Everything you need to know about Marketing Communication. Learn about:- 1. Concept of Marketing Communication 2. Definition of Marketing Communication 3. Meaning and Flow 4. Formal, Informal, Vertical & Horizontal Channels 5. Advertising Vs. Other Forms of Mass Communications 6. Types 7. Process 8. Tools 9. International Perspective 11. AIDA Communication Model and Strategy.
Contents
- Concept of Marketing Communication
- Definition of Marketing Communication
- Meaning and Flow of Marketing Communication
- Marketing Communication – Formal, Informal, Vertical, & Horizontal Channels
- Advertising Vs. Other Forms of Mass Communications
- Types of Marketing Communication
- Process of Marketing Communication
- Tools of Marketing Communication
- Marketing Communication in International Perspective
- AIDA Communication Model
- Advertising and Marketing Communication
- Uncontrolled Communication
- Promotion and Product Life Cycle (PLC)
- Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
- Dramatic Changes in Brand Communication
- Role of Marketing Communication
- Developing a Marketing Communications Programme
Marketing Communication: Definition, Objectives, Types, Process, Steps, Strategy and Examples
Marketing Communication – Concept
Broadly speaking, marketing communication is a continuous interaction between the buyers and sellers in a marketplace. Thus, any gesture or act that helps to attract buyers and satisfy their needs is marketing communication.
However, to a marketer, marketing communication is the process of presenting an integrated set of stimuli to a target with an intent of evoking a desired set of responses within that target market and setting up channels to receive, interpret and act upon messages and identifying new communication opportunities.
To many, marketing communications – advertising, personal selling, and other forms of persuasion is synonymous with marketing. This viewpoint is shared even by some businessmen, especially in traditional product-oriented firms where the marketing function is often defined as that of selling and advertising the company’s products. Marketing, in fact, includes much more than just promotional communications.
Indeed, the most critical elements of marketing are usually those associated with determining a company’s product line, in the first place, and its choice of markets in which to attempt to sell the line.
Although marketing is not only communication, it is obviously an important component of the marketing process and of marketing management in a company. Promotional communication is the most visible and controversial element of marketing activity, and one of the most costly.
When consumers criticize marketing practices, they almost always single out promotion, not product policies, pricing, or channels of distribution. Most of the legislation regulating marketing is likewise directed at selling and advertising activities.
Communication is thus important to management because it is a subject of controversy and restrictions, and also because it has an important bearing on success in the market.
Promotional strategy is closely related to the process of communication. Communication is a central element of promotion and consists of transmitting symbols which carry meaning to other parties. Those who are responsible for the management of traditional efforts are in a position to benefit from the application of the communication theory.
Marketing Communication – Definition
A standard definition of communication is the transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver.
Marketing communications, then, are those messages that deal with buyer-seller relationships.
Marketing communication is a broader term than promotional strategy, for it includes words of mouth and other forms of unsystematic communication. A planned promotional strategy, however, is certainly the most important part of marketing communication.
In the 1970s, marketing became a key ingredient in marketing strategy. The product communicates a distinct image such as respectability, conservation or youthfulness. The brand name suggests various physical and psychological attributes of the product. The package may carry the message that the manufacturer of the product really cares about the consumer or that he or she is saying – Take it or leave it.
The price is taken by consumers as a significant index of quality. Even retail stores may be said to communicate noticeable brand images and personalities. Thus, all the vital elements of the marketing mix can help or hinder communication and eventually the sales effort.
We generally think of a communication strategy in terms of marketing within the business world. Yet advertising, personal selling, and other promotional techniques are gaining acceptance in other areas of Indian life as well. Day by day, marketing consultants are promoting political candidates, and aiding in higher education, family planning, road safety and physical fitness.
(i) Source:
The communicator or the source of the message. The source is the party desiring to communicate with the destination. This party sends the message through some channel (such as advertising) or personal selling to the destination. If the communication is effective, the information received by the destination is the same as that intended by the source.
(ii) Message:
It is the set of meanings that are sent and/or received by the audience or destination or receiver.
The message must accomplish three tasks in order to be effective:
(a) It must gain the attention of the receiver;
(b) It must be understood by both the receiver and the sender;
(c) It must stimulate the needs of the receiver and suggest an appropriate method of satisfying these needs.
(iii) Channel:
The ways in which messages can be carried or delivered to the audience or destination. Channels might include any form of promotion.
(iv) Destination:
The recipient of the communication. In other words, the audience or receiver of the message.
(v) Noise:
This consists of factors that change the message received from the source from which it was sent. In other words, noise refers to conditions that distort the communication process. Thus noise may interfere with the transmission of the message.
(vi) Feedback:
Feedback gives the results to the communicator or source concerning what audience has learned or how they have behaved. In fact, feedback provides cues as to when and how the message should be altered to be most effective. The receiver’s response, known as feedback, completes the system.
The communication process begins when the sender decides what idea he or she wants to get across. Since the sender wants the receiver to understand the message, he or she learns as much as possible about the receiver before deciding on the form and content of the message that contains the idea. The receiver, getting the message, attempts to understand it, and may or may not choose to send a return message (feedback).
