Denise Ogden, professor of marketing at Penn State Lehigh Valley, will speak at an event hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) on the power of integrated marketing communications on Feb. 22 at the Penn State Lehigh Valley campus.
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — A Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV) professor and business expert will be part of a speakers’ panel discussing integrated marketing communications (IMC) at an upcoming event.
The Greater Lehigh Valley chapter of AAF will hold “Unveiling the Power of Integrated Marketing Communications — Crafting a Plan, Maximizing Impact” on Feb. 22 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the PSU-LV campus.
Denise Ogden, professor of marketing at PSU-LV, will be one of three speakers on the panel to discuss different aspects of integrated marketing communications (IMC), a marketing technique that emphasizes delivering a consistent marketing message. The other panelists are Louis Holzman, director, business development at Altitude Marketing, and Kelly-Ann Suarez, executive director, brand marketing, Lehigh Valley Health Network.
“IMC is a strategy where all communication coming from a company should be consistent across all mediums, such as TV, radio and Internet,” Ogden said. “It’s important because a company wants to enhance the customer experience by providing them with a seamless and consistent message. If you have one message on your website and another in your store, it’s confusing for customers. If it’s difficult for a customer to place an order online, they will abandon their cart.”
During her portion of the presentation, Ogden will talk about “the power of IMC, why it came into favor, what it means, how consumer behavior influences IMC, how to measure effectiveness of an IMC plan, and how new technologies are influencing the field,” she said.
IMC seems like a commonsense approach but can be difficult to implement, according to Ogden.
“Companies want to make sure all brand messages are saying the same thing and are in synergy with the customer experience. It makes sense, but it’s a lot harder to put it into practice," she said. "Some of this is due to organizational silos; departments have conversations, and that information is not disseminated across the company. The end result of effective IMC is an enhanced customer experience. You want customers to come back and continue doing business with you.”
The event is $30 for AAF-GLV members, $40 for non-members, and $10 for students. For more information or to register, visit the AAF-GLV website.
