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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
Summary
This chapter has examined the role
of objectives in the planning and
evaluation of the IMC program and
how firms budget in an attempt to
achieve these objectives. Specific
objectives are needed to guide the
development of the promotional
program, as well as to provide a
benchmark against which performance
can be measured and evaluated.
Objectives serve important
functions as communications
devices, as a guide to planning the
IMC program and deciding on various
alternatives, and for measurement
and evaluation.
Objectives for IMC evolve from
the organization’s overall marketing
plan and are based on the roles
various promotional mix elements
play in the marketing program.
Many managers use sales or a
related measure such as market
share as the basis for setting
objectives. However, many promotional
planners believe the role of
advertising and other promotional
mix elements is to communicate
because of the various problems
232
IV. Objectives and
Budgeting for Integrated
Marketing
Communications Programs
7. Establishing Objectives
and Budgeting for the
Promotional Program
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
• Characteristics of the decision maker (preferences and experience).
• Approval and negotiation channels.
• Pressure on senior managers to arrive at the optimal budget.
One example of how these factors might influence allocations relates to the level of
interaction between marketing and other functional departments, such as accounting
and operations. The authors note that the relative importance of advertising versus sales
promotion might vary from department to department. Accountants, being dollars-andcents
minded, would argue for the sales impact of promotions, while operations would
argue against sales promotions because the sudden surges in demand that might result
would throw off production schedules. The marketing department might be influenced
by the thinking of either of these groups in making its decision.
The use of outside consultants to provide expert opinions might also affect the allocation
decision. Trade journals, academic journals, and even books might also be valuable
inputs into the decision maker’s thinking. In sum, it seems obvious that many
factors must be taken into account in the budget allocation decision. Market size and
potential, specific objectives sought, and previous company and/or agency policies
and preferences all influence this decision.
associated with sales-based objectives.
They use communicationsbased
objectives like those in the
response hierarchy as the basis for
setting goals.
Much of the emphasis in setting
objectives has been on traditional
advertising-based views of marketing
communications. However,
many companies are moving
toward zero-based communications
planning, which focuses on
what tasks need to be done, which
marketing communication functions
should be used, and to what
extent. Many of the principles used
in setting advertising objectives
can be applied to other elements in
the promotional mix.
As you have probably concluded,
the budget decision is not typically
based on supporting experiences
or strong theoretical foundations.
Nor is it one of the more soundly
established elements of the promotional
program. The budgeting
methods used now have some
major problems. Economic models
are limited, often try to
demonstrate the effects on sales
directly, and ignore other elements
of the marketing mix. Some of the
methods discussed have no
theoretical basis and ignore the
roles advertising and promotion
are meant to perform.
One possible way to improve the
budget appropriation is to tie the
measures of effectiveness to communications
objectives rather than
to the broader-based marketing
objectives. Using the objective
and task approach with communications
objectives may not be the
ultimate solution to the budgeting
problem, but it is an improvement
over the top-down methods. Marketers
often find it advantageous
to employ a combination of
methods.
As with determining the budget,
managers must consider a number
of factors when allocating advertising
and promotions dollars. Market
size and potential, agency policies,
and the preferences of management
itself may influence the allocation
decision.