The five-step IMC strategic planning process

1. Identify and select the appropriate target audience

Key questions in target audience selection
a. What are the relevant target buyer groups?
b. What are the target group’s demographic, lifestyle ,and psychographic
profile?
c. How is the trade involved?

2. Determine how that target audience makes product and brand

decisions
If IMC is to positively affect brand purchase, it is essential to understand
just how purchases in the category are made by the target audience, and
this is what is involved at step two in the strategic planning process. In
consumer behaviour, decisions are often described in terms of need
arousal leading to consideration, then action. While this does provide a
general idea of how decisions are made, for IMC planning purposes, it is
not specific enough. A very good way to look at how brand purchase
decisions are made has been offered by Rossiter and Percy (1997) with
something they call a behavioural sequence model (BSM).
Decision stages
Consideration at Need arousal Brand Purchase Usage
each stage consideration
Whom all is involved and
what role(s) do they play?
Where does the stage occur?
What is the timing?
How is it likely to occur?
Figure 11.3
Generic BSM
It asks six fundamental questions: What are the stages consumers go through in
making a decision; Whom all is involved in the decision and what roles do they
play; Where do the stages occur; What is the timing, and How is it likely to
occur? This results in a flow chart that identifies where members of the target
audience are taking action or making decisions that will ultimately affect
purchases. Each of these questions are addressed next.

3. Establish how the brand will be positioned within its marketing

communication and select a benefit to support that position
It is important to remember that what is involved here is how the brand is
positioned within its marketing communication. The brand will already have been
generally positioned as a part of the overall marketing strategy. It may be a niche
brand, a ‘ price ’ brand, broadly based, etc. How it is positioned within marketing
communication addresses the best way to link the brand to category need and a
benefit. In Chapter 2 the importance of positioning in IMC was introduced and
discussed. Now, it shall be considered within the context of the planning process
and its role in message development. In the strategic planning process for IMC,
the manager must first establish whether the brand assumes a central versus
differentiated position. To be centrally positioned, the brand must be seen by the
target audience as being able to deliver all of the benefit associated with its
product category . Otherwise, a differentiated position must be used, which is
almost always the case. Once this initial decision is made, the manager must then
determine if the benefit claim for the brand should be about specific benefits
associated with the brand, or about the brand ’ s users. Again in almost every case,
the positioning will reflect a product-oriented rather than useroriented benefit.
There are only two situations where a user-oriented positioning could be
considered. These are when the target audience represents a specific market
segment or niche, or when the underlying motivation driving purchase behaviour
is social approval. But even in these cases, one could still adapt a produc oriented
positioning.
Penting untuk diingat bahwa apa yang terlibat di sini adalah bagaimana
merek diposisikan dalam komunikasi pemasarannya. Merek tersebut sudah
diposisikan secara umum sebagai bagian dari keseluruhan strategi
pemasaran. Ini mungkin merek niche, merek 'harga', berbasis luas, dll.
Bagaimana diposisikan dalam komunikasi pemasaran membahas cara
terbaik untuk menghubungkan merek dengan kebutuhan kategori dan
keuntungan. Pada Bab 2 pentingnya penentuan posisi di IMC
diperkenalkan dan didiskusikan. Sekarang, hal itu harus dipertimbangkan
dalam konteks proses perencanaan
4. Set communication objectives
Communication objectives are quite simply the communication effects
one is looking for. Next, we will summarize how the four communication
effects are likely to translate into communication objectives in the IMC
plan.
Category need
If there is little demand for a category, or people seem less aware of it,
establishing or reminding people of it becomes a communication
objective.
For example, one could not really do much of a job advertising or
promoting a specific brand of a new product such as when Blackberries
were introduced until people learned just what they were. Market share
leaders can sometimes benefit from category need advertising when
category demands slackens. A not too long ago example of reminding
people of a category need was when in the US Campbell Soup ran a ‘
soup is good food ’ campaign. By stimulating category need for soup they
generated differentially high sales for Campbell ’ s because of their
overwhelming share in the category.
Brand awareness
Brand (including trade) awareness is always an objective of any
marketing communication program, whether advertising or promotion.
We know that based upon how people make purchase decisions this
awareness
 will occur via recognition or recall. As we have seen, recognition
brand awareness is when the brand is seen in the store and remembered
from advertising or promotion. Recall brand awareness is when one
must remember the brand or store name first, prior to buying or using
a product (e.g. when deciding to have lunch at a fast food restaurant, or
when an industrial buyer decides to call several suppliers for a quotation).
A principal communication objective of all advertising is to create or
maintain brand awareness. While brand awareness is usually seen as a
traditional strength o advertising, as pointed out in the last chapter promotion
can make a significant
contribution. Generally, promotion is best utilized for increasing

