Strategic integrated marketing communications: Domination or equality of elements?

Abstract

In terms of continuous technology development, internetization and well-informed customers, business strategies should be the result of coordinated actions of strategic marketing with all other business functions in company. Integrated communication processes have the most important role in anticipating and creating consumer behaviour. Integrated marketing communication represents combined use of traditional and contemporary elements of promotional mix in order to achieve clarity, consistency and maximum impact on target customer segments. However, the expansion of modern communication tools and technologies raises the question of equal use and preservation of marketing communications elements specifics, regardless of achieved level of integration. Whether traditional advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and PR have disappeared or undergone a new level of development; whether the virtual world and consumers' online communities have upgraded or took over all segments of marketing communications and whether internet generation, networking and social media took precedence over conventional forms of marketing communications?.

Keywords

• strategic marketing
• integrated marketing communication
• social media
• direct marketing