Module 2

Chapter 2: The Communication Process

- The word communication is derived from the Latin communis, which means common
- Communication can be considered as the process of establishing commonality of
meaning (based on a shared meaning relationship) between the message sender
(such as an advertiser) and a receiver (such as a consumer)
- Lack of communication may arise due to the inattentiveness of the intended
receiver. Human receivers are bombarded with stimuli from many sources and, like a
television set, people are selective in what information they choose to process
- With contemporary forms of communication such as social networks, company
websites and apps, many planned marketing communication messages are not
getting through to consumers due to them multitasking and blocking messages.
Therefore, social networking sites and word-of-mouth forums are being used more
and more by brands within their mix of tools to communicate with audiences
- All communication activities involve a source, who has a communication objective,
which is transformed into a message, which is delivered via a message channel to a
receiver, who experiences a communication outcome. That outcome represents
feedback to the message source. And the entire process is subject to interference,
interruptions or, in general, noise
o Source – a communicator with some marketing communications capacity –
such as an advertiser, salesperson or sales promoter – who has ideas based
on the product’s attributed and benefits to share with the target audience.
The source encodes a marketing message, by translating ideas into symbolic
form, to accomplish the communication objective
o Communication Objectives – there should have a clear idea of what should
be accomplished. This may include creating brand awareness and recall,
establishing a positive brand image by implanting positive associations in the
consumer’s memory and encouraging purchase behaviour
o Message – a symbolic expression of what the communicator intends to
achieve e.g. advertisements, sales presentations, and package designs
o Message channel – the path of the message as it moves from source to
receiver e.g. television, radio, newspaper/magazine, the Internet, billboards,
t-shirts and packages, salespeople and word-of-mouth communication
o Receiver – the target audience with whom the source attempts to share
ideas. They are the prospective and present customers of an organisation’s
product or service who decode the marketing message to interpret or derive
meaning from
o Communication Outcome – it is essential that the consumer outcomes match
the communicator’s general objectives and result in increased levels of brand
awareness and recall, more positive brand attributes or more frequent
purchasing of the product
o Feedback – provides a means of evaluating how accurately the intended
message is being received and whether it is accomplishing its intended
objective(s), and thus whether it needs to be altered
o Noise – the influence of extraneous and distracting stimuli that interrupt or
interfere with reception of the message in its original form due to distortion.
This may occur at any stage of the communication process
- We as marketers must take into consideration new technology available in our
interconnected world
- While the consumer decision process is important for information searching, many
messages received are not created by marketers, and may come from a variety of
places e.g. interactive communications such as social networks and blogs
- It is becoming harder for marketers to reach and engage audiences due to messages
being blocked by how consumers use their mobile devices
- Many companies have adapted their marketing communications to engage the 21 st-
century consumer, to allow for two-way communication between company and
consumer instead of a one-way mode from company to consumer to prevent
consumers missing elements within the traditional communication process model
and drawing on other sources for information e.g. blogs, discussion boards and
product reviews.
- It also means that companies need to focus on micro-marketing to address the
specific needs of individuals, instead of sending messages to the masses that are
overlooked or not seen
- New technology brings new processes, and in the environment of two-way
communication, brand advocates can work with companies to explore new ways to
improve and design products
- The concept of meaning is fundamental to the communication process. Marketers
attempt to accomplish specific brand-related objectives when designing marketing
communications messages, and from those messages consumers construct meanings
that may or may not be the same as those intended by the communicator
- Semiotics, in broad terms, is the study of signs and the analysis of meaning-
producing events. A practical application of semiotics develops meaning as a
constructive process whereby meaning is determined both by the message source’s
choice of signs and, just as importantly, by the receiver’s unique sociocultural
background and mindset at the time of exposure to a message
- The word sign, in everyday usage, includes such things as road signs, store signs,
real-estate signs announcing houses for sale, and symbols for abstract concepts such
as happiness. The concept of a sign is an all-inclusive notion that encompasses
words, visualisations, tactile objects, olfactory sensations and anything else that is
capable of being perceived by the senses, and has the potential to communicate
meaning to the receiver
