Strategic Communication Plan IMC Model For Chain Store

Question: Discuss about the Term for Strategic Communication Plan of IMC Model For Chain Store. Answer: Introduction: Today, vaccines are considered as the safest, most pocket-friendly and powerful means to curb deaths and fight diseases. With the help of continuous research and developments, we have been made available with powerful vaccines to combat diseases that affect infants and children. A major milestone in the journey of the WHO has been the eradication of the smallpox. WHO celebrates seven public health days across the globe with the motive of spreading awareness about health issues. Following are the seven official days of public health: The World TB Day The World Health Day The World Malaria Day World No Tobacco Day World Blood Donor Day The World Hepatitis Day The World AIDS Day With the initiatives of WHO, mortality due to measles has dropped by 79%. As per the statistic, in a year over 18 million infants do not receive basic vaccines. This is because some people do not have proper access to health care services and some people are uninformed about immunization. A large number of infants and children die every year due to measles, tetanus, Haemophilus influenza type b, malaria, rotavirus, diarrhoea, yellow fever, hepatitis b, pneumonia, and malnutrition. It is very important to create awareness among parents about the various vaccinations that are available. Children should receive these vaccines at the prescribed age to protect them from diseases (Bisht 2016). Following are some of the vaccines available for children: BCG (for tuberculosis), rotavirus vaccine, HIB (for Haemophilus influenza type B), hepatitis-A, hepatitis-B, DTP/DPT (for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), MMR (for measles, mumps, rubella). Measles is an infection that affects the respiratory system and it is a contagious disease. Many children under the age of five die due to measles across the globe. The number of deaths caused due to measles has reduced over the past few years due to the availability of a vaccine against measles (Masadeh et al. 2014). Many parents do not get their children vaccinated against measles due to the fear of side-effects. Following are the symptoms of measles: High fever Redness in eyes A dry cough, sore throat, running nose Body aches Skin rashes To prevent measles, MMR vaccine is available which provides protection against measles, mumps, and rubella. The 1st dosage of this vaccine is given when the child becomes 12 months old and the second dose is given when the child is 4-6 years of age. Children should always be vaccinated against measles before travelling abroad (Masadeh et al. 2014). The National Health Authority of Somalia has decided to run a free vaccination programme against measles for children with the main objective to bring down deaths caused due to measles. Following are the elements of a strategic communication plan developed for creating an awareness campaign about the free vaccination programme against measles for children initiated by the National Health Authority of Somalia: Research methodology Research includes gathering data, information and facts for the enhancement of knowledge. Secondary data were used for the research. The data has been collected from various websites and articles. Data was collected to understand the availability of vaccines against various diseases, initiatives taken by WHO, the reason for high mortality of children due to measles and measures taken by the National Health Authority of Somalia to curb measles (Morin et al. 2012). Internal analysis It is very important to have an assessment of the financial, infrastructural, and technical and human resources that are available. National Health Authority of Somalia has a sound financial and human resources to run the free vaccination programme against measles (Schferhoff 2014). They have hired 2500 people more about this programme. External analysis PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural and Technological) analysis has been done to analyse the external factors. Political factors- These factors include the attitude of government towards people, the level of democracy and political stability within a country. In Somalia, the government has been encouraging the existence of agencies that provide health care facilities. The government is taking steps in bringing down the mortality rate due to diseases (Aghaei et al. 2016). This would be helpful for the success of the free vaccination programme. Economic factors- These factors include the income distribution, economic condition of different segments of the population, purchasing power, rate of growth of the economy, inflation rate, exchange rate, etc. Since the income distribution is uneven, the lower segment of the population cannot afford healthcare facilities. The free vaccination programme will be very beneficial for the lower segment of the population. Socio- cultural factors- These factors include the perception of people towards themselves, traditions, beliefs, lifestyle of people and level of education. With due course of time, the literacy level is increasing in Somalia (Schferhoff 2014). People are becoming conscious of their lifestyle and their health. People are becoming aware of what is happening in other parts of the word. Since people are becoming conscious of their health, it would be easy to spread awareness about the programme. Technological factors- These factors include the amount of money spent on Research and Development, the rate at which innovations are happening and pace at which technological changes are being accepted. In Somalia, a lot of money is being invested in R and D especially in the field of healthcare. Internet penetration is increasing, and online marketing is gaining pace. Mobile applications are becoming very popular ("Measuring Advertising Effectiveness" 2016). Since people have access to the internet, online marketing can be used for the promotion of the campaign. Stakeholder analysis Public Relations is also a tool that can be used for strategic communication. Public Relations are used to increase awareness and improve perception. It is used to evaluate the attitude of the public and execute a program in order to gain acceptance of public. Public are the people with which an organization interacts- customers, employees, investor, suppliers, government organizations and non-governmental organizations. PR tools like a press conference, press release, and interaction with the target audience will be used (Wardlaw et al. 2010). National Health Authority of Somalia will have its website that will have all details of the free vaccination program. The internal stakeholders for this campaign are employees and people of the target audience. The external stakeholders for this campaign are media and specialized groups. Strategic