Marketing Communications Process

It is important to understand the process of Marketing Communications. The process is as

follows: Sender, Encoding, Transfer Mechanism, Feedback, Response and Decoding.
The SENDER is typically the company that produces the product.
ENCODING involves communicating the message in understandable terms for the consumer.
In some companies, this person is identified as the Marketing Manager.
TRANSFER MECHANISM is the medium that will be used to transfer the message.
DECODING is how the customer interprets the message.
RESPONSE is how the customer reacts to the message. Will the customer purchase the
product?
FEEDBACK measures how successful the advertising campaign was.
Example of a Marketing Communications Strategy:
SENDER Clothing manufacturer
ENCODING Marketing Manager at the clothing manufacturer
TRANSFER MECHANISM Television ad
DECODING Customer sees the television ad and keeps it in mind
RESPONSE Customer goes to the store and purchases the new product (item of clothing)
FEEDBACK Information that customers are responding positively to the message
Basic Model of Communication
The Basic Model of Communication consists of the following elements.
Source A source is also referred to as a sender. The sender has a message to convey to
others. The sender can be anyone from a brand manager (in a major corporation such as
Nike or Budweiser) to a salesperson in a smaller organization. At times, celebrities are used
to endorse products and act as a sender for the product. It is always important to make
sure that the source is credible and trustworthy.

A direct source can be a salesperson delivering a message about a
product.
An indirect source uses a well known public figure to draw attention
to a product.

Encode The source encodes or translates ideas into a message. For example, a brand
manager decides to promote a new product.
Message After defining the target market, the marketer designs an effective message that
will achieve the communication objectives.
Receiver The receiver is the person or group with whom the sender attempts to share
ideas. Marketers want a response, the reactions of the receiver, after being exposed to the
message: for example, a consumer receiving the message about the new product.
Decode The receiver decodes or interprets the message. For a message to be decoded by
a receiver the way it was intended by the sender, the sender and receiver need to have
common experiences. In other words, a receiver may not decode a message the way it was
intended to if her background and experience differ greatly from the senders. A marketer
has to be sensitive to the intended audience.
Noise Noise interferes with or disrupts effective communication. This can include a poor
television or radio signal.
Feedback Feedback is monitoring and evaluating how accurately the intended message is
being received. This can be done by conducting market research. Essentially, this involves
asking consumers if they have seen the message, if they recall the message, and what their
attitude was towards the product.

Promotional Mix
There are five main aspects of a promotional mix.
[1]
These are:
Advertising - Presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified
sponsor. Examples: Print ads, radio, television, billboard, direct mail, brochures and
catalogs, signs, in-store displays, posters, motion pictures, Web pages, banner ads, and
emails.
Personal selling - A process of helping and persuading one or more prospects to
purchase a good or service or to act on any idea through the use of an oral
presentation. Examples: Sales presentations, sales meetings, sales training and incentive
programs for intermediary salespeople, samples, and telemarketing. Can be face-to-face
selling or via telephone.
Sales Promotion - Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a
pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand
or improve product availability. Examples: Coupons, sweepstakes, contests, product
samples, rebates, tie-ins, self-liquidating premiums, trade shows, trade-ins, and
exhibitions.
Public relations - Paid intimate stimulation of supply for a product, service, or business
unit by planting significant news about it or a favorable presentation of it in the
media. Examples: Newspaper and magazine articles/reports, TVs and radio
presentations, charitable contributions, speeches, issue advertising, and seminars.
Direct Marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and
nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such
as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers,
catalog distribution, promotional letters, and outdoor advertising.
Corporate image Corporate image may also be considered as the sixth aspect of promotion
mix. The image of an organization is a crucial point in marketing. If the reputation of a
company is bad, consumers are less willing to buy a product or use a service from this
company as they would have been, if the company had a good image. Sponsorship is
sometimes added as an seventh aspect.


Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is the application of
consistent brand messaging across both traditional and non-traditional marketing
channels and using different promotional methods to reinforce each other.

