Short notes: IMC, selective and exclusive distribution, social marketing, psychological pricing, publicity versus public relations

Any three of the five notes are to be attempted, at 6 marks each. A note on every topic is given so that the reader may choose.

(a) Integrated marketing communication (IMC)

Meaning. Integrated marketing communication (IMC) treats all of a firm's promotion, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, direct and digital marketing, packaging and point-of-sale material, as one plan rather than separate campaigns. Which tools a firm combines, and in what proportion, depends on its promotion goals and circumstances; IMC is the discipline of making whatever blend it chooses speak with one message. The customer should receive one voice, whatever the touchpoint.

Why it is needed. Mass markets have broken into smaller segments; media have multiplied (television, print, websites, social media, apps, outdoor); and customers blend all the messages they receive into a single image of the brand. Conflicting messages from different tools confuse customers and weaken the brand.

Features.

1. Starts from the customer and maps every contact point at which the customer meets the brand.
2. Uses each tool for the role it does best: advertising for awareness, sales promotion for action, personal selling for persuasion and closing, public relations for credibility, digital media for engagement.
3. Keeps the message, tone and visual identity the same across tools and over time.
4. Plans and budgets all tools together, often under one communications manager.
5. Measures results across channels and adjusts the mix.

Benefits. A stronger, consistent brand image; greater impact, because the tools reinforce each other; less waste and duplication; better customer relationships; and easier measurement of what works.

Example. When a mobile network launches a new data plan, its television advertisements, social-media posts, store displays, sales staff's pitch, text messages to existing users and press releases all carry the same offer, slogan and visual identity, so the customer meets one clear message everywhere.

(b) Exclusive and selective distribution

Meaning. Distribution intensity, the number of intermediaries a producer uses at each level, especially the number of retail outlets in an area, is a key channel decision. There are three strategies.

Intensive distribution. The product is put into every outlet that will take it, so that it is available wherever and whenever buyers want it. It suits convenience goods bought often, with little effort and low brand loyalty: soft drinks, biscuits, soap, toothpaste, newspapers and mobile recharges, sold through kirana shops, pan shops, chemists, supermarkets and online. Advantages: maximum market coverage, high sales volume and impulse purchases. Limitations: less control over display, price and service; low dealer loyalty, since the product is everywhere; high cost of serving many small outlets.

Selective distribution. The producer picks a limited set of outlets in each area, chosen for their location, reputation and service ability, and leaves out the rest. It suits shopping goods such as consumer durables, branded clothing, furniture and two-wheelers. Advantages: good coverage with more control, lower cost than intensive distribution, and closer working relationships with dealers who push the product harder and give good after-sales service. Limitations: some buyers may find the product less conveniently available.

Exclusive distribution. Only a very limited number of dealers, often one per territory, are given the exclusive right to sell the product, usually agreeing not to carry competing brands. It suits specialty and luxury goods: premium cars, designer wear, luxury watches. Advantages: strong control over price, promotion and service, a premium brand image and committed dealers. Limitations: limited coverage and dependence on a few dealers.

(c) Social marketing

Meaning. Social marketing borrows the methods of selling products, research on the audience, segmentation, the four Ps, persuasive communication, and uses them to persuade people to change a behaviour of their own free will, for their own good and society's. Its product is usually a behaviour or an idea, washing hands, using helmets, saving water, getting vaccinated, quitting tobacco, rather than a good sold for profit. It is practised mainly by governments, non-profit organisations and international agencies, and sometimes by companies.

Features.

1. Aim: social good, not the marketer's profit.
2. Behaviour change: it asks people to accept a new behaviour, reject a harmful one, modify one or abandon one.
3. Customer orientation: it studies the audience's needs, beliefs and barriers, just as commercial marketing does.
4. Marketing mix applied: product (the behaviour and its benefits), price (the cost to the audience in money, time, effort or comfort), place (where the behaviour can be adopted, such as a nearby vaccination centre) and promotion (messages and media).
5. Segmentation and targeting: campaigns are tailored to groups such as young drivers or rural mothers.

Importance. It first makes people aware of a problem and of what they can do about it; it addresses public problems, health, sanitation, safety, environment, that laws and information alone do not solve; it uses emotional and practical appeals to change deeply held habits; and it improves the effectiveness of public spending.

Examples. National campaigns for clean surroundings and use of toilets; polio-immunisation drives; road-safety and helmet campaigns; anti-tobacco warnings in cinemas; water-conservation messages.

Social marketing versus societal marketing. Social marketing promotes a social cause itself; societal marketing is a business philosophy in which a firm sells its products profitably while considering society's long-term welfare.

Limitations. Behaviour is hard to change, benefits are often delayed, the audience may resist being told what to do, and results are difficult to measure.

(d) Psychological pricing

Meaning. Psychological pricing sets prices with an eye on how buyers will feel about the number, not only on cost and demand. It uses the way buyers read and react to prices to make a product seem cheaper, better or more desirable. Buyers judge whether a price is in line with the value of the product, and that judgement can be shaped.

Common forms.

1. Odd (charm) pricing. Prices just below a round figure, such as ₹99 or ₹499 instead of ₹100 or ₹500. Buyers read from the left and perceive the price as being in a lower band.
2. Prestige pricing. Deliberately high, round prices (₹50,000) for luxury goods, because buyers use price as a signal of quality and status; a lower price might reduce demand.
3. Reference pricing. Showing a higher original or maximum retail price next to the selling price, or placing a product beside a costlier one, so that the price seems a bargain.
4. Price lining. Offering products at a few distinct price points (₹499, ₹999, ₹1,499 shirts), which simplifies choice and suggests quality levels.
5. Bundle and decoy pricing. Offering a combination, or adding a third, deliberately inferior option (the decoy) that makes another choice look like the best value: a 200 ml cold coffee at ₹110, a 300 ml one at ₹150 (the decoy) and a 500 ml one at ₹160; beside the 300 ml cup, the large one looks like a bargain.
6. Buy-one-get-one and free offers. The word free has a strong appeal even when the saving equals a discount.

Advantages. It raises sales without large price cuts, shapes the perception of value and quality, and helps positioning.

Limitations. Overuse can look manipulative and damage trust; an inflated original price shown beside the offer price misleads buyers; and well-informed buyers who compare prices online may not be swayed.

Example. An online fashion store prices a T-shirt at ₹499, shows a struck-out maximum retail price of ₹999, and offers buy two, get one free: three psychological devices used together.

(e) Public relations versus publicity

Public relations (PR). Public relations is the firm's planned, continuing effort to earn and keep the goodwill of the groups whose opinion matters to it: its customers, employees, investors and lenders, dealers, the local community, the media and the government. Tools include press releases and conferences, events and sponsorships, corporate social responsibility programmes, annual reports, websites and social media, speeches and crisis management.

Publicity. Publicity is coverage an organisation earns rather than buys: a newspaper feature on a start-up's funding round, a YouTube creator's verdict on a new phone, a television interview with a founder. Whether it runs, what it says and when it appears are decided by the editor or creator, so the organisation cannot fully control it, and it can turn out critical as easily as flattering. That same independence is its strength. Nothing is spent on buying the space, and since the message reaches the audience as news or comment with no paying sponsor named, people give it more weight than they would give an advertisement.

Differences.

Relationship. Publicity is one of the main tools of public relations. A PR department arranges events and news releases to generate favourable publicity, and it manages negative publicity during a crisis.

Example. A car company's PR team organises a road-safety campaign and invites journalists to a test drive (public relations); the resulting newspaper reviews and television reports are publicity.