999675811
mafumumatiki25@gmail.com/mmatiki@mubas.ac.mw

2. What is Marketing
• Is the process of planning and
executing the conception, pricing,
promotion and distribution of
ideas, goods services to create
exchanges that satisfy Individual
and Organisational goals…

3. What is Marketing Mix
•The marketing mix refers to the tactics (or
marketing activities) that we have to satisfy
customer needs and position our offering
clearly in the mind of the customer. It involves
the 7Ps; Product, Price, Place and Promotion
(McCarthy, 1960) and an additional three
elements that help us meet the challenges of
marketing services, People, Process and
Physical Evidence (Booms & Bitner, 1982).

4. What is Marketing Mix…
•This refers to what the company produces (whether it is
product or service, or a combination of both) and is
developed to meet the core need of the customer – for
example, the need for transport is met with a car.
•The challenge is to create the right ‘bundle of benefits’
that meet this need. So what happens as customer needs
change, competitors race ahead or new opportunities arise?
•We have to add to the ‘bundle of benefits’ to improve the
offering, create new versions of existing products, or
launch brand new products.
•When improving the product offering think beyond the
actual product itself – value can be added and
differentiation achieved with guarantees, warranties,
after-sales or online support, a user-friendly app or digital
content like a video that helps the user to make the most out
of the product.
Product

5. What is Marketing Mix…
•This is the only revenue-generating element of
the mix – all other marketing activities represent
a cost. So it’s important to get the price right to
not only cover costs but generate profit
• Before setting prices, we need to research
information on what customers are willing to pay
and gain an understanding of the demand for
that product/service in the market.
•As price is also a strong indication of the
positioning in the market against competitors
(low prices=value brand), prices need to be set
with competitors in mind too.
Price

6. What is Marketing Mix…
This is the ‘place’ where customers make a purchase.
This might be in a physical store, through an app or
via a website.
Some organisations have the physical space, or
online presence to take their product/service
straight to the customer, whereas others have to
work with intermediaries or ‘middlemen’ with the
locations, storage and/or sales expertise to help with
this distribution.
The decisions to be made in this element of the
marketing mix concern which intermediaries (if any)
will be involved in the distribution chain and also the
logistics behind getting the product/service to the
end customer, including storage and transportation.
Place

7. What is Marketing Mix…
•So we have a fantastic product, at an appealing
price, available in all the right places, but how do
customers know this? Promotion in our marketing
mix is about communicating messages to
customers, whichever stage they are in the buyer
journey, to generate
awareness, interest, desire or action.
• We have different tools for communication with
varying benefits. Advertising is good for raising
awareness and reaching new audiences,
whereas personal selling using a sales team is
great for building relationships with customers
and closing a sale.
Promotion

8. What is Marketing Mix…
• A company’s people are at the forefront when
interacting with customers, taking and
processing their enquiries, orders and complaints
in person, through online chat, on social media,
or via the call centre.
• They interact with customers throughout their
journey and become the ‘face’ of the organisation
for the customer.
• Their knowledge of the company’s products and
services and how to use them, their ability to
access relevant information and their everyday
approach and attitude needs to be optimised.
• People can be inconsistent but with the right
training, empowerment and motivation by a
company, they can also represent an opportunity
to differentiate an offering in a crowded market
and to build valuable relationships with
customers
People

9. What is Marketing Mix…
•All companies want to create a smooth, efficient and
customer-friendly journey – and this can’t be achieved
without the right processes behind the scenes to make that
happen.
•Understanding the steps of the customer journey – from
making an enquiry online to requesting information and
making a purchase – helps us to consider what processes
need to be in place to ensure the customer has a positive
experience.
•When a customer makes an enquiry, how long will they have
to wait before receiving a response? How long do they wait
between booking a meeting with the sales team to the meeting
taking place? What happens once they make an order? How do
we make sure reviews are generated after a purchase? How can
we use technology to make our processes more efficient?
•All of these considerations help build a positive customer
experience.
Process

