International Conference ―Marketing – from information to decision‖ 4th Edition 2011

Marketing Communications: a conceptual

approaches

Gianina LALA
Eftimie Murgu University of Reşiţa
gianina.lala@gmail.com

ABSTRACT Marketing communications are the means by which companies try to inform
consumers, to persuade and remind them about products and brands that they sell. In other
words, marketing communications is the ―voice‖ of the product and are a tool to achieve
dialogue and can build relationships with consumers. Marketing communication is an area of
marketing that offers a unique perspective on the entire search marketing industry. This
subfield, consisting of a group of functional activities has existed since modern marketing
began. However, only within the last decade have serious attempts been made to consolidate
personal selling, advertising, packaging, point-of-purchase, direct mail, product sampling,
publicity, and public relations according to ―marketing communication‖. This paper aims to
present various approaches in the literature on marketing communication.

1. Introduction

Clearly communications are going through a big change. They are which make the link
between individual and society. Communication is the tool used by the marketers to persuade
consumers to act as they wish (e.g., to make a purchase, make a donation, to vote, to promote
a retail store). Today, media and communications models that were used over the years,
undergoes fundamental changes. The success of an effective marketing communication
depends on developing a compelling message and delivery of the right audience. Appropriate
ethical aspects focus on identifying and locating specific audiences and content of
promotional messages. This article contains the following structure: (1) first is presented the
integrated marketing communication, namely the definition and devices that includes, (2) the
second part refers to the main components of marketing communication (sender, receiver,
medium, message and feedback), (3) part three includes one of the greatest challenges of the
past century in terms of communication, namely the Internet, and (4) the last part contains
conclusions of the article.

2. Integrated marketing communication

In the last decade, the concept of integrated marketing communication has received wide
attention in the marketing literature (Duncan & Everett, 1993; Schultz et al., 1993; McArthur
& Griffin, 1997; Schultz & Kitchen, 2000), but a ―definition related to this concept is difficult
to establish‖ (Schultz et al., 1993). Integrated marketing communication can take many forms
(Cornelissen & Lock, 2000), but in each case, confidence is given by the coordination of
various marketing communication devices (e.g., advertising, direct marketing, etc.) to create a
unified message. One approach that captures much of the essence of the concept defines the
phenomenon as the coordination of different communication tools for a brand (Krugman et
al., 1994).

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In essence, integrated marketing communication involves mixing various communication

devices, such as publicity, advertising, sales promotion, etc., into a single, seamless entity
(Nowak et al., 1996). While great diversity exists regarding integrated marketing
communication nature (Schultz & Kitchen, 1997), three broad applications of integrated
marketing communication in practice have been identified:
(1) integrated marketing communication as a ―coordinated marketing communication
campaign‖,
(2) integrated marketing communication as a ―one voice communication‖
(3) integrated marketing communication as ―integrated communication‖ (Nowak &
Phetps, 1994). The distinction between the three approaches is quite unclear, but each offers
a slightly different angle to create a marketing effort that is uniform on his appearance
(Duncan, 1993).

Integrated marketing communication as a ―coordinated marketing communication

campaign‖ focuses on unifying a firm's communication efforts across the spectrum of
marketing communication disciplines (e.g. sales promotion, advertising and public
relations) to target multiple audiences with a congruent message (Rapp & Collins, 1990;
Schultz et al., 1993), while the ―one voice‖ approach emphasizes unity among various
communication and promotional tools to reflect a single positioning strategy at the outset
of a promotional campaign (Snyder, 1991; Reilly, 1993).

The third form ―integrated communication‖, involves the promotion of brand image and
audience behavior simultaneously, by incorporating tools such as brand advertising,
consumer sales promotions, public relations and direct response mechanisms within the
communication effort (Peltier et al.,1992). In general, this approach reflects a micro level of
integrated marketing communication application by employing integration within a single
communication device such as advertising.

