The most important part of integrated marketing communication for Canary Jane’s Flowers is the communication between customers and employees. As shown in Figure 9.1 this form of communication is considered interactive marketing on the triangle and relates to delivering the promise. Canary Jane’s promise is to give customers the freshest flowers that are locally sourced and deliver exceptional service, their interactive communications plays an important role in creating consistent service to deliver this promise. Since Ms. Stacey doesn't have an advertising agent, she relies mainly on this form of communication to promote the business. She focuses more in delivering an excellent service in order to gain a good reputation and customer retention. This is evident by the review comments that have been uploaded by the customers, who have dealt with Canary Jane’s Flowers.
Interactive marketing involves having skilful and qualified frontline employees that understand what each customer requires. Canary Jane’s Flowers once had a customer who wanted to give his girlfriend a yellow flowers for Valentine's Day, the staff explained to him that yellow flowers symbolise friendship and suggested a different colour, the customer was impressed by their knowledge and went along with their suggestion. This illustrates that the staff intend to understand the customer's needs and offer the best service.
Interactive channels must be integrated to create consistent service promises. As part of advertising strategy Canary Jane’s Flowers uses social media such as Facebook. Their Facebook page is very interactive and up to date with lots of colourful pictures to appeal to the market. Canary Jane's Flowers was also featured in Frankie magazine, which is another form of unpaid advertising for the business. This proves that the staff are very active and consistent with the service provided.
Horizontal communication, also identified as lateral communication, is the passing of messages between entities and groups on the same level of an organization (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler 2013, p.434). Horizontal communication assists in the production of high quality exchange because it happens directly between people in the same environment, therefore it is also more efficient. Floristry is an artistry profession and fully depends on what the customers desires. Since there is only a small team of three at Canary Jane’s Flowers, horizontal communications is more significant and suitable. On the other hand, where there is an open channel between sales and operations things are more complicated (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler 2013, p.434). This is why Canary Jane’s Flowers communicate information through various strategies. For instance, horizontally; there is a system where all the staff uses to check for updates and also the orders. Vertically; in situations where there is a matter that requires the owner’s permission for decision making, such as a price change, then the information is sent to Ms. Stacey's email address. In addition, the rules, policies, procedures and regulations are all passed down from Ms. Stacey to all the staff members causing a downward flow of information. The communication returns upwards with the end of the day performance reports, complaints, feedback, etc. Communication can be difficult if employees do not effectively fulfill their roles.
References:
Zeithaml, V, Bitner, M & Gremler, D 2013, Services marketing, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York.
