Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

Introduction

The year 2020 seems promising for quite a number of industries among them the cruise industry. The tourism sector in general had been promising since the end of 2018 to end of 2019.Cruise industry plays a crucial role in the global economy, in 2018 only, the industry paid over $ 50 billion as salaries and wages while on the other hand creating over a million direct and indirect employment opportunities. Just like any other industry, the industry has been faced with several challenges such as cutthroat competition. There are about 278 cruise companies operating in the industry, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd is one of them. The cruise line was founded in 1997, as of 2018 the company had 77,000 employees directly on its payroll with a net income of $ 1.81 billion. The cruise line is the second-largest based on passengers and the largest based on revenue. The company has over 25 ships on the water, travelling over 450 destinations and serving more than 200 ports across the world. The wake of Covid-19 virus has changed everything upside down; almost all the sectors and industries are now struggling while others are shutting down. As a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at the company, I have put in place measures, including the use of integrated marketing communication (IMC) to ensure the company survives the crisis.

Integrated Marketing communication refers to the use of the different communication channels in marketing, it is an important concept, but small businesses know little about. The various integrating tools that can be used include mobile marketing, sales promotion, direct marketing, social media, public relation, among others (Clow & Baack, 2016). Covid-19 pandemic is a global issue affecting almost all industries. For instance, Royal Caribbean has lost over 70% of its value; it is a clear indication that the situation would be dire going forward if the pandemic continues to exist. Companies are now sending employees home with half pay while others with zero pay; this is an economic crisis. With the situation, the best marketing strategy ought to be in place, depending on only one channel of communication; especially the old one is no longer effective considering the widespread quarantine and social distancing. The nations are now imposing curfew forcing its citizens to be indoors as a way to curb the spread of the deadly virus. I am going to use the different marketing tools to ensure that the company remains afloat, as discussed below.

One such marketing tool I would use to communicate to the clients is sales promotion (Clow & Baack, 2016). Since the company is faced with a looming crisis, this calls for desperate measures; there is no more movement of ships, every country does not allow docking on their ports. In this situation, incentives are not possible like it is in other industries, as the CMO, I would ensure that I use promotional tools such as promotional billboards along the major highways. The billboards will, apart from marketing the company would also create awareness on this pandemic and what the citizens need to do as a precautionary measure. This will inform the public of our presence and the services we offer. This tool is cheap and appropriate in that it will also be aired in the social media.

The Coronavirus pandemic has seen employees work from their homes; the same would apply at Royal Caribbean. With power and accessibility to the internet, our marking team would be able to work from home using tools such as direct marketing. Customers forget quickly if they are not reminded. To ensure the survival of the company going forward, I would ensure that we start making a follow-up of our clients through the use of direct-mailing, text messages, fax, and telemarketing through calling these customers. All these would be aimed at ensuring that our esteem customers develop the interest to sail once the pandemic is over. This is because there are rumors in the social media that cruises are the ones spreading the virus, this has worsen following the quarantine of the Diamond Princess ship in Japan having 3,600 passengers with 218 of the passengers and crew being infected with the virus.

Public relations are all about building on one’s relationship (Clow & Baack, 2016). The world nations are fighting a common enemy, the Covid-19; this is the time that corporate societies are called upon to offer a helping hand. The economies are in a recession, companies and organizations are forced to layoff employees; it is time businesses pay back to society. The government across the world is unable to provide for all its population, as the CMO, I would ensure that we come up with philanthropic programs aimed at helping different nations. This can be done by selecting developing nations across the world; we can start proving them with personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and even hand sanitizers. These contributions in one way of the other would reach our current and potential customers and thus building on our reputation. Engaging in corporate social responsibility is another way of marketing one’s brands.

The other important marketing tool is social media. With stringent measures such as lockdown, and restricting movements in public places such as restaurants and supermarkets, the only place where interaction has not to be interfered with is the social media (Juska, 2017). As one of the marketing tool, social media has proved to be effective and a cheaper channel of communication. As the CMO at the company, I would make use of the major social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Snapchat and Linked (Juska, 2017). Using this channel, we would be able to reach sizeable potential market building our brand and attracting while retaining our existing customers. Using these platforms would ensure that our brand recover immediately the pandemic subside.

To ensure that we communicate more frequently with our customers, we would ensure that we use every available means such as mobile marketing. Personal selling is not effective at the moment considering the situation, keeping conduct using mobile marketing would help; this would be through texting of clients engaging them and seeking their opinions. We would also be assuring them that we shall be resuming as soon as the situation is better and letting them know that it is a global pandemic affecting every sector.

Conclusion

The Coronavirus pandemic has cost many businesses to shut down; this follows the directives by governments to minimize the spread of infections. The cruise industry has also been affected; no country allows ships to dock at their port, forcing the cruise lines to stop their operations. Using a single communication channel at this time would not be effective; there is a need to use an integrated marking communication to ensure that the potential customers get the information. Marketing tools such as sales promotion, direct marking, mobile marketing, public relations, social media used together can yield the best outcome. Personal selling though an excellent means of marketing cannot work at the moment because it requires going out and meeting the potential customers. By the Royal Caribbean company utilizing the above communication channels; it would be able to convince its clients and to make them develop the interest of traveling using ships after the pandemic.

ReferencesTop of Form

Clow, K. E., & Baack, D. E. (2016). Integrated advertising, promotion, and marketing communications (8th ed.). Pearson Higher Ed.

Juska, J. M. (2017). Integrated marketing communication: Advertising and promotion in a digital world.

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