Integrated marketing communication has generated great interest both among academics and
practitioners (Schultz, 1996; Kitchen &Schultz, 1999). Indications of its value, however,
suggest that integrated marketing communication is perceived as a valuable tool and that
nearly two-thirds of consumer product companies employ some form of integrated marketing
communication (Caywood et al., 1991; Duncan & Everett, 1993). One study found that
75% of organizations that were interviewed have adopted integrated marketing
communication (Phelps et at., 1994). However, there is little evidence about the exact
nature of integrated marketing communication in different market contexts (Nowak et al.,
1996). Few data are available on the subject suggests that there is ―some variance among
the various alternatives‖ of integrated marketing communication (McArthur & Griffin,
1997).

Integrated marketing communication potential contribution for organizations is seemingly

high. Specifically, the uniform message that integrated marketing communication produces
may be a remedy that is capable of addressing the inherent problem that organizations face
when they must market a product that customers cannot see.

3. Communication components

Integrated marketing communication focused on identifying the audience and setting up a

coordinated program of promotion to get the desired response from the audience. Often,
marketing communication focus on overcoming problems of immediate awareness, image or
preferably occurring in the market concerned. Although there are many ways to define
communication, most marketers agree that communication is the transmission of a message from
a sender to a receiver via a medium (or channel) of transmission. In addition to these four
basic components (sender, receiver, medium, and message) the fifth essential component of

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communication is feedback, which alerts the sender as to whether the intended message was in
fact, received. The figure below shows the basic communications model.

Figure 1. Basic Communication Model

Sender Message Channel Receiver

(Source) (Medium) (Consumer)

Feedback

(Source: Schiffman, L.G. & Kanuk, L.L., 2008 Consumer Behavior, Ninth Edition, Prentice Hall,
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey)

The sender. The sender, as the initiator of the communication, can be a formal or an informal
source. A formal communications source is likely to represent either a for-profit (commercial)
or a not-for-profit organization; an informal source can be a parent or friend who gives
product information or advice. In most cases, consumers rely on informal communications
sources in making purchase decisions because, unlike formal sources, the sender is perceived
as having nothing to gain from the receiver's subsequent actions. For this reason, marketers
should always encourage and even initiate positive word-of-mouth communications about
their products and services.

The receiver. The receiver of formal marketing communications is likely to be a targeted

prospect customer (e.g., a member of the marketer's target audience). Intermediary unintended
audiences are also likely to receive marketers' communications. While intermediary audiences
include wholesalers, distributors, and retailers, unintended audiences include everyone who is
exposed to the message. Unintended receivers of marketing communication often include
publics that are important to the marketer, such as shareholders, creditor suppliers, employees,
bankers, and the local community. It is important to remember that the audience, no matter
how large or how diverse, is composed of individual receive each of whom interprets the
message according to his or her own personal percept and experiences.

The medium. The medium, or communications channel, can be impersonal and interpersonal.
Mass media are generally classified as print (newspapers, magazines), broadcast (radio,
television), or electronic (primarily the Internet).

The message. The message can be verbal (spoken or written), nonverbal (a photograph, an
illustration, or a symbol), or a combination of the two. A verbal message, whether it is said or
written, can usually contain more specific product (or service) information the nonverbal
message. However, a verbal message combined with a nonverbal message often more
persuasive than either would be alone. Nonverbal information takes place in both
interpersonal channels and impersonal channels and often takes the form of symbolic
communication. Often, to achieve greater recognition, marketers develop logos or symbols
that are associated exclusively with their products.

Feedback. Feedback is an essential component of both interpersonal and impersonal

communications. Prompt feedback permits the sender to reinforce, to change, or to modify the
message to ensure that it is understood in the intended way. Generally, it is easier to obtain
feedback (both verbal and nonverbal) from interpersonal communications than impersonal

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communications. For example, a good salesperson usually is alert to nonverbal feedback

provided by the prospective consumer. Such feedback may take the form of facial expressions
(a smile, a frown, a look of total boredom, an expression of disbelief) or body movements
(finger tapping, head nodding, head shaking, or clenched hands). Because of the high cost of
space and time in impersonal media, it is very important for sponsors of impersonal
communications to devise methods to obtain feedback as promptly as possible, so that they
may revise a message if its meaning is not being received as intended.

