Module 7

Marketing Communications
IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
 “Nobody ever
got fired for
buying IBM”

IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23

• A shared desirable and exclusive idea embodied in
products, services, places and/or experiences
(Kapferer, 2008)
• A strong brand can
– increase an organisation’s scope of influence in a business
network
– augment reputation
– set up/increase entry barriers
– create POD in offer in terms of tangible features and
intangible associations
– reduces perceived OBB risk

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 Resonance

Judgments Feelings

Performance Imagery

Salience

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 4. Relationships :
Partnership What about you and
solutions me?

Sales force 3. Response: What

Judgments about you?
relationships

2. Meaning:
Performance Reputation What are you?

1. Identity: Who
Salience are you?

IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23

Construct Description Concern
Corporate Identity The central, enduring, and Who we are?
distinctive characteristics
Corporate Brand The promise made What we do? What makes us
important and/or different
from our competitors?
Corporate Image The beliefs and What people think about us?
impressions held
Corporate Reputation The esteem in which Are we good/bad, admired
the firm is held and respected, better/worse
than others in the industry?

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 Branded House
Brand
Relationship

House of Brands

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IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
• Should reflect communications objectives
• Depend on product category
• Digital media
– High-tech firms: outweighs sales promotion, technical
seminars, direct mail
– Equivalent to trade journal advertising or trade shows

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Objectives Target segments Tools
Awareness Leads Advertising
Direct mail
Publicity (industry
conferences)
Interest Enquiries Brochures
Videos
Recorded demonstrations
Website
Trade shows
Evaluation Prospects Telemarketing
Field sales visits

Trial New customers Inside sales calls

Purchase Established Transactional &
customers relationship sales teams
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• Engaging with representatives of the target
organisation
• Influence behaviour of other stakeholders
• Positive impact on sales effectiveness
• Effectiveness dimensions
– Characteristics of the ad
– Reader’s feelings about his/her relationship with the ad
– Selling proposition
– Company orientation or visibility

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IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
• Objective setting
– Performance goals
– Target audience: engage influencers in the customer firm
• Formulation of creative plan
– Problem-solving or USP

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• Media selection
– Electronic: Corporate
identity positioning
• Scheduling:
news/sports/political
programmes
• Work-based sitcoms
– Online: search engine /
display ads / video ads
• B2B search engines
– Offline: Trade publications
(longevity?)
• Evaluation of advertising
effectiveness

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• Buyers and sellers in a single physical location
• Missions
– Government sponsored
– Involves
• Representation of particular regions/countries at major
international trade fairs
• Designating a priority overseas market and then funding
promotional event in that country

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• Representation
– Mostly by distributors
– In industry key exhibitions, manufacturers participate
directly
• Close match between supply markets and target
audiences
• Focus
– Country
– Industry
– Country’s expertise in a specific industry

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IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
• Selling
– Identification of prospects
– Gaining access to key decision-makers
– Disseminating facts about vendors
– Selling; booking orders
• Non-selling
– Building or maintaining company image
– Gathering competitor information
– Product testing/evaluation
– Maintaining employee morale

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• Considerable less cost of prospecting vis-à-vis
personal selling
• Higher generation of leads
• Captive and relevant audience
• Non-purchase visitors

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Buy phase Objective Task Low High
Need recognition Generate Prospecting
awareness
Developing Feature Opening
product spec comprehension relationship
Search & qualify Lead generation Qualifying
suppliers prospect
Evaluation Performance Presenting sales
comprehension message
Selection Negotiation Closing sale
Purchase Reassurance Account servicing
feedback
Advertising Trade Personal
shows selling

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• Customer-focused?
– Collage of departmental products instead of
popular products
• Concentrate on the customer eye path
– Talk ‘at’ customers
• Talk ‘to’ customers
• WIIIFM
– Clutter and confusion

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• Buyers do not contact suppliers before 57%
of the purchasing is completed
• 90% marketers consider webinars/webcasts,
e-books, white papers to be effective in
achieving SEO/marketing objectives
– Less than 45% utilize

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Customers Not worth B2C way
don’t use the trouble doesn’t apply

A Facebook Inefficient for

page is customer
sufficient service

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 Information Customer
Branding Sales
dissemination connect

• Brand awareness • Educate buyers • New leads into • Customer

and visibility • Build trust the funnel feedback
• Building brand and brand when coupled program
advocates - PR trust with content • Customer
opportunities, • Distribution offers care and
positive web channel for (whitepapers, loyalty
mentions, SEO content, ideas eBooks, programs
and brand and offers factsheets)
loyalty • Build
• Improve SEO individual /
by increasing enterprise
third-party reputation as
links, an industry
mentions and thought leader
interest in
brand content
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IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
 B2B
customers

Industry
influencers

Social
channels

SMEs
engaged in
communities

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IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
• Absence of face-to-face contact
• Use of online and offline media for direct, one-to-
one communication and transactions
• Facility to measure responses to communications
• Use of databases
– Targets are drawn
– Responses and transactions are added

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IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
• Benefits
– Based on customer communication, marketer determines
precise requirements
– Negotiation of adjustments to supplier’s offer
– Formulation of a bespoke offering
– Initiation, development and maintenance of supplier-
customer relationships

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• Identify and secure revenue-generating
opportunities
• Win business from targeted customers
• Augment the offering using technical expertise,
industry experience to recommend optimum
solution
• The face of the supplier firm
• Face of the customer in their own firm
• Feeding back information to the internal system

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• Overseeing the handling of current contract(s)
• Obtaining and acting on customer feedback
• Determining the scope and negotiating the
expansion of supplier share
• Responding to and seeking to resolve new sourcing
problems
• Monitoring developments in customer firms
• Identifying new product opportunities
• Negotiating new contract(s)

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• Internal perspective
Product

Service Logistics

Advice Adaptation

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 Customer
Perceived Value

Life cycle costs

Customer
Desired Costs of search,
acquisition, etc.
Value TCO
Supplier margin
Price

Cost to supplier

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Missionary

Frontline

Internal

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• Stimulating demand
• Build relationships
• Brand and reputation enhancement
• Not completing a transaction or gaining a
sale

IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23

IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23
IIM Ranchi MBA 2021-23