10. What is Marketing Mix…
• Physical evidence provides tangible cues of the
quality of experience that a company is
offering. It can be particularly useful when a
customer has not bought from the
organisation before and needs some
reassurance, or is expected to pay for a service
before it is delivered.
• For a restaurant, physical evidence could be in
the form of the surroundings, staff uniform,
menus and online reviews to indicate the
experience that could be expected.
• For an agency, the website itself holds valuable
physical evidence – from testimonials to case
studies, as well as the contracts that companies
are given to represent the services they can
expect to be delivered.
Physical Evidence

11. What is Relationship between
Marketing and IMC
• Promotion is one of the four major elements of the
marketing mix.
• Therefore, an integrated marketing communications
(IMC) strategy consisting of a combination of
promotional tools could be an essential element of
the businesses’ overall marketing strategy.
• The rationale behind integrated marketing
communications (IMC) is to achieve the
promotional objectives in reaching target markets
and to raise awareness of the companies’ products
and services.
• Therefore, IMC may involve the combination of
different promotional tools, including; advertising,
personal selling, sales promotions, direct marketing,
interactive marketing, publicity and public relations

12. The Practice of IMC Vs Marketing Communication MIX
• The use of proper communication vehicles that are
intended to send relevant messages to audiences.
• Their integrated communication approaches should
provide consistent, persuasive messages that are
specifically crafted for their selected target audiences.
• These corporate messages could be coordinated
through precise channels to maximise impact.
• Hence, multi-channels, multi-audience approaches to
message creation could produce synergies that will
increase the potential to influence target customers.
• The multi-channels include; Advertising, Personal
Selling, Sales Promotions, Direct Marketing, Internet
Marketing, Publicity And Public Relation As
Illustrated In The Figure
Marketing Communication Mix

13. Integrated Marketing
Communication
• Is a concept of marketing
communications planning that
recognizes the added value of a
comprehensive plan that evaluates
the strategic roles of a variety of
communication disciplines general
advertising, direct response, sales
promo tion, and public relations– and
combines these disciplines to provide
clarity, consistency, and maximum
communication impact (Caywood,
Schultz, and Wang, 1991b: 2-3)

14. Integrated Marketing
Communication…
• IMC is the concept and process of
strategically managing audience-
focused, channel-centered, and
result-driven brand communication
programs over time (Kliatchko,
2005: 21)

15. Background of Integrated Marketing
Communication
• Integration, the attempt to present a
consistent message across the available
promotional mix elements has always been
important to successful organizations even
during the mid twentieth century.
• With the multiplication of media channels in
the late twentieth and early twenty-first
century, the integration and coordination of
different messages aiming to portray a single
and unique image to all stakeholder groups has
become both more important and more
difficult to achieve.
Factors that led to the
growth of IMC

16. Elements of IMC
1.Advertising: Paid nonpersonal communication about a
brand.
2.Sales Promotion: Activities to encourage sales.
3.Personal Selling: Human touchpoints in marketing.
4.Direct Marketing: Targeted communication to specific
segments.
5.Public Relations (PR): Crafting a narrative around the
brand

17. Importance of IMC
• Deepening Customer Relationships- By maintaining a cohesive brand voice, it becomes
easier for customers to recognize, resonate with, and remain loyal to a brand. When a
customer sees the same core values and message echoed across various platforms, it
reinforces their connection. IMC helps deepen the bond between a brand and a consumer.
• Navigating the Digital Landscape- Today's customers are everywhere – on social media,
email, print media, and more. Integrated Marketing Communications ensures that the
message reaches them wherever they are. By coordinating efforts across multiple channels,
it ensures that no opportunity is missed, and the brand stays at the top of the customers'
minds.
• Leveraging Multiple Channels- Today's customers are everywhere – on social media, email,
print media, and more. Integrated Marketing Communications ensures that the message
reaches them wherever they are. By coordinating efforts across multiple channels, it
ensures that no opportunity is missed, and the brand stays at the top of the customers'
minds

18. Lesson 2
Consumer Behavior

19. Fundamentals Of
Buyer Behaviour
• Consumers make many buying decisions
everyday.
• Most large companies research consumer
buying decisions.
• The research is intended to answer questions
like what consumers buy, how and how much
they buy, when they buy and why they buy.
• The starting point is the stimuli-response
model of buyer behaviour.

