Marketing Communication 8.
Price cue is defined as any marketing tactic used to
IMC is a management concept that is designed
to make all aspects of marketing communication such
as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and
direct marketing work together as a unified force,
rather than permitting each to work in isolation.
Marketing communications has a mix.
Elements of the mix are blended in different quantities
in a campaign. The marketing communications mix
includes many different elements, and the following
list is by no means conclusive. It is recognised that
there is some cross over between individual elements
(e.g. Is donating computers to schools, by asking
shoppers to collect vouchers, public relations or sales
promotion?)
The Marketing Communications Mix:
1. Personal Selling : Personal selling occurs where an
individual salesperson sells a product, service or
solution to a client. Salespeople match the benefits of
their offering to the specific needs of a client. Today,
personal selling involves the development of
longstanding client relationships.
2. Sales Promotion : Sales promotion is any initiative
undertaken by an organisation to promote an increase
in sales, usage or trial of a product or service (i.e.
initiatives that are not covered by the other elements of
the marketing communications or promotions mix).
Sales promotions are varied.
3. Public Relations (PR) : Public Relations (PR) are
any purposeful communications between an
organisation and its publics that aim to generate
goodwill. Publics, put simply, are its stakeholders. PR
is proactive and future orientated, and has the goal of
building and maintaining a positive perception of an
organisation in the mind of its publics. This is often
referred to as goodwill.
4. Direct Marketing: Direct marketing is a channel
free approach to distribution and/or marketing
communications. So a company may have a strategy of
dealing with its customers 'directly,' for example banks
(such as CityBank) or computer manufacturers (such
as Dell).
5. Advertising : Advertising is an important element
of the marketing communications mix. Put simply,
advertising directs a message at large numbers of
people with a single communication. It is a mass
medium.
6. Internet Marketing and Promotion: There are
increasing in the popularity of website by looking
at external sources of Internet Advertising. For
example-Pay-Per-Click Advertising
7. Brands and Branding : Branding is a strategy that
is used by marketers. Pickton and Broderick (2001)
describe branding as Strategy to differentiate products
and companies, and to build economic value for both
the consumer and the brand owner. Brand occupies
space in the perception of the consumer, and is what
results from the totality of what the consumer takes
into consideration before making a purchase decision.
So branding is a strategy, and brand is what has
meaning to the consumer.
persuade customers that prices offer good value
compared to competitors’ prices, past prices or future
prices.
IMC see the elements of the communications
mix 'integrated' into a coherent whole. This is known
as the marketing communications mix, and forms the
basis of a marketing communications campaign.
Promotion
Promotion is a form of corporate
communication that uses various methods to reach a
targeted audience with a certain message in order to
achieve specific organizational objectives. Generally,
promotion is communicating with the public in an
attempt to influence them toward buying your products
and/or services.
Promotion vs. advertising? Promotion is the
broader, all inclusive term. Advertising is just one
specific action you could take to promote your product
or service. Promotion, as a general term, includes all
the ways available to make a product and/or service
known to and purchased by customers and clients.
The word promotion is also used specifically to refer
to a particular activity that is intended to promote the
business, product or service. A store might advertise
that it's having a big promotion on certain items, for
instance, or a business person may refer to an ad as a
promotion.
Types of Promotion Objectives :
Build Awareness – New products and new
companies are often unknown to a market, which
means initial promotional efforts must focus on
establishing an identity. In this situation the marketer
must focus promotion to: 1) effectively reach
customers, and 2) tell the market who they are and
what they have to offer.
Create Interest – Moving a customer from awareness
of a product to making a purchase can present a
significant challenge..
Provide Information – Some promotion is designed
to assist customers in the search stage of the
purchasing process.
Stimulate Demand – The right promotion can drive
customers to make a purchase. In the case of products
that a customer has not previously purchased or has
not purchased in a long time, the promotional efforts
may be directed at getting the customer to try the
product. Reinforce the Brand – Once a purchase is
made, a marketer can use promotion to help build a
strong relationship that can lead to the purchaser
becoming a loyal customer.
Advertising
The activity of attracting public attention to a
product or business, as by paid announcements in the
print, broadcast, or electronic media.
 Description or presentation of a product, idea,
or organization, in order to induce individuals tobuy,
support, or approve of it. Advertising is bringing a
product (or service) to the attention of potential and
current customers. Advertising is focused on one
particular product or service. Thus, an advertising plan
for one product might be very different than that for
another product. Advertising is typically done with
signs, brochures, commercials, direct mailings or e-
mail messages, personal contact, etc.
Thus, great advertisements are those that are: 1.
Strategically sound, 2. Have an original creative
concept, 3. Use exactly the right execution for the
message
Characteristics of successful advertising: 1.
Successful Ads are Highly Targeted, 2. Successful Ads
Solve a Problem, 3. Successful Ads are Unique, 4.
Successful Ads Cause The Audience to Act
An advertising objective is a specific communication
task to be achieved with a specific target audience
during a specified period of time. Advertising
objectives fall into three main categories: (a)
To inform - e.g. tell customers about a new product.
