Integrated Marketing Communication: Holiday Inn.

Executive Summary

This is a proposal of the integrated marketing communication plan. The company that will implement is Holiday Inn. To be more specific, it is one of their divisions, Holiday Inn Express. The latter provides high-quality services at a reasonable price: the atmosphere of the major brand is maintained, but some of the services were removed to reduce the price. It was found that the external factors that influence the situation show that there is a number of young well-educated people who are willing to travel, yet want to save money. The internal factors focus on designing a marketing message correctly as this will contribute to the competitive advantage of the company and will make it stand out of the competition. Speaking of the latter, some other major brands developed subsidiaries that provide iconic services for a reasonable price. It is suggested that the target audience will include the following people: they are aged 25-35, well-educated, earn a medium amount of money or just joined the workforce, they are from medium and large cities, they travel a lot and are able to compare hotels, they want to explore the world, but they do not want to spend a lot. Holiday Inn Express satisfies their primary needs of exploration and the desire to save. The company is perceived as a provider of a good bargain. The communication with the target audience is carried out online and the decision-making process includes several aspects. There are three major objectives: increase the number of interactions with the potential customers, increase the number of followers, and increase the rate of spreading of the marketing message. The preliminary budget is approximately $50,000. The Marketing department, the IT department, and the Sales department will be most engaged in the execution of the plan.

Context and Background

Holiday Inn is one of the largest hotel chains in the world. It was founded on August 1, 1952, in the United States in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally, it was a chain of the motel which means that the hospitality facility was designed in such a way that allowed the visitors with the cars gain an easy access to their room. Since the motels were located somewhat away from the major roads, an iconic sign was invented. It was big, glittering, and featured the name of the company. In the 1980s, the business was expanding and new divisions emerged, resulting in the fact that Holiday Inn was a fully operational hotel chain. The company had several logos that changed based on the scope of operations. At the moment, there is a large number of brands that are included in the portfolio featuring conventional full-service hotels, upscale resorts, express hotels and much more. The particular brand that will be discussed in this paper is Holiday Inn Express. It is a division of Holiday Inn that focuses on provision limited services and fewer amenities; nevertheless, the quality, as well as comfort of the rooms and the hotels in general, is above average which makes them quite attractive to middle-income customers. The latter are expected to enjoy low prices, the distinctive Holiday Inn atmosphere, and the comfort of the rooms. Depending on the location additional services, like a pool or an exercise room are available. Nevertheless, regardless of the location, the customers will enjoy neatly groomed rooms, functional environment, responsible personnel, and much more. The idea of Holiday Inn Express was to enable people who are not staying long in the hotels to enjoy all advantages of the company and pay a reasonable price. These hospitality facilities are often located in places that are easily accessible.

Situational Analysis

There is a number of elements that should be mentioned while performing situational analysis of external aspects. The first point that is to be considered is demographics. It is clear that Holiday Inn Express primarily appeals to young people aged 25-35 who are active travelers, but do not have a lot of money to spend on the hotels (Percy, 2008). This leads to the next factor – economy. It is expected that as the wealth of the Western countries grows, people there will spend more on traveling; however, the tourists prefer to spend more on experiences than hotels. Holiday Inn Express allows them to enjoy convenience at a reasonable price. The technological forces need to be considered as well. Thus, booking and traveling has never been easier which means that the target population has expanded dramatically. Furthermore, the societies all over the world encourage cultural exchange which means that more people from other parts of the world will visit Holiday Inn Express and the staff should be ready to handle it properly.

If one considers the internal factors, one will have to mention several. First of all, marketing has become essential for the success of a company. Given the current competitive climate, it is obvious that unless Holiday Inn Express is able to stand out, it will not be visible. In addition to that, a lot of marketing takes place online which means that the company should pay a lot of attention to this particular area. The persona of the customer is something that should be explored properly as well. It is obvious that an average tourist has become much younger, more proficient with technology, and less willing to pay a lot of money. It is essential to adjust the brand to these demands.