20. What is Consumer Buying Behavior?
• Buying Behavior is the decision processes and acts of people
involved in buying and using products. A marketer need to
understand:
i. why consumers make the purchases that they make?
ii. what factors influence consumer purchases?
iii. the changing factors in our society.
• Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the buying behavior of the
ultimate consumer. A firm needs to analyze buying behavior for:
• Buyers reactions to a firms marketing strategy has a great impact
on the firms success.
• The marketing concept stresses that a firm should create a
marketing mix (MM) that satisfies (gives utility to) customers,
therefore need to analyze the what, where, when and how
consumers buy.
• Marketers can better predict how consumers will respond to
marketing strategies.

21. Factors That Influence Consumer’s Buying
Behaviour
Situational
factors
Psychological
factors
Personal
factors
Societal
factors
Family
factors

22. Situational Factors
• Design and layout- place for bread and milk.
• Store location- influence buyers
• Atmospherics- physical factors that firms
can control- layout of store, music, lighting,
temperature and even smell.
• Crowding- affect buying – called herd
behaviour.

23. Personal Factors
Personality and Self Concept
• The big five personality traits could also influence buying
decision:
1. Openness- to new experiences
2. Conscientiousness- how diligent you are.
3. Extraversion- how outgoing or shy you are.
4. Agreeableness- how easy you are to get along with.
5. Neuroticism- how prone you are to negative mental
states.
Other Personality issues include:
i. Self concept- how you see your self be it positive or
negative.
ii. Gender, age and stage in life.
iii. Lifestyle

24. Psychological Factors
• Motivation- inward drive to get what we
need.
• Perception- how you interpret the world
around you and make sense of it in your
brain.
• Learning- process by which consumers
change their behaviour after they gain
information or experience.
• Attitude- mental positions or emotional
feelings, favourable or unfavourable
evaluations about products, services, ideas,
etc.

25. Societal Factors
• Culture- shared beliefs, customs, behaviours
and attitudes that characterises a society.
• Subculture-group of people in a culture who
are different from the dominant culture.
• Social class-group of people who have the
same social, economic or educational status
in society- using income and occupation.
• Reference groups and opinion leaders-
groups a consumer identifies with and may
want to join.

26. Family Factors
• A family influence buying
behaviour.
• You buy what your parents
bought you especially your
consumption patterns.
• Companies are interested in
which family members have the
most influence over certain
purchases.

27. The Buying Decision Process
Need
recognition
Information
search
Evaluation
of
alternatives
Purchase
decision
Post
purchase
behaviour

28. Problem Recognition
• Recognizing need (awareness of need)--
difference between the desired state and the
actual condition.
• Deficit in assortment of products. Hunger--
Food. Hunger stimulates your need to eat.
• Can be stimulated by the marketer through
product information--did not know you
were deficient? I.E., see a commercial for a
new pair of shoes, stimulates your
recognition that you need a new pair of
shoes.

29. Information search
•The stage where the buyer is aroused to search for more
information or have heightened attention to information.
 Internal search, memory.
 External search if you need more information. Friends
and relatives (word of mouth). Marketer dominated
sources; comparison shopping; public sources etc.
• A successful information search leaves a buyer with
possible alternatives, the evoked set.
• Hungry, want to go out and eat, evoked set is
• Chinese Food
• Indian Food
• Burger King
• Klondike Kates Etc

30. Sources Of Information
• Personal sources: family, friends,
neighbours, acquaintances.
• Commercial sources: Advertising, sales
people, dealers, packaging, displays.
• Public sources: Mass media, consumer-
rating organizations.
• Experiential sources: handling,
examining, using the product.