At any point in the process, noise may inhibit the effectiveness of the communication. Noise includes poor message planning, inappropriate media selection, the competition’s messages, busy audience members, and careless measurement of results.
The marketing manager is the sender in the system. The message is encoded in the form of sales presentations, advertisements, displays or publicity releases.
The transfer mechanism for the delivery of the message may be a sales person, a public relations channel, or the advertising media. The decoding step involves the consumer’s interpretation of the sender’s message.
This is often the most troublesome aspect of marketing communication, for consumers do not always interpret a promotional message in the same way as its sender.
As stated, the fundamental difficulty in the communication process occurs during encoding and decoding. The source must decide what it wants to say, and then try to translate it into terms that will be decoded with the same meaning by the target audience.
This may be very tricky because the meanings attached to various words and symbols may differ, depending on the frames of reference and the fields of experience of the two groups. If there is no overlap, communication may be bad or impossible.
Information about consumer decision is fed back to the marketing manager in the form of marketing research and/or field sales reports. The noise element is usually represented by competitive promotional messages which are transmitted over the same communications channel or by the random noise factor, such as people taking snacks during a TV commercial announcement.
Errors in communication may be minimized by knowing the relevant market dimensions in terms of the needs and attitudes of potential customers. These data should be available for strategy planning anyway; and here they would be especially useful.
Whether the massage should emphasize only the positive features (one-sided arguments) or perhaps both positive and negative features (two-sided arguments) depends on the attitudes of the target market. Sometimes accenting the positive is desirable, for that is less confusing.
But if potential customers already know something of the pros and cons, it may be desirable to use a two-sided approach. It is important for the marketing manager to realize that such matters may affect the effectiveness of communication. He should, therefore, see to it that these matters are taken care of during the implementation process.
Further, complicating the communications process is the receiver’s awareness that the message is not only coming from a sender but that it is coming via some message channel. Consciously or subconsciously, the receiver may attach more virtue to a product if its message comes in a well-respected newspaper or magazine, just as the sales manager of a company may seem more impressive than a salesman.
Marketing Communication – Meaning and Flow
In simple terms, communication is the transmission of information in the form of message through some channel whether personal or non-personal. The message may be a printed message, spoken words with or without pictures, signs or symbols.
There is sender on the one end and receiver on the other and they may either be individuals or groups of person. Only passing of some information, exchange of ideas or rising of voice may, therefore, amount to communication and we find ourselves as communicating with every message reaching to us every moment of our life. But, this is not the fact.
Communication takes place when sender transmits the message with an intention to be received and responded by the receiver. The receiver, therefore, needs to decode the message as encoded by the sender, which allows interchange of meaning and establishes a commonness of thought between the two.
Interchange of meaning, however, can either be of some social consensus or about accepted definitions (denotative type). At times communication involves use of emotions or evaluations (connotative type) and so the meaning may differ for each individual and even for the same individual but in a different context.
The complete process of communication. The feedback response, as shown in the model, is an important element as this helps in determining whether the transmission of message is resulting into communication or not. Based on the feedback, the sender can redesign or modify the transmitted message or the channel or even the receiver selection to ensure the happening of communication.
In other words, feedback response helps in the identification of those factors which tend to restrict the communication between the sender and the receiver. Collectively, these are grouped as ‘Noise’ elements which could either be some part of the process or an extraneous factor like some disruption in the surrounding environment.
The complete communication process has nine elements in it. Sender and receiver are the two participants of the process having certain experiences, perceptions, attitudes and values which they bring to the communication situation.
To establish commonness of thoughts or, in other words, transfer of meaning between the two, it is required that some overlap is there between their respective fields or as an implication the sender must try to establish the same with the receiver. Message, media and response are the three communication tools and encoding, decoding and feedback are the three processes. Noise is the random element.
The various elements of communication process in more detail is explained below:
1. Sender is the one who sends the message and can be an individual (say a sales person or a spokesperson hired for message delivery), a group, an organization whether for business or non-profit, or a political candidate. Sender constitutes the source of information that has some information to share with the receiver. Sender identifies intended receivers’ characteristics, formulates the message and encodes it in familiar form.
Sender selects the best channel to send the encoded message and at the end also interprets feedback from receiver’s response and completes the process. The credibility of the source is of paramount importance to ensure an effective communication. Credibility of the source is the function of factors like source experience, expertise, trustworthiness and likeability and believability for the sender.
2. Encoding is the process of putting the thoughts, ideas or information into a symbolic form. This requires assembling the words, symbols or signs in a form that may be transmitted and easily understood both by the sender and the receiver. The use of same language and alphabets, familiar symbols or symbols tied to some common point of reference are some of the ways being used as a part of encoding process.
3. Message is an encoded idea capable of being transmitted to the receiver. It contains information or the meaning that the source intends to convey. The message can be – oral or written, verbal or non-verbal or even symbolic – but it must be appropriate for a particular channel of communication.
Thus, a message can range simply from writing of few words that can be read as a radio commercial or an extensive script for a television commercial. Also, it is not just the words being used rather the impression or the image being used that constitutes the message.
4. Medium or channel is the method by which communication travels from the source to the receiver. It can be inter-personnel involving a face-to-face communication (like word of mouth) or some impersonal mass communication involving the use of a mass media like newspaper carrying the message to many individuals at one point of time.
