Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is an approach to brand communications where the different modes work together to create a seamless experience for the customer and are presented with a similar tone and style that reinforces the brand’s core message. Its goal is to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, personal selling, online communications, and social media work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation, which maximizes their costeffectiveness.

IMC is becoming more significant in marketing practice because of the reduced costeffectiveness of mass media and media fragmentation. As consumers spend more time online and on mobile devices, all exposures of the brand need to tie together so they are more likely to be remembered. Increasingly the strategies of brands cannot be understood by looking solely at their advertising. Instead they can be understood by seeing how all aspects of their communications ecosystem work together and, in particular, how communications are personalized for each customer and react in real time, as in a conversation. Brand strategies and their tactics can be viewed on the IntegratedBrands site.

Sourced: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_marketing_communications