3 questions that help me define IMC

Ask five different communicators how they define integrated marketing communications and you’re likely to get five different answers. I’ve never heard two people define it the same way. And if you look up some of the definitions you can find online, it’s really not that surprising. Because the term integrated marketing communications and the definition itself are both clunkier than Greg Brady’s first car, which you’ll remember he bought and sold in the same episode.

First of all, take the term integrated marketing communications, which we’ll call IMC for the rest of the post to keep all of us from getting a headache. Now, try saying it three times fast. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. I am a huge fan of what IMC stands for, just not a huge fan of the term. And I feel like its awkwardness really does have an effect on peoples’ understanding of it.

Second, the definition. Here’s one from Wikipedia I used recently: “The coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, functions and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other end users.” It’s true. It’s accurate. But no one talks like that, right? At FHKC, we used the paid, earned, shared, owned (PESO) model for IMC. The idea makes sense — combining approaches across channels that have been traditionally owned by marketing and advertising (paid), PR (earned), and a variety of disciplines (shared and owned). But even our definition can be complicated at first.

So let’s see if we can’t simplify things a bit. Here are three questions I always ask when trying to help communicators understand what IMC really means:

1. What are your customers saying?

In order to understand IMC, you have to think from the customers’ perspective. Because IMC actually takes the customer into account, which is the beauty I see in it. Brands have always needed to take the customer into account, but in today’s evolving digital landscape where 50 percent of Americans are doing some kind of online citizen journalism according to eMarketer, it’s more important than ever before.

This may sound elementary, but so many companies miss the boat on this one. They get too focused on messages and not focused enough on the stories their customers are telling about their organization. Customers have individual experiences with your brand. And they tell stories based on those experiences. Those stories create your brand perception. Any brand not listening for and prioritizing those stories is missing the boat.

2. Are you a silo slayer?

This is my favorite part of IMC by far. Do you work in PR? Marketing? Advertising? Digital? Customer service? Does your department own certain channels and create content and messaging for those channels? Lastly, do you think customers care about the answers to any of the questions I just asked you? No, they don’t. They could care less.

Silos are the biggest disconnect in corporate America. They are a combination of stupid turf wars and overblown egos. Or another way to say it — employees getting caught up in their own inside baseball and not putting the customer experience first. True IMC breaks down silos and forces departments to work together, no matter how painful the process. Remember, customers want answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. They want positive interactions with your brand and products that allow them to do the things they love to do. They don’t want to know what department you work in.

3. Do you see the lines blurring?

When I worked at Sprint in 2007, I started reaching out to our customers on Twitter trying to solve their problems. This was after reading about a guy you might have heard of, Frank Eliason, and the work he was doing for Comcast. Frank worked in customer service at the time. I worked in PR. But none of that really mattered to our customers. And what was clear to me at Sprint was that the interaction with customers via social media was changing perceptions of the brand.

Marketing, advertising, PR, customer service, digital — they all have an impact on the customer experience. But the lines between these disciplines are blurring like crazy. Often times we need them to work together to reach our customers effectively at different touchpoints. Going forward, IMC tells us to think about how these disciplines yield one customer experience. At least that’s what I’m hearing. I don’t even like to use the terms marketing and PR that much anymore. I prefer communicators because we need to understand how to operate across all spaces and channels to provide the most effective results for our clients. To be a specialist in only one of these disciplines is to limit your career path moving forward.

Do these questions help you understand IMC better? How would you define it? What additional questions would you ask?

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