Integrated Marketing Communications Strategies For Wesfarmers

Marketing Communications Process in Business Organizations

Discuss about the Communication in Business for Advertising and Branding.

The process of marketing communications involves both online and offline promotions, advertising, branding and sales. The mechanism considers potential customers of the various business organisations to understand and identify a brand. The process of branding that is successful includes the process of targeting audiences who would appreciate the entities program of marketing.

The primary methodology of the business marketing communication is advertising that includes letting the customers identify the product, it is a small but crucial marketing communication part. As Key and Czaplewski (2017) has said that the mix of marketing communications deals with a set of tools that is utilised to deliver consistent and clear information to the audiences who are target. Therefore it is commonly known as the promotional mix. (Fill and Turnbull 2016) states that initial stage is the marketing plan  that enables in the identification of the key threat and opportunities along with the  setting of the objectives and developing the plan of action for the  achievement of the goals of marketing.. Since marketing is an essential proves of management as it creates a significant impact in market as in the market more people of the target market would object to do business operations with the organizations than its competitors. It can be said one of essential element of marketing pricing as it can change the whole market both negatively or positively(Ots and Nyilasy 2015).

 The chosen organisation which have been taken for the analysis is Wes farmers. The company of Wesfarmers is listed in the Australian stock exchange with its headquarters in Perth, Australia. The company started their operations of being a co-operative that provides the agricultural products and services to the farmers of western Australian (Šeric, Gil-Saura and Ozreti?-Došen 2015). The company of Wes farmers from being a company dealing with goods related to framing has diversified their operations to hospitality retail and industry sector. The retail segment of wesfarmers includes, home improvement stores, coles a supermarket chain, Bunnings warehouse, office supplies stores Improvements. The industrial segment includes the insurance chemical and resources business (Ang 2014). The main purpose of Wesfarmers provides the maximum return to their stakeholders through integration of the corporate strategies that are sustainable for maintaining a strong financial position in the market. The company is the largest public sector employer in the Australia with around 2, 20,000 individuals working committing to provide quality services and products to the organisation’s business operations as well as their retail customers. The diversified business portfolio ensures customer satisfaction with a sound marketing communication strategies (Hsu, Lin and Tsai 2016).

The Chosen Organization for Analysis, Wesfarmers

The approach of integrated marketing communications (IMC) as utilised by organizations to coordinate and brand the communication efforts. As per the American Association of Advertising Agencies the definition IMC as “a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communication impact.” The main concept of strategy of integrated for marketing communications is to generate a continuous consumers experience across the different marketing mix aspects (Kim, Kim and Marshall 2016). The core image of the brand and messaging are reinforced as each marketing communication channel works together as parts of a unified whole rather than in isolation.

At Present the company of Wesfarmers is trying to meet all the customer segment that begins from the general coal business to retail chains that covers all the marketing aspects. The organisation has realized that the business segment that are most profitable is their retail store operation like the target, Coles and Kmart. As per Csikosova, Antošová and ?ulková, (2014) the primary key for the success of the retail chains is to induce the customers by offering them heavy discounts. In General the buying behaviours of the Australian consumers are they go shopping once in a week and buy all the necessary items in bulk. The Wes farmer introduced their very famous “down discount” campaign which is a strategy to cut down the prices of the various company products that can extent up to 10 percent. This allows the company to make the products irresistible to buy, hence enhancing the marketing process. At their Bunning warehouse stores they provide best of the hardware at very affordable prices.

The major advantage of the  of communications process of integrated marketing is that  the marketer like the Wes farmers can effectively and clearly communicate the  story of their brand and information across  the several communication channels to create awareness of brand (Keller 2016). In Wesfarmers the integrated marketing communication is more cost-effective than the mass media as the customers interacts with the brands across various digital interfaces and forums at present. Since the consumers tend to spend more time on the digital devices, marketers seek to weave together multiple exposures to their brands using different touch points (Porto, de Sa Mendonca and Milan 2016). The entities can then see the performance of their tactics of communication as a whole instead of as fragmented pieces.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and Its Advantages

The other advantages of integrated marketing communications is that it creates a competitive advantage for entities looking to boost their profits and sales. This is especially beneficial for medium and small sized firms with limited staff and marketing budgets.  The integrated marketing communication submerges the clients in the communications and enables to move through the various levels of the process of buying. The Business organisation on a simultaneous basis consolidates the company image and makes development and nurtures the relationship with the clients throughout the exchange (Belch et al. 2014). The integrated marketing is instrumental in for creation of continuous experience of purchasing that spurs the clients to become consumer loyal and continue on a lifelong basis.