4. Internet communication

The Internet was one of the biggest challenges of the last century. It had a great impact on
how we communicate information and increase transfers giving us a new range of
opportunities to socialize, work and of course advertising. The Internet is a borderless media
that offers a wide variety of benefits to users and indispensable communications medium for
the world‘s population.

The revolution in information technology has propelled the ―information‖ heading of the most
critical factor in wealth creation (Braun & Holick, 2006; Arlt, 2006). However, the advent of
the Internet revolution has developed marketing information systems (Harmon, 2003).
Internet communications channels penetrated market with incredible speed. Utilization
increased by over 300% between 2000-2009 in the states of the North America. More than
74% of Americans and nearly 50% of Europeans use the Internet frequently, while in
Romania the figure was 34% in September 2009.

Society today is based on knowledge, development of good information, which may give the
company a jump on its competitors provided that it is able to develop, deploy, and manage
powerful new marketing information systems that are capable of converting knowledge rapidly
into customer value (Choi et al. 2007). This can only be achieved when the marketing
function is developed and scaled up on "Internet time" with best-of-class decision support
solutions for sales force automation, marketing, intelligence, marketing research, logistics,
communications, and product development.

With the advent of the Internet, many marketing communication researchers realised that this
new medium would bring new opportunities for the marketing communication process (Heinen,
1996). Some researchers even predict the death of the traditional marketing function (Holbrook &
Hulbert, 2002). New media communication channels have several characteristics in common with
the traditional and new ones. The great advantage for both new media and traditional media is that
it can communicate the desired message to a large audience. Moreover, both types of channels
provides the possibility of using a wide variety of multimedia tools to give a compelling message
form.

In order that marketing communications efforts reach then full potential they need to be
integrated into a co-ordinated framework (Burnett & Moriarty, 1998). Thus, Internet
communication activities need to be integrated in the overall marketing communications mix.
They need also to be coordinated with the operations of the company (Lovelock, 2000). In e-
business, the very distinctions between marketing communications and business operations also
become more diffuse especially at a strategic level (Rowley, 2001).

Werthner and Klein (1999) demonstrates how the Internet has profoundly changed the
production, distribution and consumption of touristic products, concluding that
information and communication technology is probably the strongest driving force for
change in the tourism industry. Dodds et al. (2010) shows that the adoption of
information and communication technology has leveraged the effectiveness and

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efficiency of the tourism industry, thus enabling it to achieve sustainable competitive

advantage.

According to Buhalis and Spada (2000), the Internet and information and
communication technology supported marketing information system, and transformed
the tourism industry into a truly digital economy, while e-tourism has evoled from a
technology trend to a mainstream tourism business reality, creating opportunities as well
as challenges for both practitioners and researchers in the area (Papathanassis & Buhalis,
2007).

New media has an important advantage (which was taken over by the media), namely to
select channels that transmit messages to the target population. This can be done easily
following the profile of people consuming a product media. Unlike the new media, the
media is extremely expensive. For example, repeated transmission of a message through
a media channel at rush hour. Instead, the Internet is much cheaper (Cassell et al., 1998).
It has the advantage of transmitting a message to a broad audience individually.
Specifically, the theoretical point of view is particularly great advantage of new media:
personalized messaging, considered more compelling, which reach a wide audience.

The Internet presents new ways of interaction. One example is e-communities or virtual
communities in which people with a common interest carry out their social discourse and activities
using the Internet (Barnatt, 1998; Sands, 2003). By participating in such communities companies
can develop many communications (Maclaran & Catterall, 2002). Another example is the
moderated group chat in which groups of customers interact in real time co-ordinated by a
company representative with a commercial motive (van Dolen & de Ruyter, 2002). By using e-
bulletins, newsletters delivered via e-mail, the companies can keep the audience informed about
new features on their website (Sands, 2003).

