Module BUSS40315: Integrated Marketing Communications

Department: Business School (Business) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

BUSS40315: Integrated Marketing Communications

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) aims to combine and integrate all relevant elements of an organization’s communication mix. This module is targeted to offer students examples of the application of IMC theory and analysis, using current discourse and trends to reveal an ‘outside-in’ approach that is important to reach both consumers and stakeholders alike. Through a systematic analysis of these key processes, the relationship of consumers, marketers and stakeholders at the centre of IMC is unpacked.
• The module is grounded in marketing theory that focuses on consumer practices and specific stakeholder groups. Key constructs addressing issues such as marketing communications, customer relationships, consumer behaviour, the strategies for the management of IMC, digital technology and social media impact, communication analysis and future models for IMC sustainability are addressed.
• Key objectives include:
• The implications for marketing communications, communicators and stakeholder groups are explored in-depth.
• An IMC model is explored to highlight the important relationships between organisations and key stakeholders.
• The contribution to marketing is in the demonstration of IMC which is assessed as a complex and circular process rather than a linear (inside-out) competitive advantage.
• The module will introduce the foundations of IMC, to discuss the most important features, and to analyse the advantages and challenges at a theoretical and practical level:
• To demonstrate how IMC affects the breadth and depth of a firm’s overall marketing strategy.
• To provide a working understanding of the marketing communications mix and its relationship with the marketing mix.
• To ensure an appreciation of acquisition and retention marketing communications.
• To provide an understanding of the digital media of marketing communications.
• To ensure an understanding of the structure of the marketing communications industry and the working relationships within it.

Content

• The Marketing Communications Process and Integrated Marketing Communications
• Measurement of IMC
• Image & Brand Management / Customer Relationship Marketing
• Marketing Communications Planning & the Communications Industry
• Theories & Models of Communication
• Digital marketing analytics and intelligence
• An overview of consumer behaviour and consumption studies
• Traditional, Digital and Interactive marketing communications
• Social media technologies in business – including digital advertising

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students will:
• Have a critical understanding of the relationship between marketing plans and marketing communications plans as the basis for selecting and achieving a balanced marketing communications mix.
• Be able to explain how an organisation communicates with its markets and publics through the marketing communications mix.
• Have acquired the specialist knowledge to be able to identify buying motivations in a given market, to ensure that marketing communications plans are correctly based.

• By the end of the module, students will have acquired the following specialist skills at an advanced level:
• Ability to design and develop effective marketing communications plans.
• Ability to establish a system of implementation, evaluation and control of the marketing communications strategy.
• Ability to place communications in the ‘new’/digital technologies – communications setting.
• Ability to analyse data from social media, identify appropriate analytics and apply best practices to marketing strategy recommendations.
• Ability to generate a marketing plan to enhance a particular strategic objective.

• Effective written and oral communication skills
• Planning, organising and time management skills
• Problem solving and analytical skills
• The ability to use initiative
• Advanced skills in the interpretation of data
• Advanced computer literacy skills

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module will be taught in 3-hour blocks to allow a greater level of engagement with students and to enable a flexibility of approach as appropriate. The teaching blocks will comprise a balanced mix of lecture-type teaching, group work, case studies, discussion and seminar style working such as will enable the learning outcomes to be met.
• The summative assessment of the module, by group presentation and individual written assignment, is designed to test students’ knowledge and understanding of the subject-matter and their ability to apply their knowledge and specialist skills in the context of specific marketing communications issues.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Seminar exercises will be used to give students an opportunity to explore, discuss, critique and apply the key topics in practice.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University