THE IMC

PLANNING
PROCESS
Module 4
 Communications Research

The communications planning process begins with research. Those individuals

involved in designing a communications campaign must thoroughly understand
the product being sold and the consumers (or businesses) who are potential
buyers.
 Communications Research
Three primary research approaches are product-specific research,
consumer-oriented research, and target-market research.

- Product-specific research involves identifying key product characteristics

that become selling points.
- Consumer-oriented research assists marketers in identifying the context of
a product’s use.
- identifies those who will be the recipient of a communications campaign.

One common approach used by agencies to understand a client’s customers is a

focus group, which consists of consumers particular topic who talk about a,
product, or brand in front of a moderator or panel who tracks consumer
comments and ideas.
 Market Segmentation by Consumer Groups

Communications research identifies the target markets a company seeks to

serve. Target markets exist in two areas: consumer markets and
business-to-business markets, which are also known as market segments.
 Market Segmentation by Consumer Groups
A market segment consists of a set of businesses or group of individual
consumers with distinct characteristics. For a market segment to be viable, it
should pass the following tests:

• The individuals or businesses within the market segment should be similar in

nature, with the same needs, attitudes, interests, and opinions. Persons or
businesses within the segment are homogenous.
• The market segment differs from the population as a whole. Segments are
distinct from other segments and from the general population.
• The market segment must be large enough to be financially viable to target
with a separate marketing campaign.
• The market segment must be reachable through some type of media or
marketing communications method.
 Segments Based on Demographics
One primary method of segmentation employs demographics, or various
population characteristics.

Gender
Men and women purchase different products, buy similar products with different
features (e.g., deodorants), desire products for dissimilar reasons (laptops,
televisions), and buy the same products after being influenced by different kinds
of appeals through different media.
 Age
Marketing programs often concentrate on persons of a certain age, most notably
children, teens, young adults, middle-age adults, and senior citizens. Age can be
combined with another demographic, such as gender.
 Income
One primary method of segmentation employs demographics, or various
population characteristics.

Ethnicity
Seventy percent of ethnic minorities state that ethnicity constitutes a significant
part of their personal identities. Ethnic marketing succeeds in some, but not all,
product categories.
 Psychographics
Psychographics emerge from patterns of responses that reveal a person’s
activities, interests, and opinions (AIO).

The VALS (Values and Lifestyles) typology categorizes respondents into eight
different groups based on resources and on the extent to which they are action
oriented.
 The VALS typology includes the following segments:

• Innovators —Successful, sophisticated, and receptive to new technologies.

• Thinkers —Educated, conservative, practical consumers who value knowledge and
responsibility. They look for durability, functionality, and value.
• Achievers —Goal-oriented, conservative consumers committed to career and family.
• Experiencers —Young, enthusiastic, and impulsive consumers who seek variety and
excitement and spend substantially on fashion, entertainment, and socializing.
• Believers —Conservative, conventional consumers who focus on tradition, family,
religion, and community.
• Strivers —Trendy, fun-loving consumers who are concerned about others’ opinions
and approval They demonstrate to peers their ability to buy.
• Makers —Self-sufficient consumers who have the skill and energy to carry out
projects, respect authority, and are unimpressed by material possessions.
• Survivors —Concerned with safety and security, focused on meeting needs rather
than fulfilling desires. They are brand loyal and purchase discounted products.
 Segments Based on Generations
Marketing efforts
can target
generational
cohorts, because
the approach does
not require the
use of
psychographic
information but
does possess the
richness of
psychographics.
 Segments Based on Generations
The millennial
generation garners
the most
advertising dollars.
While some
common
characteristics are
present, a research
study by Turn
identified four
distinct segments
of millennials
(Fig.4.5).
 Segmentation by Geographic Area
Marketing appeals made to people in a geographic area or region is
geo-targeting. Retailers often seek to limit marketing communications
programs to the specific areas where primary customers live in order to
maximize the impact of advertising dollars.

Geodemographic Segmentation
Geodemographic segmentation identifies potential customers by combining
demographic information, geographic information, and psychographic
information.
 Benefit Segmentation
Benefit segmentation focuses on advantages consumers receive from a
product rather than characteristics of consumers themselves.

The first group, “Winners,” do whatever it takes to stay physically fit. This
segment tends to be younger, upwardly mobile, and career-oriented.

The second group, “Dieters,” exercise to maintain their weight and enhance
physical appearance. This group is comprised of females over the age of 35.

