Marketing communication: principles and practice

R E L A T I O N S H I P M A R K E T I N G
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The din of modern advertising and the clamour of the mass
media.
Anon
Consumers see the one brand but often hear it speaking
different tongues, let alone in a variety of tones of voice.
C. Robertson, advertising executive
chapter 
thir teen
INTEGRATED
MARKETING
COMMUNICATION
LEARNING POINTS
Careful study of this chapter will help you to:
• appreciate the development of the integrated marketing communication
(IMC) concept and managerial approach to marketing communication
• consider the added value for provider and consumer/buyer of an IMC
strategy
• identify obstacles to practical IMC 

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INTRODUCTION
For the majority of consumers, their attention is saturated with information,
signs (images) and messages – these are both confused and impotent in their
profusion and inconsistency. In contemporary society, mass media advertising
rarely works well on its own.
Relationship marketing is more communication intensive than traditional
transaction-based marketing. Integrated marketing communication is a shift
towards more personalized, customer-oriented, technology-supported
marketing systems. This is managed by a brand-level, cross-functional team
to integrate marketing and marketing communication activities. Brand
management requires integration of systems of communication, especially
when, as we saw in chapter twelve, a relationship-marketing strategy requires
that customers are treated differently to prospective customers. 
Internal and external communicative activities/actions communicate
whether or not they are done with the intention of communicating. Thus,
planning for the comprehensive use of a range of activities that provide
communication opportunities and coherent messages, recognizes that con-
sumers and buyers do not see discrete advertising, public relations, and sales
promotion.
This theme of integration will be carried through our discussion of planning
and evaluation in this book. The adoption of a true integrated marketing
strategy requires, in many cases, a redesign of the business system to ensure
that the making of promises and efforts to keep promises are coordinated.