Objectives of IMC & Budgeting

The objectives of Integrated Marketing Communication ( IMC) are largely derived from marketing plan of the company. But IMC has a narrow approach as scope is only limited to communication. Some of the characteristic of marketing which get incorporated into IMC are :

• The marketing segment firm wants to target and the target audience
• The product and its main features, advantages, benefits  uses and application  
• Positioning of the brand and specific behavioral responses sought

Check how clearly 3 dimensions of IMC have been highlighted in the following video

Before setting objectives effect of advertising on consumers needs to be understood . It is explained by the following table:

Effect of Advertising on Consumer

IMC is just one factor that drives sale of product.The effectiveness of IMC increases if company excels in other parameters than the competition. Even if consumers are made aware of the product , only a small fraction of the target audience convert into consumers. The communication effect pyramid discussed below provides an illustration of it

Communication Effect Pyramid

An Approach to Objective Setting

 DAGMAR( Defining Advertisement for Measured Advertisement Result)

Characteristic of Objectives

• Concrete, Measurable Task
• Target Audience
• Benchmark & Degree of change sought
• Specified Time period

DAGMAR approach has come under criticism for its inability to incorporate sales objective,practicality & cost, lack of focus on creativity and  response hierarchy.

Zero-based Communications Planning

Another approach for setting the objectives is zero-based communications planning, which involves determining what tasks need to be done and which marketing communications functions should be used

and to what extent.This approach focuses on the task to be done and searches for the best ideas and media to accomplish it. Therefore an effective IMC program should lead with the marketing communications

function that most effectively addresses the company’s main problem or opportunity and should use a promotional mix that draws on the strengths of whichever communications functions relate best to the particular situation. The promotional planner should determine what role various sales promotion techniques, publicity and public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling will play in the overall marketing program and how they will interact with advertising as well as with one another. The communication strategy to be used depends upon expected method of response of customers

The approach also takes into account the response of the customer to any campaign. The 2 most common customer responses are as follows

Along with customer responses following factors need to be taken into account in deciding the budgeting

General Approaches used for budgeting