IMC Plan For Elko Mobiles: Social Media Relationship Marketing

Discussion

Discuss about the Social Media Relationship Marketing.

Nowadays, each organization is operating in a highly competitive market, and hence it becomes imperative for these organizations to ensure a promotional and marketing strategy that can help it sustain in the concerned industry.  While the consumer market of an industry starts expanding, the needs and the expectations of the consumers also keep on evolving. Hence, an organization must make sure that it is able to exceed the expectations of the consumers, and is able to offer products or service that would help the organization enhance the loyalty and commitment of the consumer towards the organization (Thorson and Moore 2013). However, even if an organization delivers high quality products, and yet its production remains unheard, the long-term sustenance of the organization will become questionable. Herein lays the importance of the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) plan, that helps an organization adopt a highly comprehensive, organized approach towards the marketing issue.

The implementation of the IMC plan helps any organization establish direct interaction as well as intimate bond with the consumers, making them aware of the distinguished benefits of the specific brand, providing them concrete reasons to stick to the particular brand. The regular consumers of Brand A will never switch to the products of Brand B, if the IMC plan of the former wins the loyalty of the consumer in an effective way (Lusch and Vargo 2014). The same, however, is possible only if the brand value of the said product is well-communicated to the end-users, via a strong and effective IMC plan. Hence, in a nutshell an IMC plan refers to all the possible ways in which a business organization can communicate about its products or services to the potential or present consumers, so as to boost its sales target as much as possible. Hence, the implementation of an IMC plan consists of the adoption of the most effective media of communication that can help the company reach out to its most relevant consumers. This assignment seeks to design the IMC plan for Elko mobiles, so that the company can promote its mobile devices in the Australian market, and hence accordingly it relies on the adoption of print media tools (newspaper and placards) and digital media tools (social media channels) for effective promotion of its products.

As already stated above, gone are the days of promoting a product via a single promotional media, and expecting the consumer to be too helpless to switch brands. In the present world of cut-throat competition, a consumer has too many alternatives to switch between, and hence a more systematically organized approach is required while marketing the product. The modern as well as the traditional media of promotion should be fully exploited by an organization, and each of these promotional tools must work in unison with each other, for conveying a consistent, if not similar, message about the brand.

Persuasive Theory of Advertising

The Persuasive theory of advertising intends to uphold the importance of the persuasive message that an ad contains, while communicating about a product or a restaurant to its target audience. In case the ad is telling a story that the audience is interested about, chances are indeed high that the specific consumers will tend to buy the product. It is important to help the audience feel or think about the product even after the ad is over, and hence this theory can be best incorporated in the IMC plan focused on social media marketing. Even though a placard or a newspaper may not convince a buyer to buy the products through its boring lines, an interesting story on Facebook or a live video capturing an interest situation revolving around the concerned product may leave a deep impact on the viewer’s mind. Elko Mobiles must spark an emotional reaction of love by advertising the product in a scenario that may involve a situation of a jobless man gifting an affordable and yet valuable handset to his mother. In this way, it will not be forgotten by the viewers among the list of another commercial ad, but will rather help him to associate his feelings of love or nostalgia with the brand itself. Since the social media channels or digital media channels offer an organization a wider scope of telling a story nad expressing creative ideas, the digital media channels should be chosen.

With the advent of new technologies, new digital technologies as well as business models are being introduced that affect the value proposition of the goods and services of an organization. Consequently, the marketing and the promotional strategy of the organization is also required to be changed. It is not sufficient for an organization to leverage its innovative capacity, as it is equally important to understand and analyze the consumer feedback. While some organizations rely on the use of social networking sites for interacting and building rapport with the consumers, the other organizations are incorporating consumer and review sections within the official website of the organization (McQuivey 2013). As and when an organization intends to serve the consumers, it must ensure that the consumer reviews are being taken into consideration as well. Besides, when the consumers feel valued, they become doubly loyal towards the organization. However, despite the digital disruption of the present decade, the traditional media also succeeds in grabbing the attention of the consumers, if it employs creative ideas for promoting its products via traditional media channels.

Digital Disruption and the Dynamic Promotional Strategies from an IMC Perspective

Elko Mobile is an emerging organization, founded in the year of 2015, in Melbourne, Australia. Although the organization has managed to launch the most innovative handsets, the products launched by it encounter stiff competition from the rival giant organizations. Hence, an IMC campaign has been formulated that will focus on promoting the name of the organization, as well as showcasing the special benefits of buying the Elko mobile devices. Since the response of the consumers has been mostly lukewarm, the organization intends to use the IMC campaign for creating value among the consumers, through successful communication channels. While carrying out an IMC plan, there are multiple approaches that can be undertaken by an organization, Elko Mobiles intends to choose the Inside-Out Approach, whereby the organization will communicate a single, uniform and consistent message via different advertisement tools (Percey 2014).

