The sections below will be devoted to the implications this study has on theory and the use marketers or managers can have reading this study. The first section will be focused on a strict, researched focused perspective and the second section will examine more practical implications this study has for managers.
6.3.1 Theoretical implications
This thesis is a study based on a small-scale research in the Swedish market. It has not reached a level that could contribute a lot to a theory such as IMC but some implications will be mentioned in this section. As discussed earlier in the study, the theory of IMC itself has a lot of researchers not being consistent or agreeing as to what IMC is (Kitchen & Schultz, 1997). This might justify the many research conducted in order to get the perceptions of IMC in a variety of countries (Duncan & Everett, 1993; Kitchen & Schultz, 1997; Kallmeyer & Abratt, 2001; Swain, 2004; Kitchen & Li, 2005).
The authors of this study could not find any research on IMC based on the Swedish markets and that is why this study was conducted, in order to fill a research gap. The main contribution of this study is to give an account of IMC perceptions based on a sample of managers in Swedish firms. As well as contributing to the research on IMC by investigating the main factors and their importance to IMC. This study revealed that from the sample of Swedish managers that the five factors may not be known to them as being very vital to IMC as was initially considered by the authors. Thus, showing that the perceptions of IMC are indeed different and may even be tainted by the multitude of IMC definitions there is (Kitchen, 2005).
6.3.2 Managerial implications
In addition to theoretical implications, a thesis should have managerial implications as well. The information above should be useful to practitioners or managers looking for information on integrated marketing communications in the Swedish market to better their competitive advantage.
The findings of this study suggest that all known constructs (stated in this study) and aspects of integrated marketing communications are not perceived as important or essential to the implementation of IMC according to Swedish marketing managers that participated in this study. Meaning the most important aspect of the findings of this study would be that customer brand relationship, and the use of all communications channels a particular firm has, is essential to the proper use and implementation of integrated marketing communications. That being stated, it does not mean the other constructs (targeted communications, synergy, and customer focus) of integrated marketing communication should be disregarded. Based on the sample size and the geographical location (Sweden) of where the survey was conducted, many survey participants did not perceive synergy, targeted communications, and customer focus as an important part of the implementation of integrated marketing communications.
In addition, this study can also be of use to managers or firms that are seeking information and general knowledge of integrated marketing communications. The authors provide an introduction to IMC and a variety of definitions as well as a table presenting the evolution of the definitions integrated marketing communications over the past 20 years that could be helpful to practitioners or managers seeking an introduction to integrated marketing communications.
6.4 Limitations
There are limitations to every study and the following limitations are the issues that occurred while conducting this study.
The matter of time was of great importance to this study. Due to the short amount of time, the majority of the sample could not be contacted. If the authors would have had the time to contact additional participants, perhaps the result might have been different than the ones obtained in this study.
The reliability of this study was acceptable but for one feature that had low reliability. Targeted communication has no reliability compared to all of the other factors. Targeted communication should be looked into in order to find a method to enhance its reliability.
The response rate of this study is low compared to other studies that have been conducted. The authors believe that the response rate is low due to inefficiency of the first e-mails sent to the marketers; the rate back then was unacceptably low. The authors successfully attempted to raise the rate by calling as many marketers as possible to encourage participation but due to time limit, not all contacts could be contacted by phones.
Another Limitation would be that the questionnaire was never translated to Swedish before it was sent to the contacts. Since using both languages in the questionnaire proved to be more effective in other studies, this obviously demonstrated an issue that affected the response rate in a major way.
6.5 Future Research
This section of the study makes suggestions for those interested in conducting further research. These suggestions are based on improvements that can be done to further studies.
The sample size of this study was roughly 80 Swedish firms and is not enough to accurately generalize findings for all Swedish firms. Thus, the first suggestion for further research is to get a bigger sample. A bigger sample can aid in getting more data and feeling confident about making accurate generalization of the findings (Tanaka, 1987).
The second suggestion is proposed due to the low response rate of this study. The authors propose to use more contact methods (Email, Phone calls, mail & etc.) when contacting the sample. In this study, the authors only contacted the sample using emails but when that did not get much responses, the sample was contacted through phone calls as suggested by an expert.
Therefore, calling the survey participants and asking for their participations would most likely yield a higher response rate.
