Trading Post Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign Proposal - Essay Example

? Trading Post Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign Proposal s Executive summary The International Women’s Development Agency is an Australian non-profit making organisation that aims at promoting women and children’s welfare as well as assisting the marginalised population in the society. The organisation focuses on three main development areas, environmental management, reproductive health, violence eradication and participation in decision making process (International Women's Development Agency, 2012). The organization’s main competitors are non-governmental organisations as well as community based institutions (Cooper, 2007). Despite its essential services to the community, the organisation lacks popularity with the general public. The Integrated Marketing Communication campaign proposal seeks to address some of these problems and offer a tangible solution. The core objectives of this campaign are to advance the organization’s monetary donation, increase the number of its clients, advance public awareness and increase the number of volunteers. The organization also seeks to improve its online services. The integrated marketing proposal aims at the identification and execution of cooperative objectives, marketing communication objectives and the organisation marketing objectives. The selection of the most effective marcomm tools in integrated marketing proposal is necessary and demanding as it reduces the resources and time required in popularising an organisation. The integrated marketing communication proposal will also incorporate the contextual analysis, background information, marketing communication objectives, marketing communication strategy, communication methods, most effective marcomm tools, positioning, media, campaign message, scheduling, resources, evaluation and control. Table of Contents Executive summary 1 Table of Contents 2 Background Information 3 Communication Methods 7 Message 7 Positioning 7 Media 9 Scheduling 9 Budget 11 Budget Breakdown 11 Control and Evaluation 12 To assess the achievement of the integrated marketing communication plan, the organization is planning to evaluate each objective on its own merit. The organization is as a result proposing to use daily assessments on the clients served, volunteer hours, and cash intakes to evaluate the organization’s monetary and non-monetary revenues. The managers are expected to fill the daily assessment form for evaluation and analyses by the stakeholders. The data will be compiled at the end of each month. The organization will also use survey method to evaluate the development in public awareness. In this strategy, the organisation intends to use previous survey report as the main baseline for the evaluation. The plan will be rated as effective if the organisation’s popularity is rated to be at least 17 % higher than the previous number. The organizers will compare and contrast the current data with the previous data to examine the success of the plan. 12 Members of the public will be given a questionnaire to fill some questions regarding the organisation’s goals and objectives. To mitigate the possibilities of printing errors and the cost of distribution, the organization will rely on online services in the analysis of the public awareness progress. The organization will also employ online services to evaluate the effectiveness of the media coverage and social media services. Online clients will be served with online questionnaires to examine their satisfaction with the organisation service delivery. In addition, the organization is intending to use Google Analytic Free Service to collect and evaluate its post website developments. The core aim of these evaluation measures is to evaluate the success of the plan and offer the most effective improvement recommendations. 12 References 14 Background Information The core aim of having a comprehensive integrated marketing communication International Women’s Development Agency is to identify and work on the organisation marketing objectives, marketing communication objectives as well as cooperative objectives. Additionally, the main purpose of conducting a contextual analysis in international women development agency is to necessitate the understanding of the key communication and market drivers that can bar the organisation from achieving its intended goal. Communication in an organization entails the integral process of conveying information among the organization’s employees and other stakeholders (Fill, 2009 and Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick, Mayer & Johnston, 2009). To ensure effective communication in the International Women’s Development Agency, the management should lay emphasis on formulating an integrated and long term marketing communication tools and programs. The International Women’s Development Agency integrated marketing communication is based on the identification of the target market through segmentation process. Segmentation will help the International Women’s Development Agency to evaluate and understand the need and demands of the potential customers as well as in the identification of the most effective way of building its profile. Contextual Analysis The International Women Development Agency is mandated with the responsibility of supporting and encouraging families in Australia to offer social services to the community, business people and local churches in the area. The key services offered by International Women Development Agency include; environmental management, reproductive health, violence eradication, participation in decision making process, crises services, life skills trainings, domestic violence support and eradication advocacy, housing referral, and hair cutting services (International Women's Development Agency, 2012). The organization also holds several fund raising activities throughout the year to seek assistance from local and international donors (Hartley & Pickton, 1999). The organization’s clients mainly comprise of the working poor people, especially women who have modest income and struggle to meet a good number of their basic needs. Currently, the organization has more than 9, 000 clients and a total of over 6000 volunteers (International Women's Development Agency, 2012). Most volunteers in the organisation are women from Australia and its surrounding countries. Most of the organization’s volunteers are between the ages of 25-60 years. The organization’s donors are basically the residents of global non-governmental organisations, the government and well-wishers. The core role of the organization’s volunteers is to organize fundraising activities, offer advocacy services to victims of domestic violence as well as collection, sharing, and distribution of food and other humanitarian aid. However, in recent years, the organization has received consistent global competition from local and international charitable organizations. The main competitors of International Women Development Agency include; Spastic Centre for South Australia, Bruny Island Community Association and Canine Utility and Service Partners (International Women's Development Agency, 2012). In most cases, non-profit organizations are expected to receive grants and other fiscal assistance from the central government, donor