

Marketing Communications and Brand Management
Overview:
Introduction:
This Marketing Communications and Brand Management training course provides participants with an understanding of the concepts of marketing communications and branding activities at a practical level. The focus is primarily on enhancing the skills and knowledge needed to coordinate communication activities and manage campaigns. Some theories and strategic issues are covered to provide a relevant context to practice.
Course Objectives:
At the end of this course the participants will be able to:
- Explain the role and win support for marketing communications from more senior executives
- Advice on how to create an effective plan tailored to their organization and stakeholders and using relevant tools and media
- Plan and deliver advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing campaigns that achieve their objectives
- Manage marketing communication and brand support activities using both offline and online media
- Evaluate the effectiveness of communication tools using appropriate criteria such as cost and credibility
Targeted Audience:
- All those who have the responsibility for developing and managing marketing communications and brand support activities within their organizations
Course Outlines:
Unit 1: How does Marketing Communication Work?
- The communications process
- How audiences process information and make decisions
- Establishing and maintaining successful stakeholder relationships
- Above and below the line activities
- Ethics, responsibility, and codes of practice
- Understanding global audiences and communication challenges
Unit 2: The Marketing Communications mix
- How and when to use the tools: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, personal selling
- Choosing between the different mediums: broadcast, print, outdoor, digital, social media, in-store
- Co-ordinating and integrating marketing communication activities
- Insights into media planning and buying
- Developing effective messages using the different types of appeals
- Creating content audiences pay attention to and understand
Unit 3: Managing Marketing Communication Programmes and Campaigns
- Selecting between the different marketing communication strategies
- Frameworks for planning communication activities
- Developing advertising and sales promotion campaigns
- Developing public relations and direct marketing campaigns
- Finances: forecasting expenditure and allocating budgets
- Metrics and evaluating the effectiveness of communication activities
Unit 4: Developing and Managing Brand Identity
- Elements of a brand: logo block, strapline, typefaces, typography, colors, tone of voice, photographic style, grids
- A-Z steps for building a brand: researching markets, finding a niche, putting your culture and identity into words, creating the brand manual, explaining the brand to different audiences, keeping your brand alive
- More complex branding decisions: naming families, positioning, extensions, multi-branding, repositioning
- Reproducing the brand: online, video, brochures, stationery, packaging, signage, promotional items, uniforms, vehicles
- The people aspects: finding champions to keep you on-brand, persuading customers to pledge loyalty to your brand, defending against internal and external threats
- Best practice branding case studies
Unit 5: Action Planning
- Putting it all together: developing a marketing communications plan tailored to your organization and stakeholders
- Identifying and setting priorities for implementation
- Winning support from key internal personnel for implementation
- Personal coaching: presenting the challenges you will face implementing your plan, for feedback and support
- Developing a personal action plan based on your strengths and areas for development identified during this program