- By definition, a sign is something physical and perceivable that signifies something
(the referent) to somebody (the interpreter) in some context
- Meaning is somewhat idiosyncratic and contextually dependent
- The use of emojis has grown tremendously and is a short and time-saving way of
sending a message. However, there can be cultural differences in the understanding
and use of emojis
- Although signs are used to share meaning with others, signs and meanings should
not be construed as being synonymous. Signs and symbols are simply stimuli that are
used to evoke an intended meaning for another person
- Marketing communication is most effective when the signs are common to both the
sender’s and receiver’s fields of experience (the total of a person’s experiences
during their lifetime)
- Meaning can be thought of as the perceptions (thoughts) and affective reactions
(feelings) to stimuli evoked within a person when she or he is presented with a sign
in a particular context. Meaning is internal, rather than external, and thus subject to
individual interpretation
- The cultural and social environments in which marketing communications take place
are loaded with meaning. Through socialisation, people learn cultural values, form
beliefs and become familiar with the physical manifestations (artefacts) of these
values and beliefs
- When exposed to an advertisement, a consumer does not only draw information
from the ad, but also actively assigns meaning to the advertised brand
- The use of symbols is widespread in marketing communications. A symbol relation is
formed when an object (such as a brand) becomes a symbol of something else
(called a referent), and the object and the referent have no prior intrinsic
relationship, but rather are arbitrarily or metaphorically related
- When establishing symbolic relationships, marketing communicators often use
figurative or non-literal language (involves expressing one thing, such as a brand, in
terms normally used for describing another thing, with which it may be regarded as
being analogous). Three forms of figurative language are used by marketing
communicators:
o Simile – uses a comparative term, such as ‘like’ or ‘as’, to join items from
different classes of experience e.g. ‘love is like a rose’
o Metaphor – applies a word or phrase to a concept or object that it does not
literally describe, to suggest a comparison and to make the abstract more
concrete. Unlike a simile, the comparative terms are omitted e.g. ‘she has a
heart of gold’. Metaphors are widely used in advertising as they arouse and
enliven the consumer’s imagination and represent an effective yet
economical means to create brand associations and enhance persuasion
o Allegory – represents a form of extended metaphor that equates the objects
in a particular text, with meanings outside the text itself. Something other
than what is literally represented is also occurring. Another characteristic is
personification
- The behavioural foundations of marketing communications are based on how
consumers process and respond to marketing communications stimuli, and then
make choices among brands.
- There are two models – the consumer processing model (CPM) and the hedonic,
experiential model (HEM) – that describe how consumers process marketing
communications information and ultimately use this information to choose from
among the many alternative products available in the marketplace
- From a CPM perspective, behaviour is seen as rational, cognitive, systematic and
reasoned. From the HEM perspective, however, pursuit of fun, fantasies and feelings
drive consumer processing of marketing communications messages and behaviour\
- When viewed from a HEM perspective, products are more than mere objective
entities but are subjective symbols that precipitate feelings and promise fun and the
possible realisation of dreams (fantasy). From a CPM perspective, information
processing and choice are seen as rational, cognitive, systematic and reasoned. Each
perspective is not tied to a given type of product purchase
- The Consumer Processing Model:
o Stage 1: Exposure to Information – exposure simply means that consumers
come into contact with the marketer’s message e.g. television advertisement
and radio commercial. Exposing consumers to marketing communication
does not ensure that the message will have any impact on their subsequent
behaviour. Instead, exposure is an opportunity for the consumer to see the
advertisement. Gaining exposure is a necessary but insufficient condition for
communication success. In practical terms, exposing consumers to a brand’s
message is a function of the manager’s ability to set the marketing
communication’s budget, and select the media and vehicles to present the
brand message
o Stage 2: Selective Attention – attention, in its formal use, means to focus
cognitive resources on, and think about, a message to which one has been
exposed. Consumers are virtually bombarded with advertisements and other
commercial messages, but their information-processing capacity is limited.
Attention, therefore, tends to be selective in accordance with relevance and
interest to current goals. Thus, effective marketing communications appeal to
those needs that are most relevant to a target audience
o Stage 3: Comprehension of Attended Information – to comprehend is to
understand and create meaning out of stimuli and symbols. Communication
is effective when the intended message matches what consumers actually
extract from the messages. Comprehension is often used interchangeably
with perception; both terms refer to interpretation.
