1998 integrated marketing communications yeshin 1st

Integrated Marketing Communications
The holistic approach

The Chartered Institute of Marketing/Butterworth-Heinemann Marketing Series is the most
comprehensive, widely used and important collection of books in marketing and sales currently
available worldwide.
As the CIM’s official publisher, Butterworth-Heinemann develops, produces and publishes the
complete series in association with the CIM. We aim to provide definitive marketing books for
students and practitioners that promote excellence in marketing education and practice.
The series titles are written by CIM senior examiners and leading marketing educators for
professionals, students and those studying the CIM’s Certificate, Advanced Certificate and
Postgraduate Diploma courses. Now firmly established, these titles provide practical study
support to CIM and other marketing students and to practitioners at all levels.

Formed in 1911, The Chartered Institute of Marketing is now the largest professional marketing
management body in the world with over 60,000 members located worldwide. Its primary
objectives are focused on the development of awareness and understanding of marketing
throughout UK industry and commerce and in the raising of standards of professionalism in the
education, training and practice of this key business discipline.


Books in the series
Below-the-line Promotion, John Wilmshurst
The CIM Handbook of Export Marketing, Chris Noonan
The CIM Handbook of Selling and Sales Strategy, David Jobber
The CIM Handbook of Strategic Marketing, Colin Egan and Michael J. Thomas
CIM Marketing Dictionary (fifth edition), Norman A. Hart
Copywriting, Moi Ali
Creating Powerful Brands (second edition), Leslie de Chernatony and Malcolm McDonald
The Creative Marketer, Simon Majaro

The Customer Service Planner, Martin Christopher
Cybermarketing, Pauline Bickerton, Matthew Bickerton and Upkar Pardesi
The Effective Advertiser, Tom Brannan
Integrated Marketing Communications, Ian Linton and Kevin Morley
Key Account Management, Malcolm McDonald and Beth Rogers
Market-led Strategic Change (second edition), Nigel Piercy
The Marketing Book (third edition), Michael J. Baker
Marketing Logistics, Martin Christopher
The Marketing Manual, Michael J. Baker
The Marketing Planner, Malcolm McDonald
Marketing Planning for Services, Malcolm McDonald and Adrian Payne
Marketing Plans (third edition), Malcolm McDonald
Marketing Research for Managers (second edition), Sunny Crouch and Matthew Housden
Marketing Strategy (second edition), Paul Fifield
Practice of Advertising (fourth edition), Norman A. Hart
Practice of Public Relations (fourth edition), Sam Black
Profitable Product Management, Richard Collier
Relationship Marketing, Martin Christopher, Adrian Payne and David Ballantyne
Relationship Marketing for Competitive Advantage, Adrian Payne, Martin Christopher, Moira
Clark and Helen Peck
Retail Marketing Plans, Malcolm McDonald and Christopher Tideman
Royal Mail Guide to Direct Mail for Small Businesses, Brian Thomas
Sales Management, Chris Noonan
Trade Marketing Strategies, Geoffrey Randall
Forthcoming
Relationship Marketing: Strategy and Implementation, Helen Peck, Adrian Payne, Martin
Christopher and Moira Clark
Services Marketing, Colin Egan

Integrated Marketing
Communications
The holistic approach

Tony Yeshin

BSc(Econ), MCIM

Published in association with The Chartered Institute of Marketing

OXFORD

AUCKLAND

BOSTON

JOHANNESBURG

MELBOURNE

NEW DELHI


To my family for all their support during the preparation and development of this textbook, and
to the memory of my parents.

Butterworth-Heinemann
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801–2041
A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd

A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group
First published 1998
© Tony Yeshin 1998
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in
any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by
electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some
other use of this publication) without the written permission of the
copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London,
England W1P 9HE. Applications for the copyright holder’s written
permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed
to the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 7506 1923 6

Composition by Genesis Typesetting, Rochester, Kent
Printed and bound in Great Britain


Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements

xiii
xv

Part One
1

Marketing communications – an overview
Aims and objectives
The changing nature and role of marketing communications
A brief historical perspective
The background to marketing communications
The growth of marketing communications
Blurring of the edges of the tools of marketing communications
The strategic challenges facing organizations
Strategic marketing communications
The expanded marketing communications mix
The communications process
Achieving integration within the communications mix
The philosophy and structure of the book
References
Additional reading

3
3
3
3
4
6
8
9
11
11
12

14
15
15
15

2

Understanding the marketplace
Aims and objectives
The dimensions of consumer and organizational buying behaviour
The consumer market
The changing consumer
Targeting
Positioning
Understanding consumer behaviour
Organizational buying behaviour
The contribution of market research
References
Additional reading

16
16
16
16
19
20
21
21
25
27

34
34


vi

Contents

3

Product and service strategies
Aims and objectives
Managing products and services over the life cycle
Branding definitions
Strategic importance of branding
Strategic brand building
The dimensions of branding
Branding strategy
Brands and consumer perceptions
Identifying and building brand values
Altering brand imagery
The strategic value of brand extensions and brand stretch
The roles of marketing communications in branding
The challenges facing brands
Service brands
References
Additional reading

36
36

36
37
38
39
39
44
46
49
51
53
55
58
64
65
66

4

The integration of marketing communications
Aims and objectives
The impact of external factors on marketing communications
The driving forces behind the growth of IMC
The impact on marketing communications
Relationship marketing
The benefits of IMC
The process of achieving integration
Organizational approaches to integration
The barriers to integration
References
Additional reading

67
67
69
73
74
74
75
76
79
80
81
82

5

Managing the marketing communications mix
Aims and objectives
Organizing for marketing communications
The strategic dimension of human resources
The brand manager
Category management
The category manager
The use of agencies
Establishing the budget
Budgeting for integrated marketing communications
References
Additional reading

83

83
83
84
84
85
85
86
87
93
96
96

6

Choosing and using marketing communications agencies
Aims and objectives
The structure and roles of marketing communications agencies
The UK agency scene

97
97
97
97


Contents
Agency structures
The advertising agency
Other services to the agency team
Other agency/consultancy structures

Regional agencies
The changing role of marketing communications
The agency/client relationship
Agency remuneration
The criteria for agency selection
References
Additional reading

vii
98
99
106
106
107
107
109
110
113
115
115

Part Two
7

Advertising
Aims and objectives
The diverse nature of advertising
The functions of advertising
The advantages and limitations of advertising
Types of advertising

The advertising process
Understanding the advertising process
The strategic aspects of advertising planning
Brand positioning
Implications for strategy development
Advertising strategy and the product life cycle
Determining the advertising objective
Developing the advertising plan
Business-to-business advertising
References
Additional reading

119
119
119
120
122
123
124
126
130
132
134
135
138
139
142
142
143

8

The development of advertising
Aims and objectives
The creative brief
Creative strategies and tactics
The creative challenge
Advertising appeals
Styles of advertising
Using celebrities
Music in advertising
Non-verbal communications
Creativity in advertising
Advertising and the brand personality
Guidelines for evaluating creative output

144
144
144
149
150
152
153
156
157
158
158
161
161

viii

Contents
Measuring advertising effectiveness and campaign evaluation
References
Additional reading

161
166
166

9

Media and media planning
Aims and objectives
The role of media planning
The changing face of the media
Access to media and their characteristics
The new media
The media plan
The importance of media strategy
Media information sources
Identifying target audiences
Strategic options
Media scheduling issues
Alternative approaches to media scheduling
Implementing the media plan
Other media considerations
Contingency planning

Evaluation of the media plan
The changing face of media implementation
References
Additional reading

168
168
168
169
171
174
176
178
179
181
181
182
185
187
188
189
189
190
191
191

10

Sales promotion
Aims and objectives

The growing role of sales promotion
The benefits of sales promotion
The limitations of sales promotion
The determination of objectives
Sales promotion objectives
Sales promotion strategy
Sales promotion techniques
Promoting to consumers
Brand franchise
Point of purchase communications
Strategic dimensions of sales promotion
Joint promotions (or cross promotions)
The evaluation of sales promotion
Research into sales promotion
The legal framework for sales promotion
The use of sales promotion agencies
Selecting promotional agencies
The integration of sales promotion activities
International sales promotion activity
References
Additional reading

192
192
192
194
195
196
197
199

200
205
206
207
207
209
210
213
215
216
216
218
218
218
219


Contents

ix

11

Direct marketing
Aims and objectives
The growth of direct marketing
The impact of direct marketing
The factors contributing to the growth of direct marketing
The advantages of direct marketing techniques
The limitations of direct marketing

The importance of the database
The use of the database
The strategic approach to direct marketing
The objectives of direct marketing
Building relationships
The management of direct marketing
The planning process
Using direct marketing consultancies
The use of media
The use of market research in direct marketing
The use of testing in direct marketing
The application of direct marketing
Analysing direct marketing results
Business-to-business activity
Non-profit organizations
Relationship marketing
Integrating direct marketing
International direct marketing activity
References
Additional reading

220
220
220
222
222
224
226
227
230

231
231
233
235
235
237
238
239
242
243
244
245
246
246
247
248
248
249

12

Public relations
Aims and objectives
A comparison between public relations and advertising
Other benefits of public relations
The functions of public relations
The ’publics’ of public relations
The management of public relations
Using PR consultancies
In-house versus consultancy

PR campaign development
The identification of public relations problems and opportunities
Programme planning
Evaluation of public relations
The tools of public relations
Corporate public relations objectives
Financial public relations
Charity PR
Integration of PR activities
International aspects of public relations
References
Additional reading

250
250
251
252
254
256
259
260
261
261
262
263
264
264
265
266
267

268
268
268
269


x

Contents

13

Sponsorship and product placement
Aims and objectives
Event management and business sponsorship
Product placement
References
Additional reading

270
270
270
278
280
280

14

Corporate communications
Aims and objectives

The growth of corporate activity
The growing importance of corporate communications
Corporate image and identity
The objectives of corporate communications
The communication of company image
The management of corporate communications
Audiences for corporate communications
The process of establishing a corporate identity
Types of corporate identity
Corporate communications
Measuring corporate communications
Key aspects of corporate communications
Crisis management: an important dimension of corporate communications
Key dimensions of crisis management
Handling a crisis
References
Additional reading

281
281
281
282
283
283
286
287
289
290
291
292

293
294
294
297
297
298
298

15

International marketing communications
Aims and objectives
The growth of international marketing
Multinational versus global marketing
The development of global brands
Global branding
Understanding the international consumer
Legal and regulatory requirements
Media availability and usage
The competitive environment
The move to global marketing communications
Central or local control of marketing communications
The merits and demerits of standardized communications
The development of multinational communications agencies
The selection of an agency for international business
International marketing and marketing communications strategy
The development of international advertising
The development of international sales promotion
The development of international public relations
The development of international direct marketing

The development of other international communications activities
International market research

299
299
299
299
301
301
305
310
311
311
311
312
314
315
318
320
320
322
323
323
325
325


Contents

16

xi

References
Additional reading

326
327

Future developments in marketing communications
Aims and objectives
Changes in the broad environment
The impact on the marketing function
The changing face of the communications industry
References
Additional reading

328
328
328
331
332
335
335

Glossary of terms

337

Index

345


This Page Intentionally Left Blank


Preface

This text has its origins in the workbook
which I prepared for the Chartered Institute of
Marketing for the Diploma paper Marketing
Communications Strategy. Due to the inevitable constraints imposed on that work, I
wanted to develop a specific and comprehensive textbook examining the nature of
marketing communications. This is the
result.
In a field as fast-moving as this, I have tried
to reflect contemporary views as to the way in
which the process works and the benefits of
developing an understanding of integration.
Whilst, I hope, soundly based upon academic
theory, it also examines the real world applications within the broad field of marketing
communications. The focus remains the
values of the brand and the contribution
which marketing communications can make
towards their development. To achieve that
end, we need to develop an enduring understanding of consumer behaviour, increasingly
on an international basis, as brands expand
their horizons far beyond national borders.

The book is divided into two parts. The
first section is designed to provide an overview of the important dynamics of marketing communications, an understanding of
the consumer, an examination of the role of
the brand and the process of developing,
managing and integrating marketing communications. The second section provides an
in-depth examination of the specific areas of
the profession and the tools which are available to the marketer.
I hope that this book will be of interest to a
variety of audiences, both those who are
studying the subject as part of an academic
programme, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as those who are
embarking upon a career within the profession. Whilst the debate surrounding integrated marketing communications continues,
the imperative is the development of a real
understanding of all of the tools which are
available to the professional. Only with that
understanding will the true potential of integration begin to be realized.


