CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Marketing Communication Marketing communication is the process by

which information about an organization and its offerings is disseminated to selected markets.

Communication plays an important role in facilitating mutually beneficial exchange relationship between an organization and prospective buyers.

The goal of communication is to induce initial purchases and also to achieve post purchase satisfaction which will increase the probability of repeat sales.

marketing communication mix which include advertising, personal selling, and sales promotion.

They should broaden their perspective to think of integrated marketing communications the practice of blending different elements of the communication mix in mutually increase ways

Marketing communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Those who practice advertising, branding, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales promotion and online marketing are term marketing communicator.

Traditionally, marketing communication focus on the creation and execution of printed marketing direct however, academic and professional research developed the practice to use strategic elements of branding and marketing in order to ensure consistency of message quest throughout an organization.

Concept of Integrated Marketing Communications

The form of an integrated marketing communication strategy requires major decisions: 

What objectives must the communication strategy achieve?

How should the communication be timed and scheduled?

How much should be budget for communicating with target markets, and in which manner should resources be allocated among communication activities?

How should the communication process be evaluated as to its effectiveness, and how should it be controlled?

Tools of integrate marketing

The IMC concept has been growing in popularity for several reasons.

First, the increase of thousands of media choices beyond traditional television has made promotion a more complicated task. Instead of promoting a product just through mass media option, like television and magazines, promotional messages today can appears in many varied sources.

Further, the mass market has also fragmented; more selectivity segmented markets and increase in niche marketing have been replaced the traditional broad market group that marketers promoted to in years past.

Creative Integrity

Greater Marketing Precision

Operational Efficiency

Consistent Message

Cost Saving

Benefit of IMC:

Better Use Of Media Greater Marketing Precision

Corporate communications and marketing

The public relations and marketing can be distinguish conceptually and their relationship clarified.

The marketing communications department coordinates and manages publicity relating to new or existing products and also deals with activities relating to customers. Marketing consists of a coordinated program of research, product design, packaging, pricing, promotion, and distribution.

The goal is to attract and satisfy customers or clients on a long term basis in order to achieve an organization’s economic objectives. Its fundamental responsibility is to build and maintain a market for an organization’s product or services It also may manage corporate advertising

Customer relations activities have increasingly become a part of corporate communication as a result of pressure groups among consumers that try to extent their influence on an organization.

Many companies today have a customer focus or customer orientation. This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands

Communicate with customers

Discover how they feel about your offering and brand

Determine what they want from your company.

Test ideas for quantitative research.

 Direct marketing

Direct marketing is the traditional promotional/marketing process whereby marketers use direct contact with consumers or business buyers with intent of communication information or bringing about a transaction. Direct marketing is an attempts to send its messages directly to consumers, without the use of intervening midea and focused on driving purchases that can be attributed to a specific "call-to-action”.

Nowadays, direct marketing is an interactive system that uses one of more advertising media to effect a measurable response and or to transaction at any location. Direct marketing uses a combination of media, is often designed to elicit a direct response and transactions can occur anywhere.

The primary of methods of direct marketing are telemarketing using telephone sales solicitation, and direct response in advertising in magazines, newspapers, and on television and radio, online ordering via internet. However, direct mail does not equal direct marketing. It is merely one of the media used within a direct marketing system which revolves around the data base.

The grown in popularity of direct marketing is due to a number of factors. Some of these have to do with changes in consumer lifestyles and technological advancements that in effect create a climate more conducive to the practice of direct marketing. In addition, direct marketing programs offer unique advantages via conventional mass-media advertising, leading many organizations to shift more of their marketing budgets to direct marketing activities. 

In direct marketing communication, the creative approach, although important, has less effect on response rates than the targeting, the offer and incentive and the utilized.  

Advertising: Corporate and product, Packaging and Design A company’s image can be also enhanced or altered

through corporate advertising. This sub function of corporate communication is different from its product advertising or marketing communication function in two ways.

First, corporate advertising tries to sell the company itself.

Second, corporate advertising is issue advertising. It attempts to do even more than influence opinion about the company and specific issues that affect the company.

Corporate advertising can be defined as paid use of media that seeks to benefit image of the corporation as a whole rather than its product or services alone.

Corporate image advertising should brand a company the way product advertising brands a product A major difference between corporate and product advertising is who pays for each of the two types of advertising. A company’s marketing department is responsible for all product related advertising and its payment.

On the other hand, corporate advertising falls within corporate communication area and budget allocated for the activities related to corporate advertising. This is because corporate advertising should present a clear identity and image for the organization.

Some of the reason organizations invest in corporate advertising campaigns

Increase sales: through corporate advertising, companies can draw out features about themselves that they think will appeal to the public and as a result, make consumers want to but products from them.

Create a stronger reputation the best corporate advertising creates goodwill and enhances reputation by letting constituents in on what the organization is all about, particularly if it does beneficial thinks that people might not be aware of.

Recruit and retain employees corporate advertising is also an indirect way of building morale among employees good corporate advertising campaign can create excitement among both potential and current employees.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions provide a temporary forum for sellers of a product category to exhibit and demonstrate their products to prospective buyers. Some exhibitions exist as marketplaces where buyers and sellers meet, these are called selling exhibitions.

Others such as the Motor show exist purely as promotional vehicles, with no actual buying and selling taking place at the exhibition (non-selling exhibitions). Some exhibitions are open to the public while other is business vehicles.

Exhibitions can take much form from humble in store special displays to conferences to very large international trade and consumer shows.

Exhibitions account for a substantial part of marketing communications budget. For some firm they may be the most important elements of their promotional activities.

Exhibitions are concerned with two main areas of marketing communications: activities directly related to making sales, areas which relate to more general promotion activities.

Some exhibitions are intended primarily as selling events, where the visitors to the exhibition would expect to be able to buy good directly from the exhibitions, while other exhibitions called non selling exhibitions exist primarily to show the latest development in the industry.

The stages involved in planning an exhibition as indicated below:

Set objectives

Select which exhibition to

attend

Plan for staffing the

stand

Plan support

promotion

Decide stand

layout and contents

Plan follow-up activities

Plan the ‘project’-logistic

Evaluate and follow-

up

Marketing communication must have

Utilize your physical location Build and maintain a website offer a way to speak to someone Be found by your target markets

Utilize your physical location

offer a way to speak to someone