(b) To persuade - e.g. encourage customers to switch
to a different brand (c) To remind - e.g. remind buyers
where to find a product
SMART Objectives : SMART is an acronym that can
be used to help ensure that effective objectives or goals
are set.
Specific- Specific objectives are clear and well-
defined. This helps both the performer and the
manager, as the performer knows what is expected of
them and the manager is able to monitor and assess
actual performance against the specific objectives.
Measurable- Progress towards objectives often need
to be to be monitored whilst work is under way. It is
also very useful to know when that work has been
done and the objectives are completed. A measurable
objective achieves this end.
Achievable- Achievable objectives ensure that
everything is in place and that if the person does not
reach the goals they cannot reasonably point the finger
elsewhere.
Relevant- Objectives should also add useful value
within the context where they are being set, being
aligned with strategies and higher goals.
Timely- Descriptions of objectives should also include
timescales of what is required by when. This may also
include details of delivery, stating (if relevant) where
objectives are to be completed.
Corporate advertising : Advertising that is
more public relations than sales promotion.
Its objective is to build a firm's corporate image,
reputation, and name-awareness among
the general public or within an industry. See
also institutional advertising.
Direct response advertising : Promotional method in
which a prospective customer is urged to respond
immediately and directly to the advertiser, through the
use of a 'device' provided in the advertisement.
These devices (called direct response mechanisms) incl
ude a (1) coupon to cut and mail, (2) business reply
card, (3) toll-free telephone number, or, on the
internet, (4) hotspot to click.
Most retail sale advertisements are direct response ads
in one way or the other.
AIDA advertisement : Popular for over a hundred
years as a advertisement tool, AIDA stands for
Attention, Interest, Desire and Action as
the names for steps to be taken in sequence in a
advertisement process. The salesperson must
(1) first make the prospect aware of the product, (2)
foster any interest shown, (3)stimulate the desire
to buy and possess the product and, finally, (4)
encourage action to purchase.
Developing an Advertising Compaign : Here are
eight steps you can follow to keep your advertising
campaign on track and successful:
Market research: Before you even start thinking
about where you might want to place an ad or even
what it could look like, it’s important to do at least
some basic research. Budgeting: Your business
probably has a set advertising budget for the year —
but how do you divvy it up between your various
advertising projects? For each project you’re planning,
you need to be clear on just how much money you’re
willing to spend.
Setting goals: The aims you have in mind for a
particular advertising project need to be written down
ahead of time. While it’s good to be ambitious, it’s
also important to decide what constitutes a successful
advertising campaign for your business.
Advertising venue: The website, tv station,
newspaper, radio station, magazine or other advertising
venue you place your ad with is a crucial decision.
You’ll need to look at not only the cost of your
preferred venues but also whether they reach your
target demographic.
Choosing creative’s: Unless you’re planning to write,
shoot and design every part of your ad, you’ll probably
need to bring in some help.
Design and wording: While you may not have a lot of
actual writing and designing to do for your ad, during
the creation process you will need to review and sign
off on different stages of the project..
Placing the ad: Once you have a finished ad in hand,
it’s time to actually place it with your preferred
advertising venue. You may have a few contracts to
sign and a check to hand over. Evaluation: Depending
on your ad, how you evaluate it can vary. If it included
a coupon, for instance, you can simply count how
many customers brought in the coupon.
Communication Process :
Communication is a process of exchanging
verbal and non verbal messages. It is a continuous
process. Pre-requisite of communication is a message.
This message must be conveyed through some medium
to the recipient. It is essential that this message must
be understood by the recipient in same terms as
intended by the sender. He must respond within a time
frame. Thus, communication is a two way process and
is incomplete without a feedback from the recipient to
the sender on how well the message is understood by
him.
The main components of communication
process are as follows:

1. Context - Every communication proceeds

with context. The sender chooses the message
to communicate within a context.
2. Sender / Encoder - Sender / Encoder is a
person who sends the message. A sender
makes use of symbols (words or graphic or
visual aids) to convey the message and
produce the required response. For instance - a
training manager conducting training for new
batch of employees. Sender may be an
individual or a group or an organization.
3. Message - Message is a key idea that the
sender wants to communicate. It is a sign that
elicits the response of recipient.
Communication process begins with deciding
about the message to be conveyed. It must be
ensured that the main objective of the message
is clear.
4. Medium - Medium is a means used to
exchange / transmit the message. The sender
must choose an appropriate medium for
transmitting the message else the message
might not be conveyed to the desired
recipients.
5. Recipient / Decoder - Recipient / Decoder is a
person for whom the message is intended /
aimed / targeted. The degree to which the
decoder understands the message is dependent
upon various factors such as knowledge of
recipient, their responsiveness to the message,
and the reliance of encoder on decoder.
6. Feedback - Feedback is the main component
of communication process as it permits the
sender to analyze the efficacy of the message.
It helps the sender in confirming the correct
interpretation of message by the decoder.