Marketing Communications (MARCOM) Process

The Communications Process Models
Marketers should understand the principal elements of effective communications. A macro-model and a micro-model are two useful models in here.

• Macro-model of The Communication Process

The below figure demonstrates a macro-model with nine key contributors in an effective communication. Two represent the major parties— sender and receiver. Two represent the major tools—message and media. Four represent major communication functions—encoding, decoding, response, and feedback. The last factor in the system is noise, random and competing messages which may interfere with the intended communication.

Senders must know what audiences they want to reach and what responses they want to get. They must encode their messages in a way that the target audience can decode them. They must transfer the message through media that reach the target audience and develop feedback channels to monitor the responses. The more the sender’s field of experience be as same as that of the receiver, the more effective the message is likely to be.

Figure 1- Macro-model of The Communication Process

• Micro-model of The Communication Process

Micro-models of marketing communications concentrate on consumers’ specific responses to communications. The below figure summarizes four classic response hierarchy models. All these models suppose the buyer passes through cognitive, affective, and behavioral stages, in that order. This “learn-feel-do” sequence is suitable when the customer has high involvement with a product category perceived to have high differentiation, such as an automobile or a property. An alternative sequence, “do-feel-learn,” is appropriate when the target has high involvement but perceives little or no differentiation within the product category, such as an airline ticket or personal computer. A third sequence, “learn-do-feel,” is relevant when the audience has low involvement and perceives little differentiation, such as with salt or mineral water. By choosing the right sequence, the marketer can do a better job of planning communications.

Figure 2- Micro-models of The Communication Process

Marketing Communications
What we call marketing communication (MARCOM for short) involves the use of a variety of tools and functions, such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct response, events and sponsorships, point of sale, digital media, and the communication aspects of packaging, as well as personal sales and a number of new forms of online communication that have emerged recently. All are parts of a planned effort to deliver specific messages used strategically to promote a brand or organization, that is one of the P’s in the marketing mix which contains Place, Product, Price, as well as Promotion. They deliver a complex system of brand messages we refer to as brand communication—all the various marketing communication messages and brand experiences that create and maintain a coherent brand.

In other words, Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers—directly or indirectly—about the products and brands they sell. What we can understand is that marketing communications represent the voice of the company and its brands; they are a means by which the firm can establish a dialogue and build relationships with consumers. Marketing communications also work for consumers when they show how and why a product is used, by whom, where, and when. The management challenge, then, is to manage all of the messages that all the various types of marketing communication are delivering so they work together to present the brand in a coherent and consistent way. In other words, advertising is merely one element in a coordinated basket of messages.

Marketing Communication Mix
As you read above, there are so many types and modes in communicating with a firm’s targeted customers. All in all, the marketing communications mix consists of eight major modes of communication:

1. Advertising—Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor via print media (newspapers and magazines), broadcast media (radio and television), network media (telephone, cable, satellite, wireless), electronic media (audiotape, videotape, videodisk, CD-ROM, Web page), and out of home (OOH) media (billboards, signs, posters).

Advertising reaches geographically dispersed buyers. It can build up a long-term image for a product (Barbican ads) or be incentive to sale quickly (a Digikala ad for a seasonal sale). Certain forms of advertising such as TV can require a large budget, whereas other forms such as newspaper do not. The mere presence of advertising might have an effect on sales: Consumers are likely to believe that a heavily advertised brand must offer “good value.” Because of the many forms and uses of advertising, it’s difficult to make generalizations about it. Yet a few observations are worthwhile:

1. Pervasiveness—Advertising permits the seller to repeat a message many times. It also allows the buyer to receive and compare the messages of various competitors. Large-scale advertising says something positive about the seller’s size, power, and success.
2. Amplified expressiveness—Advertising provides opportunities for dramatizing the company and its brands and products through the artful use of print, sound, and color.
3. Control—The advertiser can choose the aspects of the brand and product on which to focus communications.

