Building of Brand Image of Newspapers through Integrated Marketing Communication

Abstract

It is no secret that newspapers sales across the country are down and newspapers are having a hard time adapting to new technology and customer trends. In order to increase newspapers circulation more emphasis should be placed on newspapers branding. This is because of the fact that brand resides in the brain of customers and other stakeholders. A good newspaper should be seen as a brand and all departments should see their product as a brand and know exactly what it means. If the definition of the brand varies in different departments of the company, it may vary as well among its readers. Researcher’s knowledge of marketing will help defining the importance of brand of newspaper and execute them to sustain the industry. From the perspective of integrated marketing, newspapers not onlycarry information on the physical paper but also contain the invisible form of services. These invisible forms are two; one, to the audience to provide news and other information services, and second, to provide medium to advertisers to publish their advertisement. So the newspaper's brand building and brand promotion should be to meet the actual and potential information needs of audiences and advertisers as the starting point, its own brand of products and services can extend to all aspects involved. Once in journalism, "marketing" and "branding" were irrelevant words. But given the media fall out as a backdrop for the digital global, it's time that newspapers and the company realize that the masthead of their paper must be a brand. To capture the attention of today’s customer, newspapers require skillful use of the tools of advanced marketing strategy. Managing the newspaper’s public facing image and brand are crucial for its success.But newspapers of Bangladesh studied on The Daily Prothom Alo and The Daily Kaler kantho are using a traditional or mixed up marketing strategy for business and brand become a matter of period they are in market. Study shows that the tools of brand communication; advertising, direct marketing, personal selling, sales promotion/trade promotion, public relation are not using here in an integrated way. Consequently, newspapers are suffering for effective brand crisis. In today’s competitive world, brand value is crucial to sustain in long run. Newspapers cannot be expected to win the fight to be the leading source of news and information for their readers if they aren’t armed with necessary information about what people think of their brand. A descriptive research methodology is used to justify the marketing effectiveness of newspapers industry where both secondary data and primary data were occupied. A structured questionnaire based on research objectives in Likert format was used to gather primary data. A thorough observation and secondary data expedite the way of understanding current market situation. Determine the value of the newspaper brand and determine the newspaper in the capital market, integration of resources in the field need to appeal rather than practicing a mixed up marketing strategy. The study exposed that the marketing strategy; Prothom Alo and kaler kantho are practicing a mixed up marketing strategy, not a frame of Integrated Marketing Communication. No Doubt, Prothom Alo developed a brand concept that newspapers are not only news body but also an influential tool of social change. Kaler Kantho is striving for a differentiate brand image. Both Prothom Alo and Kaler Kantho have the scope remain to apply the Integrated Marketing Communication to satisfy today’s customer expectation as well as enhance their brand image in an integrated way.