goal setting It is very important to set objective in order to measure the impact of the communication plan. The main objective of this plan is to increase awareness among people regarding the availability of the vaccine against measles and encourage people to get their children vaccinated against measles. The goals for a communication plan should be SMART (Specific, Measurable Actionable Relevant Timely). The impact of the communication programme can be measured by calculating the % increase in children vaccinated against measles ("UNICEF- Immunization 2016). The outcomes of the goal can be measured quantitatively. The time constraint for measuring the impact of communication plan is 1 year. Targeting and positioning process Market segmentation is very important for making a strategic communication plan. Segmentation is a technique that is used to divide the entire market into small sections where people of one section have the same needs/ demands and responds in a similar way to a marketing action. Segmentation is done on the basis of geography, demography, behaviour, socioeconomic factors, psychological factors, and awareness. A market segment is selected as the target audience. For free vaccination programme, on the basis of geography more focus will be on people living in rural areas. On the basis of demography, people who are married and are falling in the age group of 18-40 years will be targeted (Wardlaw et al. 2010). Educated, as well as uneducated people, will be targeted. People living in rural, as well as urban areas, will be targeted. The Marketing communication mix will be used to position the free vaccination programme on the basis of long-run benefits of the vaccine. Design message The content and the presentation of the message play an important role in deciding the effectiveness of communication plan. The advertisements will have a message- Get your child vaccinated free of cost otherwise the disease may cost the life of your child. The message will have a visual where a mother is getting her child vaccinated. The message will have some facts like a number of deaths caused by measles in 1 year in Somalia and the age at which the vaccine should be taken. The message should be designed in such a way that it is powerful enough to leave a lasting impression on the minds of viewers. Development of IMC program Following are the tools that are used to accomplish the communication objectives that are set for a campaign: advertising, direct marketing, internet marketing, sales promotion, publicity/ public relations and personal selling. Integrated Marketing Communication means that different tools used to accomplish the communication objectives should convey the same meaning. For this campaign, advertisements, public relations, and internet marketing will be used. Thus both online and offline channels will be used for communication. Following are the advantages of PR programmes: Credibility: People consider PR communications to be more credible than advertisements (Watson 2013). For example, an article in the newspaper discussing the mortality rate due to measles and the availability of a vaccine to prevent measles will be perceived to be more credible than an advertisement on a billboard. Cost: Cost involved in PR activities will be less in comparison to the cost involved in advertising. Avoidance of clutter: People focus more on PR activities in comparison to advertisements because there is a lot of clutter in the advertisement world (Watson 2013). Implementation of communication strategies In advertisements, two different types of appeals are used: emotional and a rational appeal. In emotional appeal different emotions like fear, affection, nostalgia, pleasure, comfort, etc. is used, whereas in rational appeal only facts are stated (Barker 2013). For free vaccination programme emotional appeal (fear) will be used- if parents do not get their children vaccinated against measles, they may die due to this disease. The advertisements will have a message- Get your child vaccinated free of cost otherwise the disease may cost the life of your child. We can also ask a celebrity (actor or sports person) to be a part of the campaign (Barker 2013). Media planning needs to be done before promotional messages are directed towards the target audience. Following are the elements of the media plan: Medium: The medium (newspaper, magazines, radio, television) to be used for advertisements. For this campaign, television and newspaper will be used for advertising. Media vehicle: The specific that is to be used within a given medium. For this campaign, advertisements will be given in the Times Today newspaper, The Show and Relevant channels on television (Coman 2009). Frequency: It is the number of times the viewer is exposed to an advertisement. The advertisement will be given in the newspaper once in a week and once in 2 hours on television. For online marketing, social media like Facebook and Twitter will be used for the promotion of the campaign. Banner advertisements will appear once a person visits a website related to health and well-being (Coman 2009). Monitoring and evaluating the IMC program It is very important to assess the effectiveness of the communication mix because of the following reasons: A lot of costs are involved in the promotion of a campaign. If the campaign is not achieving its objectives, there is no point in spending money. If the chosen communication mix is unable to achieve its objectives, we can look for alternative communication strategies. Following techniques will be used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements: Awareness survey: Once people are exposed to advertisements regarding free vaccination campaign, surveys will be conducted at an interval of 2 months to measure the percentage increase in the people getting their children vaccinated against measles (Hegel Bucklin 2003). Recall test: A sample of the target audience will be taken and they will be asked to recall the message of the advertisement. Diagnostics: A sample of the target audience will be taken and their reactions towards the advertisement will be examined. Evaluation will also be done on how well the message has been communicated to the audience (Watson 2013). Following techniques will be used to measure the effectiveness of PR programs: Total number of impressions on the target audience over a given period of time i.e. 2 months Percentage of positive articles or posts over 2 months Percentage of negative articles or posts over 2 months Ratio of positive to negative articles or posts over 2 months The impact of online communication can be monitored by measuring the volume of visitors on the website of the National Health Authority of Somalia, number of posts on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter (Hegel Bucklin 2003). 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