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Marketing communications is a broad term that encompasses all the ways businesses interact and communicate with a market. Those in general marketing, brand managers, Internet marketers, direct marketers, advertising managers/agencies, publicists, public relations professionals, promotions specialists, and sales people all participate in some aspect of marketing communications.
For most, the ultimate goal is to present an integrated, uniform impression across all forms of communication. This means addressing product, service, and company communication goals in the business and/or marketing plan. Official definitions include:
American Marketing Association (AMA) : Integrated marketing communications is a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.
Wikipedia: Marketing Communications (or MarCom or Integrated Marketing Communications) are messages and related media used to communicate with a market.
The Changing Face of MarCom
As the Internet becomes a part of mainstream society, integrating marketing communications across all media becomes increasingly multi dimensional. MarCom managers are facing unprecedented opportunities. Never before in history has there been the potential for such permanence and for each communication to take on a worldwide life of its own.
Through social networking sites potential customers can spread the word – good and bad – about you, your company, products, or services with great effectiveness. Social Media consultant and Coach Mari Smith (who offers a
4-part Social Marketing Quickstart program, designed to help you grow your business through Twitter and Facebook), emphasizes that the future of your business depends on establishing a presence on the most popular social networking sites. This because consumers and business people are increasingly turning to social media first for the latest information, to interact with others, to conduct research, and for breaking news. In short, to communicate and interact, which are core marketing communications functions.
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