The Elko Mobiles is an organization that offers pocket-friendly mobile devices, that also boast of some unique features, such as high resolution camera and longtime duration battery. Hence, the target market which Elko Mobiles intends to capture mostly consists of the Australian population belonging to the low- middle class, who will not be able to afford pricey handheld devices, and resultantly will compromise with the brand name, while making the purchase decision (Batra and Keller 2016). Besides, since the products offer budget-friendly smart phones, precisely the cheapest phones in the Australian Android market, the organization also intends to capture the attention of the youngsters, the age varying in the range between 15 years to 25 years.

The message that the company intends to effectively communicate by employing different advertising tools, will primarily highlight the affordable price of the product, and its “selfies expertise”. Since the research claims that the young people are mostly attracted to the front camera resolution of a mobile, the Elko Mobiles intends to promote the low price and Selfie optimized camera resolution of the mobile devices.

While selecting the channels of advertising and promoting the products of the Elko Mobiles, it is important to consider two factors:

• Which media tools (both traditional and social tools) is being used by the potential consumers of the Elko Mobiles?
• What are the strengths and the weaknesses of the respective media channels considered by the organization?

Accordingly, first of all, both traditional as well as social media tools are being chosen. The traditional media channels refer to the offline marketing strategy of the organization, that includes the use of radio and print advertisement channels, magazines as well as hoarders and banners. Accordingly, the most effective offline media channels will be chosen, and will be collaborated with the online channels (Shaini and Chalasani 2013). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 78% of the Australian residents have a habit of reading newspapers, while only a mere 58% of the Australian residents have the regular habit of reading newspapers.

IMC Campaign for Elko Mobiles

Since Elko Mobiles has initiated a start-up business with minimum capital, the organization may not be able to invest for advertising its products in both newspapers as well as magazines. Hence, considering the greater popularity of the newspapers among the Australians, the Elko mobile devices will be promoted in the newspapers. Besides, placards, hoardings and banners will also be used for the purpose. Since the target market mostly consists of the youngsters, studying in schools and colleges, most of the banners will be placed near the educational institutions of Australia.

As far as the online media channels are being concerned, the media channels will be chosen solely on the basis of what the target market constitutes, and what kinds of online activities, the consumers engage in. First of all, since the target market primarily consists of the selfie-obsessed consumers, it is expected that the consumers have a habit of editing and uploading their pictures on Facebook and Instagram. Besides, according to the research reports submitted by the Social Media Statistics 2016 (Australia), a total number of 15,000,000 users are being found to have been actively engaged in Facebook, while a total number of 5,000,000 Australian Users employ the use of Instagram (Kotler et al. 2016). The traditional as well as the online media channels as employed by Elko Mobiles is being illustrated in the table below:

Traditional Media Tools	Appeal	Execution	Advertisement Implementation
·         Newspapers ·         Placards ·         Hoardings	Emotional Appeal Rational Appeal Informational Appeal	The factual message regarding the price and the basic features of the mobile phones will be conveyed.	The offline media tools will be highlighting the key attractive features of the Elko brand, such as low price point or user-friendly simple features.
Online Media Tools	Appeal	Execution	Advertisement Implementation
·         Facebook ·         Instagram	Emotional Appeal	In case of online media, the style of execution will be comparison and dramatization. The affordable mobile sets of Elko will be compared with the expensive mobile devices available in the market.	The social media tools will be used for narrating sensible stories, explaining how small things can give too much happiness in life.

Although the traditional and online media both are the important media channels that are being extensively used in any IMC campaign, each of the media channels are quite different from the other. In case the IMC employs and primarily relies on the use of traditional media tools, it will turn out to be an expensive plan. Besides, the traditional channels of advertisement take a long time in the process of building consumer loyalty towards a specific brand. On the other hand, if an organization intends to reach out to a wider mass by advertising itself in the newspapers, the consumers may overlook it as irrelevant. On the other hand, in case of online media channels, a more creative and innovative approach can be undertaken for promoting a product, whereby an interesting story can easily attract the consumer attention, and the entire advertisement can go viral. Similarly, the expense involved for advertising products on social media sites is incredibly cheap, as the organization will not require to pay any fixed amount of money to an external authority for daily publishing its content. It can update its consumers about the products, simply by creating social networking profiles, and maintaining the official website of the organization. Besides, unlike the traditional media channels, the offline media channels help an organization gain wider mass exposure. However, on the other hand, the method of promoting a product via traditional media channels is much simpler, while the process of launching a product via the online media channels may involve the recruitment of a social media marketing manager.

