Table of Contents
Introduction
In any strategic business plan, a communication plan is important since it acts as a navigation tool that aids a business in meeting its business goals. A communication plan enables a business clarify its goals and objectives as well as clarify the relationships that exist between messages, channels, audiences, activities and materials. Furthermore, a communication plan will clarify stakeholders and staff members’ roles in the communication process as well as aid in the identification and implementation of various communication activities (Ferguson, 2009). The purpose of the proposed plan is to grow Metro Bank’s personal banking service by around 5% by the end of February 2019.
Target Audience
Metro Bank plans to achieve a growth of 5% in the personal banking products segment by targeting university students who are mainly from the South East of London. This group mainly consists of young adults in their late teens, early twenties and mid twenties. Most of these young adults are eager to exploit any economic opportunities that may arise. They are global citizens and are always in touch mostly through digital media and social platforms but are often vulnerable in face to face communication. Technology defines many aspects of their lives and they are likely to share their experiences. Metro Bank plans to grab the attention of this target audience and by invoking their curiosity, engaging them and ultimately ensuring that they open personal banking accounts.
Promotional Mix Theory Explained
The promotional mix is one of the key elements of a marketing plan. The promotional mix contains tools used to communicate to a target market with an aim of achieving an organization’s sales goals and therefore increase its profits. Tools contained in the promotional mix include: personal selling where sales personnel target audiences on a one on one basis; advertising where an organization pays for a one way (impersonal) communication with the target audience; sales promotions where various methods of motivating consumers into making purchases such as giving of coupons is employed and public relations where an organization applies a substantial effort in building a positive public image (Richter, 2012).
Proposed Promotion in Detail
Use of advertisement is one of the most effective promotion tools that Metro Bank can employ to reach and engage their target audience and therefore achieve their objective of increasing personal banking services by 5% by February 2019. Advertising can be in various forms and can be carried through various channels such the use of giant billboards, radio, newspaper, social media, internet and television. Advantages of advertising are numerous. With a single advertisement one can reach a large audience. Advertisements especially those done on print media last for a long time. Advertisements are also relatively cheap. One major downside of advertisement is that there is enormous competition from other advertisements.
Preferred Promotion Channel
Advertising on the social media is the chosen channel and the preferred means by which to carry the promotion. This is due to the nature of the target audience who rely heavily on the use of the internet in most of their daily activities. The promotion could be carried across the major social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Furthermore, Metro Bank could use social media in various ways to promote personal banking products. The bank could carry promotions through its own business accounts and contacts (in-house) or they could use influencer marketing where influential people on social media are paid to endorse products (Eastman, 2000).
Communication Plan Key Messages
Key messages in any communication plan are the most important points that you want your target audience to hear and remember. Key messages allow you to control communication and also enhance the relationships with your target audience. The key messages have to be easy to understand, believable and purposeful. They are also short, specific and above all easy to remember. Key messages are also tailor made for specific audiences and allow one to have control of the information that reaches the audience. The key message in this promotion is the ‘Zero Account Opening Fees’. It is purposeful, simple, positive, easy to understand and very memorable (Barton, 2014).
AIDA Marketing Theory
The promotion seeks to exploit the source attributes and key messages in order to achieve Metro Banks objective with the aid of AIDA marketing theory. AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) marketing theory states that for an advertisement to be effective it has to capture the attention of the target audience, keep the attention of the audience by keeping them interested in the product, create a desire for the product in the target audience and ultimately convince the target audience to take action of buying the product. For example, in this promotion, the ‘Zero Account Opening Fees’ grabs the attention of the audience while image of a young woman withdrawing cash from an ATM keeps the audience interested (Egan, 20007).
The Communications Plan Visual Illustration
Conclusion
For any strategic business plan to succeed it requires an effective communication plan. Any business organization seeking to succeed needs to formulate and implement a communication plan that will not only ensure that it captures the attention and interest of the target audience but also invokes desire in them that will ultimately drive them into purchasing products.
- Barton, P. (2014). Maximizing Internal Communication: Strategies to Turn Heads, Win Hearts, Engage Employees and Get Results. London: BookBaby.
- Eastman, S. T. (2000). Research in Media Promotion. New York: Routledge.
- Egan, J. (20007). Marketing Communications. New York: Cengage Learning EMEA.
- Ferguson, S. D. (2009). Communication Planning: An Integrated Approach. New York: SAGE.
- Richter, T. (2012). International Marketing Mix Management: Theoretical Framework, Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World-Markets. London: Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH.