Workshop on Marketing Communications and Media Planning

Program Overview

Advertising and marketing communications’ is the art and business of developing and communicating messages that provide consumers with information about products, services and ideas. Marketing communications is exciting, creative, demanding, rewarding and challenging. This 5-day course is designed to provide training in the theoretical and practical aspects of modern marketing communications. Participants will review the many marketing tools available, digital or conventional, and learn about the whole advertising and communication function using a variety of media techniques geared for campaign success.

For Whom:

The course is designed for professionals in marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, human resource, sales, and business development who need practical, up-to-date knowledge of marketing strategy and techniques. The course is aimed at all types of organizations such as large corporations, government agencies, small businesses and nonprofit entities.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the program, participants will be able to:

• describe the field of marketing communication and explain the characteristics of successful campaigns (offline and online);
• optimize visibility of brand or company image by exercising well rounded knowledge of event concepts and strategies;
• define the principles of integrated marketing communication (IMC) and describe how companies apply these principles to ensure messages are heard by both consumers and businesses;
• apply insights and skills needed to manage special marketing communications issues and create successful solutions; and
• recognize and implement social media vehicles and tactics to maximize the marketing campaign return on investment.

Course Outline:

 Day 1: The role of promotion and the marketing mix

• An overview of the marketing mix
• The role of promotion in marketing
• The elements of the promotion mix
• Advertising
• Personal selling
• Public relations
• Sales promotion
• Promotion mix strategies across the Product Life Cycle (PLC)

Day 2: Event management: creating company or brand exposure

• Creating an event concept
• Key elements of event design
• Event planning and execution
• Aligning event elements with company or brand identity
• Creating an event check-list

Day 3: Launching an advertising campaign 

• Marketing communications objectives
• Characteristics of a successful campaign
• Steps in creating an advertising campaign
• A typical IMC plan template:
• Situational analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Marketing communications objectives
• Marketing communications message objectives
• Marketing communications strategies
• Marketing communications mix
• Marketing communications budget
• Marketing communications media scheduling
• Marketing communication implementation,

monitoring and control

• The role of the advertising agency
• Typical full-service agency organization
• What to ask from the advertising agency?
• Team workshop: launching a full campaign

Day 4: The framework of promotional campaigns

• Assessing the brand’s strengths and weaknesses
• Identifying a clear positioning
• Identifying the target market
• Selecting a consistent message
• Evaluating different creative briefs
• Agreeing on the final strategic copy

Day 5: Digital marketing campaign strategies

• Traditional versus digital marketing
• Some digital marketing tools
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google plus
• Email marketing
• Mobile marketing
• Pay per click marketing
• Preparing and managing a digital marketing campaign
• Website analytics: measuring the effectiveness of digital marketing

Training Methodology

Lectures, discussions, exercises, case studies, audio-visual aids will be used to reinforce these teachings/learning methods.