This Page Intentionally Left Blank


Acknowledgements

Along the way I have been helped by many
people who gave up both valuable time and
the result of their long years of practical
experience to help ensure that this work is true
to the profession which it serves. I would like
to thank especially the following who read
through the various chapters or otherwise

provided me with valuable input (I should add
that these are in no particular order): Tim
Armes, Media Group Director of MediaVest,
for his help and assistance on the media
chapter and for ensuring that the media cost
information is up-to-date; Nina Mink, Planning Director of IMP, for her comments and
suggestions on the sales promotion chapter,
and especially for providing the guidelines on
international sales promotion; Mike Dickson,
Director of DMB&B, for reading through the

international chapter; Debi Hayes, a colleague
at the University of Greenwich, for suggestions
on direct marketing; Jez Frampton at Saatchi &
Saatchi for his help with the creative brief; and
Sally Ford-Hutchinson, Global Planning Director at DMB&B (and also my wife) for painstakingly reading through everything I have
written to ease out the bugs. I would also like to
thank the people at Butterworth-Heinemann,
and especially Tim Goodfellow and Diane
Scarlett, for making this book happen.
To all of those I have mentioned, and those
other colleagues past and present who have in
some way contributed to this work, I am
extremely grateful. However, such errors as
remain are entirely down to me.
Tony Yeshin


This Page Intentionally Left Blank

Part One


This Page Intentionally Left Blank


CHAPTER 1

Marketing communications –
an overview
Aims and objectives
•
•

•
•
•
•

To provide a historical perspective of
marketing communications;
To introduce the study of marketing
communications and the reasons for its
growing importance;
To consider the impact of the overlap of the
tools of marketing communications;
To identify the strategic dimensions of
marketing communications;
To explain the communications process;

To define the structure and philosophy of the
book.

The changing nature and role
of marketing communications
Even to the most casual observer of the
marketing environment, it will be appreciated
that recent years have witnessed an almost
unprecedented series of changes. Competition
between companies has increased dramatically, both domestically and internationally;
mergers and acquisitions to confront the
future needs of organizations are commonplace, yet at the same time, companies are
divesting themselves of non-essential business, concentrating instead on core areas to

ensure their ability to meet the challenges of
the future. The nature of the retail environment continues to change with the simultaneous emergence of ever larger stores and the
growth of speciality providers; the proliferation of brand choice renders the consumer
simultaneously able to satisfy individual
needs and confused at the array of choice; the
pace of technological change is almost difficult to comprehend, with its twin impacts
both on the nature of products and services
which are provided to the consumer, and the
means of communicating with them; the
diversity of media channels available to companies brings both an increase in their ability
to reach their targets, yet at a progressively
increased cost.
Yet, within this array of confusion, marketing communications increasingly represents
the single most important opportunity for
companies to convince potential consumers of
the superiority of their products and

services.

A brief historical perspective
From the beginnings of time, man has sought
to communicate. At its basic level, communications are the most important element of
the social interchange between individuals. As
time progressed and, importantly, with the


4
development of even rudimentary printing
processes, it became possible to expand communications to reach a wider audience. Early
printed material provides examples of the
emergence of a new form of communications
designed to convey information about the
availability of products and services to a
broader public. The era of marketing communications had begun.
In their earliest form, these communications
predominantly took the form of the printed
word and, with the advent of newspapers,
this style continued. With the development of
industrialization, companies emerged to meet
the expanding demand for consumer goods,
and the growth of transportation meant that
these companies could serve a wider market.
Moving from a local to a regional or even
national basis of sales introduced a new
element to the process – companies needed to
differentiate their products from those of their
competitors – and even by the eighteenth

century, we begin to see the rudimentary
emergence of branding. Mostly, this was quite
simplistic, consisting only of an association of
the proprietor’s name with the products he
produced.

The background to marketing
communications
Today, consumers are exposed to a vast
amount of information on a daily basis –
everything from news reports on television,
radio and in the press, weather forecasts,
traffic information, store signs, product packaging, in-store point of sale material, and so
on. Advertising is just one of the elements
with which the consumer must deal every
day.
Recent years have seen an explosion in all
forms of media. Apart from the land-based
television channels – BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – we have an increasing
number of satellite and cable stations, and the

