Starbuck's Coffee IMC Media Plan (Essay Sample)

Starbuck's Coffee IMC Media Plan Author's Name Institutional Affiliation Starbuck's Coffee IMC Media Plan Introduction An Integrated Marketing Communication is a tool used by business owners in achieving the objectives of marketing campaigns such as advertising. IMCs use different methods of promotion, all meant to reinforce each other. They use both non-traditional and traditional marketing channels to pass the intended information. One way through which marketing communication is achieved is by formulation of a marketing plan. This analysis is a media plan for Starbucks Coffee which is a special beverage shop offering both hot and cold drinks, and a timeline through which the media plan will get executed in 2016. Media Strategy Starbucks will employ traditional media such as television, newspapers, and magazines. One of the target audiences is business people. They often use traditional media for businessnews; therefore, this is a platform through which they can get reached easily. There is also the adult customer group that is made up of people aged between 25 and 40 years. According to statistics, this population has been known to purchase many newspapers and magazines. This group has a clientele base with lots of professionals, characterized as having a relatively high income and who prefer an urban form of lifestyle. For example, Starbucks Coffee can include an ad in the traditional media that associates its coffee to certain business or careers in its commercials. Delivering this consistent info about Starbucks Coffee will establish its brand in the minds of the potential customers and consumers. Sales Promotion Sales promotion includes the use of several communication activities. The main aim is to provide incentives or value added to the consumers or the target clientele. One of the goals that Starbucks coffee has is to provide its clientele with a memory that will make them come back again. The sales promotion to be used should aid in conserving Starbuck's Coffee customers and attract more clients. The most reliable sales promotion devices will be coupons, points of purchase and price cuts. Customers will receive coupons that will guarantee them reduced prices once they purchase coffee for the second time at a Starbuck Coffee outlet. This move will ensure that the clientele comes back for more. Points of purchase include music CDs, books, packaged goods and gift items. This method is intended to reach the highest audience. Points of sales will present Starbucks Coffee in an appealing manner to its clients making a product superior to that of its competitor. Besides, a price cut during specific days shall make coffee consumers rethink their purchasing choices. The main aim of these sales promotions is to influence the clientele purchasing decisions to enable Starbucks Coffee to attain its short-term goals by boosting the volume of sales. Direct Marketing Direct marketing will give Starbucks Coffee a chance to target a certain clientele. For Starbucks' portion direct marketing, part of integrated marketing communication tool will entail direct social media tags, direct mails, emails, postcards, catalogs and telemarketing. One of the target clientele is the high ended singles who are easy to capture through direct marketing. They have been known to be a force that drives other clientele. The direct market objectives are as follows: to utilize the postcards to increase Starbucks Coffee sales by onepercent over the next months, and to utilize direct emails to reach six percent of the target market a minimum of six times over the next six months. Telemarketing and emails will be sent to specific clients to entice them to buy coffee at Starbucks Coffee. It will enable Starbucks Coffee to attain its long-term objectives of creating customer awareness of its existence, what is a means of product development. Digital/ Social/ Ambient Media The media landscape is constantly changing calling for a change in the market communication tools that firms use. As a marketing tool, Starbuck Coffee will use social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, WhatSapp, and Instagram. From the SWOT analysis, a strength that Starbucks Coffee has is an established brand. It is easier for it to gain many followers on the online platform through the social media. Its objective will be to utilize the social media tags to increase its post reach by two percent over the next six months. Young adults aged between 18 and 24 years have been reported to account for 40% of Starbucks clientele. Starbuck Coffee shall utilize its already branded product to establish its online base. For example, it can post images of its attractive cafeterias and stores, a strategy to attract more of the audience who are known to socialize at such scenes. Besides, the retail stores have Wi-Fi access and good music to attract and keep the loyalty of the young adults. With such free offered products, many of them will decide to have coffee at Starbucks since free Wi-Fi grants them as a chance to further socialize in the social media. Evaluation It is crucial for any entity to have a measure of the promotional methods used. In this case, Starbucks Coffee will have to evaluate each of the outlined communication plans. Traditional media are evaluated through the use of ratings. The higher level of the ratings an advert shows that it impacts more on the intended clientele. Therefore, Starbuck Coffee will have to check the ratings it gets from the traditional media. Sales promotions are also evaluated by determining sales differences. Starbucks Coffee should use its sales records for non-promotional days and use them as the basis of comparison with the promotional days. The differences will determine the effect of sales promotion. Direct marketing is one of the difficult promotional methods to evaluate. This method is used through the use information tracking systems. Information is tracked by collecting responses from the target market and comparing it to the number of targets made. Higher response means that the method is effectively working. The social media are evaluated using varieties of ways depending on the various platforms used. However, a common metric is by the number of followers or likes that a tag gets on social media. If Starbuck Coffee has many likes and followers, then its products and services are highly appreciated, and low numbers of followers or likes imply that the clientele is doubtful of its products and services. Conclusion Integrated marketing communication is used to ensure that the market cam...