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Integrated Marketing Communications Campaign

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is an integral part of any marketing campaign for any company that wishes to advertise for their goods and services. Without IMC, companies that advertise cannot make sound judgements on how they are doing as a company, where they need improvements or what their target audience is. Furthermore, another part of IMC is showing the general public what kind of company you really are through social responsibility as well as defining the company core values. However, every IMC campaign beings with an executive summary.

Executive summary

Phoenix Cellular is the fastest growing cellular company in the greater Phoenix area. Currently the company has over one hundred thousand customers enjoying the same great cellular service as the other major carriers at half of the cost. Currently Phoenix cellular’s monthly revenue is $1.6 million dollars.

Overview

Currently at Phoenix cellular we do not have a business class service to offer local businesses. Additionally, our regular customers currently do not have the ability to get data plans through Phoenix cellular. Furthermore, our current customers do not have the ability to upgrade their cellular devices nor have the ability to purchase cellular devices through us. By not offering these services, Phoenix cellular is losing out on substantial revenue as well as not leading the area in excellent cellular service to its current customers. To become a leader in the cellular industry, Phoenix cellular must make some changes within the next year in order to become more profitable.

Resolution

By offering a business class cellular service in the next year, Phoenix cellular’s revenue will increase by twenty percent, this would increase revenue profits an additional $320,000 per month. Furthermore this will give Phoenix cellular the leverage needed to become the premier cellular carrier in the Phoenix area. By offering a business class service to the line of services that Phoenix cellular offers it will allow local business to better service their clients as well as keep the local economy stable.

Phoenix cellular needs to offer data plans that are affordable unlike the major cellular companies. By adding levels of data as well as the ability to offer our customers phone upgrades, will increase the company revenue by thirty percent which is the equivalent of $480,000 per month. This will need to be completed within the next three to six months. We will offer data plans as low as $14.95 per month for one gigabyte (1gb) of data to unlimited data without throttling for $39.95 per month on top of the customers normal monthly rate for service.

Elements

For our regular customers, we will begin the process of offering data plans. These plans will vary depending on the amount of data they are looking for. They will range in options such as: Pay as you go (1GB), 5 GB, 10 GB, 15 GB and unlimited packages. We at Phoenix Cellular would recommend that those who use little to no data at all use the pay as you go or 5GB option. The 10-15 GB plan would work best for couples or smaller families, ideally with one child that recently came of age to own and operate a phone. The unlimited plan is what we will suggest to users that are frequently using data throughout the day, or for the larger families that have more than 2-3 children.

In addition to offering data plans, we have begun the process of offering upgrades. The possible upgrade options include waiting until the customers’ plan has expired and we will offer a promotional price for certain devices, given that they renew their contract with Phoenix Cellular. The longer a customer stays with Phoenix Cellular, the lower the promotional price will be for upgrading to the newest device. If a customer wishes to upgrade their device before the expiration and renewal of their contract, this can be done for a fee. The fee will be dependent upon the price of the device. A rough example would be if a customer is looking to upgrade to a newer IPhone, they could pay $200 for the X or $100 for the 8. To encourage customer loyalty with Phoenix Cellular, this fee will gradually shrink the longer a customer has been with Phoenix Cellular.

To better serve the local businesses, Phoenix Cellular will be unveiling a business class cellular service. This service will be offered in various plans which is dependent upon the number of employees working for the business. These services include but are not limited to; Directory listings, Unlimited Nationwide calling, Low-Cost International calling, Privacy settings, call forwarding, caller ID and music on hold. The business class plans will have certain add-ons for smaller additional fees. These add-ons include but are not limited to; Voicemail features, a Toll-Free number, Directory assistance and additional phone lines.

Marketing Plan

For our regular customers, we will begin the process of offering data plans. These plans will vary depending on the amount of data they will use. They will range in options such as: Pay as you go (1GB), 5 GB, 10 GB, 15 GB and unlimited packages. The 10-15 GB plan would work best for couples or smaller families, ideally with one child that recently came of age to own and operate a phone. The unlimited plan is what we will suggest to users that are frequently using data throughout the day, or for the larger families that have more than 2-3 children.