The last suggestion deals with the construct (Targeted Communication) due to its unreliability. The measures for this construct used in this study were discovered to be unreliable and not measuring the required construct. The authors suggest that for future research to change the measures.
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Appendix A
Student Questionnaire (Linnéuniversitetet)
How would you rate the following statements? 1= Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 6 7= Strongly Agree Customer feedback is important to
us
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
We believe business decisions can be improved through customer
feedback
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
The use of databases with information about customer profiles
is a vital part of our company’s marketing communication programs
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
We frequently use targeted communication to reach our
customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
The creation of marketing communication should originate
from customer information
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
Our target customers are narrow, specific and well defined
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
Through a successful brand image, companies can establish trust between brands and customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a good way to maintain healthy relationships with customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
A good relationship with customers could lead to a more defined and
clear brand
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
We synergize our messages to maximize their impact on our
customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
We believe synergizing marketing messages will help deliver a clearer
message to customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
The importance of synergy lays within its purpose of unification of
messages
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
channels with the intention of directly contacting our customers Through Communication channels,
companies can establish a well- rounded dialogue with their
customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
Our Company selects a common strategy that unifies our communications disciplines (i.e. general advertising, direct response,
sales promotion, public relations, events, etc.)
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
IMC is a tool to develop and direct targeted communication
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
IMC is a strategic business process utilized for brand communication
programs
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
IMC is a tool to deliver unified messages to customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
IMC is a tool to affect the buying behavior of customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
IMC is a tool to establish a two-way dialogue with customers
❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
Your current position in the firm:
How many years have you worked in the field of marketing? 1. 0
2. 1-5 3. 6-10 4. 11-15 5. Other:
Appendix B
Cover Letter
Dear respondent,
We are a group of International Sales and Marketing students from Linnaeus University in Ljungby, Sweden. We are currently conducting research on behalf of our bachelor thesis (C- Uppsats). Our topic revolves around how Swedish firms in particular, perceive and/or use integrated marketing communications (IMC). In order to have a valid, feasible thesis, raw data will be needed to be gathered in the form of a questionnaire. We have previously sent emails to you regarding this survey and we thank you in advance for your answers and contribution to our project.
This survey may contain vocabulary that is hard to understand for some and/or unfamiliar words. The following will be devoted to help understand the survey and what we really mean by integrated marketing communications. Integrated marketing communication (IMC), by definition, is: "An audience-driven business process of strategically managing stakeholders, content, channels, and results of brand communication." What this means is that IMC is an approach to achieving the objectives of a marketing campaign. This is done through a well-coordinated use of different promotional methods (newspaper ads, TV commercials, billboards, etc.) that are intended to reinforce each other. Meaning all of your promotional tools are unified and not sending mixed, unclear, or confusing messages to your audience or end consumer.
Below is a small list of words that will be found in the survey and their definitions to assist you in completing the survey:
-Targeted communications: Having a specific region, audience, segment, populous, age group a company targets for marketing communications.
-Marketing communications: Messages or tools that are related to media, which are used to communicate with the market.
-Synergy/Synergize: Messages are connected into one coherent message; this message's impact is believed to be beyond that of any message on its own.
-Communication channels: This means advertising, PR, sales promotion, personal selling & etc. -Customer Focused: Using customer knowledge/feedback to create business strategies.
Here is the link to the survey:
http://surveys.questionpro.com/a/t/AK0zrZQ6mP
Please note that all information provided will stay within the hands of the authors and all firms will remain anonymous. We sincerely thank your for your time, effort, and contribution to our bachelor thesis and look forward to learning more about this topic reading your opinions.
Kind regards, Adnan Tvrtkovic Abdikadar Aden Fikrie Kreidly
Appendix C
Script for reminder to participate in the questionnaire (Via Phone)
“Hej,
Mitt namn är (author calling) och jag ringer från Linneuniversitetet angående en enkät som vi tidigare har skickat till er. Det är nämligen så att vi undersöker ett ämne inom marknadsföring som kallas Integrated marketing communications. Som ni ser på enkäten och e-mailet som vi skickade, så består IMC av fem olika faktorer som är också förklarade för att undvika missförstånd.
Vi märkte att ni är utav dem som inte svarade på enkäten och vi ringer för att både konfirmera ifall ni kommer svara och får påpeka hur viktigt det är att vi får inkludera er röst och expertis i enkäten”.