Integrated Marketing Campaigns

An Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) is implemented ‘to help understand the wide range of elements that form the communications mix, and why it is important to consider them as integrated, overlapping activities’ (Pickton & Broderick, 2005). 

The 7 steps needed to create an successful IMC plan include:

  • Step 1: Having a clear understanding of your target audience, their needs and motivations, the communication channels they use and when best to target them.
  • Step 2: Choosing the communication channels that are best suited for your target audience. 
  • Step 3: Ensuring the marketing messages remain consistent through all communications to ensure familiarity and increase recall. 
  • Step 4: Creating content that can be altered for different communication channels. 
  • Step 5: Making sure the message is integrated. 
  • Step 6: Ensuring that all the marketing messages are working together and in sync. 
  • Step 7: Tracking the success of the campaign (Schiff, 2014).

An example of an successful IMC plan is the Melbourne Metro Trains advertisement titled ‘Dumb Ways to Die’. The advertisement turned a message about rail safety, that was targeted towards young youth, into a cultural phenomenon that individuals wanted to engage with. To garner the attention of the Australian youth Metro Trains made the advertisement as entertainment and used humour to embrace and involve young Australians. 

To ensure permanency, Melbourne Metro Trains uploaded the advertisement on YouTube, made a song about Dumb Ways to Die, interacted with their target audience on Tumblr, placed posters about the ad near train stations and made a website and app about the commercial. The YouTube video amassed 44 million views, the song charted in 28 countries on iTunes and 1 in 3 Melbournians reported knowing about the advertisement. Whilst the ad raised a lot awareness about rail safety Metro Trains also noticed a ‘21% reduction in accidents and deaths on its network as a result of the campaign’ (Nudd, 2017).

What are your thoughts on an integrated marketing campaign? 

Search Engine Optimisation: Is It Still Effective?

In 2003 Canada and the United States of America spent $4.1 billion on search engine marketing (Sen, 2014). Search engine marketing is the process of “promoting an organisation through search engines to meet its objectives by delivering relevant content in the search listings for searchers and encouraging them to click through to a destination site” (Chaffey et al, 2012). The two key SEM techniques include search engine optimisation and paid search marketing. 

Search engine optimisation used to be about link spamming which used automated tools to build thousands of back links to a site, link networks that would build links to sites automatically, content spinning which involved taking existing content and using software to change words, hence making it unique and press release spam which involved submitting press releases with blog posts (Germann, Lilien & Rangaswamy 2013). Nowadays, search engine optimisation is about creating content that is genuine and of high quality, using social media effectively and providing real value to customers. 

An example of a company using search engine optimisation techniques effectively is Maldives Traveller. They are a tourism company that was experiencing difficulties in executing an online strategy. Therefore they decided to conduct research on their companies origin, vision and ventures to understand the core company itself and why clients would be interested in them. They also improved the content available on their website. They refurbished the contents of the website to ensure that customers would gain value and ensured that they had better quality information over large quantities of information. The companies last strategy included researching about keywords used in the tourism industry to help increase brand awareness. So, were the techniques used by Maldives Traveller effective?

Results showcased an 40% increase in the number of individuals visiting the webpage per day. Thereby, increasing brand awareness and the number of individuals using the companies services. Further, the results presented an increase in the number of repeat visitors per day to the webpage (Iwasiuk, 2018). 

So, what are your thoughts on search engine marketing and do you think it is an effective tool for marketers?

How can businesses create successful mobile apps?

Mobile marketing has become increasingly more prevalent in today’s world. The Yellow Social Media Report (2018) highlights that 87% of Australians own a smartphone.

Mobile marketing as defined by Kaplan is ‘any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device’ (Kaplan 2012). 

In order for businesses to create successful apps that consumers will use they need to ensure that certain features are prevalent. These features include the app being able to solve the consumers queries, it being easy to navigate and is updated frequently to ensure that it is up to date and keeps the consumer engaged. In addition, the app should be free and should not drain the consumers smartphone battery life.

Furthermore, Andreas Kaplan’s mobile social media advice framework emphasises the four I’s of social media that businesses should adhere by. They include individualize, involve, integrate and initiate. individualize involves listening to consumer preferences and interests. Involve is ensuring that the consumer is engaging in conversations about the business and their app. Integrate involves becoming a part of the consumers day to day life and initiate involves creating user-generated content. 

An example of a company making an successful app is Shell. The oil company released an app titled ‘Shell Motorist’ which was widely successful because the company involved and individualized their app for consumers. The app allows customers to find their nearest Shell petrol station, it calculates the journey time, calculates the costs associated and lets customers know the best route they can take to avoid traffic. Furthermore, consumers are able to provide details about their vehicle such as make, model and year and the app will give car maintenance recommendations. The app also keeps consumers updated with Shell’s latest product offerings, provides discount coupons and has a loyalty card built within the app. 

