Integrated Marketing Communications Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Marketing Managers, Brand Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-M-037

Before you join: Participants should have practical exposure to marketing, communications, digital channels, sales support or customer engagement.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is difficult when campaigns are planned by channel, messages differ between paid media, sales teams and customer communications, and performance reporting stops at clicks or impressions. The result can be duplicated spend, confused audiences and weak evidence of commercial contribution. Marketing professionals need a disciplined way to connect business objectives, audience insight, proposition, channel roles, content, timing and measurement into one accountable programme.

This course shows participants how to develop and manage integrated campaigns from brief to evaluation. They examine stakeholder and customer decision journeys, segment audiences, define communication objectives, build a single-minded message platform and assign clear roles to paid, owned, earned and shared channels. Participants use the RACE planning framework, PESO model, customer journey mapping, media and content planning techniques, campaign budgeting and measurement design. The course also addresses cross-functional governance, agency briefing, brand consistency, marketing compliance and campaign optimisation.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic cases, group analysis, campaign planning simulations and facilitated peer review. Cases can be adapted for financial services, public sector, NGO, B2B, retail, technology and professional services contexts. Participants build a reusable integrated campaign plan containing audience priorities, objectives, messaging, channel architecture, content requirements, budget assumptions, delivery milestones and measurement criteria.

The course suits professionals responsible for planning, coordinating or evaluating multi-channel communications. It is particularly useful where marketing, digital, sales, customer experience, corporate communications and external agencies must work from a common plan while retaining clear accountability for execution and results.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose communication gaps using customer journeys, channel audits and stakeholder evidence
  • Write integrated campaign briefs linking commercial objectives, audiences, messages and measures
  • Develop message platforms using value propositions, proof points and brand voice rules
  • Apply the PESO model to assign channel roles and coordinate touchpoints
  • Create content and media plans aligned to audience decision stages
  • Build campaign budgets, delivery schedules and governance responsibilities
  • Design measurement frameworks using objectives, KPIs, baselines and attribution logic
  • Present an integrated marketing communications plan for stakeholder approval

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produces integrated campaign plans that connect business goals to channel activity
  • Improves confidence when challenging fragmented briefs and inconsistent messages
  • Strengthens collaboration with sales, digital, communications and agency colleagues
  • Builds practical measurement plans beyond reach, impressions and click-through rates
  • Creates a portfolio-ready campaign planning document for future assignments

For your organisation

  • Reduces duplicated activity through defined channel roles and shared campaign priorities
  • Improves message consistency across paid media, sales materials and customer communications
  • Connects marketing expenditure to agreed commercial, behavioural and reputation outcomes
  • Speeds campaign approval through clearer briefs, decision rights and delivery milestones
  • Improves agency accountability with defined outputs, measures and reporting requirements

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain the purpose, scope and operating principles of integrated marketing communications.

  • IMC defined through coordinated messages, channels, audiences and measurable business outcomes
  • Communication integration versus channel presence, campaign activity and promotional consistency
  • Business objectives translated into marketing, communication and customer behaviour objectives
  • Stakeholder roles across marketing, sales, service, communications and external agencies
  • Brand consistency rules applied across campaigns, customer journeys and response channels
  • Common causes of fragmented campaigns, duplicated spend and conflicting customer messages

Participants can identify priority audiences and map the decisions shaping communication needs.

  • Segmentation criteria using needs, value, behaviour, lifecycle and decision authority
  • Primary, secondary and influencing audiences prioritised against campaign objectives
  • Customer journey maps identifying triggers, questions, barriers and decision moments
  • Jobs to Be Done framing for audience motivations and desired progress
  • Persona evidence separated from assumptions, stereotypes and unsupported demographic detail
  • Buying committee analysis for complex B2B and public procurement decisions

Participants can write campaign briefs that align objectives, audiences, proposition and delivery requirements.

  • SMART communication objectives linked to audience actions and business measures
  • Positioning statements defining category, audience, benefit, differentiation and reason to believe
  • Single-minded propositions developed from audience insight and organisational value
  • Campaign brief sections covering context, challenge, audience, objectives and constraints
  • Mandatories, approvals and legal requirements specified before creative development begins
  • Brief evaluation criteria preventing unclear scopes, channel bias and measure gaps

Participants can create a message architecture that preserves relevance and brand consistency.

  • Message hierarchy structured around master promise, supporting claims and proof points
  • Core messages adapted by audience need without changing strategic positioning
  • Reasons to believe drawn from evidence, expertise, service features and outcomes
  • Tone of voice guidelines applied to formal, promotional and service communications
  • Message matrices matching audience segments with barriers, benefits and calls-to-action
  • Claim substantiation checks for regulated products, public bodies and sensitive topics

Participants can assign purposeful roles to channels within an integrated communication programme.

  • PESO model distinguishing paid, earned, shared and owned media roles
  • Channel roles assigned by audience behaviour, message complexity and desired action
  • Reach, engagement, conversion and retention channels connected through planned handoffs
  • Touchpoint sequencing across awareness, consideration, decision, onboarding and advocacy stages
  • Channel conflict identified between direct sales, distributors, service teams and media
  • Contact frequency managed through suppression rules, consent status and fatigue indicators

Participants can specify content, creative and media requirements for coordinated campaign delivery.