When it comes to situational analysis it is impossible to omit the discussion of the competition. One should keep in mind that the idea to open an economy version of a famous hotel is not unique to Holiday Inn: there are several brands that were developed by the competitors (Hackley, 2010). One might recall La Quinta Inn or Hampton Inn which follow a similar business idea: they provide an iconic experience of a famous brand at a reasonable price. All this leads to the understanding that the traditional competition among hotel chains is now taken to a different dimension: the economy sector. This is particularly important since it shows that many big hotel chains are willing to expand and they will potentially become Holiday Inn’s rivals. Therefore, it is essential for the company in question to make sure that their hotels offer something more than a reasonable price and a pleasant atmosphere.

IMC Plan and Target Market Specifications

It may be suitable to outline the demographics that will be targeted by the plan. Given all reasons, it may be logical to apply four dimensions of segmentation. According to the first one, the target audience will include well-educated young people, aged 25-35 who are proficient with technology, earn a moderate income or have just joined the workforce (Shimp, 2010). Geographically, they come was medium to large cities with high population density. Psychographically, they are willing to explore something new, but they do not want to spend a lot of money; they want to find the best bargain for the amount of money that they can offer. Behaviorally, they have experienced traveler and are able to make an objective assessment of a hotel. Speaking of the reasons why this particular segment was chosen, one should mention several: it is easy to reach these people via numerous means of communication; they are most likely to travel abroad; they are ready to pay and will not postpone booking a hotel if they need it.

There is a number of ways in which Holiday Inn Express can benefit the target market. First and most of all, this particular service satisfies two most important needs that the young travelers have: see the world and spend as little money as possible. In other words, it would be expected that they will choose this service and use it as often as possible since it is tailored to their needs. Secondly, Holiday Inn Express also provides an outstanding comfort as well as the functionality of the room. This way the visitors will know that they had a good bargain since they are able to enjoy a lot for a reasonable price. Finally, Holiday Inn Express allows the young travelers to gain a first-hand experience of interaction with the well-known brand.

Speaking of the latter, it may be logical to examine the manner in which the company is perceived by the target market. One would make no mistake suggesting that Holiday Inn, in general, is a well-known company with hospitality facilities all over the world. Its logo has become iconic and people know it well even though they may not have stayed in it. That is why Holiday Inn Express is perceived as an economy version of the famous brand that is closely related to it. In other words, those people who are willing to experience the quality of service as being able to enjoy their stay without some services will most certainly choose this company after a brief cost-benefit analysis. Another point that should be mentioned is that “Express” does not undermine the value of “Holiday Inn” in the name of the company.

Communication and Decision-Making Processes

Now, it may be important to review communication as well s decision-making processes of the customers. According to Blakeman (2015), the majority of the people today prefer to have encounters with companies online. This means that they are likely to reach a company one of the channels of communication that they find most suitable. As a result, it would be logical to assume that online communication with the customers will be most effective and will reach the majority of the target audience. Speaking of the decision-making, one should note that it is performed based on a number of aspects. First of all, the customers will consider the price since they are generally rather price sensitive. After it was determined that the latter satisfies them, the available services will be reviewed. In case the relationship between price and comfort is reasonable, the decision in favor of the hotel will be made.

IMC Objectives

There is a number of objectives that integrated marketing communication plan will be expected to achieve. All of them are formulated in SMART format. So, the first objective is the following: Achieve an increase of encounters with the potential audience online by 5% via initiating interaction with the customers when promoting new offers within the next six months. It is important to keep in mind that the increase of interaction is important because it will ensure that the potential customers are well aware of the brand and they are able to reach it online. An increase in 5% may seem to be relatively small, but given the size of the potential audience, it will attract a considerable number of people. The more contacts will be initiated, the higher is the possibility that more people will answer the call.