31. Evaluation of Alternatives
• The stage where the consumer uses information to evaluate
alternative brands in the choice set.
• Need to establish criteria for evaluation, features the buyer
wants or does not want. Rank/weight alternatives or resume
search.
• May decide that you want to eat something spicy, Indian gets
highest rank etc.
• If not satisfied with your choice then return to the search
phase. Can you think of another restaurant?
• Look in the yellow pages etc. Information from different
sources may be treated differently.
• Marketers try to influence by "framing" alternatives.

32. Purchase Decision
• Purchase decision--Choose buying
alternative, includes product,
package, store, method of purchase
etc.
• Purchase--May differ from
decision, time lapse between 4 & 5,
product availability.

33. Post Purchase
• Post-Purchase Evaluation--outcome:
Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. Cognitive / post
purchase Dissonance, buyer remorse have you
made the right decision.
• This can be reduced by warranties, after sales
communication etc.
After eating an Indian meal, may think that
really you wanted a Chinese meal instead.

34. ADVERTISING
Origins, Definitions, Types and
Methods

35. Outline
 Origins of the term Advertising
 Definitions of Advertising
 Features of Advertising
 Purposes of advertising
 Broader types of advertising
 Specific types/forms of commercial advertising
 Push vs. pull methods/strategies of advertising

36. •Origins and Definitions
of Advertising

37. Origins of the term Advertising
 The term advertising has originated from a word of Latin language
“advertise” which has the conception of “to turn to”, but the
dictionary explains the meaning of this term as “to give public
notice or to announce publicly”.
 It is also thought that it came from the word “advertere” which
means to turn the mind towards.
 Danesi (2015) declared that the term advertising was derived from
the Medieval Latin language verb advertere which means “to
direct one’s attention to” an idea, product or service by
announcing an oral or written message in common public.

38. Advertising as form of Communication
 According to the American Association of Marketing (AAM)
“advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified
sponsor”
 “It is a paid form of non-personal communication about an
organization and its products that is transmitted to a target
audience through a mass medium such as television, radio,
newspapers, magazines, direct mail, public transport, outdoor
displays, or catalogues” (Janoschka, 2004).
 “Any form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas,
goods and services usually paid for by an identified sponsor”
(Dominick, 2013).

39. Advertising as legalised lying
 Some definitions are somewhat pessimistic: “Advertising is
legalized lying.” (Wells, quoted in Jackman, 1982, p. 2.)
• Exaggeration, vague and meaningless claims are called
puffery, and permitted.
• Because advertisers want to a person buy something. No
one would buy Cola if the advertisement would say: Don't
drink it, it makes you fat, damages your bones, doesn't
let you sleep at night and doesn't taste that good.
Instead they tell lies or at least emphasize only the positive
effects which makes you think ‘Sounds great, why not?!’

40. Advertising as a strategy
 Advertising is a strategy that encourages individuals to
pass on a marketing message to others, creating the
potential for exponential growth in the messages exposure
(Kirby, 2005).
 Advertising is a text, a framing of text, and construction of
the message by the “observer” who ascribes to the
message a meaning of promotion within the specific
framing which is created by the “observer” him/herself
(Karimova, 2012).

41. Advertising as aggressive business
promotion
 Advertising is the aggressive type of a business promotion to show
the face of business in target market (Rehman et al., 2014).
 In the old business environment, advertising was considered to be
a source of increasing sales for a company, but today it is
considered as an important source of customer services and a
weapon to win the battle of competition (Rehman et al., 2014).

42. •Features of Advertising

43. Features of Advertising
1. Communication: Advertising is means of mass communication
reaching the masses.
2. Information: Advertising informs the buyers about the benefits
they would get when they purchase a particular product.
3. Persuasion: Any advertising attempts to convert the prospects into
customers.
4. Profit Maximisation: Advertising seeks to maximize profits by
increasing the sales. Thus, advertising has a higher sales
approach rather than the higher-cost approach.

