Saturday, December 8, 2012

Thesis: The Marketing Communication Strategy of Blue Bird Taxi... (Part 16)


To get a better understanding about this, please start reading from the first post of the series. 

THESIS: The Marketing Communication Strategy of Blue Bird Taxi To Maintain Market Leader Position After Using The Highest Tariff:

  • Introduction & Book Cover   : Part 1
  • Research Originality Statement and Acknowledgement   : Part 2
  • Abstract                                          : Part 3
  • Table of Contents                          : Part 4

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(Chapter II continued...)
Step 3: Determine Marketing Communication Objectives
Objectives are what marketers want to accomplish with marketing communication. The marketing communication objective is determined by addressing and utilizing the important SWOT findings. Since integrated marketing communication is about building and managing brand relationship, therefore there are two type of objectives: communicational and behavioral. These objectives can be seen by through the AIDA model stages of effect, which stands for attention, interest, desire and action. The first three steps in the AIDA model suggest that a brand have communication objectives in order to reach specific levels of brand awareness, brand interest and brand desire. The fourth step in AIDA model is the behavior objective which involves the customer taking action.

Well written objectives pass the SMAC test which stands for Specific, Measureable, Achievable and Challenging. (Ouwersloot & Duncan, 2007:129-132)

Step 4: Develop Strategies and Tactics
Strategies are ideas about how to accomplish objectives. Tactics are specific actions to be taken to execute a strategy and are execution details that bring idea to life. The phases of strategy development are:

  • First phase is selecting the MC and media mixesMC mix is the selection of MC functions used at a given time as part of a marketing program. Media mix is a selection of media channels used to deliver brand messages.
  • Second phase is selecting the creative idea

 Strategy involves timing and scheduling to determine which media placements, promotional programs and other MC activities should happen first or last or in between. (Ouwersloot & Duncan, 2007:132-135)

 Step 5: Setting the budget
MC budget comes from the marketing budget. The budget depends on SWOT of step one. There are many ways to prepare a budget including: percentage-of-sales, objective and task, share-of-category spending, and Return On Investment (ROI). It is hard for companies to predict the return of the marketing expenditures because competitors constantly change their offering and promotions and customers’ needs and wants are constantly changing. (Ouwersloot & Duncan, 2007:135-142)

 Step 6: Evaluate Effectiveness
Since the environment including competitors, customers and other stakeholders are constantly changing, the only way to know if something works is to test it. It is important to test the creative impact and level of media spending to see what is too much and what is too little and to find the minimal level of spending that is required in order for companies to keep their market share. 

 Evaluating effectiveness involve seeing how well the marketing efforts meet its stated objectives. This why companies should set their objectives in measureable terms and specify a time frame.  Companies can obtain information regarding MC effectiveness from industry reports and by conducting their own research.  Evaluation can include measures of relationship strength in addition to the usual sales, share and awareness measures.

Companies need to listen to customers and take their opinions seriously and use the result for discussion and also change what parts that might be wrong.  In integrated marketing communication continuous feedback is vital leading to those companies must become a learning organization. (Ouwersloot & Duncan, 2007:142-144)