organizations and individual volunteers. This equally is the case with the International Women Development Agency, which has over the years received reliable monthly financial assistance from the central government, international organisations as well as from local and foreign volunteers. In the previous three years, the demand for the organization’s services has reported a remarkable increase. Despite the recent global economic crises, the organization has continued to receive moderately sufficient resources to necessitate its daily activities. Technologically, the organization has embarked on the use of the opportunities presented by the social media to access targeted audience and clients. The main marcomm issue is to popularise the organisation to the general public through campaigns in the mass media, social media, and use of printed tools to increase its donor contributions while increasing the number of its clients and minimizing time and resources required in popularising the organisation. Integrated Marketing Communication objectives The overall objective of International Women Development Agency is to spearhead the development of sufficient self-regulating organisations. Based on the current contextual analysis, the International Women Development Agency has resolved to have comprehensive campaign and integrated marketing communication objectives. The organisation objectives have been agreed upon after effective communication among all involved shareholders and the customers. In general within the next three months the organisation intends to advance the communication mechanism with its customers and offer policies that are customer centred. The organisation also intends to achieve the set objectives within three months. In its campaign, the organization is proposing to boost its monetary intake to over $ 4, 000 in three months. The organization also aims at providing its services to over 200 clients per month in three months. Other core objectives of the organization include; obtaining additional 40 new donors in its social media services in three months and at least two new visitors in the organization website per day, as well as advancing the public awareness level by over 17 % in three months. Integrated Marketing Communication Strategies and Tactics The International Women Development Agency aims at popularising its services and corporate identity that is sovereign on its operations and financing. To achieve this objective, the organization is proposing to develop its own business card, letterhead, build more offices and conduct online and door to door campaigns. The organization is also working on the most valuable means of designing its own brochures to educate potential volunteers and clients on their core responsibilities. To increase its donors and increase its income in the next three months, the organization is also proposing a strategy to advance its public relations campaign initiatives. To accomplish this strategy, the organization is planning to organize a major fundraising event expected to double its annual income. The organization is also proposing to publish its stories and achievements, writing letters to editors for local publication, develop a month e-newsletter, use local media to popularize its objectives, collect clients’ testimonials as well as designing a practical crisis communication plan with a view to attracting new clients. To popularize and advance online marketing plans and customers, the organization is planning to create a unique website for advertising organization’s objectives and services. Moreover, the organization has a plan to develop a unique Facebook page for its clients and volunteers, register the organization with the volunteermatch.og, and develop a sixty second information video on YouTube as well as to register the organization on serve.gov to progress in its online marketing plan. The International Women Development Agency is also strategising on how to develop an advertisement initiative in the local media. In this plan, the entity proposes to provide a free space in the local media for transmitting Public Service Announcements. The core aim of this strategy is to increase public awareness to over 17% in the targeted three months Communication Methods Message The International Women Development Agency is intending to communicate its key campaign messages directly to its customers and volunteers. The campaign message is also expected to be straightforward and simple to be understood by the entire International Women Development Agencies’ potential clients and volunteers. The main message entails: “The significance of humanitarian services to facilitate a socially, economically, and politically prosperous society”. Positioning In its positioning strategy, the International Women Development Agency focuses on addressing the quality features of their services, the significance of its services, common users of their services as well as the benefits of their services to the general public (Blery, Katesli and Tsara, 2010). In its campaign, the organization is proposing to present a conscience statement to its prospective clients and volunteers in order to affirm its position in the society. The statement will incorporate the essence and the intention of the International Women Development Agency to the target audience and the need to believe in the organization’s services. The International Women Development Agency positioning statement reads as: The International Women Development Agencies relies squarely on the central government, donors, and volunteers’ commitment in offering quality service to the community members for better and quality lives. Marcomm Tools To improve public awareness in the organization’s campaigns, operations and objectives, the organization is proposing to employ several mass communication tools. Although it is an expensive tool, the International Women Development Agency is planning to use the Public Service Announcement tool. Referring to the Australian regulations and laws, the media is supposed to offer a certain amount of time for public service announcements. The International Women Development Agency is intending to use that law to obtain air time from local media to advertise their services and campaign strategies (Smith, Perry & Pulford, 2007). The tool is also expected to benefit the organization and the public by increasing public awareness on issues that affect targeted audiences as well as encouraging them to take action. The commonly used media in integrated marketing communications include: printed media which includes newspapers, billboards, transits and magazines. Other media services relevant in integrated marketing communication are: digital media, outdoor broadcasts and in-stores adverts. The International Women Development Agencies will evaluate the cost, communication richness, interactive properties and audience profile before coming up with the most effective communication media (Bryson, 1988). The organization is as a result proposing to come up with a print and electronic public service announcement to necessitate constant spread of the organization’s message to potential clients. Other tools intended to be used in the campaign process include; news release and stories written to local media prior and after the event to advance and maintain public awareness, letter to the editor to promote the