While traditional media emphasizes a uni-directional communication, new media focus

on the value of participatory, based on the communication network (Lefebre, 2007). New
media offers greater control over the channel and the message conveyed through it.
Moreover, the possibility to save and analyze the content of communication (Glanz et al.,
2005). Rather than follow the pattern used by traditional media, research and than
implement a campaign that finally turns out to be not so efficient or effective in terms of
spending, new media provides a versatile communication. Thus campaigns can be
streamlined in several ways.

Besides the advantages presented, new media presents some problems that may limit the
effect of campaigns. An example is the limit for receiving messages that audiences do not
have the necessary knowledge of using these communication channels. This part of the
population is quite high at present, which no longer appropriate traditional
communication channel (radio, TV) that have become part of everyday life.
Unfortunately, for many consumers computers and the Internet have not yet reached this
level.

One of the most important theories that explain people‘s behavior patterns in terms of
media use is use-benefit theory. This approach examines the use of media from a user
perspective; it examines how and why people use different media (Jeffres, 1994).
According to Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch (1974) this approach involves the use of
media is aimed directly and it draws only active media users. Furthermore, users are
aware of their needs and choose a media able to meet their needs.

Severin and Tankard (1997) stated that this theory is a psychological perspective on
communication. It helps to know why and how people use the same media for different
purposes. Similarly, Rubin (1994) stated that the objective is to study the theory of

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psychological needs. People satisfy their intrinsic needs while keeping a certain behavior
is connected to the use of media to acquire certain benefits. Ruggiero (2000) concluded
that the theory use-benefit is a secular theory.

Researchers have used conventional media as a source of gratification generation

company identified interpersonal and social utility as the main reasons for Internet using.
In addition, researchers refer to previous studies about the Internet have identified the
main reasons for using the Internet in accordance with the purpose of these studies. The
main reasons for Internet‘s use obtained from such studies include virtual community
(Song et al., 2001), seeking information and online company (Chio et al., 2003; Jiyali
Ye, 2005; Ko et al., 2005), entertainment (Larose & Eastin, 2004; Grant, 2005), shopping
and search (Rodgers et al., 2005) and ease of use (Mostafa, 2006).

Researchers used qualitative research techniques such as word association (Stafford &
Gonier, 2004), thematic discussion groups (Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999) and attitude
sounding (Weiser, 2001) to discover the benefits. They identified social‘s escape, social
or affiliate reasons and search of information as the main reason for using the Internet.
Stafford and Schkade (2004) and Leung (2007) used both methods (i.e., literature review
and qualitative study), identifying the main motivations for Internet‘s use: reasons and
entertainment-based process.

Before selecting specific media vehicles, advertisers must select general media categories
that will enhance the message they want to convey. Which media categories the marketer
selects depends on the product or service to be advertised, the market segments to be
reached, and the marketer's advertising objectives. Rather than select one media category
to the exclusion of others, many advertisers use a multimedia campaign strategy.

The Internet is the newest advertising medium, and using it to communicate effectively
with customers; it still represents a challenge to marketers. A recent study (Lee et al., 2005)
identified three groups of factors that marketers should consider when building a Web
site:
(1) providing information search tools such as easy site navigation, complete product
information, and ability to customize the content;
(2) incorporating designs that enhance the enjoyment of the site's users (such as
attractive visuals and colors);
(3) providing tools that support the transaction such as security, ease of entering the
information, stating the rules of the transaction clearly, providing the company
information, and quick response time.

The following table compares the potential persuasive impact of major advertising media
along the dimensions of targeting precision (i.e., the ability to reach exclusively the
intended audience), constructing a persuasive message, degree of psychological noise,
feedback, and relative cost.

