IMC Planning Process

Question 1

According to Clow and Beck what are the stages in the IMC planning process?(4)

Answer 1

1) Communications research
2) Target market
3) Product positioning
4) Objectives - Includes the budget and IMC components

Question 2

Whats involved in the communications research section?

Answer 2

• Individuals must thoroughly understand the product being sold and the consumers who are the potential buyers
• Must go beyond identifying demographic profiles and target markets it should look at how, when and why products are used should emerge
• Involves product specific research where key product characteristics are identified, looks at what the product benefits are etc
• Consumer orientated research where marketers identify the context of a products use.

Question 3

What are the ways in which people are segmented?

Answer 3

• Demographics - age, gender,marital status, income etc

- Psychological e.g motivations,perceptions, attitudes

Question 4

What is involved in the target market research?

Answer 4

• Identifying feasible market segments

Question 5

What is product positioning?

Answer 5

• The perception created in the consumers mind regarding the nature of the company and its products in relation to the competition

Question 6

What is a perceptual map?

Answer 6

• A visual representation of consumer perceptions of a brand and its competitors
• Uses two attributed that are important to the consumer

Question 7

What is a products positioning strategy?

Answer 7

A statement of how a given product, service or brand fills a particular consumer need in a way that its competitors don’t

Question 8

What is repositioning?

Answer 8

The process of changing or recreating the perception of a brand in the consumer’s mind

Question 9

What are the possible communications objectives? (IMC)

Answer 9

Develop brand awareness
Increase category demand
Change customer beliefs and attitudes
Enhance purchase actions
Encourage repeat purchases
Build customer traffic
Enhance firm image
Increase market share
Increase sales
Reinforce purchase decisions

Question 10

Whats a benchmark?

Answer 10

measures a businesses starting point thats then compared with the degree of change following a promotional campaign

Question 11

What are the types of budgets?

Answer 11

1) Percentage of sales
2) meet the competition
3) What we can afforf
4) Objective and task

Question 12

Whats involved in a percentage of sales budget?

Answer 12

• Allocations are derived from either sales from the previous year or anticipated sales for the next year
• Offers simplicity in preparing the budget
• Method fails to allocate money for special needs or to combat competitive pressures

Question 13

Whats involved with ‘meet the competition’ budget?

Answer 13

• Seeks to prevent loss of market share
• Companies raise or lower expenditures to match amounts spent by the competition
• typically found in high rivalry environments
• Means money may not actually be spent efficiently

Question 14

Whats involved with a ‘what we can afford’ budget?

Answer 14

• This is a budget set after all the others have been set

- often taken on by smaller companies and those who don’t value the importance of communications objectives

Question 15

Whats involved with an ‘objective and task’ budget?

Answer 15

Markets identify the communication objectives to pursue and then calculate the cost of accomplishing each objective

• Best method of budgeting
• Estimated to be used by 50% of firms

Question 16

What are the four layers of an organisational objective according to eagle et al?

Answer 16

Business mission
Corporate objectives
Marketing objectives
Imc objectives

Question 17

What is a corporate objective?

Answer 17

• Clearly defined goals that an organisation needs to achieve in order for it to satisfy its mission

Question 18

What is a marketing objective?

Answer 18

Goals that are specifically devised to satisfy the marketing specific elements that are derived from the broader corporate objectives

Question 19

What three parts is the IMC environment made up of?

Answer 19

The macro environment
Market conditions
The micro environment

Question 20

What are the 5 main parts of the macro environment ?

Answer 20

SPENT

1) Social
2) Political
3) Economic
4) Natural
5) Technological

Question 21

Whats involved with social factors?

Answer 21

These are social and cultural changes which affect the way a market functions and/or how a consumer views a product, market sector etc

• May be changes in cultural makeup etc
• E.g the change in attitudes towards smoking

Question 22

Whats involved with the political factors?

Answer 22

Relates to the opportunities and restrictions that are in place as a result of the political environment and the legal system that applies to that environment

Question 23

Whats involved with Economic factors?

Answer 23

These are forces linked to the economy which impact the way an organisation functions e.g interest rates and exchange rates

• They impact on consumer spending and the feel good factor
• The feel good factor is the high level of positivity consumers experience when they feel secure and affluent

Question 24

Whats involved with Natural factors?

Answer 24

This is the way the physical environment and natural resources impact upon the way consumers, organisations or the market as a whole are able to function

e. g the impact oil, gas etc has on the environment
- Whole new industry has emerged as a result for the search for carbon neutrality

Question 25

Whats involved with the technological factors?

Answer 25

Technology has revolutionarised and so theres been an increase in the number of communication channels available
- Consumers are now more involved as they search for alternatives, feedback etc

Question 26

Whats involved in the market conditions?

Answer 26

Each market is made up of a unique set of characteristics that determine how easy it is to communicate with key segments and how profitable it is likely to be in the short, medium and long term
Includes- Market growth, market size, market trends,ROI and the access to specific communication channels

Question 27

Whats the micro environment ?

Answer 27

A set of actors that operate close to an organisation and have a direct impact upon its ability to serve customers/consumers effectively
Made up of
The organisation - ability to function in the chosen market
Consumer- Focus should be on the way customers and consumers interact with the organisation
Competitors
Suppliers/intermediares - Must be aware of an organisations mission and be willing to work together to achieve it
Publics - those people loosely related through a shared interest or function e.g media, financial

Question 28

Positives and negatives of the IMC analysis?

Answer 28

Benefits - Enables organisations to understand key factors that may prevent communications, can proactively identify emerging apportioning and identify potential threats
Limitations - In order for it to be useful it must be undertaken thoroughly and regularly.