  • Content pillars derived from campaign proposition, audience questions and proof requirements
  • Editorial calendars linking assets, channels, owners, publication dates and dependencies
  • Creative briefs defining response objective, audience insight and desired takeaway
  • Media planning terms covering reach, frequency, CPM, CPC and conversion rate
  • Paid media choices assessed against targeting capability, cost and brand suitability
  • Content repurposing planned from flagship assets to channel-specific executions

Participants can prepare practical budgets and resource plans for integrated campaigns.

  • Objective-and-task budgeting built from required activities, volumes and delivery costs
  • Working budgets separated into media, production, technology, agency and contingency lines
  • Scenario planning compares minimum, expected and accelerated campaign investment levels
  • Resource plans assign accountable owners, contributors, approvers and informed stakeholders
  • RACI matrices clarify decisions for content, media, data, legal and procurement
  • Procurement requirements addressed through scopes, supplier criteria and approval gates

Participants can design measurement plans that support reporting, learning and campaign improvement.

  • Measurement frameworks connect objectives, KPIs, baselines, targets and data sources
  • Leading and lagging indicators distinguished for awareness, demand and customer outcomes
  • Funnel metrics calculated from reach, response, conversion, retention and value
  • Attribution limits explained for multi-touch journeys, offline activity and long sales cycles
  • Test-and-learn plans define hypotheses, variables, sample considerations and decision rules
  • AMEC framework applied to outputs, outtakes, outcomes and organisational impact

Participants can establish governance arrangements that keep campaigns coordinated and accountable.

  • Campaign governance defines decision rights, escalation routes and meeting cadence
  • Agency scopes aligned with strategy, deliverables, service levels and reporting expectations
  • Approval workflows balance speed, brand protection, legal review and stakeholder input
  • Marketing operations dashboards track milestones, dependencies, budget status and performance
  • Risk registers cover reputational, regulatory, data, delivery and supplier risks
  • Post-campaign reviews document results, lessons, decisions and reusable planning standards

Participants can assemble and present an integrated campaign plan for a defined business challenge.

  • Campaign plan structure combines insight, objectives, proposition, channels and measures
  • Strategic choices justified through audience evidence, commercial priorities and constraints
  • Timeline mapping coordinates launch phases, content production and response readiness
  • Stakeholder presentations tailored for executive sponsors, delivery teams and agency partners
  • Implementation priorities sequenced using impact, effort, risk and dependency criteria
  • Ninety-day application plans define immediate actions, owners and review points

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Integrated campaign brief template
  2. Customer journey mapping template
  3. Message architecture matrix
  4. PESO channel role model
  5. Campaign measurement framework
  6. Ninety-day implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Marketing Managers — need to coordinate campaigns, teams and external partners
  • Brand Managers — need consistent positioning across campaign channels and customer touchpoints
  • Digital Marketing Managers — need to connect digital activity with wider communication plans
  • Corporate Communications Managers — need aligned messaging across reputation and marketing activity
  • Sales Enablement Managers — need campaigns that support lead conversion and account development
  • Agency Account Managers — need stronger client briefs, planning discipline and performance reporting

Skills and tools covered

Campaign planningAudience segmentationMessage architectureChannel integrationMarketing measurementAgency management

Tools and standards

RACE Planning Framework, PESO Model, Customer Journey Map, AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce planning methods, followed by case analysis, group discussions, campaign planning simulations and structured peer review. Participants work with realistic communication challenges, such as improving mortgage product adoption, increasing B2B software trial conversion or strengthening public health programme participation. Facilitated application planning helps participants adapt the methods to their own organisation. The instructor provides feedback on audience choices, message logic, channel roles, budget assumptions and measurement design throughout the five days.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical exposure to marketing, communications, digital channels, sales support or customer engagement. They should understand basic marketing terms such as target audience, brand, campaign, conversion and KPI, and be able to discuss a current product, service or communication challenge from their organisation. Prior experience in media buying, advertising creative development, analytics platforms or agency management is helpful but not required. The course does not require advanced statistics, graphic design skills, specialist software expertise or prior formal marketing qualifications.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic marketing and communication terminology and have some exposure to marketing, sales, digital activity or customer engagement. You do not need media buying, advanced analytics or agency-side experience.

Bring a current campaign, product, service or communication challenge if you can. This gives you material for applying the planning methods, although course cases are available for participants without a live project.

It suits marketing, brand, digital, communications, sales enablement and agency professionals who coordinate activity across several channels. It is designed for practitioners who already understand basic marketing but need stronger planning and integration skills.

Digital marketing courses usually focus on digital channels, platforms and optimisation techniques, while brand management courses focus on positioning and brand stewardship. This course connects brand, content, media, sales, service and communications into one campaign planning and measurement system.

Participants can use the campaign brief, message matrix, channel role model and measurement framework on current initiatives. The methods are suitable for product launches, behaviour-change programmes, customer retention activity, reputation campaigns and B2B demand generation.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case work, group planning, simulations, discussion and application planning across the ten modules.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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