Integrated Marketing Communications
number will continue to grow as the technology improves. We have radio on FM, medium
wave and long wave and, apart from the BBC
stations both national and local, we have three
national commercial stations (Classic FM,
Virgin 1215 on MW, and Atlantic on long
wave) and some 180+ regional and local
commercial radio stations. There are newspapers, national and regional, morning and
evening, daily, weekly and Sunday. There are

magazines, over 3500 of them, covering every
form of interest area imaginable. There is a
wide range of outdoor media, not just fixed
poster sites, but posters on the sides of buses
and taxi cabs, on the Underground and at
railway stations. And many of us have
become walking advertisements for the
brands we wear, with our clothes bearing
logos for all to see.
The dramatic explosion in the range of
media outlets, and the complications that this
has introduced to the task of media planning,
can be seen visibly in Figure 1.1, contrasting
the situation which obtained in 1975 with that
of 1996.
In 1996, according to the Advertising Association (1997) (Advertising Statistics Yearbook, The Advertising Association/NTC Publications Ltd, 1997) some £11.9 billion was
spent on advertising in the UK, representing
some 1.89 per cent of our gross domestic
product. This figure has fluctuated somewhat
over recent years and currently stands at its
highest level since 1989 (Table 1.1).
Of this total, 30 per cent was in the form of
press display advertising (£3,645 million),
representing a further decline. In fact, from a
high point of 36 per cent in 1987, display
advertising has fallen progressively over
recent years – 36 per cent in 1987, 35 per cent
in 1989, 33 per cent in 1992 and 1993 and 32
per cent in 1994 and 1995. A further 23 per
cent was in the form of classified advertisements (£2,768 million). It is interesting to

examine the pattern of press expenditure
amongst the various outlets (Table 1.2).
28 per cent of total expenditure was on
television (£3,333 million), which has


Marketing communications – an overview

5

Figure 1.1 The media explosion. Adapted and updated from D. O’Donoghue in Cooper, A. (ed.), How to Plan
Advertising, 1997. Statistics from AA Statistics Yearbook, Advertising Association/NTC Publications, 1997

remained at this level for the past five years.
Of this total, some £418 million represented
production costs, at their highest level since
1985. Direct mail represents 12 per cent of the
total expenditure (£1,404 million), up from the
level of 10 per cent which it has held over the
previous three years; whilst the ‘all other’
category accounts for a further £843 million or
7 per cent. Other media represented much
lower levels of expenditure. Some £426 million was spent on outdoor poster and transport advertising, £344 million on radio and
£73 million in the cinema.

It is possible to compare the levels of
advertising across a wide variety of countries.
Table 1.3 depicts the advertising expenditure
as a percentage of the gross domestic product
for 1995, the latest year for which comparable

figures are available:
It is in the context of these very considerable expenditure levels that marketing communications is considered a vital part of the
marketing function. However, every aspect of
the marketing communications mix is being
re-examined to determine whether it makes
an effective contribution to the continual


6

Integrated Marketing Communications

Table 1.1 UK advertising
expenditure

1985
1990
1991
1993
1995
1996

Total £ billion at
current prices

% GDP

5.05
8.93
8.53

9.14
10.98
11.99

1.64
1.86
1.72
1.67
1.82
1.89

The growth of marketing
communications
The latter part of this century has seen
considerable growth in the use of marketing
communications driven by a wide variety of
factors.

The growth of manufacturing
and services

Source: AA Statistics Yearbook, 1997

well-being of the brand. And it is increasingly being recognized that marketing communications is not merely a set of important
tools, but rather fulfils a vital and strategic
role for the organization.

There has been a consistent level of growth in
manufacturing output throughout the period.
Increasingly, companies have joined together

as a result of mergers and acquisitions which
have further increased their potential levels of
production and, in turn, the desire to increase
the scale of markets, both domestically and
internationally.

Table 1.2
Total

National
newspapers

Regional
newspapers

Consumer
magazines

Business &
professional
publications

Directories

Production
costs

£6,413 m

£1,510 m

£2,061 m

£583 m

£1,018 m

£692 m

£550 m

Table 1.3

Advertising as a percentage of GDP, 1995

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

0.84

0.74

0.85

0.89

0.65

0.91

1.82

0.99

0.5

Japan

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

UK

USA

0.84

0.9

0.73

1.19

0.85

0.81

0.96

1.16

1.27

Source: Advertising Statistics Yearbook, 1997

Marketing communications – an overview

7

Improvements in
transportation

potential consumers. In both cases, the need
for extensive use of marketing communications is of paramount importance. It represents the sole means by which the manufacturer can achieve a dialogue with his
potential markets.