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Table 1. Persuasive Capabilities and Limitations of Major Advertising Media

Targeting Message Degree of Obtaining Relative cost

precision development and psychological noise feedback
execution
Access to large Flexible. Messages High clutter. Many Sales volume. Determined
audiences. Not very can be designed and messages Redemptions of by size of ad
selective in reaching published quickly. competing for special and the
Newspapers

consumers with Limited production attention. promotions and medium‘s

specific quality and short level of store circulation.
demographics. message life. traffic provide Affordable for
Effective for immediate local
reaching local feedback. businesses.
consumers.
High geographic and High quality of High clutter. Some Delayed and Determined
demographic production. High magazines may not indirect by cost of
selectivity. credibility of ads in guarantee ad feedback, such page and
Magazines

special-interest placement in a as the starch circulation.

magazines. Long particular position scores that Top
message life and within the measure recall magazines
pass-along magazine. and attention. charge very
readership. Long high rates.
lead time required.
Reaches very large Appeals to several High clutter. Day-after recall Very high
audiences. Many senses. Enables Viewers can avoid tests measure costs base don
programs lack messages that draw message exposures how many how many
Television

audience selectivity. attention and by channel surfing consumers were consumers

generate emotion. or using advanced exposed to the watch a given
Short duration technologies. message and, to program.
messages must be a lesser degree,
repeated. Long lead their
time. characteristics.
High geographic and Audio messages High clutter. Delayed Based on size
demographic only. Short Listeners can easily feedback, such of the
audience selectivity. exposure. Relatively switch among as day-after audience
Radio

short lead time. stations during recall tests. reached.

commercials. Local radio
may be
relatively
inexpensive.
Potential for great Increasingly more Very high degree of Interactive Great
audience selectivity. advanced messages clutter. Visitors can medium with variation in
Audience may be can be designed and easily escape potential for establishing
demographically shown relatively promotional gathering advertising
skewed. Enables quickly. Marketers messages. Banner immediate rates since
Internet

tracking customers recognize that their ads and home pages feedback. there is no
and building home pages are can reinforce and standard
databases. Privacy advertisements and expand promotional measure of
issues make must be designed as messages featured the impact of
targeting more persuasive tools. in other media. online
difficult. advertising.

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High audience Enables novel, No competing Easy to Relatively

Direct Mail selectivity. Enables visually appealing, messages within measure high cost per
personalization. and dramatic the mailing. feedback person per
Perceived by many messages. through limited mailing duet o
as „junk mail‖ and pretests and „junk mail‖
discarded. cost-per-inquiry image.
and cost-per-
order.
Marketers can build A function of the Can be relatively Generates Determined
and constantly refine medium used to free of clutter, even measurable through such
an electronic solicit the direct in media where responses and variables as
database of qualified response from the there is generally a enables cost-per-
Direct marketing

buyers base don customer. lot of noise. marketers to inquiry, cost-

inquiries and direct measure the per-sale, and
orders. Permits the profitability of revenue-per-
development of their efforts advertisement.
highly selective directly.
customer segments.
Privacy concerns
makes this practice
difficult.
(Source: Schiffman, L.G. & Kanuk , L.L., 2008, Consumer Behavior, Ninth Edition, Prentice Hall,
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey)

Developments in recent years have led to a widespread pessimism on all online associations.
However, Internet‘s use is growing, especially for young and well educated people.
Worldwide, the Internet has become a natural way to obtain information.

5. Conclusions

This marketing communication performs many functions for consumers. More exactly, to the
consumers it can said or it can show how and why it is used a product, by which kind of
person, where and when; the consumers can learn information about who makes the product
and what it choice to represent their company and brand. Marketing communications are
designed to make the consumer aware of the product or service, induce purchase or
commitment, create a positive attitude toward the product, give the product a symbolic
meaning, or show how it can solve the consumer problem better than a competitive product.

In conclusion, we can say that the media choice depends on the product, audiences and
advertising campaign objectives. Each medium has advantages and disadvantages which be
weighed when making the selection media for an advertising campaign. Considering the new
technologies appearence, many advertisers develops now more personalized communications
that can reach consumers more easily.

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Discussant: Associate Professor PhD. CHIŞ, Alexandru; Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca

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