In addition to offering data plans, we have begun the process of providing upgrades. The longer a customer stays with Phoenix Cellular, the lower the promotional price will be for upgrading to the newest device. If a customer wishes to upgrade their device before the expiration and renewal of their contract, this can be done for a fee. To encourage customer loyalty with Phoenix Cellular, this fee will gradually shrink the longer a customer has been with Phoenix Cellular.

To better serve the local businesses, Phoenix Cellular will be unveiling a business class cellular service. This service will be offered in various plans which is dependent upon the number of employees working for the business. These services include but are not limited to; Directory listings, Unlimited Nationwide calling, Low-Cost International calling, Privacy settings, call forwarding, caller ID and music on hold. The business class plans will have specific add-ons for smaller additional fees. These add-ons include but are not limited to; Voicemail features, a Toll-Free number, Directory assistance and additional phone lines.

Background information about the product, service, or brand

Phoenix Cellular has been around for a short period of time. Phoenix Cellular is the fastest growing cellular company in the greater Phoenix area. Currently, we do not offer cellular phones or data plans. Phoenix Cellular has a well-established reputation for becoming the best once we market and provide major brands. We look to provide our customers a vast range of thoroughly tested devices available across multiple models and data plans as well. While there are a lot of other competitors out there, we try to offer our customers great cost-efficient products suitable to their needs. Our vision is to serve the public more efficiently with our expertise. We will provide high-volume and good quality. We have technicians carry out tests/assessments on each device. We don’t currently offer many plans at this moment but are researching and analyzing our competitors to provide A+ standards. We have a plan in place to provide data plans/upgrades at half the cost of our competitors but with more coverage and a bigger bang for their buck.

SWOTT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends)

Having a competitive analysis helps companies decide as to where they stand against their competition both locally as well as nationally. Additionally, a competitive analysis helps companies decipher their customer base in relation to the local economy as well as their customer’s potential needs and wants according to features and options available on the market.

Competitive analysis

Market segmentation and target audience

The market segment will be for businesses and mobile phone users and the target audiences will include both businesses and middle-class individuals. This target audience it important to work with. The business target audience is one that the company does not have a market in. It can be important to work with this group to expand the company brand through out the community. The middle-class individuals tend to not be able to afford those higher priced cellular phones and cannot afford an expensive plan as well. For the company to keep it more affordable would help those middle-class individuals. Individuals age 18-24 have grown up in the cellular generation, that is all that they have seen. When it comes to the individuals age 24-35 they have not always had cellular devices but have seen it change through out the years.

Anything else that provides insight into the current status of the product, service, or brand

Phoenix Cellular is unique in that it offers local businesses data plans that many of our competitors do not offer. Phoenix Cellular’s brand is partially being established as being both affordable and of good quality, especially for local businesses. Phoenix Cellular is quickly gaining the reputation in Arizona for being the go-to company for such plans. Other companies offer a similar plan, but the quality is not there. The brand is established through both affordability and quality.

The actual steps or tasks needed to achieve the objective

Phoenix cellular has a plan to get our business out there. We will showcase our brand by advertising via internet ads, mobile ads, and billboards. To advertise via internet ads we will have a partnership of some sort to advertise in empty slots showcased on the side of webpages.

That way when people go to research and look on the web they will see of our deals and the products we offer and can be directed to our webpage with one click. We can advertise via mobile ads, this may be the way to get the brand out since word of mouth and technology play a big role. Traveling on the road there are so many billboards on the interstate and even in the city. We will advertise data plans and upgrades on new phones and plans. Phoenix Cellular will utilize newspapers and radio play because the public has subscriptions. We can feed our audiences that prefer to have something in their hands to read, or to listen to advertisement via music or the news while transporting in their daily routines. Flyers and tradeshows are good ways of showcasing the company. Trade shows are known for many brands coming and bringing models of their products, so consumers can test. Flyers are beneficial especially when placed in frequently visited areas. Having flyers in a coffee shop would be beneficial because most shops have Wi-Fi of some such. That not only creates business for customers but also an avenue for Phoenix Cellular to offer a business account or plan to the company.

