Overuse of sales promotions can dimish the perceived value of your brand.
IMC stands for integrated marketing communications. It is a broad marketing concept that is based on the importance of a company's marketing and communication efforts being consistent and coordinated. Thus, messages delivered through various media should reinforce a consistent brand image. Effective IMC goals are specific, measurable, quantified and have a stated time frame.
Brand Awareness
One of the most common and early IMC objectives is brand awareness. Before a company can sell specific products and services, it has to create brand awareness among its target market, to let them know about the brand and its meaning. A brand-awareness objective might state "increase brand awareness by 10 percent within three months."
Favorable Attitude
Once a company establishes brand awareness, its next major step is to persuade customers to buy its products. As an IMC objective, persuasion may include creating a favorable brand attitude or a high intent to buy among customers. A company may assess generate attitudes toward its brand before and after a marketing campaign to see if they improved. It could also study the intent of customers to buy after a campaign. A company could set a goal of having 15 percent of the market indicate an intent to buy its product within 3 months, for example.
Brand Loyalty
Ultimately, the long-term objective of most companies is to develop and maintain loyal relationships with its customers. Well-established companies commonly set IMC objectives for brand loyalty, such as increasing the customer database by 20 percent to help build a more loyal customer base. A company could also set a goal of having its existing customer base revenue increase by 10 percent within 6 months. The purpose of these IMC objectives is to extract more business from core customers.
Sales Objectives
Each of the aforementioned IMC objectives is generally referred to as communications objectives, or longer-term goals. Sales promotions are a type of communication intended to drive business and revenue in the short-term. Companies have sales objectives for a variety of reasons, including building a customer base, clearing out excess inventory or generating cash flow. Sales objectives are often simpler to measure, making them popular with directors that want easy-to-quantify results. For example, a goal of increasing revenue by 20 percent in 12 months is easy to measure.
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