Hitherto, many manufacturers, particularly
those associated with the manufacture of
products with comparatively short shelf lives,
could only service consumers within easy
reach of the manufacturing base. Increasingly,
the development of refrigeration and other
transportation components has meant that
products can be rapidly and conveniently
transported to distant geographic regions
without fear of a deterioration in the quality
of the products.

The proliferation of brands
As manufacturers recognize the potential for
market segmentation – satisfying the distinct
needs of different groups of consumers – with
products more closely tailored to meet their
particular needs, the consequence has been a
proliferation of separate brands, each with a

distinct positioning within the market category. Importantly, the tools of marketing
communications have provided the means of
communicating with these disparate groups.

The increasing separation of
the manufacturer from the
consumer
Under this heading we can consider several
different but consistent factors. On the one
hand, manufacturers have become increasingly distant from potential consumers as the
chain of distribution has enlarged. Dependent
upon the nature of these channels, the manufacturer may come to depend on wholesalers
and retailers, franchising operations and other
devices between himself and the ultimate
consumer of his goods or services. At the
same time, there has been an increased use of
direct marketing techniques in which the
manufacturer eliminates the use of intermediaries but, instead, establishes a direct line
of communications between himself and

The relative decline in
personal selling
Where, previously, sales could be achieved
through the efforts of the sales force, the
progressive increase in costs associated with
this approach to achieving sales has placed
more emphasis on the use of more costeffective methods. The need to communicate
to substantial numbers of potential consumers
has encouraged the growth and re-examination of the tools of communication.

The changing face of
distribution
Increasingly, the process of distribution has
been concentrated into comparatively few
hands. In many markets a small number of
companies dominate the retail scene. In the
UK, for example, five companies control 50
per cent of the grocery trade; similarly, five
companies represent around 25 per cent of the
chemist trade. This factor is replicated worldwide, certainly in the more developed
nations.

The growth in technology
Technological improvements have had widereaching consequences for the marketer. Progressive advances have ensured the achievement of mass production capabilities for
almost all consumer goods. Recent years have
seen the dramatic increase in media channels,
and with them the progressive fragmentation
of audiences. Simultaneously, technology has
provided the means for the establishment of
sophisticated databases, enabling the manufacturer to achieve a greater understanding of
the needs and wants of potential consumers.


8

Integrated Marketing Communications

The increased use and
sophistication of market
research

The techniques of market research have
dramatically improved, in parallel with the
advances in technology which have provided
the means for far more sophisticated analyses of consumers than has ever existed previously. Today’s marketers have access to a
variety of inputs from media research, lifestyle and attitude studies, purchasing profiles, to name but a few. Each of these
components can be cross-tabulated with any
other to achieve a more enduring understanding of the underlying nature of consumer purchases.

Increasing improvements in
living standards
Today’s consumer is significantly better educated and more prosperous than previous
generations. Progressive increases in income
have ensured that a smaller percentage is
devoted to acquiring the necessities of life and
more is available to improve the quality of life.
People are living longer, opening up the
opportunity for the introduction of new products and services specifically designed to meet
the needs of an older population with a
differing lifestyle.

The wider reach of the media
Today’s consumers have ready access to a
wide range of media channels – TV, radio,
print media. As we have seen, not only does
the increase in the number of media channels
mean that more consumers can be reached
cost-effectively, they can be targeted with a
much higher degree of precision.

A growing understanding of

the use of marketing
communications
Our understanding of the various tools of
marketing communications has increased progressively, with the consequence that they can
be employed with a far greater degree of
confidence. Equally important, improved
familiarity means that marketers can develop
campaigns with a reasonable assurance of
being able to predict the outcomes of their
actions.

Access to specialist companies
in the field of marketing
communications
Along with the development of the tools of
marketing communications, specialist companies have emerged to provide companies
with dedicated inputs in the areas of strategic
planning and implementation. These services
augment the particular skills of the individuals and further enhance their confidence to
employ the various techniques.

Use of credit facilities
The dramatic increase in the percentage of the
population who have access to credit facilities,
and specifically credit cards, has opened up
the opportunity for the growth of direct
marketing. Such facilities provide the source
of a ‘charging platform’ – the means by which
consumers can agree to pay for goods and
services ordered over the phone or by other

means.

Blurring of the edges of the
tools of marketing
communications
Recent years have seen significant changes
in the way that marketing communications
campaigns have been developed and