Brand attitude
Brand attitude too is always a communication objective, again as we have
discussed. What is meant by brand attitude is the information or feeling the brand
wishes to impart through its marketing communication. Information about a brand
or emotional associations with it that are transmitted by consistent advertising
over time build ’ s brand equity.
Brand purchase intention
Brand (or trade) purchase intention is a communication objective when the
primary thrust of the message is to commit now to buying the brand or using a
service. Note that purchase-related behavioural intentions are also included in this
communication objective, things like dealer visits, direct mail inquiries, and
referrals.

5. Identify appropriate media options consistent with the

communication objectives to optimize message delivery and the
processing of the message
The fifth step in the strategic planning process involves identifying appropriate
media options for delivering the brand ’ s message. IMC media strategy is not a
simple matter of finding media that reach the target audience, or satisfying
particular reach and frequency objectives. While this is important to media
planning, it is not the first step. In considering the wide range of media options
available for delivering IMC messages, the critical concern is to first identify
those media that will facilitate the type of processing necessary to satisfy the
communication objectives. There are three areas in which media differ that will
have a direct bearing on this: the ability to effectively deliver visual content, the
time available to process the message, and the ability to deliver high frequency
(the number of times the target audience will be exposed to a message through a
particular media). Each of these media characteristics has particular significance
for both brand awareness and brand attitude strategy, as we shall see below.
Additionally, managers must also consider media options in terms of the size and
type of their business. This too will inform what IMC media options will make the
most sense given the markets within which they operate.
The first step in the IMC planning process is a careful review of the marketing
plan. This is what provides the necessary background for understanding a brand ’
s overall marketing objectives, which the IMC program will support. Beyond
these marketing objectives and how marketing communication is expected to
support them, key issues to address in this review are the specifics of the brand
itself and the market within which it will compete, with special emphasis on its
competition. Finally, the marketing plan will outline where sales are expected to
come from. Once the marketing plan has been reviewed, the actual IMC planning
begins with target audience selection. This will have been informed by what the
marketing plan has to say about where the brand is looking for business. If trial is
the objective, brand switchers who switch among other brands (OBS) are the key
buyer group because they already exhibit switching behaviour and will be the
easiest group to attract. Those loyal to other brands (OBL) or non-categories users
(NCU) offer potential for trial, but are much more difficult to attract. If increased
repeat purchase is the objective, brand switchers who include the brand in their set
(FBS) will be encouraged to select the brand more often; BL will be encouraged
to buy more, or more often. Having identified the target audience it is important to
gain an understanding of how they go about making purchase decisions in the
category. The BSM is a good way of looking at this, identifying the stages
involved in the decision, and for each stage whom all is involved and the roles
they play, where it is likely to occur, the timing, and how it happens. With the
target audience selected and an understanding of how they make purchase
decisions in the category, is time to begin planning message development.
The first step in message development is to determine the appropriate positioning
for the brand within its marketing communication. For most brands, this will
mean a differentiated positioning rather than a central positioning, which is only
appropriate if the brand is seen as delivering on all of the benefits associated with
the category. It will also almost always mean a benefit-oriented rather than user-
oriented positioning, which is only appropriate for very specific market niches or
when social approval is the motivation involved. Once these two basic issues are
addressed, a benefit must be selected around which to base the message. This
could be a specific attribute of the product, a subjective characteristic of the brand,
or an emotional response, alone or in some combination depending upon the
underlying motivation. This benefit must be seen by the target audience as
important, something the brand delivers (or could deliver), and ideally delivers it
better than other brands. Having positioned the brand, the next step is to set the
communication objectives. These objectives are selected from the set of four
communication effects: category need, brand awareness, brand attitude, and brand
purchase intention. Brand awareness and brand attitude will always be objectives,
and must reflect the type of awareness needed (recognition or recall) and the
appropriate strategic brand attitude quadrant of the Rossiter–Percy Grid. After the
message development section of the plan is complete, the final step in the IMC
planning process is to identify an appropriate set of media options that are
consistent with the communication objectives.