44. …Features of Advertising
• 5. Non-Personal Presentation: Salesmanship is personal selling
whereas advertising is non-personal in character. Advertising is not
meant for one individual but for masses.
• 6. Identified Sponsor: A sponsor may be an individual or a firm who
pays for the advertisement. The name of reputed company may
increase sale or products. The product gets good market because of
its identity with the reputed corporate body.
• 7. Consumer Choice: Advertising facilitates consumer choice. It
enables consumers to purchase goods as per their budget
requirement and choice.

45. …Features of Advertising
• 8. Art, Science and Profession: Advertising is an art because it
represents a field of creativity. Advertising is a science because it
has a body of organised knowledge. Advertising is a profession
with professional bodies and code of conduct for members.
• 9. Element of Marketing Mix: Advertising is an important
element of promotion mix.
• 10. Element of Creativity: A good advertising campaign involves
lot of creativity and imagination. When the message of the
advertiser matches the expectations of consumers, such
creativity makes way for successful campaign.

46. •Purposes of Advertising

47. Purposes of Advertising
 The basic purposes of advertising are that it should inform,
persuade and reinforce a communication message to attract,
force or remind viewers, readers or listeners to purchase or
take some action upon products, ideas or services.

48. Informative advertising
 Adverts with an objective of informing seeks to develop
initial demand for an existing good, service, organization,
person, place or cause.
 If a company or institution want to promote a new market
entry tends to pursue this objective because marketing
success at this stage often depends on announcing
availability.
 Informative advertising is common in the introductory stage
of the product’s life cycle (Kurtz, 2013, p. 532).

49. Persuasive advertising
 It attempts to increase demand for an existing good, service,
organization, person, place, idea or cause.
 Persuasive advertising is a competitive type of promotion suited
to the growth stage and the early part of maturity stage of the
product life cycle (Kurtz, 2013, p. 532).

50. Reminder advertising
 It strives to reinforce previous promotional activity by keeping
the name of a good, service, organization, person, place, idea or
cause before the public.
 It is common in the latter part of the maturity stage and
throughout the decline stage of the product life cycle.

51. Relationship between purposes of Advertising
and Product Life Cycle
 There is a strong relationship between the three primary
purposes of advertising and the stages of the product life
cycle.
 Informative advertising tends to work best during the early
stages, while reminder advertising is effective later on at the
end of maturity and throughout the decline state of the product
life cycle.
 For persuasive advertising, it can be effective throughout the
entire lifecycle. As per past tradition, marketers and
advertisers used to state their advertising objectives as direct
sales goals.

52. Purposes of advertising vs product life cycle
 As observed by Kurtz (2013, p. 533), a more current and
realistic standard views advertising as a way of achieving
communications objectives that includes informing,
persuading and reminding potential customers of the product
or service.
 Advertising attempts to condition consumers to adopt
favourable view points toward professional message.
 The goal of advertising is to improve the likelihood that a
consumer will buy a particular good or service.

53. •Types of Advertising

54. Types of Advertising
 There are two major strategies that are used to reach the public
and motivate them to become more interested in the subject
matter of the advertisements.
 These two broad strategies which can we will simply refer to as
types of advertising are commercial and non-commercial
advertising.

55. Commercial Advertising
 Commercial advertising is about selling goods and services.
 The idea behind commercial advertising is to sell something
to the consumer that will allow a manufacturer of the product
or provider of the service to get a return or profit.
 Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased
consumption of their products or services.
 It involves the repetition of an image or product name in an
effort to associate related qualities with the brand in the
minds of consumers.

56. Non Commercial advertising
 Non-Commercial Advertisers refers to those who spend money to
advertise items other than a consumer product or service include
political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and
governmental agencies.
 These are forms of advertising that do not aim to persuade
consumers to buy a product. Rather they aim to inform or warn
listeners about the dangers of certain actions, incidents or
developments.
 Examples: National Aids Commission and HIV/AIDS messages,
messages about environmental conservation, about fishing habits /
conservation of nature, health messages.

