Strategic Marketing Communications (7MKO5O)Marking Tutor : Richard Mayer

Sonia Daswani Merwani (100069701)27/07/2009

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Table of contents

Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 3

Integrated Marketing Communications Definition..........................................................................................4

Integrated Marketing Communication Plannning...........................................................................................5

Situation Analysis......................................................................................................................................6

Identifying Audience.................................................................................................................................6

Defining Objectives...................................................................................................................................6

Strategy.....................................................................................................................................................7

Budgeting..................................................................................................................................................8

Timescale..................................................................................................................................................9

Control and Evaluation..............................................................................................................................9

Integrated Marketing Communication Mix...................................................................................................10

Austin Community Enterprise Campaign Brief..............................................................................................12

Stay and Play Campaign Planning............................................................................................................12

o Situation Analysis.........................................................................................................................12o Identifying Target Audience.........................................................................................................13o Campaign Objectives....................................................................................................................13o Budgeting................................................................................................................................... 14o Timescale.....................................................................................................................................14o Evaluation....................................................................................................................................14

Stay and Play Campaign Strategy.............................................................................................................15

o Outdoor Advertising....................................................................................................................15o Public Relations...........................................................................................................................16o E-Commerce................................................................................................................................16

Conclusion................................................................................................................................................... 17

References .................................................................................................................................................. 18

Appendices ................................................................................................................................................. 19

Appendix 1 Research analysis..........................................................................................................................

Appendix 2 Budget..........................................................................................................................................

Appendix 3 Timescale......................................................................................................................................

Appendix 4 Posters..........................................................................................................................................

Appendix 5 Calender.......................................................................................................................................

Appendix 6 Flyer..............................................................................................................................................

Appendix7 Leaflet...........................................................................................................................................

Appendix8 Letter.............................................................................................................................................

Appendix9 Carnival Poster...............................................................................................................................

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Executive Summary

This assignment explores the challenge of creating a marketing communication plan for a non-profit organization. This is done by examining the creation of a marketing campaign for a non-profit organization based in the UK: The Austin Community Enterprise.

In order to do so, it is necessary to understand the different elements that marketing communication involve, and how these can be integrated to create a clear message that maximises the impact on customers.

Once the concept of Integrated Marketing Communications is clear, this paper will be looking at the different steps that have to be taken to build an integrated marketing communication plan, together with the different communication mix elements that can be used to put this plan into action.

The last part of this document focuses on the process followed to produce the marketing campaign for Austin Community Enterprise and also, the reasons and the way that the strategies for this campaign were formulated and developed.

The appendices, added at the end of this paper, include some outcomes that were created for the Austin Community Enterprise marketing campaign.

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Integrated Marketing Communications Definition

Kotler (2003), defines integrated marketing communications as, “a way of looking at the whole marketing process form the viewpoint of the customer”.

Clow and Baack (2001), define it as “The coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, channels and messages into a seamless programme that maximizes the impact on customers and other end users at a minimal cost”.

(Pickton & Broderick, 2005) suggest the following framework.

Figure 1: The IMC FrameworkSource : Pickton & Broderick, 2005; Integrated Marketing Communications second edition.

In this document, we will be focusing more in the planning model and the IMC mix model.

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Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

This section looks at how Integrated Marketing Communications are planned. Radke(1998) suggests seven steps to create a successful plan for non-profit organizations, which are:

- Step 1: Invest in a communications plan to advance the mission- Step 2: Identify and know your audience- Step 3: Target your message- Step 4: Communicate the message with practical strategies and appropriate vehicles- Step 5: Know when and where the marketing communications plan is going to be

implemented - Step 6: Turn obstacles into opportunities- Step 7: Evaluate what happens

On the other hand, as seen in figure 2, Pickton & Broderick (2005) talk about the RABOSTIC planning model. The planning process is seen here as a cycle, where the insights gained in the evaluation level of a marketing communications plan, are put back into the research and analysis stage for the next planning phase.

Figure 2. The RABOSTIC planning modelSource : Pickton & Broderick, 2005; Integrated Marketing Communications second edition.

For this document, a combination of both of the previous model plans will be done in order to create a customized marketing communications plan, for the given non-profit organization. This will cover the following elements:

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Situation Analysis

A situational analysis should cover the business requirements along with the information on current activities and also, the current position.

“The purpose of a situational analysis is to help key players within your organization know as much as possible about the internal and external environment in which your organization exits.” (Radtke, 1998)

It is important to know about the macroenvironment and microenvironment in which an organization is working, in order to communicate the message more effectively than competitors, to the people that have an interest in the business activities.

Identifying Target Audiences

It is fundamental in any marketing communications plan to know who are the individuals that have direct or indirect effect on the business performance, and who will receive the marketing communication. These could be people within the organization or outside it, for example, stakeholders, local authorities or different categories of customers such as, volunteers, community leaders etc...

