Marketing communications

Marketing communications (marcom) encompasses all the messages and media deployed by organizations to communicate with markets, including advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, and digital channels (Fill C. 2009, p.13)^[1]. Every touchpoint where a brand connects with customers—the TV commercial, the Instagram post, the salesperson's pitch, the press release, the trade show booth—falls under marketing communications. The goal: inform, persuade, and remind customers about the brand and its offerings in ways that build awareness, generate interest, and ultimately drive action.

The challenge has grown exponentially. Customers now encounter brands across dozens of channels—traditional media, websites, social platforms, mobile apps, email, events, packaging. Messages that work in television may fail on TikTok. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) emerged as a strategic response, coordinating all channels to deliver consistent, coherent messaging. Done well, marcom builds brands and moves products; done poorly, it wastes budgets and confuses markets.

The communications mix

Multiple tools comprise marketing communications:

Advertising

Paid media. Advertising involves purchasing space or time in media to deliver controlled messages. Television, radio, print, outdoor, digital display—the advertiser controls the message, timing, and placement^[2].

Brand building. Advertising excels at building awareness and shaping brand perceptions over time. Repetition creates familiarity; creative execution builds associations.

Cost characteristics. High fixed costs (creative development, media planning) but low per-exposure costs in mass media make advertising efficient for reaching large audiences.

Public relations

Earned media. PR generates coverage through news releases, events, and media relations. The organization doesn't pay for the coverage but also doesn't control the message directly.

Credibility advantage. Editorial coverage often carries more credibility than advertising because it appears to be independent assessment^[3].

Activities. Press releases, media events, sponsorships, community relations, crisis management, thought leadership.

Sales promotion

Short-term incentives. Promotions provide temporary inducements to purchase—discounts, coupons, contests, samples, rebates, loyalty programs.

Immediate action. Unlike advertising that builds long-term brand equity, promotions stimulate immediate purchase behavior.

Trade and consumer. Promotions target both end consumers and trade channels (retailers, distributors).

Direct marketing

Targeted communication. Direct marketing reaches specific individuals through mail, email, telephone, or digital channels^[4].

Personalization. Messages can be customized based on customer data—purchase history, preferences, demographics.

Measurability. Direct marketing enables precise tracking of response rates, conversion, and ROI.

Personal selling

One-on-one. Salespeople interact directly with prospects, customizing presentations to individual needs.

High-involvement purchases. Personal selling is essential for complex, expensive, or risky purchases requiring consultation and relationship.

Expense. High cost per contact limits personal selling to situations where the sale value justifies the investment.

Digital and social media

Owned and earned channels. Websites, social media, content marketing, search engine optimization—digital offers both owned channels (the company controls) and opportunities for earned engagement (shares, comments, viral spread)^[5].

Interactive. Digital enables two-way communication, customer participation, and real-time response.

Targeting precision. Digital platforms allow precise audience targeting based on behavior, demographics, and intent signals.

Integrated marketing communications

Coordination across channels:

The integration imperative

Consistency. Customers encounter brands across multiple touchpoints. Inconsistent messages create confusion and weaken brand impact.

Synergy. Integrated campaigns where channels reinforce each other outperform siloed efforts. Television advertising drives search; social content supports sales promotions^[6].

IMC principles

One voice. All communications should reflect the same core brand positioning, values, and personality.

Customer journey focus. Map communications to the customer decision journey—awareness, consideration, purchase, loyalty—using appropriate channels at each stage.

Cross-functional coordination. Marketing, advertising, PR, sales, and digital teams must work together rather than optimizing separately.

Planning communications

Effective marcom requires systematic planning:

Objectives

What to achieve. Awareness, comprehension, attitude change, behavior (trial, repeat purchase, loyalty). Different objectives call for different tactics^[7].

Measurable goals. Specific targets enable evaluation—increase awareness from 40% to 60%, generate 10,000 qualified leads.

Target audience

Who to reach. Define the audience precisely—demographics, psychographics, media behavior, decision-making role.

Insights. Understand what motivates the audience, what barriers exist, and what messages will resonate.

Message strategy

What to say. Key messages that will achieve objectives with the target audience.

Creative execution. How to say it—the creative approach that will break through clutter and be remembered.

Media strategy

Where to say it. Channel selection based on audience media habits, message requirements, and budget constraints.

Reach and frequency. How many people to reach and how often to reach them^[8].

Budget

Resource allocation. How much to spend overall and how to allocate across channels and activities.

Methods. Percentage of sales, competitive parity, objective-and-task, or affordable method approaches.

Measurement

Assessing communications effectiveness:

Awareness metrics. Brand recall, recognition, top-of-mind awareness.

Attitude metrics. Brand favorability, purchase intent, net promoter score.

Behavioral metrics. Response rates, conversion, sales lift, market share.

Efficiency metrics. Cost per impression, cost per click, cost per acquisition, return on marketing investment.

Marketing communications — recommended articles

Advertising — Public relations — Brand management — Marketing strategy

References

• Fill C. (2009), Marketing Communications: Interactivity, Communities and Content, 5th Edition, Pearson.
• Belch G.E., Belch M.A. (2018), Advertising and Promotion, 11th Edition, McGraw-Hill.
• Schultz D.E., Tannenbaum S.I., Lauterborn R.F. (1993), Integrated Marketing Communications, NTC Business Books.
• Improvado (2023), IMC Guide 2025.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Fill C. (2009), Marketing Communications, p.13
2. ↑ Belch G.E., Belch M.A. (2018), Advertising and Promotion, pp.34-56
3. ↑ Fill C. (2009), Marketing Communications, pp.67-82
4. ↑ Schultz D.E. et al. (1993), IMC, pp.89-102
5. ↑ Improvado (2023), IMC Guide
6. ↑ Belch G.E., Belch M.A. (2018), Advertising and Promotion, pp.112-128
7. ↑ Fill C. (2009), Marketing Communications, pp.134-148
8. ↑ Schultz D.E. et al. (1993), IMC, pp.145-162

Author: Sławomir Wawak