Chapter 7: Marketing Communication

What is Marketing Communication?

Marketing communications are those techniques that the company or a business individual uses to convey
promotional messages about their products and services. Experts of marketing communication design
different types of persuasive communication and send it to the target audience.

What are the Marketing Communication Tools?

There are different tools used to attract the target audience. However, which tool to use depends on
various factors such as geographical location of your target audience, popularity of your products, etc.
Following are the important tools popularly used for marketing communications −

 Pamphlets

 Brochures

 Emails

 Advertisements

 Websites

 Sales Promotions and Campaign

 Exhibitions

 Personal Selling

 Press Release

Why is Marketing Communications Important?

The sole purpose of marketing communications is to increase the volume of sales by persuasive,
informative, and positive messages. Marketing communication provides new facts through encouraging
messages about products/services.

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Marketing communications is meant to inform and persuade target audience and reinforce market
credibility.

Marketing Communication Process

Communication simply means passing the information from the sender to the receiver. But in practice,
this is a complex process that involves many other factors. However, Kotler has given one of the most
effective models to define the marketing communication process (see the following diagram) −

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The diagram explains various components − first two components are ‘sender’ and ‘receiver’. Second
two components are ‘message’ and ‘media.’ The other features of this model
are ‘encoding,’ ‘decoding,’ ‘response,’ and ‘feedback.’ And, the last feature is ‘noise.’ Noise is random
and other competing messages that more often interfere with the communication.

This model emphasizes on the major key factors that play an important role in effective communication.
It is imperative to know the market response and your target audience before you send any message.

Following are the important points that you need to take care of for effective marketing communications
−

 Persuasive Message − Different customers have different requirements and expectations;

 Design − Every medium of communication (such as magazine, newspaper, TV, digital media, or
brochure) has its own design and requirements. Therefore, you need to plan and design your
messages accordingly.

 Feedback − Must collect feedback from your audience; it will help you improve your marketing
communication.

Marketing Communication Mix/promotion mix

Generally, marketing communication mix is an integrated term that includes personal selling, direct
response marketing, sales promotion, media advertisement, and public relations. These are the tools
associated with strategic activities to communicate with the target audience.

The following table illustrates the common platforms of Marketing Communication mix −

Sales Promotion Personal Selling Advertisement Public Relations

Programs Sales meetings Print media Speech

Game, Contest, Sales Presentations Electronic media, Press Release, Seminars

Gifts, Sampling Incentive programs Brochures, Booklets, Charitable donations,

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 Exhibition, Trade shows, Exhibition, Trade Billboards, Displays, etc. Sponsorships
Offers shows, Offers

Low interest financing Brochure, mailing, Logos, Symbols,etc. Publications, Company

Rebates Digital shopping Audio & Video materials Community Relations

Entertainment TV shopping Point-of purchase Events

The promotion mix, as said above, is the set of strategies marketers use to communicate with their
customers. With combined strategies, the promotion mix creates a powerful method of connecting with
the customer and conveying all the other marketing mix elements for a holistic marketing approach. The
promotion mix allows marketers to reach customers in many different ways, ensuring that the message is
seen, heard, and understood. After determining and defining the target market, creating a good product,
selecting a pricing strategy and optimal price, and deciding on the distribution method, the marketer is
ready to communicate with the customer.

Messages sent by multiple methods provide a better opportunity for consumers to see and hear the
message and make the connection back to the company. When a message is only sent by one method, the
potential for interference, noise, and avoidance is more likely to occur. Marketers use a multichannel
approach to send an integrated message.

Elements of the Promotion Mix

When analyzed individually, each of the promotional mix elements is powerful. They each have a part
to play in the overall success of a company. When combined and carefully executed, they create powerful
brands with legions of loyal fans and followers—the consumers. What do each of these promotional mix
elements do, and how do they contribute to the whole process of connecting with the consumer?

1. Advertising

Advertising is paid, nonpersonal communication from an identified source that allows for creative
messaging about all aspects of a product, service, idea, person, or place. Consumers are able to quickly
point to advertising as a form of promotion. It is perhaps the element of the promotional mix that we are
most familiar with and the one we have been most exposed to throughout every phase of our lives.

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Advertising can take many forms, it is important to note that advertising consists of carefully designed
messaging from the company to the consumer. Advertising is meant to produce a response in the viewer.
And advertising is all about what the company wants to tell us.

Advertising can be the pop-up window while we are doing a Google search. It can be the Chick-fil-
A billboard we pass every day on our way to work. Advertising can be the trailer we watch before our
movie starts. And advertising can be the fun Doritos spots we look forward to during the annual Super
Bowl.

While advertising can be a costly means of communication with the customer, it is relatively inexpensive
based on the number of people reached.

Advertising is effective based on the frequency with which it is usually viewed. And because of the
media, the advertising message can usually be repeated many times, depending on the budget. Due to its
repeatability, production costs have a better return on investment (ROI) the more an ad is used, and the
recall of the ad increases significantly.

2. Sales Promotion

Most consumers love a sales promotion. It creates a feeling of excitement and often includes a bit of a
gaming experience into the purchase decision. Marketers value the benefits of sales promotions because
the results are immediate and they have a wide variety of options when using this promotional mix
element. A sales promotion is a method for a marketer to induce sales in the short term. Sales promotion
is not a long-term strategy but is geared toward specific calls to action, typically aimed at getting the
consumer to buy something immediately or enter a sweepstakes or contest

Sales discounts are a promotional mix element that marketers use to appeal to customers and to deliver
short-term sales for the company

Using sales promotions can be an effective method of getting the consumer to try a product or buy more
of a product, or it can be a way to quickly deplete an inventory to make way for new products.