Defining Objectives

Any marketing communications plan should be done to achieve a goal, an aim or an end result. Usually, objectives are prefaced by the word ‘to’ and are statements about what the organization wants to achieve with the marketing campaign.

Moreover, Objectives should be SMARTT. This is “An acronym that represents the level of detail that objectives should aim to achieve.” (Pickton & Broderick, 2005). The following figure illustrates the meaning of SMARTT objectives.

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Figure 3. SMARTT ObjectivesSource : Pickton & Broderick, 2005; Integrated Marketing Communications second edition.

Strategies

“An objective is where you want to be, a strategy is how you intend to get there.” (Butterfield, 1977). When formulating a strategy, it is necessary to find out for example, which magazines does the target audience read, which TV stations they watch etc. This information will help to identify the vehicles needed to communicate with the audience.

Strategies need to integrate the different elements of the communication mix in order to deliver the right message to the right people and also, to reach defined objectives.

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Budgeting

The organization should plan how much money they are ready to spend in a marketing campaign. There are several methods to set budgets. These are illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 4. Budgeting MethodsSource : Blythe J. (2006), Essentials of Marketing Communications, Third Edition.

There is not a fixed way of setting budgets therefore the above methods can be combined and it can vary depending on the organization.

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Timescales

For every marketing communications plan, it should be defined a start date, this is, when the plan is intended to be put into action and also, it should have an end date. This is not as in, when the marketing plan is going to finish but, for example, when is a certain activity going to end.

In addition, a timeline must include key dates and key actions for every strategy defined, and it should be real, affordable and doable.

Control and Evaluation

Once the plan is implemented is important to evaluate the objectives seeing whether the defined target has been met or not. That is why is necessary for an objective to be measurable.

The question to ask would be whether the marketing communications is working or not for the defined target audience. If a change has happened and if not, what are the reasons for this? Also, it has to be analyzed the specific knowledge, attitude or behavior that the target audience has achieved after the marketing campaign.

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Integrated Marketing Communications Mix

In order to put a marketing campaign in action, it is necessary to build a strategy that used different communication methods that help spread the message to the target audience. The following figure lists, the elements that can be used in a marketing communications strategy.

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Figure 5. Elements of the Communication mixSource : Blythe J. (2006), Essentials of Marketing Communications, Third Edition.

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Austin Community Enterprise Campaign Brief

University of Derby’s Master Students, have volunteered to create a marketing campaign, for each of the coming projects that Austin Community Enterprise is planning to launch. This particular marketing campaign is focused in a project called Stay and Play.

Stay and Play Campaign Planning

o Situation Analysis

In order to know the situation of Austin Community Enterprise (ACE), we interviewed people who worked there and collected secondary data from the Derbyshire police web page: http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/local/145.html

We also carried out a research among the people who would receive the services offered by this organization. (Please see Appendix 1 for more details)

The results of our research were as following:

- ACE Limited is a non-profit organization established since 1994 and located in Austin Estate (Normanton).

- Austin Estate is a small neighborhood based in Derbyshire where there are 7.177 people living approximately.

- ACE offers services to the local community. The services include financial advice, computer courses, support and advice in a variety of topics, childcare and volunteer opportunities.

- ACE receives funding through several entities and also, from profits generated by the Austin Estate’s nursery.

- Locals have a negative perception and attitude towards the Community. They see it as a place where people go when they have problems and to ask help.

- Majority of locals do not know about the existence of ACE.

- ACE has future projects to launch and want to create awareness and increase participation among the locals. Future Projects are: Grow and cook, Stay and Play, Computer Club.

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- Stay and Play project is directed mainly to young parents and their babies/toddlers.

- Majority of people do not access the statutory services provided due to fear, lack of understanding and lack of confidence.

- Stay and Play project is about providing a place for parents to come with their children and while these play, they can meet other parents, have a coffee and attend short talks sessions where a variety of topics will be discussed. Topics include how to manage your money, dealing with stress, nutrition for babies etc.

o Target Audience

- Young parents with children under 5 years old.

- The Austin Estate Local Authority, University of Derby and the media, as they could provide help in funding and in getting engaged in the activities provided by ACE.

o Campaign Objectives

After knowing the results of our research, we realized that most of the people did not know about the existence of ACE. This created a major problem for promoting the stay and play project as we thought that is was necessary first, to create awareness of the existence of the community and then, work on the stay and play project.

For this reason, our objectives are related with branding ACE and promoting Stay and Play.

1. TO CREATE AWARENESS OF THE EXISTANCE OF AUSTIN COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE AMONG, AT LEAST THE 60% OF THE LOCALS (4.306 people aprox.)

