Course Name : Marketing Communications

Course Code : BS 223

Lecturer : Ms. S Nyengerai

Course Objectives
 To understand and appreciate the variety of ways in which
organizations use marketing communications.
 To identify and understand some of the key theories and concepts
associated with marketing communications.
Definition
Marketing communications is a management process through which an
organization engages with its various audiences.
This definition has three main themes:
 Engages: MC can be used to engage with a variety of audiences in such a
way that one-way, two-way, interactive and dialogic communications are
used that meet the needs of the audience.
 Audiences: MC is used to convey product-related information to
customer-based audiences and a range of stakeholders have connections
and relationships of varying dimensions.
 Responses: This refers to the outcomes of the communication process,
and can be used as measure of whether a communication event has been
successful.
Types of Marketing
Communications:
Planned marketing communications incorporates three key elements:
tools, media and messages. The main communication tools are
advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing,
personal selling and value added approaches such as sponsorship.
Unplanned marketing communications involve communications that
have not been anticipated. These may be either positive or negative
but here the emphasis is more on how the organization reacts to and
manages the meaning attributed by audiences.
Types of Marketing
Communications:
Service experience-based communications & product based
communications are marketing communications experienced by
audiences relating to both their experience from using products (how
tasty is this milkshake) or consumption of services (just how good was
the service in that hotel restaurant or at the airport?)
Tasks of Marketing
Communication:
 Differentiator, particularly in markets where there is little to separate
competing products and brands
 Reinforce this may take the form of reminding people of a need they might
have or reminding them of the benefit of past transactions in-order to
secure a repeat purchase. It is possible to provide reassurance or comfort
either immediately prior to an exchange or, more commonly, post-purchase.
This is important as it helps to retain current customers and improve
profitability.
 Inform and make potential customers aware of an organization’s offering.
 Persuade current and potential customers of the desirability of entering
into an exchange relationship.
Tools of Marketing Communication

 Advertising

 Public Relations

 Direct Marketing

 Personal Selling

 Sales Promotion
Choosing the appropriate tool:
• degree of control required over the
delivery of the message;
• the financial resources available to
pay a third party to transmit
messages;
• the level of credibility that each tool
bestows on the organization;
• the size and geographic dispersion of
the target audiences;
• the communication tasks or strengths
each tool is best at satisfying
Linear Model of Communication:
The linear model of communication is generally accepted as the main
interpretation of how communication works. This is a linear model that
emphasizes the transmission of information, ideas, attitudes, or
emotion from one person or group to another (or others), primarily
through symbols.
The components of the linear model of communication are:
 Source :the individual or organization sending the message
 Encoding: transferring the intended message into a symbolic style
that can be transmitted.
 Signal : the transmission of the message using particular media.
Linear Model of Communication:
 Decoding : understanding the symbolic style of the message in
order to understand the message.
 Receiver : the individual or organization receiving the message.
 Feedback : the receiver’s communication back to the source on
receipt of the message.
 Noise : distortion of the communication process, making it
difficult for the receiver to interpret the message as intended
by the source.
Marketing Communications:
Branding
Successful brands create
strong, positive and lasting
impressions, all of which are
perceived by audiences to be
of value to them personally.
Individuals perceive brands
without having to purchase or
have direct experience of
them.
Marketing Communications:
Branding
A brand is a name, term, symbol or
design-or a combination of these-
intended to identify a product or
service of one seller or group of
sellers, and to differentiate them
from those of competitors. It
includes the use of brand names,
trademarks, and practically all other
means of product identification. A
brand name is a word, letter or a
group of words or letters.
Characteristics of Brands
 Intrinsic:
Intrinsic attributes refer to the functional characteristics of the product
such as its shape, performance and physical capacity. If any of these
attributes were changed it would directly alter the product.
 Extrinsic:
Extrinsic attributes refer to those elements that if changed do not alter
the material functioning and performance of the product itself: devices
such as the brand name, marketing communications, packaging, price
and mechanisms that enable consumers to form associations that give
meaning to the brand.
Biel’s Brand Magic Concept
Biel’s concept of brand magic:
 Brand skills: functional abilities
attributes that distinguish a brand.
 Brand personality/its fundamental
traits perceived values, such as being
bland, adventurous, exciting, boring
or caring. Brand personification.
 Brand relationships this is about
building a relationship with
individual buyers. People are said to
interact with brands.
Roles of Branding:
From a strategic perspective, brands play one of three significant
roles:
• They can be used to defend market share or a group of brands by
protecting established positions. Econet, Ecosure, EcoCash, EcoFarm
etc
• They can be used to attack competitor brands and win market share.
• They can act either as a market entry barrier (deterring potential
competitors from entering the market) or as an aid to customer
retention.
Branding
To enable the strategic roles to be accomplished there are three elements that
need to be attended to. Namely integration, which in turn can lead to
differentiation and also deliver added value.