The Wes farmers’s marketing communication strategies consist predominantly of the modern social media marketing, marketing of word-of-mouth, the sales and service network of their own, galleries, the various strategy of direct selling and their participation in the shows that are international Wesfarmers (Batra and Keller 2016).

The media coverage of Wes farmers includes the strategy of digital communication by use of the social media marketing. Use of the social media has been a major driver towards the save of the Wes farmer’s costs of marketing and directly being associated with potential clients. The social media marketing enables the company of Wesfarmers to spread the various information rapidly within the network of the potential clients, and increasing the brand recognition and the brand loyalty (Watson 2017). The Social media marketing is vital for Wes farmers as brand and product references in social-media platforms may affect clients and attitudes and feelings. Moreover, the purchasing decisions of the friends within social networks are also impacted.

However, using social media marketing also involves the various risk for the Wes farmers (Key and Czaplewski 2017). The several dad news like the recent incident where a retail store caught fire can also spread rapidly which harmed reputation of the Wes farmer. Moreover, it all together financial losses due to a fall in the share prices and leading to less money for marketing activities.

The social media marketing strategy of Wes famers therefore can be said to as an efficient strategy for marketing communications in at present’s globalised as well as hyper-connected world. This targets and attracts the young potential customers more in the upcoming years.

Marketing  of word-of-mouth is vital for the brand of Wes farmer’s competitiveness and recognition in the market. The marketing strategy is essential as it is a factor  of cost-saving for Wes farmers marketing budget. As the Wes framers does not have such a big marketing budget like major competitors like the wool worth, the Wes farmer has to invent new marketing strategies efficient to save the costs, being essential for the new firms like Wes farmers Word-of-mouth marketing also boosts demand and the sales of Wes farmers. These savings can be invested in other operations and production which are vital for the   competitiveness of wool worths and brand recognition (Bhupathi 2016). It has contributed successfully to a boosting in sales without traditional advertising, hence Wes farmers decided to further employ this marketing strategy. Moreover, it helped in the achievement of sales target without high marketing costs.

Marketing Communication Strategies for Wesfarmers

However, the marketing of word of mouth can also spread bad experiences about The Wes farmers that may discourage potential customers from purchasing the products of Wes farmers or making use of services of the company (Raki? and Raki? 2014). This would impact negatively on the sales of the company and ruin the brand reputation.

The Wes farmer’s self-owned network of service with various other locations for service worldwide makes an extraordinary service for customer, leading to an increase of brand perception which is an important component of Wesfarmers unique reputation of brand (Turner 2017). The own sales network of Wes farmers, galleries and stores are chief contributors to increase brand perception among customers. The Wesfarmers offers special repair services, possibilities of making reservations and orders or even vehicles customisations. The high qualified and trained sales and service staff deals directly with customers through its company-owned stores and galleries globally which enables Wesfarmers to get customer feedback rapidly. This strategy delivers a differentiated buying and unique customer experience which strengthens the consumer relationship. This strategy also enables Wes frame to get operations efficiency which Wes farmers would not achieve when joining a traditional franchised distribution (Andrews and Shimp 2017). Moreover, it enables Wes farmers to have superior control over inventory cost and to manage warranty and pricing  service more efficient. However, direct selling is expensive as costs of training for staff are high which may shrink Wes farmer’s marketing budget for other potential projects of marketing.

Conclusion

The marketing communications strategy of Wes farmers promotes an awareness of the brand within the target market. At the time the audience identifies the products, the process of sales begins. If the company creates a brand experience that is consistent, there can be a foundation for more sales and better relationships. In order to make the strategy of marketing communication  more results-driven and comprehensive,  it continues to supervise the needs for the actual clients,  and focuses on the capabilities of the product that can solve the various communication issues and inspires the company with confidence along with generation of  excitement in the targeted audience group. In order to achieve a better marketing skill, the company of Wes farmers must always keep it self ahead of the curve to find new ways to enhance the marketing communication strategy separate from its competitors, so that the communications effort contributes to the value of the retail brand of Wes famers.

References

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