The next objective of integrated marketing communication plan that should be mentioned can be formulated as follows: Achieve an increase of followers/subscribers of the official accounts of the company by 5% through invite rewards within the next six months. There are several points that should be analyzed here. First of all, the value of the people who follow the official accounts of the company in social networks is acknowledged. This can be explained very simply: it is possible to use the account to provide information about the ongoing sales, discounts, and special offers that will motivate the potential audience to enjoy services of the company. It is rather obvious that the mere increase in the number of people will not result in the equivalent increase in sales. Nevertheless, it is possible that in the long term perspective this will encourage the target audience to consider the offers that will be made to them online.

Finally, the last objective that integrated marketing communication plan will be expected to achieve focuses on spreading the message with the help of the potential audience. It is formulated as follows: Achieve an increase of the rate of referrals by 5% through reward of this activity within six months. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that world of mouth is a powerful instrument that is able to determine whether a company will succeed or not. However, it is rather difficult to achieve this within the virtual environment due to a number of constraints. That is why the company should stimulate the spread of the information by the customers by rewarding them for such actions. The people should learn that whenever they spread a word about Holiday Inn Express, they will be able to enjoy discounts or additional services. All this leads to the understanding that integrated marketing communication should also try to spread the marketing message via the customers.

Budget

The issue of budget is rather difficult to define since it is possible that there will be some unexpected expenses that will have to be covered. However, at the moment, it is possible to provide a preliminary outline of the activities that need to be funded. First of all, it is important to design banners as well as other promotional materials that will be distributed online. It will take around $10,000-$15,000 to deliver a product that will attract the attention of the customers. The, it is important to allocate a team that will be in charge of answering the questions of the customers as soon as possible. They will have to be paid reasonably. It will take approximately $30,000 for a team. Finally, it may be useful to buy some advertisement online to make sure that the majority of the potential customers have been reached.

Several departments will be contacted to perform these functions. First of all, the Marketing Department will be in charge of coordinating the activities. It is expected that the process of design will be outsourced to freelance designers that will provide a good product at a reasonable price. Then, the Information Technology Department will be in charge of putting the banners and the promotional messages online and make sure that they are featured in the official accounts of the company. The Sales department will allocate the people who will be in charge of maintaining the relationships with the customers online and answer their questions as soon as possible. One should keep in mind that only the proper interaction of all the departments that were described above will ensure that the integrated marketing communication plan will success since every element is critical for the achievement of the goal.

Executive Summary

This is a proposal of the integrated marketing communication plan. The company that will implement is Holiday Inn. To be more specific, it is one of their divisions, Holiday Inn Express. The latter provides high-quality services at a reasonable price: the atmosphere of the major brand is maintained, but some of the services were removed to reduce the price. It was found that the external factors that influence the situation show that there is a number of young well-educated people who are willing to travel, yet want to save money. The internal factors focus on designing a marketing message correctly as this will contribute to the competitive advantage of the company and will make it stand out of the competition. Speaking of the latter, some other major brands developed subsidiaries that provide iconic services for a reasonable price. It is suggested that the target audience will include the following people: they are aged 25-35, well-educated, earn a medium amount of money or just joined the workforce, they are from medium and large cities, they travel a lot and are able to compare hotels, they want to explore the world, but they do not want to spend a lot. Holiday Inn Express satisfies their primary needs of exploration and the desire to save. The company is perceived as a provider of a good bargain. The communication with the target audience is carried out online and the decision-making process includes several aspects. There are three major objectives: increase the number of interactions with the potential customers, increase the number of followers, and increase the rate of spreading of the marketing message. The preliminary budget is approximately $50,000. The Marketing department, the IT department, and the Sales department will be most engaged in the execution of the plan.