5. Receiver is the active participant in the communication process with whom the sender shares his thoughts. Receiver’s perception of the source influences the way a message is received by the receiver. Receiver carries out a decoding of the message and reacts or gives out some verbal or non-verbal type of response. He may ask some questions, or make some comments or observations, or may or may not buy the product. Therefore, there is always a need to understand all the factors that influence receivers’ behaviour.
6. Decoding is the reverse of encoding which takes place in the receiver’s mind. It involves the process that an audience goes through whereby the message is translated into an idea with a personal meaning attached to it. For an effective communication, message decoding must match the encoding done by the sender. Since decoding is heavily influenced by the receiver’s frame of reference or field of experience, it requires the overlapping of the two fields of experiences.
7. Response is the reaction or set of reactions by the receiver after being exposed to the message. It constitutes the basic purpose of communication which can be to change the attitude or action towards some object or subject.
8. Feedback is that part of response where reverse communication takes place from receiver to sender. It closes the loop in communication flow and allows the sender to monitor the process about how the intended message is being decoded and received. In an interpersonal communication the feedback is immediate. The impersonal communication requires some kind of data collection and research. Good organizations usually make some arrangements to collect feedback from the receiver.
9. Noise is a random element and is referred to as anything that distracts and reduces the effectiveness of communication. It may originate in the channel itself, in the actions and perceptions of the receiver, or in the general environment. The message can itself be the source of noise if it is not developed properly.
The conclusion of our understanding about communication and how it flows:
i. Communication is an interchange of meaning.
ii. Communication is a complex process which needs to be understood for its elements.
iii. Communication is complex because success depends upon various factors like message’s nature, recipient’s interpretations, environment, medium etc.
iv. Communication is of two types. One is simple communication from person to person and the second is a mass communication between a person and the organization.
v. Communication is about something to be called as an object of communication, e.g., about some event.
vi. Communication has direction and it flows from the sender to the receiver and back from the receiver to the sender.
Marketing Communication – Formal, Informal, Vertical, & Horizontal Channels
(i) Vertical Channel:
A vertical channel exists if there is a meaningful difference in the interests, social status, demographic, or economic characteristics of the communicating units. Thus, the communication among social classes that may occur largely as an emulation of, or an identification with, the consumption behaviours of another social class is a type of vertical channel. In marketing, the relations among manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer and consumer are often thought of as a vertical channel.
(ii) Horizontal Channel:
A horizontal channel exists if communication flows among members of a group with similar interests, social status, demographic, or economic characteristics. A group may be defined in many ways, e.g., as a work group, a social group, a professional group, a neighbourhood group and so on. What is important is that this type of communication takes place among its members rather than between its numbers and the members of a different group.
(iii) Formal Channel:
It is one that is established intentionally and is under the control of the communicator. Thus, an advertiser has a formal channel to a target audience that he establishes by choosing various media alternatives. The use of this channel is paid for by the advertiser and is sometimes called the mass media or direct exposure channel.
(iv) Informal Channel:
An informal channel is one not intentionally established and not under the control of the communicator. The communicator is unable to control directly the nature of the information exchanged through such a channel.
It is the word of mouth aspect of advertising and is sometimes referred to as the interpersonal or indirect exposure channel. Although an advertiser has no direct control over what is communication through such a channel, he can attempt to influence it in one way or another.
Marketing Communication – Advertising Vs. Other Forms of Mass Communications
Our system of mass communication media acts principally as a purveyor of information-a purveyor of both commercial and noncommercial information. Both the print media (newspapers, magazines, direct mail) and the transmitted or broadcast media (television and radio) normally carry editorial and entertainment content as well as commercial content.
It seems fair to say here that the conduct of the mass media regarding both editorial/entertainment policy and commercial policy has been a source of recent widespread controversy. Certainly the effects of crime and violence in the mass media is one issue that centres on the non-commercial practices of the mass media, and there are many others.
But as interesting as the non-commercial aspects of the mass media may be, our interest here is in their commercial behaviour. Much more particularly, we are concerned with the advertising. Advertising is the impersonal communication of ideas, goods or services to a mass audience by an identified, paying sponsor.
Advertising thus is:
(i) Impersonal;
(ii) A communication of ideas, goods or services;
(iii) Aimed at a mass audience;
(iv) By an identified sponsor; and
(v) By a paying sponsor.
The two forms of mass communication that are sometimes confused with advertising are publicity and propaganda. If we eliminate the element of the “paying sponsor” (the paid requirement) we would have the element of publicity left; for publicity is, technically speaking, advertisement without payment.
In a similar manner, if we eliminate the requirement of an “identified sponsor,” the resulting communication is propagandistic.
It is important for us to emphasize that advertising may involve the communication of ideas or goods or services.
We are all aware that advertising attempts to sell goods and services; but we may overlook the more important fact that it often sells ideas. Advertising may persuade with information; it may persuade with emotion; more frequently, it endeavours to persuade with some mixture of both.
