MARKETING

IMPACT OF DIGITAL MARKETING ON INTEGRATED MARKETING

COMMUNICATION

Research Paper

Made By: Aman Nahar (1623006)Arko Ghosh (1623009)

Contents

Abstract......................................................................................................................1

Introduction...............................................................................................................2

Literature Review......................................................................................................6

Methodology..............................................................................................................9

Results.....................................................................................................................12

Discussion................................................................................................................18

Conclusion...............................................................................................................19

Bibliography............................................................................................................20

Abstract

“Impact of Digital Marketing in Integrated Marketing Communication”

This research paper gives a detailed view on the interconnection of digital marketing with the

integrated marketing communication. Nowadays the digital marketing trend is on the peak and

its usage is increasing day by day. Thus, it has been related to the process of integrated

marketing communication in one way or the other. Through this analysis we can conclude how

both the terms are interlinked.

Digital marketing can be referred as the marketing of products or services using digital channels

to reach consumers

“Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is the application of consistent brand messaging

across both traditional and non-traditional marketing channels and using different promotional

[disambiguation needed] methods to reinforce each other.”

Through various research methodologies and analysis the following data has been collected. The

analysis of the data is done properly. It is limited to the real and solid facts and research is done

in an ethical way. The data is collected from various sources like the internet, marketing books,

etc.

The final conclusion of the research shows that digital marketing has a great impact on the

integrated marketing communication. People are attracted more towards digital marketing due to

the ease of access, faster and smarter way of approach, easy transactions, and trustworthy and

reliable services. Hence, for a more effective and efficient way of marketing digital marketing

can be an impressive example.

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Introduction

Integrated marketing communication is a marketing concept that confirms all forms of marketing

communications are properly linked and are consistent with each other.

Promotion is one of the Ps in the marketing mix and it has its own mix of communication tools

that work together. When all these communication tools work in harmony focusing on a

particular brand or a product, it is called integrative marketing communication.

IPC, from the time it had evolved has been proven a success in the field of marketing that fuses

the traditional as well as modern communication tools becoming the most reliable mode of

communication. IPC guarantees that the brand message is clearly received by customers without

any disruption.

The main purpose of integrative marketing communication is to build long-lasting relationship

with customers. On the company’s front, the sole purpose of IMC is to earn higher profits and

gain customer loyalty.

It integrates various promotional tools and advertising methods to maximize the profit. IMC is

therefore, achieved through clear and consistent messaging that fosters rapport and affinity

between company and its potential customers.

Research Objectives:

To understand the importance of Integrated Marketing Communication.

To understand the importance of Digital Marketing in changing market scenario.

To understand the reasons for growing popularity of digital marketing.

To analyze the impact of digital marketing on integrated marketing communications.

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To identify the limitations of digital marketing as IMC tool.

Tools of IMC

Advertising- Kotler and Armstrong (2003), provide a definition: "Advertising is any paid

form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services through

mass media such as newspapers, magazines, television or radio by an identified sponsor"

Public Relations – these are the programs that are planned communication effort by a

company to contribute to spreading good views and opinions about the company and seek

to build good relationships with consumers, stakeholders, employees, investors, partners

and legislators.

Personal Selling- According to American Marketing Association – “ Personal selling is

the personal or impersonal process of assisting or persuading a prospective customer to

buy a product or service and to act favorable upon an idea that has commercial

significance to the seller.”

Sales Promotion- It is the process of persuading a potential customer to buy the product.

It is a communication tool designed to be used as a short-term tactic to increase sale by

offering free gifts, attractive discounts, putting up demonstrations or exhibitions, setting

up competitions with attractive prizes, temporary price reductions, door-to-door calling,

distributing gift vouchers and telemarketing.

Digital Marketing – It is a new tool emerged in the modern market scenario those

markets through digital channels such as social media, websites and email and mobile

applications.

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Digital Marketing:

Digital marketing which is also known as data-driven

“Marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the

Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium.”

Digital marketing or promotion of brands via one or more electronic medium differs from

traditional marketing that the marketers analyze what is working and what isn’t in current

scenario.

Importance

Digital media has become so extensive that consumers can access information anytime and

anywhere. Market is no more about when customers knew only what companies tell them and

get only what they offered. Digital media is an ever-growing source of entertainment, shopping,

news and social interaction, and consumers are now exposed to larger medium other than the

company such as the media, friends, relatives, peers, etc. And they are more likely to believe

them than the company itself. People look for brands they can trust, companies that understand

them, communications that are customized and personalized and most importantly relevant and

offers tailored to their needs and preferences.

Three Keys to Digital Marketing Success

Manage complex customer relationships across a variety of channels – both digital and

traditional.

Respond to and initiate dynamic customer interactions.

Extract value from big data to make better decisions faster.

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Challenges

• Proliferation of digital channels. Consumers use multiple digital channels and a variety of

devices that use different protocols, specifications and interfaces – and they interact with those

devices in different ways and for different purposes.

• Intensifying competition. Digital channels are relatively cheap, compared to traditional

media, making them within the capacity of every business of every size. As a result of this it is

becoming a lot harder to capture consumers’ attention.