Therefore, I believe it is vital for business to ensure that they engage in mobile marketing. What are your thoughts? 

Why did the Payless campaign go viral?

Viral, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, is “used to describe something that quickly becomes very popular or well known by being published on the internet or sent from person to person by email or phone.”

The Payless campaign that went viral involves Payless, the international discount shoe store, opening a fake luxury store named Palessi and selling their products in a fake designer store. They then invited fashion influencers to the grand opening of the store who paid up to $600 for shoes that retail between $19.99 and $39.99. Watch the video below!

The campaign was designed to change the perception and brand meaning individuals have of Payless shoes. They invited fashion influencers and trendsetters that everyday people look up to for styling tips, who stated that the shoes were of ‘high quality’ and looked ‘elegant’ and ‘sophisticated’. Payless’ chief marketing director asserted that the campaign showcases that you can purchase stylish shoes for an reasonable price.  

So why did the campaign go viral?

Payless used social currency to dupe social media influencers into believing that they were shopping at an high-end designer store. Social currency refers to the fact that individuals care about how others feel about them. In order to get people to talk about Payless and their shoes, the brand decided to give influencers social currency, or simply put bragging rights. When individuals believe a product or service is remarkable they are more likely to talk about that brand. So when fashion influencers thought they were purchasing the latest shoes, it garnered twice as much word of mouth in comparison to less remarkable products. In addition, as the influencers thought they were purchasing shoes that were exclusive it further helped boost word of mouth due to them feeling special. Though the store was fake and influencers were not purchasing designer shoes the campaign still gained a lot of attention due to its unique advertising. This helped create an immediate word of mouth and kick-started the campaign. 

How can businesses create value for their customers?

Customer value refers to ‘the difference between the benefits the customer gains from owning and using a product and the costs of obtaining the product’ (Kotler, Brown, Adam, Burton & Armstrong 2007). Smith and Colgate’s Customer Value Creation framework identifies four main types of value that businesses can create for their customers. These four values include:

  1. Functional/ Instrumental value
  2. Experiential/ Hedonic Value
  3. Symbolic/ Expressive Value
  4. Cost/ Sacrifice Value 

In todays post, I will focus on cost/ sacrifice and symbolic/ expressive values.

The cost/sacrifice value identifies the customers perception of whether the value created by the product or service is worth the cost they have incurred. Cost incurred can refer to monetary terms, time and effort that a customer has invested. Companies such as Eleven Australia, that provide hair and body care products to customers, have product review sections where consumers are able to rate and comment their products. This helps eliminate the cost/ sacrifice associated with products as potential customers are able to read the reviews left by other customers and are able to determine whether the product will be suitable for them or not. 

The symbolic/ expressive value identifies the self-identity, self-expression and personal and social meaning customers associate with products or services. Companies such as Eleven Australia should work with Australian skincare and beauty experts. This includes people such as Isabella Fiori and Shani Grimmond that have access to a large audience and can persuade others of their genuineness and influence (Pixlee, 2018). Brands should invest in sponsoring such influencers to create posts and videos about their products as customers want to feel connected with these influencers and consumers often buy products based off recommendations from influencers. 

So, my question is how beneficial do you think it is for businesses to create value for their customer?

Social Media: Is it effective for businesses to use?

Businesses nowadays are looking for ways to implement and use the concept of social media. Businesses look for ways in which they can use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to make profitable returns and increase exposure. However, is it effective for businesses to delve into the world of social media?

Firstly, there are many benefits associated with the use of social media for businesses. This includes brand development where businesses are able to interact and build relationships with their consumers, allowing the consumer and the business to interact on a ‘personal’ level. Further, through the use of social media, corporations are able to attract new customers through the execution of promotions and giveaways (Kaplan & Haenlein 2010). For example, in March 2017, Dominos decided to give one lucky customer $10,000. All they had to do was follow the Dominos’ Instagram page and post a picture with the hashtag #PieceOfThePieContest to go into the draw. This resulted in increased brand exposure and traffic.

Whilst, we all know of the many other benefits of businesses using social media, is there a downside associated with it? 

Some risks associated with businesses using social media include loss of control. When companies decide to promote campaigns on social media they are uncertain as to how customers will perceive there advertisement. If customers view it as negative, their views can reach a wide audience quiet rapidly through comments and re-tweets. In addition, with sixty-two per cent of Australians using social media sites each day (Yellow Social Media Report 2018), customers are quick to leave negative comments on a company’s social media site if they are unhappy with the product or service. 

Though there are accompanying disadvantages with businesses using social media, it is however, still an effective tool for businesses to use. 

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