{"id":2250,"date":"2018-03-28T17:05:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T17:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-retailmanagement\/?post_type=chapter&p=2250"},"modified":"2024-04-25T03:08:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T03:08:56","slug":"why-it-matters-integrated-marketing-communications-and-promotions","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-retailmanagement\/chapter\/why-it-matters-integrated-marketing-communications-and-promotions\/","title":{"raw":"Why It Matters: Integrated Marketing Communications and Promotions","rendered":"Why It Matters: Integrated Marketing Communications and Promotions"},"content":{"raw":"Let\u2019s assume you\u2019ve done all the work to establish your retail business. You\u2019ve conducted rigorous strategic planning, by evaluating you opportunities. You\u2019ve evaluated channels of distribution, selecting the one(s) that fit with your capabilities and growth prospect. You\u2019ve selected a market, targeting a specific customer segment. You\u2019ve built channel relationships, sourcing products and ensuring a well-merchandised store. You\u2019ve hired capable staff, setting performance objectives for them that support your strategic plan. You turn on the lights, unlock the doors and\u2026\r\n\r\nYou wait\u2026\r\n\r\nYou wait for consumers to come to shop your well-merchandised store\u2026\r\n\r\nAnd you wait? Where are they? Are they coming? What did we miss? Not strategy or channel or market or segment or assortment. How well did we market ourselves?\r\n\r\nDid we leverage advertising and promotion to publicize who we are and what benefits we\u2019ll provide for shoppers? Did we engage in traditional and new media to support awareness? Did we share compelling messages with clear calls to action, which would prompt a shopper response? That is, did we invite the shopper to the store, using multiple media, and give them a reason to come?\r\n\r\nToo often it\u2019s tempting to think that the product or service \u201cspeaks for itself.\u201d That it will \u201csell itself.\u201d Perhaps we think that marketing, especially advertising and promotion, is boastful or can be misleading. Maybe we worry that it \u201cforces\u201d people to buy things they don\u2019t want or need. Or, we believe that we\u2019ve done such an effective job with strategic planning, targeting the perfect segment and building a great plan to support it, that we\u2019re destined to be successful.\r\n\r\n\"decorative\r\n\r\nYet, you may know from Multi-Channel Retailing<\/em><\/a> that Logistics, Facilitation and Transaction are the channels activities that bridge the producer and the consumer. Further, facilitation refers to channel coordination, including marketing & promotion. Thus, marketing & promotion are fundamental for supporting the exchange of goods, transferring products & services to the consumer and transferring payments back to the producer. Without them, the onus is on the consumer to search for what they believe they need\u2014for products and services they believe will resolve issues for them.\r\n\r\nFurther, if you think about Identifying and Understanding Customer Behavior<\/em><\/a>, you can consider the buying process. From the marketer\u2019s perspective, we discussed AIDA:\r\n