• Exploding data volumes.

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Literature Review

1. A STUDY ON DIGITAL MARKETING ON ITS IMPACT

Digital marketing is an avenue of electrical communication where marketers advertise the goods

so that potential customers can check the website at their ease and purchase them without going

out in the market. Digital Marketing is a new way of advertising the product which is mainly

targeted for the Millennial and Generation X. Digital Marketing has evolved during the years

since 1990s and 2000s and has changed the way brands and business is utilizing technology and

digital marketing for their products. They have become popular and efficient and have

successfully added value to the brand and the company. Technological Advancement is on the

increase which is helping people in a great way.

2. IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL MARKETING. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY TO FIND

THE PERCEPTION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF DIGITAL MARKETING AMONGST

THE MARKETING PROFFESIONALS IN PAKISTAN

Business leaders are feeling the need to spread a word about their product and services through

newspaper and word of mouth. Digital Marketing on the other hand has helped business

individuals to promote their good on social media sites. Social media sites can be accessed at any

point of time keeping in mind the ease of the consumers. Perceptions towards digital marketing

platforms like online videos, website content YouTube and Face book have increasingly gained

recognition among people and are being highly used to promote their products and services.

3. Travel from Traditional Marketing to Digital Marketing

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Internet has provided a wide platform for advertisement in TV. The uses of communication and

information technology have increased day by day to promote products and attract customers.

Through digital marketing customers can quickly grab the attention of customers and sell the

product development pricing promotion and distribution of goods are done online email

marketing social networking marketing and viral marketing are a few methods of digital

marketing. The researches show that companies using online marketing care about customers

needs and demands. Now a day’s customers have all the information they need about the product

just on the click of the mouse. Online shopping sites have increased in number.

4. The Role of Digital and Social Media Marketing in Consumer Behaviour.

This article talks about how target consumers rely on digital marketing which is a technology

based marketing and in the near future all marketing activities will be digital in nature.

Companies plan their digital advertising strategies so as to gain a competitive advantage in the

market. They use latest technological advancements to improve the quality of their marketing

activities.

This article points out to 5 themes:

1. The consumer’s digital culture which means how often and how impacting digital

marketing is to the target market. For this purpose a proper research has to be conducted

is order to avoid confusion is the Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning.

2. Digital advertising which means advertising products and services through social media

and technological advancements. For this purpose the firm has to keep in mind it’s target

market and its product line

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3. Impacts of digital environments which refer to the ever changing technological

advancements and the nature and technological environment in which firms function

adapting themselves to the latest trends of marketing management.

4. Mobile marketing which means marketing through apps, SMS, etc which has been the

most effective form of digital marketing.

5. Online word of mouth which refers to the goodwill of the firm which spreads information

about the product or service from person to person about their experiences. Any firm

should aim at creating the best first image in the minds of its customers.

To conclude, digital marketing is boosting and taking over all other forms of advertisements.

Hence all firms have consider spending economically on digital marketing on the basis of

their scale of operation.

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Methodology

A research can be conducted by various methods using different data collection methods. Data

collected can be of two forms -

Primary Data - Primary data is data originated for the first time by the researcher through

direct efforts and experience, specifically for the purpose of addressing his research problem.

Also known as the first hand or raw data. Primary data collection is quite expensive, as the

research is conducted by the organization or agency itself, which requires resources like

investment and manpower. The data collection is under direct control and supervision of the

investigator.

Secondary Data - Secondary data implies second-hand information which is already collected

and recorded by any person other than the user for a purpose, not relating to the current

research problem. It is the readily available form of data collected from various sources like

censuses, government publications, and internal records of the organization, reports, books,

journal articles, and websites and so on.

For this research, secondary data has been used which is collect by various sources –

Public information via Annual Reports to Shareholders as well as others.

Government Reports which are available for public review

Company marketing information, advertising, company press releases, and state and local

news sources.

Subscription based information

On-Line research including third party references

Online Journals, articles and press releases published by companies.

Various private industry sources

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Descriptive Analysis

We have used descriptive analysis in this research.

Descriptive statistics is the term given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show or

summarize data in a meaningful way such that, for example, patterns might emerge from the

data. Descriptive statistics are simply a way to describe the research data.

Descriptive analysis is more specific in that they direct attention to particular aspects or

dimensions of research target. Such studies reveal potential relationship between variables,

thus setting the stage for more elaborate investigation later. It is a search for broader meaning

and research findings. It is the device through which the factors that seem to explain what has

been observed by researcher in the course can be better understood and provides theoretical

conception which serve as a guide for further researches. It is essential because it will lead

towards findings of the study and proper effective conclusions of the study.

Topics needs to be analyzed are-

Number of organizations using traditional mediums vs digital mediums

Do consumers rely on just one medium to get knowledge about any brand?