organization’s community outreach, calendar listing to promote the organization’s events as well as E-Newsletter to update the organization’s clients on the events and successes of the organization. Media In its campaign initiative, the International Women Development Agency is proposing to develop its own website. Some of the contents expected to be in the website include: the organization’s testimonials, photo journals, organization vision, organization mission, volunteer opportunity upcoming events and fundraising activities, contact information as well as resources from the community. Secondly, the organization is also proposing to employ social media services such as Volunteer Match and Facebook (Baker & Mitchell, 2000). Regarding the social media services, the organization is targeting young people below 45 years of age. Social media services are also expected to offer opportunities for direct interaction between the organization’s clients and the organization’s management. The International Women Development Agency’ social media members will serve as social endorsements for the organization’s plans and activities. The organization is also proposing to develop a 60 second informational video. The video is expected to be posted on YouTube and other social media platforms that present organization’s information such as Facebook Page and Website Scheduling The organization is proposing to develop a practical campaign timeline. The timeline will represent the integrated marketing communication plan. The timeline is divided into four main sections, advertisement initiative, online initiative, identity building relationship as well as promotion and public relation initiatives. The plan is also expected to take a period of nine months, from January to September January February Match April May June July August September Public relation and promotion -letter to the editor -collect testimonials Identity and building initiative Print -letterhead -print business cards -print brochures Online initiative -face book -website design Advertising initiative Budget To implement the proposed integrated marketing plan, the International Women Development Agency plans to obtain resources from donors and the federal government. The additional activities including increased public relation effort, annual fundraising activities and identity building initiative will demand for supplementary support from the community and the government through volunteering and provision of financial aid. The budget for International Women Development Agency’s integrated marketing communication plan will also be based on task/objective oriented model. The model incorporates the description of the planned objectives, the analysis of necessary activities to meet the set objectives and prediction of the cost needed in executing the set activities. The organization is also planning to acquire human resources from community volunteers. Budget Breakdown Public relation and promotion $900 Identity and building initiative $60 Online initiative and advertisement initiatives $450 Additional expenses $120 Total cost $1513 Control and Evaluation To assess the achievement of the integrated marketing communication plan, the organization is planning to evaluate each objective on its own merit. The organization is as a result proposing to use daily assessments on the clients served, volunteer hours, and cash intakes to evaluate the organization’s monetary and non-monetary revenues. The managers are expected to fill the daily assessment form for evaluation and analyses by the stakeholders. The data will be compiled at the end of each month. The organization will also use survey method to evaluate the development in public awareness. In this strategy, the organisation intends to use previous survey report as the main baseline for the evaluation. The plan will be rated as effective if the organisation’s popularity is rated to be at least 17 % higher than the previous number. The organizers will compare and contrast the current data with the previous data to examine the success of the plan. Members of the public will be given a questionnaire to fill some questions regarding the organisation’s goals and objectives. To mitigate the possibilities of printing errors and the cost of distribution, the organization will rely on online services in the analysis of the public awareness progress. The organization will also employ online services to evaluate the effectiveness of the media coverage and social media services. Online clients will be served with online questionnaires to examine their satisfaction with the organisation service delivery. In addition, the organization is intending to use Google Analytic Free Service to collect and evaluate its post website developments. The core aim of these evaluation measures is to evaluate the success of the plan and offer the most effective improvement recommendations. Conclusion The main intention of the founders of International Women Development Agency was to serve the community and the families. However, the dedication of the organization’s volunteers and generosity of the organization’s donors was expected to form the pillar for the organization’s success. Lack of a unique brand image has led to a significant diminution in the organisation’s popularity. As a result, the intended Integrated Marketing Communication plan is proposing to offer the most effective strategies and tactics for overcoming these predicaments and achieving the desired results. The implementation of this proposal will definitely play a critical role in advancing the organization’s donations as well as in increasing the number of volunteers. By addressing the main problems in the organisation through an effective Integrated Marketing Communication plan, International Women Development Agency will generate a platform of improving it services and accomplishing its objectives of meeting the community’s needs. References Baker, S. & Mitchell, H. (2000). Integrated marketing communications: Implications for managers. European Society for Opinion and Market Research, 20 (1), 123-147. Blery, E., Katesli, E., & Tsara, N. (2010). Marketing for a non-profit organization. International Review on Public and Non-Profit Marketing. 7(1), 57-68 Bryson, J. M. (1988). A strategic planning process for public and non-profit organization. Journal of Long Range Planning, 21(1), 73-81. Chaffey, D. Ellis-Chadwick, F., Mayer, R. & Johnston, K. (2009). Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. London: Pearson Prentice-Hall Cooper, A. (2007). How to Plan Advertising. The Account Planning Group: Client perceptions of integrated marketing communications. Journal of Advertising Research, 33 (3), 30–39. Fill, C. (2009). Marketing Communication: Interactivity, Communities and Content. London: Pearson Prentice-Hall. Hartley, B. & Pickton, D. (1999). Integrated communication requires a new way of thinking. Journal of Marketing Communications, 5, 97–106. International Women's Development Agency. (2012). Retrieved on 6th September 2012. From http://www.rememberme.com.au/International-Womenand039s-Development-Agency-33.html Smith, P., Perry, C. & Pulford, A. (2007). Strategic Marketing Communications. New York, NY: Kogan Page. Wirthlin. (1999). Comunications strategy tool kit. New York, NY: The Wirthlin Publishers. 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