The ability of an organization to communicate effectively and efficiently with its target audiences is critical to its success. Marketing communications, including advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, personal selling, and internet marketing, are increasingly used to sell products and services, and to promote causes, market political candidates, and deal with societal problems. With the fragmentation of traditional media, the use of more sophisticated interactive and social media, and the growing privacy concern for customers, marketers are constantly searching for new alternatives to communicate with their target audiences. This course introduces you to this fascinating field. You will learn how to cope with recent environmental challenges, research and evaluate an organization’s marketing and promotional situation, and use the different elements of promotional mix to develop and present an integrated marketing and communication plan. The course is divided into 14 lessons as described below.
Outline
Lesson 1: Integrated Marketing Communications
Lesson 2: Organizing for Integrated Marketing Communications
Lesson 3: Consumer Behaviour, Target Audience Decisions, and Brand Positioning
Lesson 4: Objectives for the IMC Plan
Lesson 5: Creative Strategy Decisions
Lesson 6: Creative Tactics Decisions
Lesson 7: Measuring the Effectiveness of the Promotional Message
Lesson 8: Media Planning and Budgeting for IMC
Lesson 9: Broadcast Media
Lesson 10: Print and Out-of-Home Media
Lesson 11: Sales Promotion
Lesson 12: Public Relations and Direct Marketing
Lesson 13: Internet Marketing
Lesson 14: Regulatory, Ethical, Social, and Economic Issues for IMC
Evaluation
Your final grade in MKTG 420: Advertising & Promotion will be based on your performance on three assignments and on your satisfactory participation in 10 discussion forums.
There are no examinations in this course.
To receive credit for MKTG 420, you must
complete Assignments 1 & 2
participate in all 10 discussion forums
achieve an overall course grade of at least D (50 percent).
Failure to satisfactorily complete Assignments 1 and 2 or participate in a discussion forum will result in a failing grade for the entire course.
The weighting of each assessment activity is indicated in the table below.
Activity
Weight
Assignment 1: Situation Analysis
20%
Assignment 2: Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Plan
20%
Assignment 3: IMC Plan Presentation
10%
Learning Forum Participation
50%
Total
100%
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Guolla, M. A., Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2020). Advertising & promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective (7th Cdn. ed.). McGraw-Hill Ryerson. ISBN 978-1-26-006598-5 (eText)
All other learning resources will be available online.
Challenge for credit
Overview
The challenge for credit process allows you to demonstrate that you have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university-level course.
Full information about challenge for credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Evaluation
To receive credit for the MKTG 420 challenge registration, you must achieve a grade of at least D (50 percent) on the examination.
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized study counterparts.