What is IMC?

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is a way to combine many techniques so that they work together across platforms and work together to make the best plan. 

Integrate: 

To combine multiple things so that they become whole.

Marketing:

To create value for 2+ parties involved in an exchange through a mixture of the right product, service, or idea, at the right time, location, and the right price ($, time, energy, information).

Communication:

To transmit information that is informative and persuasive within channels that will reach the intended audience.

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If all of these are combined we are able to integrate at multiple levels: the marketing mix (4ps), the brand, the promotional creative message (creative), and the communication channels (media). 

There are four different layers of IMC:

• Media: Integration across media platforms the audience uses
• Creative: Integration of creative across all promotions including consistency of brand elements like logo and tagline but also the value proposition for the brand
• Brand: Integration of brand elements in all the communications so the target market can associate the brand with its elements
• Marketing Mix: Integration of the product, price, place, and promotion strategies

Using IMC To Help The Western Waterski Team

The Western Waterski Team is a sports club at Western Washington University. Before covid-19 they were a team that was competing at a collegiate D1 level and was recruiting many successful athletes. After covid, they had a large number of members graduate and then weren't allowed to practice during the pandemic which pushed their member numbers down to three people. Since then they have large success in building their numbers up again and getting back to competing at a national level. One of the main challenges with this team is since it is a school sports club the leadership and members change every year. This makes it so they are constantly training new students to be the ones running the team. They also have the issue that many Western students and staff have no idea that there is a waterskiing team. 

One of The Waterski Team’s Logos

The waterskiing team would benefit from using an integrated marketing communication strategy to increase their awareness and help with new member retention. One way to combat the changing of leadership to often is to have clear documents that show the branding elements for the team so future leaders have a starting point behind their communications. On the document, they can have examples of different formats to spread communication across Instagram, their email, the website, and any print promotions they want to make. This can ensure their brand elements stay the same so the team can be recognized across campus for years to come.