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The concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) was developed in the 1990s and has gained significant interest from academics and practitioners, yet it is seldom achieved in practice. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons behind this assertion.

Knowledge needed for this study was generated from a case study of a global company, operating a decentralized organizational structure in the health-care industry.

Thirty semi-structured interviews were performed with marketing employees and management. This paper contributes to facilitating marketing communications by developing a conceptual model using strategic guiding principles to align marketing communication activities.

Thematic analysis generated three integration areas: efficiency, consistency and relationship.

The information generated from this research paper should assist managers when attempting to implement an integrated approach to marketing communications.

As IMC is intertwined with the concept of strategy, if it is implemented as a strategic process; similar social influences are relevant for strategic IMC implementation.

This paper contributes to facilitating marketing communications by developing a conceptual model using strategic guiding principles to align marketing communication activities.

The paper aims to explore how companies communicate their heritage by drawing on heritage marketing and corporate communications literature and mapping the corporate heritage communication strategies of iconic Italian brands.

The study adopts an inductive multiple case study approach, analysing the communication of corporate heritage by nine iconic Italian brands (Pastificio Lucio Garofalo, Barovier & Toso, Pasta Farina, Ducati, Amaro Montenegro, Fiat, Bonomelli, Olivetti and Illy).

In communicating corporate heritage, companies adopt different strategies that vary along two main dimensions – the subject of the story and the tone of voice of the content. The strategies are: (1) heritage for authenticity; (2) heritage for market leadership; and (3) heritage for continuity.

From a theoretical point of view, the study highlights that heritage marketing strategies vary according to underlying strategic themes and narrative approaches. From a managerial point of view, it offers a preliminary guide for the development of corporate heritage communications, also providing indications for their implementation.

This study is amongst the firsts to investigate the strategic antecedents that can shape corporate heritage communication strategies. It represents an integration of the existing literature, which is limited to the descriptive presentation of heritage marketing principles and tools.

This study aims to investigate how marketing communication (MC) and nascent corporate communication (CC) strategies are juxtaposed in the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) setting.

A qualitative research method based on a multiple case study approach is elaborated in a South-East Asian emerging economy.

The key findings show that MC and nascent CC strategies coexist in SMEs, and are frequently closely interwoven, enabling the introduction of an integrated hybrid communication (IHC) theoretical perspective in this context. Four requisites inform IHC management: communicate the identity/roots; establish and communicate the relationship with multiple stakeholders; communicate the product/service to customers; and communicate other activities of the firm (e.g. corporate social responsibility and brand identity). SME managers were predisposed to use at least three communication channels among the following: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing and/or personal selling. Furthermore, managers generally preferred internet-enabled communication.

This study provides fresh insights into how SMEs could integrate their communication strategies to increase their survival chances and business growth. However, the need to develop SMEs is required in every economy. Thus, the present findings could be seen as relevant to various audiences (academic, practitioners and/or policy-makers) such as for managers from Western and/or European settings who are interested in operating in the Malaysian economy.

By using the four requisites that inform IHC, owners/managers of SMEs can adopt a more holistic approach, by strategically planning communication activities using both communication typologies (i.e. product and firm level). Thus, SMEs will be able to enhance clarity and consistency in their communication strategy and achieve brand equity across relevant stakeholders in the long run.

This study introduces the IHC theoretical perspective and reveals the communication tools used by SMEs to communicate product and brand-related messages to multiple stakeholders. These messages tend to stem from and are shaped by the identity/roots of the firm embedded in managerial personality/values.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication of the Fortune top-100 companies during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Specifically, the authors examine the messages of international companies' CSR communication to customers during the pandemic, focusing particularly on the companies' posts on Twitter. In addition to identifying what international companies communicate, the authors determine the motives of companies' COVID-19-related CSR communication as well as how companies strategically approach CSR communication.

Using Nvivo, the authors carried out content analysis of the COVID-19-related tweets of the Fortune top-100 companies using Twitter's ‘advanced search’ tool. The analysis included tweets posted between 1 February 2020 and September 2021, a period that represents the peak of the pandemic.

Study findings indicate that COVID-19-related CSR responses of international companies are driven by commitment to organizational values, attainment of recognition for timely response to COVID-19, altruistic motives to combat COVID-19 and congruence with social movements that create expectations from customers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most companies adopt a response strategy to CSR communication, by informing customers of their COVID-19 responses in relation to several issues such as alterations in companies' processes and the impacts of the pandemic on health.

The study suggests that the CSR practices of companies should be strategically embedded in organizations' international marketing plans and not remain just on-off responses to crises should marketing-related benefits be obtained. Several recommendations are made to strengthen companies' adoption of a proactive, engagement-oriented approach to CSR communication.

The CSR communication of international companies during external crises has not been sufficiently studied in relation to international marketing, as most studies considered internal corporate crises. Focusing on an external crisis (COVID-19 pandemic) with global impacts, this study advances existing knowledge on international companies' CSR communication to their customers. Additionally, this study offers new insights on the role of integrated, coordinated and consistent CSR messages and strategies, which are targeted to the needs and expectations of domestic and international customers in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

Contemporary businesses face rapidly evolving changes and complexities that challenge their respective managerial responses and capabilities. The natures of information and communication systems, ways of doing business, knowledge-transfer methods, diffusion channels of innovation, and industrial habitus are shifting. Additionally, methods, concepts, and frameworks to study these challenges need to be in accordance.