Langkah pertama dalam proses perencanaan IMC adalah tinjauan cermat terhadap
rencana pemasaran. Inilah yang memberikan latar belakang yang diperlukan untuk
memahami keseluruhan sasaran pemasaran merek, yang akan didukung oleh
program IMC. Di luar tujuan pemasaran dan bagaimana komunikasi pemasaran
diharapkan dapat mendukungnya, isu utama yang harus ditangani dalam tinjauan
ini adalah spesifik dari merek itu sendiri dan pasar di mana ia akan bersaing,
dengan penekanan khusus pada persaingannya. Akhirnya, rencana pemasaran
akan menjelaskan di mana penjualan diharapkan berasal. Begitu rencana
pemasaran telah ditinjau, perencanaan IMC yang sebenarnya dimulai dengan
pemilihan target pemirsa. Ini akan diinformasikan oleh apa rencana pemasaran
yang harus dikatakan tentang di mana merek tersebut mencari bisnis. Jika
percobaan adalah tujuan, pengalih merek yang beralih di antara merek lain (OBS)
adalah grup pembeli utama karena mereka telah menunjukkan perilaku beralih
dan akan menjadi kelompok yang paling mudah diminati. Mereka yang loyal
kepada merek lain (OBL) atau pengguna non-kategori (NCU) menawarkan
potensi untuk diadili, namun jauh lebih sulit untuk menarik perhatian. Jika
pembelian berulang meningkat adalah tujuannya, pengalih merek yang
menyertakan merek di set mereka (FBS) akan didorong untuk memilih merek
lebih sering; BL akan didorong untuk membeli lebih banyak, atau lebih sering.
Setelah mengidentifikasi target pemirsa, penting untuk mendapatkan pemahaman
tentang bagaimana mereka membuat keputusan pembelian dalam kategori. BSM
adalah cara yang baik untuk melihat hal ini, mengidentifikasi tahap-tahap yang
terlibat dalam keputusan tersebut, dan untuk setiap tahap yang melibatkan semua
dan peran yang mereka mainkan, di mana kemungkinannya terjadi, waktunya, dan
bagaimana hal itu terjadi. Dengan target pemirsa yang dipilih dan pemahaman
tentang bagaimana mereka membuat keputusan pembelian dalam kategori, adalah
waktu untuk mulai merencanakan pengembangan pesan.
Langkah pertama dalam pengembangan pesan adalah menentukan posisi yang
tepat untuk merek dalam komunikasi pemasarannya. Bagi kebanyakan merek, ini
berarti posisi yang berbeda daripada posisi sentral, yang hanya sesuai jika merek
dilihat sebagai memberikan semua manfaat yang terkait dengan kategori tersebut.
Ini juga hampir selalu berarti berorientasi pada keuntungan daripada penentuan
posisi pengguna, yang hanya sesuai untuk ceruk pasar yang sangat spesifik atau
bila persetujuan sosial adalah motivasi yang terlibat. Begitu kedua masalah
mendasar ini dibahas, sebuah manfaat harus dipilih untuk mengelompokkan pesan
tersebut. Ini bisa menjadi atribut spesifik dari produk, karakteristik subjektif dari
merek, atau respons emosional, sendiri atau kombinasi tertentu, bergantung pada
motivasi yang mendasarinya. Manfaat ini harus dilihat oleh khalayak sasaran
sebagai sesuatu yang penting, sesuatu yang diberikan oleh merek (atau bisa
memberikan), dan idealnya memberikannya lebih baik daripada merek lain.
Setelah memposisikan merek, langkah selanjutnya adalah menetapkan tujuan
komunikasi. Tujuan ini dipilih dari serangkaian empat efek komunikasi: kategori
kebutuhan, kesadaran merek, sikap merek, dan niat membeli merek. Kesadaran
merek dan sikap merek akan selalu menjadi tujuan, dan harus mencerminkan jenis
kesadaran yang dibutuhkan (pengakuan atau recall) dan kuadran perilaku merek
strategis yang sesuai dari Grid Rossiter-Percy. Setelah bagian pengembangan
pesan dari rencana selesai, langkah terakhir dalam proses perencanaan IMC
adalah mengidentifikasi seperangkat pilihan media yang sesuai dengan tujuan
komunikasi.