57. •Forms of Commercial
Advertising

58. Consumer Advertising
 This is when manufacturers and distributors appeal to the end
users of the product.
 It is the commonest form of advertising. It is also called
persuasive or hard selling advertising.
 The purpose of consumer advertising is to create demand.
 Mostly, consumer advertising uses the media that have wider
appeal normally these are the primary media such as radio, TV
and the print media.

59. Trade Advertising
 This is the type of advertising used by manufacturers to
distributors or middlemen such as wholesalers, agents, retailers,
importers and exporters.
 The purpose of trade advertising is to inform the traders or
distributors about the goods that are available for resell.
 It is advisable that trade advertising should take place before
consumer advertising in order to ensure adequate distribution.

60. Retail Advertising
 This is the kind of advertising championed by retailers e.g. Game
and Shoprite.
 These are the aims of retail advertising:
a) To sell stock
b)To establish the character and identity of the store i.e., creating
an image.
 For instance, people will buy goods from Game at a higher price
even if similar goods are found cheaper elsewhere just because
Game has established itself as a good shop and accord prestige to
people that buy from that shop.

61. Corporate/Institutional Advertising
 This is used to present or spruce up the image of a company.
 Many companies that are facing closure, nationalization,
liquidation or takeover bids will engage in corporate advertising
in order to position themselves as playing a key role and offering
social and economic services which cannot be easily replaced.
 For example Air Malawi positioned itself as a flag career which
would not be privatized.
 Finance Bank of Malawi portrayed itself as an employer which
was giving jobs to many people and that its closure would affect
many families.

62. •Methods of
•Advertising

63. Methods/Strategies of Advertising
 Apart from the types of advertising,
Advertising scholars argue that we can
also understand advertising from
another perspective of looking at
methods/strategies of advertising.
 There are, therefore, two methods or
strategies of advertising;
• Push and pull
methods/strategies of
advertising.

64. Push Method/Strategy
• A push strategy involves the advertising activities, primarily the
sales force and trade advertising, directed at the marketing
channel intermediaries, such as distributors, wholesalers and
retailers.
• The aim of the push method is to convince retailers,
salespersons, or dealers to carry and promote the advertiser's
product.
• The push strategy induces these intermediaries to order and
carry the manufacturers products or company’s services and
promote them there by making the products or services available
to end users or customers.

65. Push Advertising
 Push advertising is achieved by offering inducements, such
as providing advertising kits to help the retailer sell the
product, offering incentives to carry stock and developing
trade promotions.
 Airtel, TNM and GoTV does so by offering to paint retailers
shops in exchange for the retailers commitment to stock and
sell the company’s products.
 Castel (formerly Carlsberg) does the painting of beer
drinking places and provision of Carlsberg branded fridges.

66. Push Strategy
 Push strategy is especially appropriate where:
there is low brand loyalty in a category;
purchase, selection or choice is based upon
availability in the retail outlet; the product is
an impulse item; and the product benefits are
well understood.
 When successful, push strategies result in a
wider range of availability, fewer stockouts,
greater merchandising activity, and a greater
advertising effort than would have been
achieved with little or no push
communications.

67. Pull Method/Strategy
• Pull method or strategy involves advertising activities
directed at the end users, the customers who buy the
products or access the services.
• The aim of the pull method or strategy is to convince the
target consumer to try, purchase, and ultimately repurchase
the product.

68. Pull Strategy
• Pull strategy seeks to induce the customers
to ask the product distribution and
marketing channels (wholesalers and
retailers) for the particular product or
service, and thus induce the intermediaries
to order such products and servicers.
• This process is achieved by directly
appealing to the target consumer with
coupons, in-store displays and sales
promotions.

69. When is Pull Strategy used?
• The pull strategy is especially appropriate
when there is high brand loyalty (or so
perceived) and high involvement in the
category; people perceive differences
between brands; and people choose the brand
before they go to the retail store.
• When pull strategies are successful,
customers will seek out certain products or
services and, in essence, by the interest they
create, pull the product through the marketing
channel.

70. Push vs Pull Summary