Course: SLF 130 Marketing Practices for the Small Business

Unit 3 Reading

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- Unit 3
- Table of Contents (Selected)
- Unit 3 Glossary (Selected)

IMC Page 2

What are the BENEFITS OF IMC?

With so many products and services to choose from, consumers are often overwhelmed by the vast number of advertisements flooding both online and offline communication channels. A coordinated marketing plan clearly sells the product or service; IMC can make a small business stand out among all its competitors. It is comforting and reassuring to customers to receive a consistent message about a product or service.

IMC is stronger in its effect than a simple mass media approach since consumers are likely to interact with brands across various mediums and digital interfaces. As customers spend more time on computers and mobile devices, marketers can weave together multiple exposures to their brands.

Small business owners do NOT have to be technical wizards to incorporate social media into their promotional mix. Small business owners should honestly self-assess their skills set. They need to concentrate on what they do best…for some, that may include setting up a web page or planning a texting plan that announces seasonal specials. For others, a self-assessment will reveal that they should seek out a college student or an affordable media company to set up a fully interactive web or Facebook page.

A business of any size should evaluate the potential of different promotional methods and media channels in terms of how they can BEST CONNECT with the target market.
An amateurish web or Facebook page or the lack of skills to effectively and creatively use email, Facebook, text messages or tweets can “kill” an otherwise sellable value proposition!
ADVICE TO SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS: Look at web pages of small businesses in your community that are attractive and interactive – pages that you, your family, or your friends look at and use. Find out if a local company helped to develop the pages. If so, go to that company for a proposal about what they can do for you. |

Stop and Review:
IMC stands for Integrated Marketing Communications. IMC is an approach to creating a unified and seamless brand experience for consumers across media channels.

Social media is a part of successful IMC. A small business owner must self-assess his or her skills. Hiring someone else to set up a social media plan might be the best route if the owner does not possess the necessary technical skills.