IMC Planning Process

Integrated marketing communications management is defined as the process of planning, executing, evaluating, and controlling the use of the various promotional-mix elements to effectively communicate with target audiences. It involves coordinating the promotional mix elements to develop a controlled and integrated program of effective marketing communication. It involves various decision areas such as:

• which promotional tools to use and how to combine them effectively
• determining the size of and distributing the advertising and promotional budget
• determining the influence of various factors on the promotional mix including the type of product, target market, decision process of the buyer, stage of the product lifecycle, and channels of distribution

This process is guided by the development of the integrated marketing communications plan which provides the framework for developing, implementing, and controlling an organization’s IMC program and activities. At this point, it is helpful to go through the Integrated Marketing Communications Planning Model presented in Figure.

The steps in the Integrated Marketing Communications Planning Model include:

1. Review of the Marketing Plan – the first step in the IMC planning process is to review the marketing plan which is a document that describes the overall marketing strategy and programs developed for an organization, a product/service line, or an individual brand.
   1. Detailed situation analysis
   2. Specific marketing objectives
   3. Marketing strategy and program
   4. Program for implementing the strategy
   5. Process for monitoring & evaluating the performance

2. Promotional Program Situation Analysis

• Internal Analysis
• External Analysis

3. Analysis of the Communications Process – determining how the company can effectively communicate with customers in the target market. An important part of this stage of the IMC planning process is developing communication objectives which refer to what the firm seeks to accomplish with its promotional program.
4. Budget Determination – two basic issues must be addressed with regard to the IMC budget:

• How much money will be spent on marketing communication
• How the money will be allocated across the various IMC tools

5. Developing the Integrated Marketing Communications Program – the most involved and detailed part of the promotional planning process occurs at this stage as decisions have to be made regarding the role and importance of each IMC tool and their coordination with one another. Each IMC tool has its own set of objectives, budget, message, and media strategy.  These include:

• Advertising message and media strategy and tactics
• Direct marketing message and media strategy and tactics
• Interactive/Internet Marketing message and media strategy and tactics
• Sales promotion message and media strategy and tactics
• Public relations/publicity strategy and tactics
• Personal selling – sales strategy and tactics

6. Integrating and Implementing Marketing Communications Strategies – the various IMC tools must be integrated and steps must be taken to implement them. Most large companies hire external agencies to plan and develop their creative messages and media strategies as well as to implement them.

7. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Control – the final stage of the IMC planning process involve monitoring, evaluating and controlling the promotional program. At this stage, the marketing should be gathering feedback concerning how well the IMC program is working and whether it is meeting its objectives. It is important to note that information regarding the results achieved by the IMC program is used in subsequent IMC planning and strategy development.