To fail to recognize the persuasive nature of advertising is to omit what is perhaps its most salient characteristic. We should also clarify what is meant by the “personal” requirement in the definition. We do not mean that it is cold or without compassion. Impersonal in this context simply specifies that the communication does not involve a face-to-face relationship.
The relationship is always a medium through which to face a relationship, as it were in various advertising media (channels) are available for the market.
(i) Newspapers (Tribune, Hindustan Times, Economic Times, Financial Times);
(ii) Magazines (Dharamyug, Business Week, Eve’s Weekly);
(iii) Radio (local and other stations);
(iv) Television (local and national programmes);
(v) Direct mail (catalogues and brochures that are mailed to target consumers);
(vi) Store signs;
(vii) Short-length movie and cinema slides;
(viii) Bill boards, signs and posters;
(ix) Car cards (printed advertisements appearing on buses and taxis, trains and air terminals);
(x) Novelties (ballpoint pens, calendars and other devices that carry the name of the sponsor and sometimes a short advertising message).
Marketing Communication – Types
i. Personal Selling:
Personal selling consists of person-to-person communication between the sales persons and their prospects. Unlike advertising, it involves personal interactions between the source and the destination.
Advertising aims at group the shotgun approach; while personal selling aims at individuals the right approach. Sales persons are in a position to tailor their messages according to the unique characteristics of each prospect.
Further, by observing and listening, sales persons receive immediate feedback on the extent to which their messages are getting across. If feedback indicates that the message is not getting across, the sales person may quickly adjust it or the method of its presentation.
Personal selling may be a very intense means of promotion. Consumers can easily leave the room during a TV commercial, ignore a store display or throw a direct-mail circular into the trash can. It is more difficult to dismiss a sales person, provided that the organization has sufficient funds.
The most effective method of promotion probably is to have sales persons call upon every target consumer. For many institutions, especially those that appeal to the mass market, this would be terribly inefficient. As a result, they employ mass marketing techniques, such as advertising. Personal selling is very important in industrial marketing.
ii. Sales Promotion:
According to the American Marketing Association, sales promotion consists of those marketing activities, other than personal selling, advertising, and publicity, that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness, such as displays, shows and expositions, demonstrations, and various non-recurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine.
Sales promotion activities are impersonal and usually non-recurring, and are directed at the ultimate consumers, industrial consumers and middlemen. These activities tend to supplement the advertising and personal selling efforts.
Examples of sales promotion are free product samples, trading stamps, store displays, premiums, coupons, and trade shows. For many organizations, including the marketers of foods, toys and clothing, store displays are an important sales promotion device.
Displays expose the promotion messages to consumers at the time and place of purchase. Such exposure is especially important for items that are bought on impulse. Numerous consumer products are purchased in stores that use self-service selling methods. Marketers of such items need effective displays in order to distinguish their products from those of their rivals.
iii. Publicity:
Publicity is a means of promoting the mass market, and is similar to advertising, except that it is free, is found in the editorial portion of the news media, and pertains to newsworthy events. The most common type of publicity are news releases (also known as press releases), photographs and feature stories.
Marketers have less control over the nature of the publicity that their organizations and products receive than they have over their advertising, personal selling, and sales promotion messages.
Upon receiving a news release, for instance, the editor or broadcast station programme director may choose to throw the release in the waste paper basket, change the wording, or print or broadcast it in the original form.
The disposition of the news release is entirely in the hands of the media and cannot be dictated by the marketer. Publicity may be negative as well as positive. Some products – and brands have received bad publicity; for example cigarettes, wines, artificial sweeteners have been branded unsafe or unhealthy in the publicity which they would rather have done without.
Many a company and trade association official attempts to develop favourable working relationships with the media in order to minimize bad publicity. They realize that such communications to the public may have a very adverse impact upon the image of the organization.
iv. Public Relations:
Marketers engage in public relations in order to develop a favourable image of their organizations and products in the eyes of the public. They direct this activity to parties other than target consumers. These “others” include the public at large, labour unions, the press, and environmental groups.
Public relations activities include sponsoring, lobbying, and using promotion messages to persuade members of the public to take up a desired position. The term public relations refers to a firm’s communications and relationships with the various sections of the public. These sections include the organization customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees, the government, the general public and the society in which the organization operates.
Public relations programmes may either be formal or informal. The critical point is that every organization, whether or not it has a formalized (organized) programme, should be concerned about its public relations.
Marketing Communication – Process
Marketing communication occurs in relation to markets where messages are sent to the target audience in the context of a product. Mere understanding about communication as involving an interchange of meaning and a process that results into transfer of meaning is not sufficient to capture the nuances in understanding the term marketing communication.
Marketing communication is more than just applying the simple fundamentals of communication process and it has its specialized nature. At the time when consumers are exposed to some form of marketing communication, the response occurs as per the information processing stage in which the consumer is. Marketing communication, therefore, involves distinct phases and is a gradual process. What requires here is the understanding of information response behaviour of consumers and various communication situations in which information response behaviour may differ.
Information response models are the hierarchical models which recognize that there are a number of distinct phases in communicating with others. These phases occur in a sequence as a consumer moves from a state of being unaware about the product to actual behaviour. Some of the response hierarchies developed over time in view of different marketing communication situations.