Context and Background

Holiday Inn is one of the largest hotel chains in the world. It was founded on August 1, 1952, in the United States in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally, it was a chain of the motel which means that the hospitality facility was designed in such a way that allowed the visitors with the cars gain an easy access to their room. Since the motels were located somewhat away from the major roads, an iconic sign was invented. It was big, glittering, and featured the name of the company. In the 1980s, the business was expanding and new divisions emerged, resulting in the fact that Holiday Inn was a fully operational hotel chain. The company had several logos that changed based on the scope of operations. At the moment, there is a large number of brands that are included in the portfolio featuring conventional full-service hotels, upscale resorts, express hotels and much more. The particular brand that will be discussed in this paper is Holiday Inn Express. It is a division of Holiday Inn that focuses on provision limited services and fewer amenities; nevertheless, the quality, as well as comfort of the rooms and the hotels in general, is above average which makes them quite attractive to middle-income customers. The latter are expected to enjoy low prices, the distinctive Holiday Inn atmosphere, and the comfort of the rooms. Depending on the location additional services, like a pool or an exercise room are available. Nevertheless, regardless of the location, the customers will enjoy neatly groomed rooms, functional environment, responsible personnel, and much more. The idea of Holiday Inn Express was to enable people who are not staying long in the hotels to enjoy all advantages of the company and pay a reasonable price. These hospitality facilities are often located in places that are easily accessible.

Situational Analysis

There is a number of elements that should be mentioned while performing situational analysis of external aspects. The first point that is to be considered is demographics. It is clear that Holiday Inn Express primarily appeals to young people aged 25-35 who are active travelers, but do not have a lot of money to spend on the hotels (Percy, 2008). This leads to the next factor – economy. It is expected that as the wealth of the Western countries grows, people there will spend more on traveling; however, the tourist prefers to spend more on experiences than hotels. Holiday Inn Express allows them to enjoy convenience at a reasonable price. The technological forces need to be considered as well. Thus, booking and traveling have never been easier which means that the target population has expanded dramatically. Furthermore, the societies all over the world encourage cultural exchange which means that more people from other parts of the world will visit Holiday Inn Express and the staff should be ready to handle it properly. One also should not forget about a number of legal issues that are involved in the hotel business such as money laundering, handling sensitive information and so on. All this affects the way in which Holiday Inn Express runs its business.

If one considers the internal factors, one will have to mention several. First of all, marketing has become essential for the success of a company. Given the current competitive climate, it is obvious that unless Holiday Inn Express is able to stand out, it will not be visible. In addition to that, a lot of marketing takes place online which means that the company should pay a lot of attention to this particular area. The persona of the customer is something that should be explored properly as well. It is obvious that an average tourist has become much younger, more proficient with technology, and less willing to pay a lot of money. It is essential to adjust the brand to these demands.

One can hardly omit to discuss stakeholder issues that are associated with the operations involving Holiday Inn Express. According to Blakeman (2009), there is a large number of such issues ranging from the most obvious such as the return on investment to more global such as environmental footprint of the operations. Another point that should be mentioned with this regard is that the needs of the stakeholders should be satisfied in both short-term and long-term perspective. This means that a temporary solution to the problems that Holiday Inn Express is experiencing should be effective for a considerable period of time; otherwise, the stakeholders will dismiss the company is unreliable.

Furthermore, it is essential to take into consideration a number of ethical issues that are associated with the company in question. First of all, it is important to make sure that the privacy of the clients is protected properly (Persuit & McDowell-Marinchak, 2016). This means that their personal information should be stored securely. Secondly, it is important to limit CCTV cameras to the locations where the privacy of the clients will not be breached. This way the clients will not have a feeling that they are being watched by the personnel. Furthermore, it is also important to make sure that the prices are not too high. In other words, it is rather unethical to charge the clients twice or more what service costs. Finally, it is also crucial to state that there is another ethical issue that is associated with the hotel that is lack of discrimination as people with different characteristics are able to book a room and are subject to fair treatment.

