Question

Marketing professionals do not work in a vacuum. Finite resources are available to fund their integrated marketing communications (IMC). Learn more about factors that influence fund allocation decisions. What do you need to do to manage to access the funding that is needed? How? Why? Using another resource/reference, in your own words explain the importance of determining a budget. Determining a Budget

Answer 1

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is the strategy used by the organizations to brand and create awareness about their product or service. There are basically 6 critical elements in an IMC:

• Advertising
• Sales promotions
• Public Relations
• Packaging
• Personal Selling
• Digital marketing

The core objective of Integrated Marketing Communications is that all forms of the product communication are interlined to facilitate the common objective to increase brand awareness. The implementation of IMC facilitates harmony among the promotional tools

Sales forms an integrated part of the company’s marketing communication mix. Sales promotion is a customer pull technique in which the companies try to pull the customers towards its product or service. It is an effective tool for communication mix as the expenses involved in implementing sales promotion is minimal.

IMC strategy shifts from one step to another by incorporating the given integrations:

• Horizontal integration across marketing mix
• Vertical integration among the communication objectives
• External integration with the external parties like PR, advertising agencies, etc.

In current scenario, e-commerce and online shopping has become a trend. Sales promotion is an effective and preferred communication tool used in e-commerce and online shopping sector. Every now and then, companies offer discounts, sale or deals to pull customers towards its products. All these sales promotions and communications under IMC draw budget from the marketing department. The marketing department has specific funds to cater to the promotions of the product under IMC.

The various factors which determine the funds allocated to IMC are:

• The promotional strategy adopted
• The promotional mode to be used
• The type of marketing attack proposed
• The competitor’s strategy

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258207498_How_Integrated_Marketing_Communications_IMC_works_A_theoretical_review_and_an_analysis_of_its_main_drivers_and_effects