Integrated Marketing Communications And Customer Satisfaction Strategy

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Mobile Tech Ltd has a marketing plan that incorporates integrated marketing communication to achieve its marketing strategies in the marketing of Blackberry N2. Integrated Marketing Communications-IMC involves coordination, organization and integration of the marketing communication utilities that a company uses into a cohesive and smooth program which fully grasps the effect of the communication on consumers and desired targets at a bare minimal cost.

Marketing mix component

Marketing efforts involved in the marketing of the Black Berry N2 integrate a marketing mix's elements of which include: promotions, internet marketing, direct marketing, database marketing, public relation, sponsorship marketing and generic advertising .Promotional activities could include use of advertisements, running sales promotions, and engaging in personal selling. I would, in the marketing of the Black Berry N2, seamlessly combine all the promotional tools stated above; with the elements of market mix is a strategy to edge over our competitors and drive our sales through the ceiling (Barr, 1995, pp 107).

The IMC process starts from a marketing mix and should include the many types of marketing techniques, sales techniques and advertising. In the marketing of Black Berry N2, I would discourage the fragmentation of the IMC, this would reduce the chances of Customer complaints not being attended that could lead to public relations crises.

In order for the N2 Black Berry's market strategy to succeed I would stipulate the following sequence of steps to be followed sequence of steps should be followed as below:

Market situation analysis

Market objective setting

Market budget drafting

Market strategy layout.

Performance Evaluation.

The main goal of IMC is to ensure message consistency tap the media complementarily in the advertising of the Black Berry N2. Complementary media use involves tapping both offline and online market channels. Offline marketing comprises of print media, mail orders, billboards, television and radio, public and industrial relations (Barr, 1995, pp 121).

Online marketing on the other hand involves search engine optimization (SEO), email, pay-per-click, affiliate marketing blogs, micro-blogs, podcasts Internet radio, and TV, and RSS. Customers who have access to these channels are those who use the internet. The Black Berry N2 would clearly benefit since most of the audience and users of the online facility would find it very useful for them.

IMC is built from all the constituents of the market mix - promotion, price, product and place. Outside-in thinking is also adopted where IMC strategy is developed from consumer insight so as to use the right channels for creating brand superiority via a strong brand-consumer relationship. This involves pushing the right buttons that give a direct line to the consumer and the good understanding of what communication channels your consumers use (McNealy, 1994, pp 101).

Measuring the success of my Advertisement Strategy

After the implantation of the above strategies for the marketing of the Black Berry N2 measurement of its success would be very important. Success of an advertisement strategy is gauged from how much increase in sales results from an advertisement. There are different points of views make the judgment

From the sales point of view the efficacy of an advertisement strategy is traced back. This is evaluated from the total number of enquiries arising from the advert of the Black Berry N2, and the number of enquiries converted the total number of successful sales of the phone. This way the advertisement's turnover is known.

The effectiveness of internet advertising can be assessed easily and comparatively cheaply by the use of programs such as Google Analytics-offered by Google for free, which can be installed in sites that run you advertisement .These tools keep track of the number of views on your adverts, this can be useful in that you can know which advert to drop and which one to develop as per the audience.

With an advert with a picture of the Black Berry N2, it would elicit the medium user to click on, if they drop an enquiry which successfully turns into a sale. The medium gets a point. This way different media are evaluated.

Information that can be used includes:

The contact forms that have been submitted

The number of completed transactions from your online shop

The number of file- downloads

The number of newsletter subscriptions

The number of clicks on your e-mail address

The above parameters are called track conversions and can be translated to returns in the form of sales. With the figures the cost of the advertisement is compared to the sale, this depicts the efficiency of the internet-related channels of advertisement.

Customer satisfaction strategy

This is the process of confirming the perceptions a customer has of a service or a good and matching them with their expectations. Every buyer of the Black Berry N2 will be required to leave their e-mail address behind during purchase they will then be frequently contacted for satisfaction

Customer satisfaction Surveys are frequently undertaken in order to provide formal means for the customer to present complaints

Promotional strategies used apart from advertisements.

The company would engage organize events such as expos so they can showcase the Black Berry N2. This involves inviting the public which increases the customer base. A flashy event makes the face of Mobile Tech ltd and Black Berry N2 to improve a great deal.

Sales pitches-This involves the pitching of tents in public places so as to showcase the Black Berry N2 in big cities. This could increase the sales.

Talk-to-us messages- This involves setting up of a promo-sales department that gets information from the public Follow-ups: Mobile Tech should also organize follow-ups such as maintenance of the Blackberry N2 as in the case of after-sale services to the customers (Yeshin, 1998, pp 45).

Measuring Customer Satisfaction:

My strategy for measuring customer satisfaction in the marketing of the Black Berry N2 would involve:

There are two approaches:

The indirect measures-This involves use of the sales records of the Black Berry N2, customer complaints and profits or such related data

The direct measures include: The percentage approach, the Extreme approach ("Very satisfied" or "Very dissatisfied") and The combined approach - where the two are combined.

Meeting the gaps in customer expectations and experiences

Generally I would adopt this formula as my guideline:

This data is obtained from calls received, sales made and other such related data. As Mobile Tech's marketer of Black Berry N2 I would build a customer satisfaction plan

There are a few though not necessarily the entire step I would consider so as to bridge the gap:

Taking the customer seriously

Provision of quality goods or services

Provision of competent and efficient Service

Knowledge of the needs of my customers so as to meet them accordingly

Knowledgeable help would be of great importance to my customers

I would ensure I always give feedback to my customers

I would make it a key point to listen to my customers.

I would ensure I display qualities such as: Honesty, Empathy and Respect.

Conclusion

Integrated Marketing Communications play a critical role in the promotional strategies of a firm and tapping them so as to increase the income from Black Berry N2 should be seriously considered by Mobile Tech. Customer satisfaction on the other hand is elemental to the attraction and retention of customers. Evaluation of the returns obtained from these marketing strategies is important so Mobile Tech can evaluate the costs incurred and counterbalance them with the sales resulting from the Black Berry N2 sales.