Components of integrated marketing communications
IMC weaves diverse aspects of business and marketing together. These include:
Organizational culture
The organization's vision and mission
Attitudes and behaviors of employees & partners
Communication within the company
Four P's
Price, pricing plans, bundled offerings
Product (product design, accessibility, usability)
Promotion
Place (point of purchase, in-store/shopper experience)
Advertising
Broadcasting/mass advertising: broadcasts, print, internet advertising, radio, television
commercials
Outdoor advertising: billboards, street furniture, stadiums, rest areas, subway advertising,
taxis, transit
Online advertising: mobile advertising, email ads, banner ads, search engine result pages,
blogs, newsletters, online classified ads, media ads
Direct marketing: direct mail, telemarketing, catalogs, shopping channels, internet sales,
emails, text messaging, websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional
letters, outdoor advertising, telemarketing, coupons, direct mail, direct selling,
grassroots/community marketing, mobile
Online/internet marketing
E-commerce
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engine marketing (SEM)
Mobile Marketing
Email marketing
Content marketing
Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Foursquare, Pinterest, YouTube,
Wikipedia, Instagram)
Sales & customer service
Sales materials (sell sheets, brochures, presentations)
Installation, customer help, returns & repairs, billing
Public Relations
Special events, interviews, conference speeches, industry awards, press conferences,
testimonials, news releases, publicity stunts, community involvement, charity involvement
& events
Promotions
Contests, coupons, product samples (freebies), premiums, prizes, rebates, special events
Trade shows
Booths, product demonstrations
Corporate philanthropy
Donations, volunteering, charitable actions
When these diverse aspects of business and marketing are weaved together properly an
effective campaign can be achieved. Effective campaigns are demonstrated on the
Integrated Brands showcase which recognizes brands that are innovative, strategic and
successfully growing their sales.[7] By effectively leveraging each communication channel
greater impact can be achieved together than achieved individually.

Model and Stages
Similar to the definition of IMC, models of the IMC approach vary according to the source
cited. Frequently, models stress the importance of blending various marketing tools to
maximize the customer experience and value. IMC models also often emphasize the lack of
a specific hierarchy of importance in the IMC stages: all components of the model play an
equally important role and a company may or may not choose to immediately implement
any or all of the integration strategies.
[9]

Level 1: Tactical Coordination and Marketing Communications Initial IMC focus is on the
tactical coordination of diverse marketing such as advertising, promotion, direct response,
public relations, and special events. This level focuses on delivering one sight, one sound
via marketing communication.
[9]

Level 2: Redefining the Scope of Marketing Communication The organization begins to
examine communications from the customers point of view. Marketing communication
begins to give consideration to all sources of brand and company contact a customer has
with the product or service. Management broadens the scope of communication activities
to encompass and coordinate internal marketing employees, suppliers, and other business
partners and align with the existing external communication programs.
[9]

Level 3: Application of Information Technology An organizations application of empirical
data using information technology to provide a basis identity, value, and monitor the impact
of integrated internal and external communication programs to key customer segments
over time.
[9]

Level 4: Financial and Strategic Integration The emphasis shifts to using the skills and data
generated in the earlier stages to drive corporate strategic planning using customer
information and insights. Organizations re-evaluate their financial information
infrastructure.
[9]

Importance of integrated marketing communications
Integration has become an essential concept in marketing because technological advances
have changed how business stakeholders interact. Marketing theory that was established
during the disciplines formative years has been overtaken by the complexities of real-time,
multimodal, multi directional communication.
A few examples help illustrate the growing importance of integration:
Search marketing: When someone is considering buying a product or service they will often
conduct an online search. What they find, on Google and other search engines, as well as
information from news sites, review sites, directories, videos and place-based searches, are
presented together, so like it or not, there is a level of integration. The online experience
will affect their attitudes towards a brand and their behavior. Marketers therefore need to
concern themselves with making sure their brand is found ahead of competitors' and then
ensuring their audience has a positive and helpful experience.
Accessibility and convenience: Consumers expect information and services that relate to a
brand to be conveniently accessible via its website. For instance when a consumer visits
Virgin.com they are able to book a flight, manage their money, top up their mobile phone
plan or find up-to-date news about the company.
[11]

Aggregation of information and services: The traditional demarcation between a company,
its suppliers and customers has become confused. For instance the Apple iTunes app store
aggregates software and information from app makers, along with reviews provided by
consumers.
[12]
Product promotion, delivery, service and information from many different
sources are seamlessly presented together.
Social media: Traditionally businesses were largely in control of their brand
communications. Now brand communications are multidirectional as consumers can easily
share, comment and create content. Brands can use this to their advantage by creating
appealing content. For instance Unilevers campaign for Dove, The Dove Real Beauty
Sketches went viral with over 54 million views on YouTube.
[13]

Growth of mobile: The growing penetration of smartphones with fast internet connectivity
means that marketers need to take into consideration integration between the online
experience and place-based experiences. For instance when a consumer downloads the
Target app they are able to receive coupons to their mobile phone and redeem them at the
checkout by presenting the coupon barcode to the cashier.

The international market environment for promotion
Key points
To successfully implement global marketing strategies, brands must ensure their
promotional campaigns take into account how consumer behaviour is shaped by
internal conditions and external influences.
Global companies must be nimble enough to adapt changing local market trends,
tastes, and needs to their promotional mix.
When launching global advertising, public relations or sales campaigns, global
companies test promotion ideas to provide results that are comparable across
countries.
Using measures can be particularly helpful for marketers since they are based on
visual, not verbal, elements of the promotion.