2. Sales promotion—A variety of short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service including consumer promotions (such as samples, coupons, and premiums), trade promotions (such as advertising and display allowances), and business and sales force promotions (contests for sales reps).

Companies use sales promotion tools—coupons, contests, premiums, and the like—to draw a stronger and quicker buyer response, including short-run effects such as highlighting product offers and boosting dropped sales. Sales promotion tools offer three distinctive benefits:

1. Ability to be attention-getting—They draw attention and may lead the consumer to the product.
2. Incentive—They incorporate some concession, inducement, or contribution that gives value to the consumer.
3. Invitation—They include a distinct invitation to engage in the transaction now.

3. Events and experiences—Company-sponsored activities and programs designed to create daily or special brand-related interactions with consumers, including sports, arts, entertainment, and cause events as well as less formal activities.

There are many advantages to events and experiences as long as they have the following characteristics:

1. Relevant—A well-chosen event or experience can be seen as highly relevant because the consumer is often personally invested in the outcome
2. Engaging—Given their live, real-time quality, events and experiences are more actively engaging for consumers.
3. Implicit—Events are typically an indirect “soft sell.”

4. Public relations and publicity—A variety of programs directed internally to employees of the company or externally to consumers, other firms, the government, and media to promote or protect a company’s image or its individual product communications.

Marketers tend to underuse public relations, yet a well-thought-out program coordinated with the other communications-mix elements can be extremely effective, especially if a firm needs to challenge consumers’ misconceptions. The fascination of public relations and publicity is based on three distinctive qualities:

1. High credibility—News, stories and features are more authentic and credible to readers than ads.
2. Ability to reach hard-to-find buyers—Public relations can reach prospects who prefer to avoid mass media and targeted promotions.
3. Dramatization—Public relations can tell the story behind a company, brand, or product.

5. Direct marketing—Use of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, or Internet to communicate directly with or solicit response or dialogue from specific customers and prospects.

6. Interactive marketing—Online activities and programs designed to engage customers or prospects and directly or indirectly raise awareness, improve image, or elicit sales of products and services.

Direct and interactive marketing messages take many forms—over the phone, online, or in person. They share three characteristics:

1. Customized—The message can be prepared to appeal to the addressed individual.
2. Up-to-date—A message can be prepared very quickly.
3. Interactive—The message can be changed depending on the person’s response.

7. Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM)—People-to-people oral, written, or electronic communications (EWOM) that relate to the merits or experiences of purchasing or using products or services.

Word of mouth also takes many forms both online or offline. Three noteworthy characteristics are:

1. Influential—Because people trust others they know and respect, word of mouth can be highly influential.
2. Personal—Word of mouth can be a very intimate dialogue that reflects personal facts, opinions, and experiences.
3. Timely—Word of mouth occurs when people want it to and are most interested, and it often follows noteworthy or meaningful events or experiences.

8. Personal selling—Face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making presentations, answering questions, and procuring orders.

Personal selling is the most effective tool at later stages of the buying process, particularly in building up buyer preference, conviction, and action. Personal selling has three notable qualities:

1. Personal interaction—Personal selling creates an immediate and interactive session between two or more persons. Each is able to observe the other’s reactions.
2. Cultivation—Personal selling also permits all kinds of relationships to spring up, ranging from a matter-of-fact selling relationship to a deep personal friendship.
3. Response—The buyer is often given personal choices and encouraged to directly respond.

Marketing communication activities are related to brand equity and drive sales in many ways: by creating brand awareness, forging brand image in consumers’ memories, eliciting positive brand judgments or feelings, and strengthening consumer loyalty.

Now that we know about modes of communicating with our prospects, it is time to undertake mixing the communication platforms discussed in later blog in the title of communication mix.

References

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Designing and Managing Integrated Marketing Communications. In P. Kotler, & K. L. Keller, Marketing Management (14 ed., pp. 474-500). New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N., & Wells, W. (2015). Brand Communication. In S. Moriarty, N. Mitchell, & W. Wells, Advertising and IMC Principles and Practices (10th ed., pp. 64-85). London, UK: Pearson Education.