Core Concepts of Marketing

188 CHAPTER 8 COMMUNICATINGTOMASSMARKETS

theindustry,andsoforth.Thequalityofcommunicationis closelyrelatedtothequalityof

information.Kellogg's,forexample,constantlymonitorsitscustomersthroughsurveysand

consumerpanels,andkeepstrackofitscompetitorsandchangesintheFoodandDrugAdmin-

istrationinordertoassesstherelevanceofallitscommunicationvehicles.

Second,communicationis notone-way;itisa dialogue.efhatis,allrelevantparties

areactuallyparticipatinginthecommunicationprocess.Marketersmustprovidea system

thatconstantlyallowstheconsumertoexpressdesires,satisfactions,complaints,anddis-

appointmentsabouttheproduct,theprice,themessage,orthewayit is distributed.There

isa realtendencyinlarge-scalemarketingtoviewtheconsumerasa faceless,nameless

entity,withoutindividualneedsandwants. Effectivemarketingcommunicationallowsdirect

feedback(e.g.,toll-freenumbers, hotlines,servicedepartments),andactivelyrespondsby

makingsubstantialchangestoaddresscustomerrequests.

Finally, theremustbeanacknowledgementthattargetcustomersmaynotbethesame

astargetaudiences.Whilethetargetmarketisconcernedpiimarilywithindividualswho

INTEGRATED MARKETING •

fMC-HARDERTHANYOUTHfNK

AccordingtoIMCguruDonSchultz,thedifficultyindevel-

opinganintegratedmarketingcommunicationprogramisin

theplanning.Henotesthatmostmanagershavetriedtointe-

gratecommunicationelementsandactivitiesastheywere

developedbyvariousfunctionalgroups.Ortheyhavetried

tobringalltheelementstogetheroncethecommunications

conceptwasdevelopedtogenerateonevoiceora unifying

brandthemethatwilltieallthedisparateelementstogether.

Unfortunately,managershavebeenapproachingthe

problemasoneofcoordinationorconsolidation,although

integrationis notattheendoftheprocess,butatthebegin-

ning.Thedifficultyhasbeenthatthereis nota systemvia

whichmanagerscandeveloptrulyintegratedmarketing

communications.

Anewapproachtointegrationisbasedontheplanning

matrix. Thematrixmantragoeslikethis:"Fromconsolidate

andsegregate,toaggregateandintegrate."Themeaningissim-

ple. Traditionally,wehavetriedtotakea marketora cate-

goryandsegmentit.Oncewesegmentedthemarket, wethen

triedtoapplyvariouscommunicationdisciplines-advertising,

salespromotion,ordirectmarketing.Wetriedtotakeactiv-

itiesthathadbeendevelopedseparatelyandpulledtheminto

anintegratedwhole.Inshort,we' vetriedto"consolidateand

segregate." Takethemarket,segmentit,andthencommuni-

cateseparatelytothesegments.

Considera newapproach. Ratherthanstartingwithtotal

market, start with individual customersand prospects.

Aggregatethembasedontheirbehavior.Letthecustomers

apdprospectscreatetheirowngroupsor'segments.That's

aggregation.Thenlookatthewaycustomersandprospects

experiencemarketingcommunications.Mostconsumersaren't

familiarwiththetightlydefinedmarketingcOInmunications

disciplineswehavedeveloped.Tothem,mosteverythingwe

dois eitheranadvertisementoranincentive. That'sthesec-

ondpartofthenewapproach.Integrate, andmostofalLsim-

plify.

Now,theplanningprocessis simple. Atthetop,wehave

howconsumersthinkaboutandevaluatemarketingcommu-

nicationactivities.It's eithera messageoranincentive.We

havecollapsedalltheverysophisticatedmarketingcommu-

nicationdisciplinesintowhattheyaresupposedtodo:deliver

a messageoranincentive.

Thesecondpartofthematrixis theimpactweexpectthe

activitytohave-short-termorlong-term. Whatwillbethe

basisforthemeasurementoftheimpactoftheplannedcom-

municationsprogram?Forpurposesofmeasurement, almost

everythingcanbeconsideredshort-term~orwithinthefiscal

year.Long-termisanythingmorethanonefiscalyear.Build-

ingimmediatesalesforourproductorserviceis short-term.

Brandbuildingislong-term.Therefore,weplanwhetherwe'll

giveourtargetmessagesorincentivesandtheimpactofthose

messagesorincentives,eithershort-termorlong-term.

Sources:DonE.Schultz, "ANewIMCMantra,"TheMarketing

News,May 26 , 1997,p.8;RichardLinnett,"FullCOlirtPress,"

Adweek,January31, 2000, pp.3-6;DonE.Schultz, "Structural

StraightJacketsStifleIntegratedSuccess,"TheMarketingNews,

March1, 1999 , p. 8;DonE.Schultz,"HowtoCreateYourOwn

WorstEnemy,"TheMarketingNews,July3,2000,p.10.