Integrated Marketing Communications - Essay Example

Information technology facilitates the gathering and maintaining of customer data and evaluating these data to identify similarities and differences and provides means of highly sophisticated segmentation tools. Vastly improved communication industry has provided means of interactive marketing such as the Internet and a host of other innovative means of informative advertising such as CD Rom catalogues and Video screens in supermarkets, altering the traditional mix of promotional tools. When considering the promotional or the communication mix decisions, the choices available is diverse today and the cost per reach can be vastly reduced with the new choices such as web site advertising.

The traditional dominance of mass media such as TV, Radio and press is reduced, though it remains an important component. Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, offering it at attractive price and making it available to the targeted market. Companies have to consider the promotional element of the marketing mix with equal importance and manage it effectively. Concept of Integrated Marketing Communications addresses the need for organizations to deliver clear, compelling, cohesive and consistent marketing message about the company and its product through carefully integrated and coordinated communication activities utilizing many marketing mix elements.

Traditionally, firms executed their marketing mix elements in isolation and managed them separately with different budgets, different views of the market and different goals and objectives. These companies failed in presenting and communicating a consistent image of the company and its products to the targeted markets. Concept of integrated marketing communications recognize the need for carefully planning, coordinating and executing all marketing and promotional mix elements to