IMC and CMM Basics
Introduction
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) refers to the careful co-ordination of all promotional messages for a service or product in order to ensure the constancy of message at each contact point where an organization meets the customer (Raghubir et. al., 2004). Apple makes use of advertising, promotion, sales, personal selling along with direct marketing strategies to communicate with is customers. The fundamental business model of Apple has not changed ever since the time it first started business during the closing stages of 1980's. Apple is highly committed towards bringing the most excellent communication experience for users around the globe via commitment, business expansion as well as target market (Robinson, 2006). Selection and implementation of an integrated marketing communication campaign for iPhone focuses all of Apple’s advertising and promotional endeavours towards delivering the same unified message and reaching the particular goal. Apple advertises and promotes its products all over the globe to catch the attention of as many customers as possible. Their advertisements are generally very attractive. The company also makes use of celebrity endorsements to advertise its iphone.
Moving ahead, like with all Apple marketing, the marketing strategy of iPhone is very clear, clever and simple. With the simple and plain apple icon, Apple lays emphasis on pure innovative style of its products and services without all the "fluff". Moreover, not just does Apple makes use of television for its marketing strategy, but it uses its website by posting videos, it also publishes few press releases. The company time and again uses this approach to generate hype and leave the customers wanting more. In addition, the official website of iPhone does more than simply providing information related to the product. The website puts forward top tips as well as tricks for using iPhone, along with a high emphasis on apps. Almost the whole iPhone page illustrates images of applications, offers the "App of the Week. The company’s website also includes sections such as the "Top Apps” and "Apps for Everything". Further, the website of Apple is considered as an effective marketing means for present and potential users and customers of iPhone that have high interest in buying the iPhone. The promotion of applications creates a good source of revenue for the company. As users view top rated applications, they are more expected to download the application, instead of searching through 25,000+ applications to discover one which might be of any importance to the users.
In its advertisement campaign, instead of challenging customer’s intelligence and throwing all types of mobile jargons or computing at them, the company sticks to the fundamental. The latest advertisement for iPhone 5, instead of focusing on its powerful processors simply highlights few of its very fundamental functions like better email experience and picture quality. From advertisements to presentations, Apple marketing strategies have been in language customers could easily comprehend and that is undeniably one among the chief reasons as to why the brand highly successful in everything it does.
Samsung S4
Samsung company is involved is high-end advertising and marketing of its products in order to develop attitudes, generate awareness as well as transit information to attain reaction from the intended customers. The key advertising channels adopted for Samsung S4 take in media like newspapers, journals and magazines, television, posters and pamphlets. In the beginning the advertisements communicated the existence of the brand in global markets as well as its dominance within those marketplaces. So as to increment the awareness for S4 the company also adopted techniques such as celebrity endorsement. A common feature of the company’s marketing strategy is promotion. Samsung promotes S4 in several ways varying from attending the appropriate trade fairs for the products, to offering print brochures, posters as well as specification sheets. Further, information related to the products is also accessible on Samsung’s website and through brochure lines.Conclusion
References:
Fitzgerald, M. & Arnott, D. (2000). Marketing Communications Classics, London: International Thomson Publishing
Raghubir, P., Inman, J. & Grande, H. (2004). The Three Faces of Consumer Promotions, California Management Review, 46 (4), pp. 23–43
Robinson, D. (2006). Public Relations comes of Age, Business Horizons, 49 (3), pp. 247–56.