AIDA model explains the stages of Attention (A), Interest (I), Desire (D), and Action (A) which a customer generally pass through when he is exposed to some information concerning the product. The model finds its relevance more in personal selling situation where the customer is first needed to pay attention after being exposed to an informational message from the sales person.
Once there is a detailed presentation, attention leads to an arousal of interest. Due to the strong level of interest both in the salesperson’s presentation and product, the customer develops positive predispositions shown as desire for owning and using the product. Some action in the form of purchase or other desired behaviour is what the positively predisposed customer is likely to show as a final outcome of marketing communication.
Hierarchy of effects model developed by Lavidge and Steiner takes care of the way advertising communication is processed. It recognizes awareness as a pre-requisite to the attention on the part of the customer. Consumer passes through a series of steps occurring in a sequence starting from initial awareness to actual product purchase.
The customer is first made aware and then knowledgeable through some mass communication tool. Due to some supportive communications it is expected that the consumer will further develop ‘liking’ towards the product and also the preference. If such is the progression of consumers’ responses, there is a great possibility of getting desired action on their part.
At each stage marketer, thus, provides adequate advertising communications to make the consumer move to the next stage. It also serves as a paradigm for the setting of advertising objectives. The basic premise of this model is that advertising effects occur over a period of time.
Information-processing model explains the occurrence of advertising effects that result into diffusion of innovation through the stages of presentation, attention, comprehension, yielding, retention and behaviour. Although, the stages are somewhat similar to the hierarchy of effects model, the only difference is for retention and yielding stage. Retention is basically the receiver’s ability to retain the part of comprehended information which is perceived as valid for use at some later stage.
Various responses, as modeled in different response hierarchies, basically entail ‘learn-feel-do’ sequencing as the stages of cognitive, affective and conative. One aspect of understanding marketing communication is therefore to understand the communication situation and its stages.
At a cognitive stage, the receiver becomes aware and knowledgeable and comprehends the information to develop an understanding about the product’s attributes, features, quality and benefits. As a result of brand comprehension the affect, i.e. like-dislike feelings, are developed as a precursor to brand preference, conviction and desire.
Consumer action by way of trial, purchase, adoption or rejection occurs at the end of the three- stage process, representing conative stage of response hierarchy.
However, occurrence of these responses does not always follow the learn-feel-do’ sequence. The variation is found for ordering of these stages and also for the length and depth of each stage. Why? Let us consider the two situations involving the decision to buy, for example, a Handycam and a simple Auto Click camera for kids.
These are indeed the two different decision situations. As compared to the purchase of Handycam, it is likely that the consumer will simply try to learn about available alternatives of Auto Click camera in the market and the buying decision may occur without really going into much of the deliberations and comparisons or evaluations of alternative brands.
It is only one’s experience with the brand that may result into developing of some kind of feeling for the brand. So, it will be wrong to assume that in both the situations the consumer goes through the same sequence of information processing involving the ‘learn-feel-do’ sequence and also with the same rigor to arrive at the purchase decision.
The possibility of such variation arises because of differences in the level of consumer involvement with product. Therefore, it important to first understand the concept of consumer involvement to further explore its effects on decision-making.
Marketing Communication – Tools
After examining the basic communication process, we shall understand the marketing communication concept. Marketing is the process which brings the products and services to the consumers to satisfy their needs and wants.
Modern marketing manages the four Ps of product, promotion, price and place or the channel of distribution. The whole marketing process in a sense has a large communication content.
For instance, the product communicates prestige youthfulness, speed, care, etc. The brand name communicates the product attributes, e.g., Dream flower talc. The package communicates convenience coupled with aesthetics. The price communicates the quality of the product. The marketer and distributor communicate between them. Thus each elements of the marketing mix either facilitates or hinders communication process.
These element greatly influence the selling process. Marketing communication is thus a broader term. However, in a narrow sense, sense, marketing communication is the promotional or strategy.
It is planned promotional communication with a mix of five major tools:
(1) Advertising – Any paid from of non-personal communication of products, services and ideas by an identified sponsor.
(2) Sales Promotion – Short-term direct inducements to the consumers, sales people distributors to stimulate the sales of products and services.
(3) Publicity – Putting commercially significant news in the media, it is not directly paid for.
(4) Personal Selling – A sales force is maintained to approach the prospects, interact with them, make a sales presentation and close the sale. It is one-to-one communication.
(5) Public Relations – Public relations project a favorable image of the organisation in the public.
Advertising as a Tool of Communication:
Advertising has evolved since the Industrial Revolution as a tool of marketing communication. It transmits an effective message from the marketer to a group of individuals. The marketer pays for sponsoring the advertising activity Advertising unlike salesmanship which interacts with the buyer face-to-face, is non-personal. It is directed at a mass audience, and not at an individual, as in personal selling.
Though marketers use advertising to promote products and services, it is a communication tool. The advertiser is the source transmitting the message. The message is conveyed through an appropriate medium such as the press, TV, or the Net. The message is decoded by the target audience who receives it.
The ultimate aim of advertising is to make the target audience favourably inclined towards the product or service. In this sense advertising is marketing communication. As it is received by a large number of people, through the mass media, it is called mass communication.
