If you are contemplating a mix of marketing communications tools then you likely realize that using a variety of communications techniques can be more effective than using a "one-size-fits-all" strategy. Marketing communications is the Promotion "P" in your marketing plan -- product, price, place and promotion -- and is also referred to as the "promotional mix." Integrating the elements within this mix will create the strongest promotional effort. Your marketing communications plan will lay out your objectives, strategies and tactics needed for developing the most effective mix.
Instructions
Developing an Effective Marketing Communications Mix
1. Audience research helps you know your target audience.
Identify your target audiences. Use demographic research to pinpoint your audience characteristics such as age, buying habits and other behaviors relevant to your business. This is important in your planning and in selecting the correct communications techniques. Group your audience into various segments to target such as current customer, prospective customer and early adopter.
2. Create your key message points. These are the most essential points that you need to communicate to your audience members. For example, if you have "prospective customers" as an audience segment, a key message might be, "Communicate to customers contemplating change that buying Acme Soap is less expensive because it will provide 400 monthly hand washes instead of 300 that is common with other brands." Your key messages should be tailored to each audience segment.
3. You might use commercial airlines to capture a business executive's attention.
Identify your apertures. These are opportunities, or openings, you can use to reach your audience segments. For example, if you are targeting school-age children, the classroom may provide you with an aperture. This will lead to developing appropriate materials suited for the classroom. Similarly, commercial airlines might provide the best aperture for reaching a traveling business executive, leading you to develop business newspaper articles and advertise in in-flight publications.
4. Write your plan. Now that you know your audience, message points and available opportunities to reach your audiences, you need to develop a working plan to help you execute your mix of marketing communications. Set your desired behavior such as, "Purchase of Acme Soap by our target audiences," and then organize your communications objectives and strategies. A realistic communications objective might be, "Increase awareness of Acme's Soap pure ingredients among potential buyers." Your strategy for increasing that awareness could be public relations or advertising. Your tactics will be based on your apertures that you have identified and will create your marketing communications mix.
5. A billboard ad might have a place in your marketing communications mix.
Identify your tactics. This requires that you align your strategies and your apertures with the techniques that will best meet your objectives. If public relations is a strategy, you could develop relationships with the media to set up interviews, test your product vis-a-vis the competitor's product, place articles in target publications -- the ones that best fit in your audience's apertures -- or develop special events. Advertising techniques might include television, print, billboards, online or social media. Direct mail is another marketing communication technique.
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