Context: Understanding Communication in IMC
Integrated Marketing Communication is one of the most significant promotional tools for the business organisations. Organisations strive to meet the expectation level of the customers in this competitive scenario (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo, 2015). Establishing the proper communication plan is necessary to understand the basic demands of the customers. Promoting brand accordingly is beneficial in drawing their attention towards the products or the services. It is one of the most helpful technological tools that integrate the marketing components to communicate with the end users. The study is thus focus on the theoretical analysis of the IMC implementation in Ricoh Australia, which provides the significant engineering service provider in the Australian market (Ricoh.com.au, 2017). The company is specifically concentrating on developing the IMC tool for managing the communication process. Therefore, the report would discuss the significance of implementing IMC tool for enhancing the communication process. On the other hand, the study would also provide the preferable recommendation for the company in order to derive the best solution from implementing the IMC tool.
Ricoh Australia is the technology company that provides the IT solutions to the end users. The company is largely focusing on the improving the IT services and strengthening the competitive position in the market. Over the past years, the company was completely involved into the acquisition process (Ricoh.com.au, 2017). The development of some of the necessary technologies was much helpful for the company to ensure growth in the future. However, currently, the company is much focused on developing the IT solutions with an improved version of technological assessment. In order to achieve this goal, the company requires developing the strong communication channel with the business stakeholders. The main aim of developing such IT solutions is to simplify the technologies and provide the best experiences to the business partners. Ricoh needs to share the information about the IT technology development with the business partners (Ricoh.com.au, 2017). Hence, in this case, Ricoh is the source or the sender of the information associated with the IMC development process. The operational team of the company has examined that the development of the integrated marketing communication is quite fruitful for the business in order to accomplish this pre-determined goal.
In today’s competitive world, the business companies have become more customer-oriented. The communication with the customer has become more essential prior to develop any product or service. According to Blakeman (2014), integrated marketing communication plays the most significant role in creating the bran communication message to a larger amount of audience. It is one of the most helpful technological tools that integrate the marketing components to communicate with the end users (Belch & Belch, 2016).). Integrated marketing communication tool helps in fulfilling the following aspects:
- IMC tool takes the most advanced ways of creating the effective brand awareness among the customers at a very minimal cost. It establishes the direct communication with the target customers. Madhavaram, Badrinarayanan & Bicen (2016) implied that the organisations do not only focus on creating brand awareness through the IMC implementation, it also helps in retaining the long trust for a sustainable development.
- Integrated marketing communication develops the insights beyond the traditional way of marketing and establishing a long term relationships with the customers (Patti et al., 2017). This technological tool helps in gathering the feedback from the customers that provide the adequate knowledge to recognize the area of improvements. The business marketers often pay attention towards these limitations in the business functionalities as per the feedback provided by the end users (Belch & Belch, 2014). Accordingly, the internal functions are restructured by developing more strategic way.
- The integrated marketing communication is driving the organisations towards participating in a competitive business scenario. As per the traditional marketing process, the business marketers previously used the single method of promotions through TV, radio, hoardings, and banners. However, currently, the integrated marketing communication has enabled the two way of communication where the customers have the opportunity to convey their messages as well (Belch et al., 2014). The transparency maintained in this business promotion process through integrated marketing communication is much fruitful in securing the competitive edge of the company.
- Another most significant use of integrated market communication is the consumptions of lesser amount of time. As per the traditional way of marketing, it was observed that the business marketers often used to take longer time to select the most appropriate communication tool. However, the development of the integrated marketing communication is taking much lesser time and providing the best solutions for the business promotions.
Theoretical Communication Model by Belch et al.
This particular marketing tool maintains the efficiency of deriving the better responses from the end users. Moreover, the wide range of options available in this marketing process helps in connecting the target customers more easily. It is important to keep the focus on the right message from the right person while managing any corporate functionality. The IMC tool development is the most significant strategic move that can ensure profitability to the company.
According to Belch et al., (2014), communication is widely defined as the process of information flow, exchanging ideas, and establishment of the commonness between the sender and a receiver. The IMC model developed by Belch is associated with two major elements that represent the major participants involving in a communication process. These two elements are sender and receiver. It is notable that Ricoh Australia is developing the communication tool for communicating with the business partners during the implementation of advanced IT technologies (Vernuccio & Ceccotti, 2015). It is thus important for the company to focus on these elements and the major communication functions. The four functions of the IMC model are:
- Source Encoding
- Decoding
- Response
- Feedback
Apart from these elements and functions, there is an extra element called noise, which is the extraneous factor associated in the system. The functions are explained further:
Graph 1: Integrated Marketing Communication Model
(Source: Belch et al., 2014)
The source or sender of a communication is the person or the particular organisation that has relevant information to share with another partner or group of people. The source can sometimes be the individual person or entity. In this case scenario, it has been observed that the company, Ricoh needs to share the information about the IT technology development with the business partners. Hence, in this case, Ricoh is the source or the sender of the information associated with the IMC development process. This process is suggestively known as the source encoding since it include the sharing of the ideas, information, and thoughts.