Advertising aims at drawing attention to a product. It seeks to create an awareness about the existence of the advertised product. It passes on information about the product in such a way that interest is created in the mind if the prospective consumer about the product.
Then there is a growing desire to possess the product. There are convincing arguments in favour of the product. All this leads us to a buying inclination or buying action.
Marketing Communication in International Perspective
In the globalized environment when companies are more and more engaged in reaching out to diverse markets located in other nations or regions, planning marketing communication requires some further insights. In international perspective, planning an effective communication requires an apt assessment of certain peculiar problems relating to language, connotations and cultural differences.
There are different languages spoken in different countries and even within a country as is the case of India. Therefore, any communication related to marketing needs adaptation to different languages. Also, there are linguistic nuances due to which same word may be attached different meanings in different nations.
So those companies which plan for globalized communication undergo the rigoures understanding of such linguistic nuances. Moreover, words, symbols, slogans and even logos carry different connotations in different markets. For example, Pepsi used the slogan ‘Come Alive with Pepsi’ to promote their product in Indian markets. The same phrase, however, means differently in different nations.
Marketing Communication – AIDA Communication Model
Marketing communication especially, advertising is directed towards a group of users of the products/services. This group is called the target audience of the product services. A marketer has to identify its target audience, and the response he expects from it. The ultimate response is of course, the buying of the product/service. We must learn the stages through which the target audience passes before the readiness-to-buy stage is reached.
The effectiveness of advertising depends upon the extent to which the advertising message is received and accepted by the target audience. Effective advertising goes through the stages of – (i) attracting attention, (ii) arousing interest, (iii) creating desire for the products, (iv) and finally leading to action on the part of the audience. All advertisement do not succeed on all these counts.
This is one reason behind the great divergence between the number of people exposed to the advertisement and those who ultimately decide to buy the product. At the buying-readiness stage, other elements of marketing mix, especially distribution become crucial.
The AIDA model describes the sequence of events which must take place between the receipt of the message and desired action.
In AIDA model, A stands for attracting attention, I for arousing interest, D for creating a desire and A for obtaining action.
Advertising as a communication medium in most cases-effective perform the first three functions. In case of direct action advertising, it also translates desire into action unaided by other promotional instruments.
In case of indirect-action advertising, however, the action of buying is facilitated by two-way communication between the intending buyer and the sales staff.
Let use examine the attention, interest, desire and action components in more detail. These motives. Buyers may have certain reservations which must be addressed the copy is substantiated by presenting cogent arguments, evidence, testimonials, endorsements, facts and figures. Once a desire is aroused, people become prone to buy a product.
Action – This is the logical culmination of the effect of communication — buying the product. People buy on the basis of corporate image, frequency of the message and the appeals used.
The attention safe is the cognitive stage. Here the target audience is exposed to the message. This causes a response in the form of awareness about the product. The interest and desire stages are the affective stages which influence the attitudes and make a buyer ready to buy.
The final action stage is the behaviour stage. In practice, all the ad copies do not lead the consumer from awareness to the purchase stage. AIDA model suggests only the desirable qualities in an advertisement copy as a communication tool.
Attention – Advertisement attract attention to them mainly on account of their layout. The typography and colours used in the copy do attract us. The size too does matter. A larger-sized ad commands attention. White-space is used strategically to get attention.
Movement in the copy is also vital to rivet attention. The place where ad is placed in the media has a role to play. The other elements which contribute to attention value are celebrity endorsements models, employed, illustrations and photographs used.
Interest- Ad seen does not necessarily mean ad read. People may look at the ad, but many not read it. Illustrations have to work harder. Along with the copy, they must stimulate reading. Copy format too plays a role — some take fancy to a scientific copy, whereas some others like the humorous copy. It is very challenging for a copywriter to find a common denominator of interest for the maximum number of people.
Desire – An ad must create a desire for the product/service being advertised. Several rational and emotional appeals are used to motivate people. Vivid descriptions and graphical copy do help. People buy to satisfy their physiological and psychological needs. The copy must provoke.
AIDA is an acronym given to the stages a consumer passes before he buys a product. The stages are:
1. Attention – to get the attention of the consumer or to create an awareness about the product.
2. Interest – to arouse interest in the product and hold it.
3. Desire – to create desire for the product.
4. Action – to motivate a consumer to buy the product.
This model is further elaborated to cover a number of more steps: awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase. It is called hierarchy of effects.
While relating them, we have put the stages into three broad psychological stages – cognitive, affective and behavioural. Cognitive refers to awareness and knowledge. It also refers to attention. Affective refers to liking and preference corresponding to interest and desire of AIDA model.
Behavioural refers to conviction and purchase corresponding to the action of the AIDA model. The additional stage of outcome shows the response to the model. These models help us understand the tasks that promotion must perform.
Advertising has the capacity to generate highest awareness. It is also higher in arousing interest. However, it is not so effective in leading the consumer to action. Personal selling works exactly the opposite way.
It is highest in making people buy and creating a desire for the product. It is, however, low in generating awareness. Sales promotion is highest in inducing action. Public relations and publicity are confined to creating awareness and a low level of interest.