Many of these features characterizing the new business environment influence not only the consumer business, but also the business-to-business (B2B) sectors and their ways of functioning. Interestingly, the influence also connects domestic with international business through the global connectedness. This is particularly visible in marketing communication, as the difference between domestic and international business communication has further diminished due to digital and virtual dimensions and applications. In this new age, it is assumed that new ventures and small- and medium-sized enterprises can turn their vulnerabilities and size constraints into competitive advantages by addressing these challenges with efficient social media usage. To address this technology-enabled dimension of B2B relations, the authors present a case study illustrating how a firm advances its relationship management and communication by introducing social media instruments. The study contributes to relationship management and international marketing communication and provides new insights into the workings of social media within the B2B context.

The purpose is to gain an understanding of how traditional service companies use the internet in their marketing communication and what effect the internet has had on their use of other marketing communication channels.

Multiple case studies have been carried out at 19 Swedish service companies.

The findings show that three different communications strategies are used depending on the scope of internet use and the extent to which the companies utilise relationship marketing. Small or decentralised companies use the personalised relationship communication strategy. Large companies have the option of using either the mass relationship communication strategy or the mass transaction communication strategy. The characteristics of the strategies and their respective effects on the other marketing communications tools are described.

The conceptualisation of the communications strategies provides a framework that gives added understanding and is useful for further studies.

The presentation of the strategies and their implications should be useful for managers of service companies when planning their communication activities. The managers will benefit from making a conscious choice between the strategies and considering their features and implications.

The conceptualisation of the internet communications strategies provides a novel view of the communications options for service firms. This framework is useful for further research and for managers of service firms.

The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast Internet marketing communication tools used to accomplish key marketing goals between European Union higher education institutions (HEIs) and non-EU HEIs, such as in the case of Poland and Ukraine.

In the article, the authors used the literature review method to justify the importance of implementing HEI marketing strategy based on marketing communications with Internet users, and thus to justify the relevance of the chosen research topic. Based on the literature review, the authors identified the goals of HEI advertising campaigns on the Internet (branding, recruitment of students, site traffic increase and subscription of Internet users to the university newsletter) and substantiated the analytical study of the two countries. The survey conducted by the authors allowed them to form their conclusions, the validity of which is based on the interpretation of the indicators calculated in the analytical section.

The hypothesis that the focus of HEI Internet marketing communications, recruitment of students, is universal regardless of the country of origin is proven. There is also no significant differences in Internet marketing communication tool use that is “simpler” and cheaper. University marketing managers widely use Internet advertising tools, but they have difficulty implementing public relations and sales promotion tools. Internet marketing communication is an important component of HEIs' marketing strategies, thus, comparing EU and non-EU HEIs informs future strategies.

The results of this research are of interest to HEIs that seek to improve the adaptation of their marketing communication strategy to meet the conditions of digitalisation and to strengthen their competitive foothold within the market. Also, the findings can help HEI marketing staff members to improve marketing communication tools used to build and maintain relationships with their online customers.

This study highlights the similarities and differences in approach to Internet marketing communications among EU (Poland) and non-EU HEIs (Ukraine). In conducting a thorough review of research, as well as a survey of 185 HEI marketing staff members, the paper offers insight into the approach HEIs of varying cultural backgrounds take to Internet marketing communications and online recruitment.

This study aims to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) companies use message strategies on social media platform and how these strategies are effective in improving customer perceived value and encouraging customer engagement, as well as how B2B companies differ from business-to-customer (B2C) counterparts in terms of utilization and effectiveness of social media message strategy.

Based on content analysis of Sina Weibo brand pages and survey of website visitors, this paper examines the differences of social media message strategies and their impacts upon customer perceived value and customer engagement between B2B and B2C companies.

B2B companies use more rational appeals and less emotional appeals, have lower degree of informativeness and perform better in interactivity and variety than B2C companies. These five dimensions of message strategy have different roles in engaging customers via perceived value across B2B and B2C settings.

The research makes significant contributions to B2B social media marketing literature by answering two interrelated questions, namely, “What companies are doing?” and “What companies should do?” on social media websites. Besides, it provides insightful implications for B2B companies on how to implement appropriate message strategies in their social media marketing efforts by conducting Importance-Performance Analysis.

This study aims to capture how the association between a multichannel relational communication strategy (MRCS) and customer performance is contingent upon such customer performance (low- versus high-performance customers) and to reconcile past contradictory results in this marketing-related topic. To this end, the authors propose and validate the method of quantile regression as an unconventional, yet effective, means to proceed to that reconciliation.

This study collected data from 4,934 customers of a private pension fund firm and accounted for both firm- and customer-initiated relational communication channels (RCCs) and for customer lifetime value (CLV). This study estimated a generalized linear model and then a quantile regression model was used to account for customer performance heterogeneity.

This study finds that specific RCCs present different levels of association with performance for low- versus high-performance customers, where outcome customer performance is the dependent variable. For example, the relation between firm-initiated communication (FIC) and performance is stronger for low-CLV customers, whereas the relation between customer-initiated communication (CIC) and performance is increasingly stronger for high-CLV customers but not for low-CLV ones. This study also finds that combining different forms of FIC can result in a negative association with customer performance, especially for low-CLV customers.

The authors tested the conceptual model in one single firm in the specific context of financial services and with cross-sectional data, so there should be caution when extrapolating this study’s findings.

This study offers nuanced and precise managerial insights on recommended resource allocation along with relational communication efforts, showing how managers can benefit from adopting a differentiated-customer performance approach when designing their MRCS.

This study provides an overview of the state of the art of MRCS, proposes a contingency analysis of the relationship between MRCS and performance based on customer performance heterogeneity and suggests the quantile method to perform such analysis and help reconcile past contradictory findings. This study shows how the association between RCCs and CLV varies across the conditional quantiles of the distribution of customer performance. This study also addresses a recent call for a more holistic perspective on the relationships between independent and dependent variables.