When it comes to situational analysis it is impossible to omit the discussion of the competition. One should keep in mind that the idea to open an economy version of a famous hotel is not unique to Holiday Inn: there are several brands that were developed by the competitors (Hackley, 2010). One might recall La Quinta Inn or Hampton Inn which follow a similar business idea: they provide an iconic experience of a famous brand at a reasonable price. All this leads to the understanding that the traditional competition among hotel chains is now taken to a different dimension: the economy sector. This is particularly important since it shows that many big hotel chains are willing to expand and they will potentially become Holiday Inn’s rivals. Therefore, it is essential for the company in question to make sure that their hotels offer something more than a reasonable price and a pleasant atmosphere.

IMC Plan and Target Market Specifications

It may be suitable to outline the demographics that will be targeted by the plan. Given all reasons, it may be logical to apply four dimensions of segmentation. According to the first one, the target audience will include well-educated young people, aged 25-35 who are proficient with technology, earn a moderate income or have just joined the workforce (Shimp, 2010). Geographically, they come was medium to large cities with high population density. Psychographically, they are willing to explore something new, but they do not want to spend a lot of money; they want to find the best bargain for the amount of money that they can offer. Behaviorally, they have experienced traveler and are able to make an objective assessment of a hotel. Speaking of the reasons why this particular segment was chosen, one should mention several: it is easy to reach this person via numerous means of communication; they are most likely to travel abroad; they are ready to pay and will not postpone booking a hotel if they need it.

There is a number of ways in which Holiday Inn Express can benefit the target market. First and most of all, this particular service satisfies two most important needs that the young travelers have: see the world and spend as little money as possible. In other words, it would be expected that they will choose this service and use it as often as possible since it is tailored to their needs. Secondly, Holiday Inn Express also provides an outstanding comfort as well as the functionality of the room. This way the visitors will know that they had a good bargain since they are able to enjoy a lot for a reasonable price. Finally, Holiday Inn Express allows the young travelers to gain a first-hand experience of interaction with the well-known brand.

Speaking of the latter, it may be logical to examine the manner in which the company is perceived by the target market. One would make no mistake suggesting that Holiday Inn, in general, is a well-known company with hospitality facilities all over the world. Its logo has become iconic and people know it well even though they may not have stayed in it. That is why Holiday Inn Express is perceived as an economy version of the famous brand that is closely related to it. In other words, those people who are willing to experience the quality of service as being able to enjoy their stay without some services will most certainly choose this company after a brief cost-benefit analysis. Another point that should be mentioned is that “Express” does not undermine the value of “Holiday Inn” in the name of the company.

Communication and Decision-Making Processes

Now, it may be important to review communication as well as decision-making processes of the customers. According to Blakeman (2015), the majority of the people today prefer to have encounters with companies online. This means that they are likely to reach a company one of the channels of communication that they find most suitable. As a result, it would be logical to assume that online communication with the customers will be most effective and will reach the majority of the target audience. Speaking of the decision-making, one should note that it is performed based on a number of aspects. First of all, the customers will consider the price since they are generally rather price sensitive. After it was determined that the latter satisfies them, the available services will be reviewed. In case the relationship between price and comfort is reasonable, the decision in favor of the hotel will be made.

Brand Positioning

It is essential to develop a proper understanding of brand positioning in order to be able to adjust the integrated marketing communication accordingly. One of the fundamental elements of the positioning is a brand image (Keillor, 2007). As it has already been mentioned earlier Holiday Inn Express positions itself as a less expensive version of Holiday Inn: the price reduction was achieved not through lowering the quality of services, but removing excessive options that the clients who are staying for a short period of time may not be needing. That is why Holiday Inn Express is positioned as the same offering, but which is tailored to the needs of the people under special circumstances. All this leads to the understanding that all positive aspects that are associated with the major brand can also be applied to this brand in question.