Sources of awareness for various brands

Details for information and time spend to take purchase decision of any commodity online

Knowledge about the use of internet

Frequency of being online

Purpose for using internet

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Channel of digital marketing most encountered with

Most used IMC tool by companies

Use of digital activities by companies in their marketing strategy

Importance of factors motivating respondents to like the brand on internet

Preference of audience for digital marketing over other integrated marketing communication

tools

Benefits of online marketing over traditional marketing

Loopholes in online marketing over traditional marketing tools

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Results

Number of organizations using traditional mediums vs digital mediums

82%

18%

Organizations Digital Marketing Tradational Marketing

Sources of awareness for various brands

Print A

ds

Televi

sion Commerc

ials

In-store

promotion

Sales

Promotion

Online M

edia

05

10152025303540

Sources (percentage)

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Details for information and time spend to take purchase decision of any commodity

online

Do not require much

information to take

purchase decision

Do not prefer to spend

much of my time in

purchase of any commodity

percent percent

Disagree 56.5 33.5

No Opinion 18 17

Agree 25.5 49.5

Frequency of being online:

Very Low8%

Low13%

Moderate22%

High30%

Very high28%

Frequency (percentage)

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Purpose for using internet (Maximum time)

Purpose Percentage

Social Networking Sites 30.5

Media Sharing Sites 19

Blogs 8

Online Shopping Sites 16

Other content sharing websites 14

Educational Purposes 12.5

Channel of digital marketing most encountered with

Display marketing Social Media Marketing

Mobile Marketing Email Marketing Other Channels0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Channels(percentage)

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Most used IMC tool by companies:

Sales Promotion

Advertising

Personal selling

Public relations

Digital Marketing

22

20.5

6

10

42

IMC TOOLSIMC TOOLS

Importance of factors motivating respondents to like the brand on internet

Factors Percentage

Discounts/offers 20.5

Stay informed about the activities of

company

12

Get updates on brands and its future

extensions

18

For fun, entertainment 11.5

Customized products and services 24

Interaction 14

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Preference of audience for digital marketing over other integrated marketing

communication tools

14%10%

22%10%

45%

PreferenceSales Promotion Personal Selling AdvertisingPublic Relations Digital Marketing

Benefits of online marketing over traditional marketing

Wide range of information

Ease of shopping

Time saving Low cost Interactive medium

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Benefits (percentage)

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Limitations of Digital Marketing as IMC tool

Limitations Percentage

High Cost 9.5

No Live Interaction 25

Scams/Cyber Crime 38

Outdated Information 12.5

Not- Customer Friendly sites 15

Loopholes in online marketing over traditional marketing tools

Loopholes Percentage

More Susceptible 16.5

Fraudulent activities 26

Lack demonstration 20

Privacy Issue 21

Often Interrupting 16.5

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Discussion

The analysis concludes that consumers rely upon more than one medium in order to enhance

their brand related knowledge. It means that they use the combination of various sources for

making final purchase decision. Along with the traditional sources, they heavily rely on modern

marketing tool i.e. digital marketing. Consumers do require detailed information about the brand

so as to evaluate its strengths & weaknesses and this ample amount of information then saves

their time by allowing them to make the purchase decision quickly. The study also reveals that

main reason for growing importance of digital marketing is the increasing literacy about internet

among people. They have identified that internet is truly advantageous through which they can

serve their various purposes mainly social networking, online shopping & media sharing (photo,

music, video). This efficacy of internet has intensified their tendency of being online. Today’s

consumers strongly feel that every company must use this efficacy to strengthen its marketing

efforts. So that they will get motivated to use digital marketing with the intent of getting access

to exclusive content about the brand and getting discount and sharing their feedback about brand

with the advertiser . With the advent of internet technology, consumers’ preference towards

traditional marketing tools has decreased. Most popular traditional marketing tools are television

& print media. The major benefits of digital marketing are its capability of interaction between

consumers and advertisers followed by availability of wide range of information & ease of

shopping. These benefits make online marketing superior than traditional marketing. But at the

same time consumers are susceptible about the user-safety side of internet. They feel that online

marketing is unsafe as it may lead to increase in frauds & privacy issue.

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Conclusion

This analysis concludes that the impact of digital marketing is very strong on integrative

marketing communications and people are inclining more towards online marketing because of

ease of access, availability of varied options, better interaction and less delivery and distribution

time.

It is recommended that companies should mix & match various mediums to reach their desired

target audience. This will help to spread awareness among them and to influence buyers behavior

thus companies must formulate an effective Integrated Marketing Communication plan where

they can combine various tools to grasp maximum prospects. Also, every company big or small

should include digital marketing in their marketing efforts. Digital marketing forms can be

mainly web marketing, E-commerce, social media marketing. At the same time, companies

should spend more on online media rather than the traditional tools. Finally, companies should

not rely entirely on digital marketing and they must make it a part of Integrated Marketing

Communication strategy. As a result of which limitations of digital marketing will be covered as

the other mediums will build the required credibility and positive image about the brand. This

credibility will generate trust among consumers towards the brand.

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Bibliography

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behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology .

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of Management & Business Research,16(2), 1.0st ser.

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2006

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Communications Perspective. 6th Ed. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill

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Strategy, Implementation and Practice. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Pearson Education.

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Marketing research, First Indian adaptation By A. Parasuraman ,DhruGrewal, R. Krishan.

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