2. TO GENERATE A POSITIVE INHABITANT’S OPINION TOWARDS THE COMMUNITY.

3. TO ATTRACT BETWEEN 30 TO 50 PEOPLE TO EACH OF AUSTIN COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE’S OPEN DAYS EVENT.

4. TO ENGAGE, AT LEAST 50 LOCALS, INTO THE COMMUNITY ‘S «STAY & PLAY» ACTIVITY.

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o Budgeting

The method followed for setting the budget has been “All you can afford method” as illustrated previously in figure 4. ACE had provided us with a maximum of 100£ to spend in our marketing campaign. Details of how this money was distributed are included in Appendix 2.

However, if University of Derby could get engaged with ACE, and provide its printing department in order to print the posters and leaflets for ACE, that money could be invested in other advertising methods.

o Timescale

Appendix 3 includes the Timescale with the key dates and key tasks in order to put the marketing campaign plan into action.

o Control and Evaluation

The control and Evaluation period would last from three to six months since the launch of the campaign. We would be controlling that the Open days for example, get at least 30 people into ACE. We would also be measuring the number of people participating in the activities and asking for information, via email, web page. In this way we will know if the communication vehicles are working efficiently or not.

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Austin Community Enterprise Campaign Strategy

Austin Community Enterprise has as its core value, repositioning some of the negative perception that the locals might have of the Community and, provide support to the people who live within the Austin area, by offering valuable services that help them and their families, with their day to day activities and their careers ahead.

In order to spread this message, we have used a combination of marketing communication elements.

o Outdoor advertising:

-Posters, that would be in local bus stops, local schools, the local nursery and local businesses. (See Appendix 4 for posters). What we want to achieve through this posters is creating a visual impact on the customers, where they can see the services that are offered by ACE. These posters can always be changed if the activities in ACE are changed.

-Calendars, with key dates of ACE activities and events highlighted so that the target audience can know when are the activities running. (See Appendix 5 for calendar).

-Flyers, that would be distributed into local businesses, schools and the local authority. These would include information about a specific activity, in this case stay and play. (See Appendix 6 for leaflet).

-Leaflets, that would be distributed into local businesses, schools and the local authority. These would include general information about ACE to create the organization awareness. (See Appendix 7 for leaflet).

All posters, leaflets, flyers and calendars include:

- The Organization’s logo. An image of a House that is created to give the impression that ACE is your house.

- A slogan: “Breaking the Ice”. Because the locals have got a barrier towards the local community, with this slogan we want to communicate to them to “break that ice” and take the first step to get to know ACE.

- Information on how to contact ACE. This is, the address, the telephone number, the email address and the web page

- A short description about ACE.

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o Public Relations:

Public Relation is defined as “the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics: customers, employees, shareholders, trade bodies, suppliers, government officials, and society in general” (Institute of Public Relations, 1984).

For this marketing campaign, the public relation programme organized was a “kids carnival”. This would consist in organizing a fancy dress competition among the children aged until 12, and would be a 30 minutes trajectory that would end in ACE.

In this way, we would be engaging the local school, the local authority, the local business for example, for providing the competitions awards.

We would be inviting the local press, the local East Midlands TV station, the local authority and Derby city council to this event. (See appendix 8 for the letter that it would be sent)

The objective behind this is to create relationship between the organization and its publics. This event would be spread through posters as well that would be distributed on the local area. (See Appendix 9 for viewing the Carnival Poster).

o E-Commerce

The creation of a web page that includes all the information about ACE, and its coming events and activities schedule, will enable people to know more about the organization from home. (Please visit, http://austincommunity.e-monsite.com/ to view the web page)

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Conclusion

Integrated Marketing Communications is about integrating the marketing communications tools and also, the communications mix in a way that maximizes the impact on customers.

It is not necessary to use all the elements of the communication mix to produce a better marketing campaign but, it is essential that whatever the elements used, they should be integrated in some way. Marketing integration helps to create more awareness of the brand or organization on customers.

The Campaign created for Austin Community enterprise, was integrated because all the outdoor advertisement contained the same logo, slogan the way to contact the community and the information about the community. In addition the structure of every poster was similar as the common elements where always displayed in the same place.

Because this campaign has not been implemented yet, it is difficult to say whether the strategy followed is a good strategy or not. For this reason, it is necessary to wait until the campaigns implementation so that an evaluation can be taken place to know, if the main objectives of this campaign, have been accomplished or not.

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References

Blythe J. (2006), Essentials of Marketing Communications, Third Edition, London: Prentice Hall/Financial Times.

Pickton D., Broderick A. (2005), Integrated Marketing Communications, Second Edition, New York: Prentice Hall/Financial Times.

Radtke J.M. (1998), Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organizations, seven steps to creating a successful plan, New York: Wiley Nonprofit Series.