One should keep in mind that the idea to create brands that would lack some excessive services and still provide a high-quality experience is quite popular in the hotel industry. That is why it would be logical to assume that there is a number of competitors that can be identified. It is beyond any doubt that Holiday Inn was not the first company to develop this business idea. Quite the opposite: the very brand name “Holiday Inn Express” is a relatively recent one as before it was titled “Express by Holiday Inn”. Nevertheless, the brand in question is different from any other offer on the market in that sense that it enjoys a strong brand recognition. Another point that should be mentioned is that Holiday Inn Express is not limited to a single region of the world which makes it quite popular in different countries.

Speaking of the competitive advantage that Holiday Inn Express has, one should mention several. First and most of all, it is the customer experience. Whenever people book a room there, there know that they will be enjoying a high-quality service even though they did not much. Once again, the reduction of prices was achieved by removing some services that were not core services. Secondly, Holiday Inn Express is often located in places that are both easily reached and are situated in the areas that are suitable for tourists. In other words, a client will not have to spend a lot of time getting to the hotel: chances are that it will be next to a site that one wanted to see anyway. Finally, another competitive advantage of the company in question is that fact amount of resources that can be used to attract new customers and achieve a high level of service.

IMC Objectives

There is a number of objectives that integrated marketing communication plan will be expected to achieve. All of them are formulated in SMART format. So, the first objective is the following: Achieve an increase of encounters with the potential audience online by 5% via initiating interaction with the customers when promoting new offers within the next six months. It is important to keep in mind that the increase of interaction is important because it will ensure that the potential customers are well aware of the brand and they are able to reach it online. An increase in 5% may seem to be relatively small, but given the size of the potential audience, it will attract a considerable number of people. The more contacts will be initiated, the higher is the possibility that more people will answer the call.

The next objective of integrated marketing communication plan that should be mentioned can be formulated as follows: Achieve an increase of followers/subscribers of the official accounts of the company by 5% through invite rewards within the next six months. There are several points that should be analyzed here. First of all, the value of the people who follow the official accounts of the company in social networks is acknowledged. This can be explained very simply: it is possible to use the account to provide information about the ongoing sales, discounts, and special offers that will motivate the potential audience to enjoy services of the company. It is rather obvious that the mere increase in the number of people will not result in the equivalent increase in sales. Nevertheless, it is possible that in the long term perspective this will encourage the target audience to consider the offers that will be made to them online.

Finally, the last objective that integrated marketing communication plan will be expected to achieve focuses on spreading the message with the help of the potential audience. It is formulated as follows: Achieve an increase of the rate of referrals by 5% through reward of this activity within six months. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that world of mouth is a powerful instrument that is able to determine whether a company will succeed or not. However, it is rather difficult to achieve this within the virtual environment due to a number of constraints. That is why the company should stimulate the spread of the information by the customers by rewarding them for such actions. The people should learn that whenever they spread a word about Holiday Inn Express, they will be able to enjoy discounts or additional services. All this leads to the understanding that integrated marketing communication should also try to spread the marketing message via the customers.

Tools and Strategies

The following marketing tools will be used to achieve the success of the integrated marketing communication plan. First of all, the company is expected to buy some promotional services online like Google AdWords in order to direct the customers browsing online to their websites. This is important to make sure that Holiday Inn Express is one of the top results that are shown by the search engine or similar web-based services. Secondly, another useful tool is promotional mailing list: all the people who subscribed to it or followed one of the official accounts will receive promotional messages from time to time. This way they will keep updated on the latest promotions and will be encouraged to use services. Furthermore, the company in question is also expected to rely on different kinds of advertisements, both conventional and virtual. This way they will raise the brand awareness and attract new people.

If one considered the proposed marketing strategy, one should note that it will focus on establishing a strong relationship with the potential customers via social media as well as other electronic means of communication. The important point to consider is that this kind of interaction is highly valued by the target audience and is likely to be its first choice (Belch & Belch, 2014). That is why the logic behind this is quite simple: reach the potential customer in a manner that they would like to be reached. In other words, since the target audience is technologically savvy, it will appreciate with a considerable amount of the information can be accessed online. As a result, integrated marketing communication should mostly rely on it and make sure that all essential information can be viewed on one’s smartphone, tablet PC or desktop computer.