The encoding process eventually leads to the message development that often includes the meanings and information of the source to convey (Barger & Labrecque, 2013). In some of the cases, these messages can be verbal, non-verbal, symbolic, or written. It is important to present the messages into a transmittable form that is suitable to the utilized communication tool. In order to develop the IT solutions, Ricoh Australia needs to pass the information to the receiver by suggesting it in a symbolic way or in a written form. The IT technologies are often involved with the symbolic form that signifies the message in a technical way.
Critical Evaluation of Ricoh Australia’s Approach to IMC
Channel
Channel is the process or method by which the communication transmitted from the encoder to the receiver. Craig (2015) implied that channels can be categorized into two different types if it is visualized at the broader level. These two types include personal and non-personal channels. The personal channel of communication suggests the direct interpersonal contacts with the target group or individuals. On the other hand, non-personal channel of communication involves the transmission of the information without ensuring the interpersonal connection between the sender and the receiver. It is essential for Ricoh to judge the channel of conveying messages to the partners. If the non-personal channels, such as mass communication or mass media options are available, it will be helpful for the company to reach many individuals at one time.
The receiver is the person or the end-user that receive information from the sources. In general term, the receiver is considered as the target consumer or the target market. This receiver identifies the opportunities included in the information, receives the messages from the marketers and decodes it. Zahay et al., (2014) defined that decoding is the sequential process of transforming the message received from the sender and back into thought. The receiver’s reference frame or the area of interests influences this decoding process much significantly. It is important for Ricoh Australia to influence the attitude, believes, and faith of the receiver to send the actual message regarding IT technologies. It is necessary to provide the insightful knowledge about the significance of the IT technologies. If the technology is influencing the purchase decision of the business partners, it would be helpful in conveying the message through a proper medium.
Noise
The message in the IMC model is subject to extraneous throughout the communication process. This extraneous factor can interfere or distort with the reception. This uncertain interference or distortion is known as Noise (Kitchen & Burgmann, 2015). In some of the cases, it has been observed that the experience field of sender and receiver face difficulties to overlap. Lack of the common ground may lead to improper encoding process. For example, using any symbol, sign, or words can be unfamiliar to the receiver. Hence, it may create noise during the communication development.
The responses of the receiver prior to receive, hear, and read the messages from the sender are supposedly known as the feedback. The responses from receiver often depend on the observable actions (Barger & Labrecque, 2013). Especially, in case of Ricoh Australia, it is essential to derive feedback from the business partner regarding encodes of the IT technologies. The necessary feedback would help the company to improve the receiver’s area of the interests that would lead towards profitability and high productivity.
Recommendations for an Appropriate Communication Strategy
The above analysis provides the insightful ideas about developing the IMC model for the business. Following these aspects, it can be recommended that Ricoh Australia needs to develop the proper feedback session with the business partners. Once the feedbacks will be received from the customers’ end, it would be beneficial for the company to identify the areas of improvements. Moreover, it is also noted that the development of the IT technologies has the symbolic programming. It is thus essential for the company to involve experts on programming. The training and development session would be beneficial for the employees to enhance knowledge in information technologies. On the other hand, it is also necessary to keep the focus on the transmission medium of the information. If the transparency is maintained while conveying the messages, it would be beneficial in understanding the basic demands and requirements of the clients.
Conclusion
The study recognizes the significance of the Integrated Marketing Communication tool for increasing the business efficiency. It is one of the most helpful technological tools that integrate the marketing components to communicate with the end users. The study discloses the initiatives undertaken by Ricoh Australia for developing the special IT solutions for the target clients. Focusing on such needs, the study is developing the IMC model that provides the insightful knowledge about the elements and functionalities associated with the integrated marketing communication process. As per the traditional marketing process, the business marketers previously used the single method of promotions through TV, radio, hoardings, and banners. By observing the process of IMC tool development, it can be recommended that extracting feedback from the message receiver is useful to identify the area of interests. Accordingly, if there would be any flaws in the IT technologies, the company can improve the system as per the requirements and responses. On the other hand, it is to be considered that if the company can involve more experts for developing the IT programming, the result can be expected more appreciable. Hence, the company requires concentrating more on the clients’ demands to ensure profitability.
References
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