Marketing Communication – Advertising and Marketing Communication
Though advertising is used as a part of marketing mix, basically it is a communication process. Here, the advertiser has got a message to be communicated. The aim of this communication is to improve sales or make the customers aware of our product. There can be so many objectives of this communication. Ultimately, it aims to influence the behaviour of our target audience.
The message is put by the advertiser who is the source into appropriate media. The target audience has to understand the message by interpreting it. The process of putting the message across in copy and visuals is encoding and the process of interpretation is decoding.
The customers for whom the message is meant are the receivers. As advertising makes the receivers favourably inclined towards the product, it is called marketing communication. Since the message is put through the mass media for a large number of people, it is mass communication.
An advertiser has to identify exactly who his customers are, where they are and why they behave the way they do. He has to understand his target audience to be effective. The way the target audience reacts to the message is feedback. The message may be distorted on account of a number of factors called noise variables.
Perhaps, you have to answer the doorbell as soon as your favourite bungee jumping commercial of Thums Up is on air on TV. This interferes with our viewing the commercial.
It is thus a noise variable. You might have seen a large number of ads precede or follow or are interspersed in a popular TV programme. It is called clutter. Just as a pretty girl has to have an extraordinary outfit to stand out amongst a large crowd coming out of busy Church gate station in the morning, an ad has to be quite outstanding to rise above the clutter.
Marketing Communication – Uncontrolled Communication
Out of the four major elements of promotion, personal selling, advertising and sales promotion are within the control of a marketer who pays for all these. The only element that is outside his control is publicity which is not paid for directly by him.
Media coverage may generate both positive and negative publicity. Aspirin received negative publicity for its side effects. It is sometimes out of control of the marketer.
Another communication that is beyond the control of a marketer is word-of-mouth communication. Here, the consumers talk about their experiences with the products or services they have used to other consumers. Do we not tell our friends about the shopping malls we like, the movies that we dislike, and the CDs that we like to listen to? Sometimes, there are runouts of the product and these must be fought actively by the company.
Marketing Communication – Promotion and Product Life Cycle (PLC)
A product passes through several stages. It is developed first in an R&D lab. It is introduced in the market. The sales grow after the distribution and promotional efforts are consolidated. A stage comes when the sales attain a plateau. The product is said to be in maturity stage.
The product then shows a decline in sales as it becomes outdated. Product life cycle thus, traces the growth in sales over a period of time. The promotional objectives at each stage of the life cycle are different. Consequently, the promotional activities are also different at each stage of life cycle.
The following diagram illustrates this:
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
Many a times we find that marketing communication gives the customers a fragmented and hazy picture. It happens because there is no integration amongst marketing efforts on one hand and the communication efforts on the other. IMC makes a single-minded focused communication. Its consistency and cost effectiveness are its main merits.
The IMC concept is difficult to implement because communications are handled by different organisations. Personal selling is thus handled by the sales department, whereas advertising is handled by an ad agency. There are separate direct marketing and PR functionaries. Switching over to IMC needs some reorganisation.
Integrated Marketing Communication is not just a jargon used by academicians and practitioners of communication package consisting of advertising, personal selling, database marketing, public relations and sales promotions.
It involves two major dimensions – consistency of positioning, message and tone across these different media and simultaneous achievement of several specific communication goals leading to behavioural action.
In other words, marketing communications must have one voice and must not restrict to just one or two goals like raising awareness or building image. Integrated communications achieve major communication goals at one and the same time. Thus, a sales promotion campaign that leads to a short- term rise in sales but dilutes brand equity in the long-term is not the practice of integrated communications.
Marketing Communication – Dramatic Changes in Brand Communication
In recent years, there are dramatic changes in brand communication. We have already seen the model of marketing communication which is mostly a one-way traffic. The company as a sender tells the consumer good things about the brand (message).
The consumer as a receiver accepts this message gratefully. He then expresses his gratitude by being a loyal brand user for a long, long time. The medium of the message is TV these days which has a vast reach.
This model is highly simplistic. Even in such one way communication, we have to consider the element of consumer participation. Consumers do not meekly accept everything directed towards them; they challenge the proposition and sometimes, even dispute it. They can interpret, modify or reject brand messages.
The whole model has been affected by a variety of factors. The media stands fragmented. Internet has emerged as a big interactive medium. Attitudes of the consumers have changed. A TV commercial of a few seconds cannot become a primary medium of brand communication.
The consumers also form their opinions about the brands in number of ways. Though companies distinguish between the different media such as main media, Public Relations, Internet, sponsorships, sales promotions, there is no such distinction made in the consumer mind.
A consumer forms his image of the brand through every conceivable encounter with the brand – it is a paid for brand communication or just a chance encounter that hardly matters.
According to Fitzgerald of Unilever, a consumer may read a disturbing report about a company in the newspapers or see its vehicles being driven recklessly or be irritated by the shoddy quality of its pack inserts or be annoyed about the way the officers interact with him on helplines. Each such encounter has the potential to damage the reputation of the brand.
Marketing Communication – Role
As Chris Fill points out in his excellent book, Marketing Communications, Contexts, Contents and Strategies, much of relationship and network theory focuses on how connections between people and organizations develop and evolve. In looking at this phenomenon, Taylor and Altman identified a number of progressive layers in the construction of relationships.