Consumer Message

The consumer message that our company is wanting to get across to both the target audiences is “Big carrier feeling from your local neighborhood carrier.” While both of our target audiences are two completely different outlets who will have different strategies, the message will still remain the same. By getting this message out there the consumers are able to understand that even though our company is just a small local carrier we are still willing to offer the same plans, and product that you can get from any big carrier. It will help the consumers feel comfortable with working with our company while not getting cheated on what the larger companies offer.

Communication Plan

There is a couple marketing objective for the communication strategy. One will be to generate at least 30% company brand awareness through our regular customer target market. The company would also like to create the brand awareness through the business target market. We will need to create a brand-building multimedia marketing plane that shows the differences from our company to competing companies. The company will continue to engage with the current and future customers through open dialogue. Social media will be important to keep the cost of marketing down while still creating a large buzz for the company.

We also plan to use trade sale promotions to help without distribution strategy and create events through the company that will be open to the public and help with media coverage by including the local and national media outlets. We will partner without retail partners to create product information that is specialized for their specific demographic and selling habits. This will help not only our company but will help benefit the retailer as well.

Internet, mobile, billboard, newspaper, radio advertisements and promotions are budgeted to use in making Phoenix Cellular a success. It is easy to think of each of these items as separate entities on an advertisement checklist, but they are not. All of these parts of the advertising and promotional plan work and support each other for the common goal of the brand. Advertisements and promotion all work together to perpetuate the brand of Phoenix Cellular. We start with Internet Ads. In the current era, the easiest way to reach a public is through the internet. This is a way that we are able to get the word out to the widest audience possible. Mobile ads are not far behind the internet ads because mobile advertisements are indeed internet based. These mobile ads will do similar things as the internet but only catering more specifically to out niche customers. When people hear our ad on the radio, see billboards, newspapers, and flyers, they may remember our internet and mobile ad and go back and look at it for more information. Another scenario is that people may be introduced to Phoenix Cellular for the first time and still go back to our website for more information. The trade show will be a hands-on approach to promote our brand, but guess what? It will still refer people to the internet-based ads and our website. This is an unending circle… like driving a car, if the wheels top turning, you go nowhere.

Ethics and Social Responsibility

To remain socially responsible, it will be important for our company to stay connected to the people. It will be important to stay concerned about the consumer, the businesses, the environment as well as the society that we are working in. It will be important for the company to maintain certain ethics. These will be honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency as well as being having consideration for cultural diversity.

According to Clow and Baack (2014), “ethics and social responsibility concerns all boil down to the actions and decisions made by individuals and groups” (“Chapter 14, Ethics consulting systems”). This will be the company’s responsibility to make sure that all the concerns are dealt with in a timely manner. The consumer wants to know that their concerns are being resolves and dealt with. Phoenix Cellular want to make sure that if any issue come up regarding the ethical nature the company will want to get those people in to experience how the company is handled and how the employees work with the consumers. Marketing managers will know their efforts have achieved the goals stated in the plan when objectives have been completed, specifically in terms of awareness and profit. We are looking for at least 30% increased brand awareness from our individual customer market as well as the business market. This can be achieved and attributed to many variables included throughout the advertising campaign such as billboards, internet and mobile ads. We will track local, national and social media traffic as well as our partnered retail outlets to track the awareness and profit variables. This includes measurable profit variables such as device upgrades, added lines, increased data plans and business class buy-ins.

References

Clow, K.E., & Baack, D.E. (2014). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing

Communications (6th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection

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