While sales promotions have many tactics that the marketer can employ, several commonly used
examples of sales promotion include the following:

 Buy One Get One (BOGO). When Domino’s Pizza offers the customer a free pizza when they
buy a medium one-topping pizza, this BOGO deal is used to get an immediate increase in sales
for Domino’s pizza. Consumers may buy Domino’s over other pizza brands because they can get
more pizza for their money.

 Enter to Win. PepsiCo needed to gain traction with the millennial audience. It needed to boost
the Lay’s brand of potato chips and compete with new flavorful organic chips that were getting
market share in the category once dominated by Lay’s. To generate new interest in its brand,
Lay’s launched a campaign for consumers to create a new flavor. New flavors could be entered,
Lay’s would create samples, and the winner of the new chip flavor would win $1 million.

 Coupons. This method of promotion has come a long way with the use of technology. While
consumers are still able to “clip” coupons and redeem them at the point of sale to receive savings

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 on the products they are buying, many companies are making coupons available through mobile
apps and discount codes to apply at the point of sale through an e-commerce store. Using coupons
is a great method of inducing trial of a new product and increasing market share.

 Rebates. Companies offer rebates to induce purchase and generally to receive something in
return besides the sale. When a rebate is offered for the purchase of an Energy Star–certified
product, the consumer gets a designated dollar amount off the price of the product, and in turn
they must submit the proof of purchase along with identifying information about themselves.

3. Personal Selling

Personal selling is one of the most expensive forms of promotion because it is a one-on-one, person-to-
person form of communicating with the customer. The role of the salesperson is to inform and persuade
the customer. This is usually done in what is termed an exchange situation. The salesperson is exchanging
knowledge and something of value, while the customer is exchanging money for the item of value.
Personal selling is ideal for products that can be customized, are complex, and have a relatively high price
point.

Typically, personal selling is most often used in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Business buyers
have longer buying cycles, more complex buying situations, and larger budgets. The pharmaceutical
industry is well-known for using personal selling. Company representatives must have a high degree of
training and knowledge about the products they are selling to physicians and hospitals. It is also very
common to have a sales force to sell equipment and machinery to manufacturing plants. Businesses rely
on the knowledge and service of the sales force selling them products.

In the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, personal selling is used for items that cost more or items that
have a high degree of variation. We find sales representatives when we buy automobiles, home
improvement products, and insurance. The job of the sales representative is to determine our needs and
provide solutions that fill those needs.

When compared to advertising, which has a very general message directed to a very large audience,
personal selling is an individualized message for one or several people within the buying group. When
evaluating the costs of personal selling, it is typically hundreds to thousands of dollars per person
reached.

The process of personal selling can be time-consuming. The process of selling and the tasks of the sales
force can be complex. The sales professional is tasked with prospecting to identify the right customers
and then qualifying them to make certain they are a good fit for the product.

It is not uncommon to hear people say, “You talk a good game. You could sell to anyone.” In reality,
salespeople do not want to talk people into a product. A good sales force only wants to sell to customers
who want and need the product. The best sales force knows that when the customer is a good fit, they will
bring repeat business and good word of mouth.

While some salespeople have a natural inclination for selling, others are highly skilled with the technical
knowledge of the products they are selling. Understanding customers, the buying situation, and the

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product being sold are a few of the skills needed to master the art of selling. Good sales professionals
know that the real work of the sale is to service the needs of the client long after the sale has been made.

4. Public Relations

Public relations is a function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of
an organization with the public interest, and executes a program of action (and communication) to earn
public understanding and acceptance.

In this definition, public relations requires a series of stages, including:

1. The determination and evaluation of public attitudes.

2. The identification of policies and procedures of an organization with a public interest.

3. The development and execution of a communications program designed to bring about public
understanding and acceptance.

The following are some of the tools used in public relation:

1. Publicity: is the placing of information in a news medium at no billed cost to the sponsor.

Example, press conference where a company can handle bad news in a press

2. Open houses and tours

3. Exhibits

4. Meetings

5. Organizing social activities

6. Lobbying

5. Direct Marketing

Direct marketing allows for direct communication with the customer. Messages can be tailored to
specific market segments and even personalized toward individual consumers. Early tactics of direct
marketing included telephone and mail; however, technology has allowed for new methods of connecting
with the customer to include text messaging and email marketing.

Internet/Digital Marketing

Internet/digital marketing includes uses of technology to reach customers at many different points of
interaction. Marketers have at their disposal a variety of methods to reach their customers and brand
products. Some of the tools include websites, landing pages, social media pages, widgets, and customer
relationship management (CRM) systems. All the digital properties work together to drive traffic to the
branded properties and engage the consumers.

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Digital marketing is geared toward very specific market segments and is primarily interactive. Think of
digital marketing as the mechanism that produces the immediate interaction with the customer and
produces some type of feedback. Digital is considered two-way communication between the company
and the customer.

By contrast, Internet marketing is sending a message to a mass audience. The Internet is used to for
digital marketing and includes websites and digital ads as well as the two-way communication of social
media. Other forms of digital marketing include mobile technology such as SMS and mobile apps.