They saw that relationships move forward by the gradual revealing and exchange of information between parties. Mutual trust and confidence grow as a greater amount of information is disclosed, assimilated and stored. The behaviour of the participants is then based on this knowledge, which deepens and develops as the relationship matures.
In time, other participants may enter the relationship, and what was originally a dyadic coupling soon becomes a network. As supplier and customer contacts multiply, communication becomes vital to information flow and functions as the coordinating mechanism for all members of the network.
When considering marketing communications in the light of the multiple markets model, it is clear, as Figure 13.3 suggests that the carefully selected and relevant use of communication tools for each individual stakeholder is essential.
Inadequate attention to this point can lead to discord and misunderstanding in the relationship, which can potentially damage the relationship and perhaps destabilize the entire network.
Marketing Communication – Developing a Marketing Communication Programme
A major theme is the need to plan and integrate the marketing mix elements against clearly defined and agreed objectives. Therefore, the chosen communications mix must reflect and reinforce both marketing and corporate strategies. Figure 13.4 shows the logical link between communication strategy and overall business objectives.
Figure 13.4 places communication strategy in its proper place, following the establishment of business objectives and marketing strategy. From this position, it will be clear exactly what the communication strategy must be designed to achieve. Is the objective to increase market share? Is it to improve the company’s overall reputation in certain markets?
Giving proper consideration to the consequences, as well as the aims, of initiating marketing communications programmes will help guide strategic decision-making processes and the tactical planning of promotional campaigns to deliver clearer, sharper and more consistent messages. Marketers setting a communication strategy within a relationship marketing approach will especially need to consider the wider impact that their messages may have on existing relationships with stakeholders.
Promotional plans will vary depending on the communication task in hand: customers may need information about specific products, while stakeholders may need messages that communicate company values.
Questions that are useful to ask when formulating a plan include:
1. What do we want to say?
2. To whom do we want to say it?
3. Why do we want to say it?
4. How do we choose to say it?
5. Where shall we communicate the message?
6. When shall we say it?
7. What do we want them to do?
8. How should we respond?
9. What processes have we set up for dialogue?
10. What is our budget?
11. What is the planned schedule, and who does what?
12. Does everyone in our network understand the communication objectives?
13. What are our measures of success?
From the 1960s onwards, it has become accepted protocol that the proper way to set objectives for the creative content of marketing communications is to think in terms of desired consumer responses. It is not an issue of what an advertiser should put into an advertisement, but what the receiver should get out of it.
Stephen King, at JWT, developed a theory of communicating that focuses on how different advertising messages have varying desired outcomes. His framework for the influence of marketing messages was based on the idea that marketing communications affect consumer reactions, and most often in an indirect way.
This model emphasizes the significant influence that marketing messages have on the consumer and provides an indication as to their ultimate effectiveness. To gain a fuller understanding of the influential role of advertising, as one example of marketing communications, let us apply a familiar campaign to the framework.
The UK campaign to modify attitudes to drinking and driving has been run over many years by successive governments. A generation ago, when there were fewer road users and driving regulations, the temptation to risk driving while over the alcohol limit was less of an issue. Gradually, however, through a combination of informative advertising and stringent law enforcement measures, consumer attitudes have changed.
Now, very few people would consider driving while under the influence of alcohol. In this case, advertising is aiming to modify consumer attitudes to an existing product in order to guide the way that the product is used. However, modifying consumer behaviour is a very slow process and measuring its success can only be achieved by evaluating consumer attitudes and behaviour over an extended period of time.
In a contrasting example, rather than attempting to alter consumer attitudes, BMW advertisements have been built around a strategy of reinforcing consumer beliefs, helping to attract new customers and, most importantly, reassuring existing customers that they have made the right choice of supplier. Fundamental to successful advertising is obtaining the desired response from consumers, as summarized in the remark, ‘I always knew I was right’.
For brands that enjoy high brand loyalty, this type of advertising works by strengthening the depth of customer loyalty. As King points out, in reality many advertisements work at several points on the framework simultaneously, thus prompting discussion about key advertising issues and helping to set advertising priorities.
While this model was developed some time ago, it still provides valuable indicators for understanding how marketing communications generally work. The difference today is that marketing communication methods, or tools, have grown in number and evolved in nature.
In the new media environment, the consumer not only has an opportunity to act in response to a message, but also to communicate back to the sender of the message. This ‘interactive’ and ‘bilateral’ quality can be managed to enhance the effectiveness of marketing communications and thus the strength of supplier/buyer relationships.
Additionally, marketers are exploiting more traditional avenues of communication in other ways to augment their products’ value and to reinforce their relationships with customers. In BMW’s case, its advertising will have the effect of creating reassurance and reducing dissonance among its customers.
BMW has further encouraged strong customer relationships through the regular issue of a quality owners’ magazine that features exclusive offers, customer-relevant articles, and special invitations to events at dealer showrooms for pre-launch test drives.
Today’s marketers have a far more complex range of communication opportunities (not to mention obstacles) to consider than did their predecessors. The newer developments in marketing communication tools examine their contributions to the task of building long-term, profitable relationships with customers.