 The perceptual process of interpreting marketing communication is
called perceptual coding and consists of feature analysis (classification
based upon the basic features of a stimulus) and active synthesis
(involves a more refined perception of stimulus based upon the
context or situation upon which it was received) e.g. humour may be
evoked due to an individual’s past experiences
 An individual’s mood can also influence their perception of stimulus
objects
 Miscomprehension may occur without conscious awareness due to
misleading or unclear messages, preconceived bias, or environmental
factors such as time-pressure and noise
o Stage 4: Agreement with Comprehended Information – it is crucial from a
marketing communications perspective not only that consumers comprehend
a message, but that they also agree with it, rather than countering it or
rejecting it. Agreement depends on whether the message is credible
(believable or trustworthy) and whether it contains information and appeals
that are compatible with the values that are important to the consumer
o Stage 5 and 6: Retention and Retrieval of Accepted Information – memory
involves the related issues of what consumers recognise and recall about
marketing stimuli, and how they access and retrieve information in the
process of choosing among product alternatives. The subject of memory is
inseparable from the process of learning
 Elements of memory – memory consists of long-term memory, short-
term (working) memory and a set of sensory stores. Information is
received by one or more sensory receptors and passed to the
 appropriate sensory store where it is rapidly lost unless attention is
given to the stimulus. Information that is given attention is then
transferred to the short-term memory, which serves as the centre for
current processing activity. Limited processing capacity is the most
outstanding characteristic of short-term memory, because individuals
can process only a finite amount of information at any one time.
Information is transferred from short-term memory to long-term
memory, which is considered to be a virtual storehouse of unlimited
information. It is then organised into coherent and associated
cognitive units, which are known as schemata, memory organisation
packets or knowledge structures.
 Information communicated about a brand must achieve long-
term memory storage and be readily retrievable from memory
because the point at which a consumer is exposed to
information about a brand is typically separated in time
 Types of learning – two primary types of learning are relevant to
marketing communications efforts, the strengthening of linkages
among specific memory concepts (by repeating claims, presenting
them in a more concrete fashion and by being creative), and
establishing entirely new linkages
 Search and retrieval of information – retrieval is facilitated when a
new piece of information is linked, or associated, with another
concept that is itself well-known and easily accessed
 Dual-coding theory offers an explanation of how retrieval can
be achieved by suggesting that pictures are represented in
verbal as well as visual form in the memory, whereas words
are less likely to have visual representations. Thus, product
attributes are better recalled when accompanied with pictures
rather than only as words
o Stage 7: Decision Making from Alternatives – a consumer will choose the
‘best’ brand when making a decision. Consumers often resort to simplifying
strategies, or heuristics, in order to arrive at decisions that are at least
satisfactory, if not perfect.
 The simplest of all decision heuristics is called affect referral, which
involves the recollection of attitudes towards relevant alternatives to
select the most positive. This type of strategy would be expected for
frequently purchased items where risk is minimal.
 In comparison, compensatory heuristic involves the ranking of desired
product criteria to ‘score’ each alternative and select the one with the
highest score. In general, the chosen alternative is probably best in a
particular criteria rather than all of them, unless they are willing to
obtain a premium price to obtain the superior brand
o Stage 8: Action Taken on the Basis of the Decision – people do not always
behave in a manner consistent with their preferences. One main reason is the
presence of events, or situational factors, that disrupt, inhibit or otherwise
prevent a person from following through with intentions e.g. the
unavailability of a particular item, temporary price cuts, in-store promotions
 and shopping at different stores. Marketing communicators must coordinate
all the marketing-mix variables to arouse consumers to respond favourably
towards the product being offered
- The Hedonic, Experiential Model
o The greater the emotional involvement, the greater the influence of
experiential processes. The HEM perspective, therefore, probably better
explains how consumers process information and make decisions when they
are happy and confronted with positive outcomes
o Whereas the CPM perspective views consumers as pursuing objectives such
as obtaining value for money and maximising satisfaction, the HEM
perspective recognises that people often consumer products for the sheer
fun of it or in the pursuit of amusement or sensory stimulation
o Products most compatible with the hedonic perspective include the
performing arts (e.g. opera), the so-called plastic arts (photography and
crafts), popular forms of entertainment (movies and concerts), fashion
apparel, sporting events, leisure activity and recreational pursuits
o Verbal stimuli and rational arguments that are designed to affect consumers’
product knowledge and beliefs are the most appropriate in the CPM-oriented
marketing communications efforts, whereas the HEM approach emphasises
non-verbal content or emotionally provocative words and is intended to
generate images, fantasies, and positive emotions and feelings
o It is important to remember that no single marketing communications
approach, whether based on CPM or HEM processing, is effective in all
instances. What works best depends on the specific nature of the product
category, the competitive situation and the character and needs of the target
audience
o Brands can be positioned to appeal to functional needs, which is the basis of
the CPM perspective, or to symbolic/experiential needs, which is more
related to the HEM approach