The third group, “Self-Improvers,” exercise to feel better and to control

medical costs. Recognizing that individuals exercise for different reasons
provides excellent material for designing marketing programs.
 Usage Segmentation

The final type of consumer segmentation examines groups based on usage

or purchases, including the company’s best customers or heavy users,
average users, casual or light users, and nonusers.
 Usage Segmentation
This technique offers a business the following advantages:
1. A meaningful classification scheme to cluster customers based on a
firm’s various levels of users.
2. The ability to reduce large volumes of customer data down to a few
concise, usable clusters.
3. The ability to assign a cluster code number to each customer in the
database. Each number is based on the customer’s actual purchases
and other characteristics.
4. The capacity to measure the growth and migration of customers over
time and from one cluster to another, which allows for the evaluation of
marketing programs.
5. The ability to develop different marketing programs for each cluster
that matches the characteristic of the clusters.
Business-to-Business Market Segmentation

Business segmentation efforts group similar organizations into meaningful

clusters in order to create marketing messages specifically for them and to
provide them with better service.
 Segmentation by Industry
When segmenting by industry, many marketers use the NAICS (North American
Industry Classification System) coding system.

Segmentation by Size

Some market segments are identified based on a company’s sales volume or

number of employees.
 Segmentation by Geographic Location
Identifying market segments by geographic location can be a successful tactic.

Segmentation by Product Usage

Business markets may be segmented based how companies use the good or
service.

Segmentation by Customer Value

One final method of business segmentation examines the value associated with
each customer.
 Product Positioning
Each target market or market segment will be selected, in part, because the
company, product, or brand position matches the segment.

Approaches to Positioning
Effective positioning can be achieved in seven different ways (Figure 4.7).
 Product Attributes
Any product trait or characteristic that sets a brand apart from other brands may
be considered an attribute.

Competitors
Using competitors to establish position can be accomplished by contrasting the
company’s product against others.

Use or Application
Positioning that involves creating a memorable set of uses for a product
emphasizes the use or application approach.
 Price-Quality Relationship
Businesses that offer products at the extremes of the price range may position
by price-quality relationships.

Product User
Another positioning strategy can distinguish the brand or product by specifying
who might use it.

Product Class
Position may be based on product class. In the beverage category, soft drinks
compete with energy drinks and others, such as breakfast drinks.
 Cultural Symbol
Positioning a product as a cultural symbol will be difficult. When the company
successfully achieves such a position, it can gain a strong competitive
advantage.

Other Elements of Positioning

A brand’s position is never completely fixed. It can be altered if market conditions
change over time or a brand’s target market shrinks.

International Positioning
In the international arena, effective positioning remains vitally important.
Marketers make plans to establish an effective position when the firm expands
into new countries.
 Marketing Communications Objectives
An effective IMC planning process requires quality communications
objectives.

Communications objectives are derived from overall marketing objectives.

These objectives tend to be general because they are for the entire
company. Some examples include:

• Sales volume
• Market share
• Profits
• Return on investment
 Marketing Communications Objectives
In contrast, a communications plan might emphasize a specific communications
objective. Figure 4.8 identifies some common objectives.

Many marketing professionals believe that benchmarks provide helpful tools. A

benchmark measure establishes a starting point to be compared with the
degree of change following a promotional campaign.
 Types of Budgets
Marketers prepare communications budgets in a number of ways. Figure 4.9
provides a list of the methods.

Percentage of Sales
In a percentage-of-sales budget, allocations are derived from either sales from
the previous year or anticipated sales for the next year. This method offers
simplicity in preparing the budget.
 Meet the Competition
A meet-the-competition budget seeks to prevent loss of market share.
Companies raise or lower expenditures to match amounts spent by the
competition.

“What We Can Afford”

A “what we can afford” budget sets the marketing allotment after all of the
company’s other budgets have been established or while determining other
budgets.
 Objective and Task
To prepare an objective-and-task budget, marketers identify the
communications objectives to pursue and then calculates the cost of
accomplishing each objective.

Payout Planning
With a payout-planning budget, management establishes a ratio of advertising
to sales or market share.

Quantitative Models
In some instances, computer simulations can be developed to model the
relationship between advertising or promotional expenditures with sales and
profits.
 Communications Schedules
After establishing the total amount of dollars to be allocated to marketing
communications, the next step is to choose the proper schedule approach to
reach the communications goal. Marketers emphasize one of three basic tactics
to allocate communication funds:

• Pulsating schedule - involves continuous advertising and communications

during the year with bursts of higher intensity at specific times (more ads in more
media).
• Flighting schedule - Companies can also select a flighting schedule or
approach, whereby communications are presented only during peak times and
not at all during other times of the year.
• Continuous schedule - Many marketing experts believe spending in level
amounts keeps the brand repetitively in front of consumers, which is a
continuous campaign schedule.
 IMC Components
As has been noted, marketing communications consists of much more than
traditional advertising. In fact, advertising expenditures may not make up the
major portion of a marketing communications budget.
 IMC Components
For transportation services, the average expenditure on media advertising as a
percentage of sales is 24.6 percent, whereas for office furniture, expenditures on
media advertising represent only 0.1 percent of sales.
 IMC Components
Choosing the best IMC components remains a challenge. A company’s
marketing personnel often work with its external agencies to analyze the firm’s
target audience, communications objectives, and budget to determine the
optimal media mix.
 International Implications
Globally integrated marketing communications (GIMC) programs are vital for
international firms.
End of
Module
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