Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign for Target Corporation

Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign for Target Corporation in Canada

Communication Plan for Target Canada

Key Objectives

The primary objective associated with the communication plan is to create brand awareness for Target Corporation in Canadian market. With the implementation of this communication plan, Target Corporation aims to attract the most potential customers from the market and promote its products in order to boost up its sales performance and become the strongest retail brand in Canada. Thus, the key objectives of the plan include:

Create brand awareness among general customers

Promote quality, price-cuts, and superior customer services that are the core strengths of Target Corporation.

Boost up the sales performance in urban areas of the country

Maintain a steady flow of customers throughout the year

Running an effective communication campaign on different marketing and promotional mediums

Fulfilling the needs of the customers by offering a wide range of products for 24-hour requirements.

2. Communication Strategy

i. Target Audience:

Being a large scale retailer, Target Corporation offers a huge variety of grocery, clothing, personal care, home appliances, and professional products at discounted prices. Therefore, it mainly targets mothers who shop for their home and family and want variety, convenience, and savings in a single store. Since Target Corporation offers all types of grocery and consumer products, its target audience consists of all age groups, i.e. children, teenagers, youngsters, adults, and old age citizens. Moreover, Target purchases its products directly from the manufacturers which enable it to charge very competitive prices from the final customers. With the help of different kinds of promotional offers and price-cut strategy, it is able to target all the income groups and social classes of the society (Target Corporation, 2013).

In addition to the demographical segmentation, the target market for this retail giant can also be segmented on the basis of geographical factors. For example, Target will initiate its operations in the major cities and town of Canada and expand horizontally in other potential markets with the passage of time. Therefore, the most potential target market in the initial 6 to 12 months period will consist of individuals from urban areas only.

ii. Key Message:

Through an integrated marketing communication plan, Target Corporation will identify the essential ideas which it needs to communicate to the potential audience (Mullin & Cummins, 2008). On the basis of these ideas, Target can easily design a key message which it wants its potential audience to listen, understand, and believe. Since this campaign is primarily aimed at creating brand awareness of Target Corporation in Canada and enhance its sales performance in the initial period of launch, the key message would be a persuasive statement or set of statements which will attract potential customers to do shopping at Target stores in their cities and towns. The message will also communicate the company's promise to its customers, i.e. creating value through superior quality products at the most affordable prices along with providing convenient shopping facilities and after-sale services.

3. Selection and Importance of Promotional Mediums

i. Paid Advertising:

Target can use various promotional mediums to achieve its communication and business objectives in the new market. For paid advertising, Target can prefer all electronic, online, and print mediums -- including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor advertising, mall displays, and transit advertisements. Television, radio, and newspapers can be regarded as the most effective mediums to create awareness in the shortest period of time due to their ability to communicate at a massive scale. On the other hand, mall displays, outdoor advertising (billboards, banners, direct selling, etc.), and transit advertising are effective in urban areas only (Clow & Baack, 2009). Social media networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. can also be used to promote Target brand at the online platform.

ii. Print Materials:

In addition to the mass media channels, Target can also use print materials like posters, pamphlets, newsletters, broachers, and various types of publications to communicate its messages to the potential customers and other key stakeholders. These print materials are effective and cost-efficient tools to promote products and services to the customers who live in nearby localities and visit retail stores more frequently.

4. Allocation of Budget

Sr. No.

Promotional Medium

Budget

Percentage of Budget

1

Electronic Media

Television

$50,000

20.0

Radio

$30,000

12.0

2

Print Media

Newspapers

$30,000

12.0

Magazines

$15,000

6.0

Publications

$20,000

8.0

Broachers, Pamphlets, and Newsletters

$15,000

6.0

3

Outdoor

Billboards, Banners, and Posters

$12,000

4.8

Personal and Direct Selling

$8,000

3.2

Commission to Sales Force Commission

$8,000

3.2

Commission to Business Development Firms

$7,000

2.8

Mall displays

$15,000

6.0

In-store displays

$15,000

6.0

4

Social Media Networking Sites

$25,000

10.0

Total

$250,000

5. Sales Promotion