Speaking of the medium that should be preferred one should make a certain reservation: in spite of the fact that the big emphasis will be placed on the virtual resources such as banners, promotional mailing list or communication using the official account, the company should not forget about the conventional kinds of advertising. Schultz, Patti, and Kitchen (2014) insist that the nature of integrated marketing communication lies in the fact that it incorporates different media. For example, an outdoor advertising might provide a link to the official account that the potential customers will be expected to follow. That is why it would not be fully correct to suggest that the only medium that the integrated marketing communication plan will rely on includes virtual messages. Furthermore, the content that will be posted online can also have different nature: it can be a text, a picture, a moving image, a video or an audio file. It is advised that the content varies frequently.

Promotional Budget

The issue of budget is rather difficult to define since it is possible that there will be some unexpected expenses that will have to be covered. However, at the moment, it is possible to provide a preliminary outline of the activities that need to be funded. First of all, it is important to design banners as well as other promotional materials that will be distributed online. It will take around $10,000-$15,000 to deliver a product that will attract the attention of the customers. The, it is important to allocate a team that will be in charge of answering the questions of the customers as soon as possible. They will have to be paid reasonably. It will take approximately $30,000 for a team. Finally, it may be useful to buy some advertisement online to make sure that the majority of the potential customers have been reached.

Several departments will be contacted to perform these functions. First of all, the Marketing Department will be in charge of coordinating the activities. It is expected that the process of design will be outsourced to freelance designers that will provide a good product at a reasonable price. Then, the Information Technology Department will be in charge of putting the banners and the promotional messages online and make sure that they are featured in the official accounts of the company. The Sales department will allocate the people who will be in charge of maintaining the relationships with the customers online and answer their questions as soon as possible. One should keep in mind that only the proper interaction of all the departments that were described above will ensure that the integrated marketing communication plan will success since every element is critical for the achievement of the goal.

Measurement and Evaluation

Finally, it may be useful to pay attention to the ways in which the application of the integrated marketing plan should be measured. The goals of the latter may be formulated as follows. The first goal is to raise awareness of the brand as well as various advantages of using its services. The second goal is to increase the number of people who interact with the official accounts of the company. Finally, the goal of the integrated marketing plan is to reach as many potential customers as possible. It is highly expected that the plan will be able to accomplish all the goals mentioned above if properly implemented. Nevertheless, it would be virtually impossible to determine the actual state of affairs, as well as any improvement of it, is proper ways to measure and evaluate are not in place.

It is clear that the best way to make sure that the plan in question is working is to measure the number of people who visited the official accounts of the company. If there is a sudden increase in the number of people, then this may be seen as an indication of the fact that the plan is working. Secondly, another useful way to measure and evaluate the performance of it is to watch for an increase in the revenue: the more people are reached by the company means that the more people can potentially buy its services. It is clear that a certain percentage of the target audience reached by the plan will choose to use the services. That is why the increase in the revenue is highly predictable. After all, this is the ultimate goal of any promotion: to make sure that more people buy services.

References

Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2014). Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Blakeman, R. (2009). The bare bones introduction to integrated marketing communication. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield .

Blakeman, R. (2015). Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to implementation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Hackley, C. E. (2010). Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.

Keillor, B. D. (2007). Marketing in the 21st century. Integrated marketing communication. New York, NY: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Percy, L. (2008). Strategic integrated marketing communication: theory and practice. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Persuit, J. M., & McDowell-Marinchak, C. L. (2016). Integrated marketing communication: creating spaces for engagement. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Schultz, D. E., Patti, C. H., & Kitchen, P. J. (2014). The evolution of integrated marketing communications: the customer-driven marketplace. London: Routledge.

Shimp, T. A. (2010). Integrated marketing communications in advertising and promotion. New York, NY: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

Yeshin, T. (2012). Integrated marketing communications. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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