What purpose does Integrated Marketing Communciations serve?

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is the term used to describe all of the efforts that marketers use to try change buyers' behaviour.

IMC includes, according to some sources; Advertising, Direct Marketing, eMarketing, Personal Selling, Publicity & Public Relations, and Sales Promotion. (I've seen other lists of the elements that break out trade shows, social marketing etc., but let's just use these six elements for now.)

So, these IMC elements are all designed to have an effect on consumer behaviour. I think that one way to look at the intended behaviour is to look at the continuum of engagement between the marketer and the customer. I call it Aw-At-T-P-RP.

The first stage is Awareness. Until the customer has an awareness of your product or service they are not in a position to act.

The second stage is Attitude. Once the customer has developed an awareness, they will form an attitude. If this attitude is positive then may move on to the next stage, if not, then either the product/service is not right for the customer, or the IMC has failed in some way.

The third stage is Trial. The customer is aware, they have formed a positive attitude about the marketer's offering, and now they are ready to try it.

The obvious fourth stage is Purchase. If the trial went well and the product/service performed according to the customer's expectations then they may be ready to buy.

And if the customer was happy with their purchase, then stage five is Repeat Purchase.

However, even though different types of IMC have different audiences, every time a marketer communicates with a customer, or potential customer, they must try to keep pushing that customer along the continuum from Awareness to Repeat Purchase.