Comprehensive Knowledge of the Target Market and the Message to be communicated

A creative strategy plays an important role, while formulating the advertisement strategy of the IMC plan. The creative strategy of a product determines what message will be communicated to the target audience, and in what tone will it be communicated. For the purpose of translating the business message objectives into concrete strategies, the soft sell approach will be chosen (Cornelissan 2014). Since Elko Mobiles is a new organization, that has launched a new product in the market the organization must ensure that the advertisement strategy involves a creative approach that can help in building a rapport with the consumers, by connecting with the respective consumers.

First of all, the advertisements used for promoting the mobile devices on the social networking sites, will involve different interesting stories that will help in attracting the attention of the potential consumers. Hence, the stories may involve the scenario of a young boy of 18 years, who works hard for helping his mother purchase a mobile, and ultimately is able to afford the Elko mobile at cheaper price. Since the Elko Mobiles launches products, that are highly affordable, it should not try to make its consumers feel low about their incapacity of affording pricey items (Parente et al. 2014). Hence, the brand will advertise its products via stories that intend to promote the values of happiness and joys of living a simple life. Accordingly, the stories aired via the social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram, will necessarily uphold the values of unalloyed joy and the importance of simplicity in a brand conscious world.

Similarly, the creative strategy to be involved in case of traditional marketing tools will also include innovative strategy. Since the organization intends to communicate a consistent message with the help of a unified approach, the semiotic advertisement strategy will be chosen, whereby the central idea of the brand will be communicated via metaphorical symbols and images. Since the product focuses on how a mobile phone can bring joy in lieu of a small amount of money, the qualities of simplicity of life, can be promoted through images that depict a soul cherishing the beauty of nature. The placards to be used or the newspaper ads can include images, as shown below:

As it is evident from the above images, the idea of a simple life, promoted by the little, affordable joys of life have been vividly depicted through the image of a “close to nature” life. Accordingly, the tagline to be chosen for the product will be “The simple joys are never hard to get”. The taglines will be used both for the traditional media channels as well as the online media channels. Besides, the color to be used for creating the logo, or for advertising the product on newspapers or placards, will be preferably green, as it helps in signifying an idea of natural and youthful joys of life. 

Selection of the Media Channels and the Justification of the Same

Conclusion:

To conclude, it must be remembered that each organization is conducting its business amidst a throat-cut competition, and hence it has become imperative for organizations to adopt a creative and strategic approach for using multiple media channels. However, one very important aspect of any kind of IMC plan is to ensure that the message communicated via the different advertising tools is the most effective one, and is relevant for the intended consumers. Besides, the expense involved in the chosen advertising tool as well as the effectiveness of the same in capturing the attention of the targeted group of consumers should be examined and evaluated properly, before investing in the IMC plan. An organization should try to achieve a cohesive way of connecting with the audiences, whereby the verbal and the visual images incorporated in the advertisement strategy of the organization, should appeal to the consumers. There is no point in investing in the advertisement strategies, if the advertisement of the product fails to reach the target audience with a relatable message. Hence, creativity, innovation and the validity of the message to be communicated should necessarily go hand in hand. The idea of a simple life, promoted by the little, affordable joys vividly depicted through the image of a “close to nature” life is expected to draw the attention of a large consumer base.

Although the implementation of an IMC may apparently seem to be a simple task, it is not as easy as it sounds to be. Hence, the execution of a comprehensive integrated strategy largely depends on the understanding of the target audience, and the expectations of the consumer market. First of all, although Facebook is an effective online marketing tool, while launching the IMC plan on the site, the recruitment of a social media marketing team is a mandate. The consumers may leave offensive remarks on the sites, that ultimately can tarnish the reputation of the organization, and hence an effective method of supervision of the consumer interaction on the sites is highly important (Hollensen and Raman 2014). Besides, the ulterior objective of any IMC plan is to communicate a highly informative message to the consumers in an entertaining way. For organizations such as Elko Mobiles, it is highly recommended that the advertisement strategies chosen, not only inform the audience about the distinguishable features of the product, but also essentially entertain them. Hence, the advertisements must narrate a story that is interesting and relevant for the members of the target group. With so many products competing in the highly competitive industry, it has become imperative that an organization does not create brand awareness by dictating the audience to buy a product. It is created by creating a loved relation with the potential consumers, making them value the brand (Stelzner 2014). Besides, the consumers will feel valued if the organization regularly responds to their feedbacks and complaints. This is here, that the online media tools can be exploited to the fullest, whereby the marketing managers can regularly engage with the potential clients, and respond to their queries. Further, it is also recommended that the Elko Mobiles does not depend overmuch on the use of traditional media tools during the early stage, as the financial capacity of the organization is limited. Hence, the exploitation of the social media tools will be a far better idea, though the organization has o ensure that it hires at least two social media marketing managers.

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