 Integration: Mix tools to communicate consistent messages to promote the brand.

 Differentiation: Use branding to separate & position the brand.

 Added value: Added value is developed using perceived value, psycho-social

meanings and awareness.
The Role Branding in Marketing
Communications
MC is vital in the growth of brands and is the means by which products become
brands. The way in MC is used to build brands is determined by the role that the
brand is expected to play in achieving organizational goals.
 Brand building through advertising: uses rational approach (functional
aspects/benefits/USP) OR emotional approach (ESPs) appeal to the emotions
(emotional benefits).
 Brand building through below-the-line techniques: Use of other
communication tools to develop brands when budget is limited or where the
target audience cannot be reached effectively through advertising.
 Business-to-business branding: (branding for industrial companies) businesses
develop an identity which final end-users perceive as valuable & establish a
stronger relationship with the manufacturer. A b2b brand is often tied closely to
the company itself, as opposed to b2c brands which often distance themselves
from the manufacturer or company name.
Online Branding: Where your brand
meets the world.
If a company relies on leads from their website, then the online presence
is the company’s brand. Online branding is especially important for
service providers who don’t have a tangible product that clients can look
at. Instead, customers are buying the information presented about the
service — and the reputation built up to support it.
The Internet rules in this “digital era” so it is essential to stand out. It is
unwise to assume users will easily search and find your brand or
business only because you have a live website. Online brands must be
built to create a personable impression for first-time users, while
continuing to engage and reward long-time customers.
Marketing Communications:
Internet Strategies
 Display ads (banners and pop-ups)

 Rich media ads

 Video ads

 Online catalogs

 Social network, blog, app, and game

advertising

 Blog Advertising
Marketing Communications Tools
Marketing Communications:
Advertising
Definition: a non-personal form of communication that uses paid–for
media to deliver messages to target audiences. Main function of
advertising: to communicate with specific audiences and maintain
awareness.
The Role of Advertising:
 Engage audiences: informing
 Reach huge audiences with simple messages that present
opportunities to allow receivers to understand what a product is and
its primary function.
Advertising & Emotions
Shock advertising strategy is a good way to
secure an audience’s attention and achieve a
longer lasting impact than through traditional
messages and attention getting devices.
Advertising doesn’t always work through
rational information processing, feelings
and emotions play an important role,
especially when advertising is used to build
awareness levels and brand strength.
Shock advertising deliberately, startles and
offends its audience because it is:
 Unexpected
 Surprises audiences because it doesn’t
confirm to social norms or expectations.
 Audiences are offended because there is
‘norm violation, breaches of a moral or
social code
Advertising Plan
Advertising Plan
An advertising plan is composed,
essentially, of three main
elements:
• the message-what is to be said;
• the medium-how the message
will be conveyed;
• the timing-manner in which the
message will be carried.
Theories of Advertising:
Strong Theory
 Persuasive
 Generates long term sales
 Uses manipulative &
psychological techniques
 Targeted at passive consumers
Weak Theory
 People purchase out of habit.
 Can improve knowledge &
change attitudes.
 Customers are active problem
solvers so require facts.
Advertising models and concepts :
 The sales framework: all advertising activities are aimed ultimately at
generating sales. Focus is on moving products.

 The persuasion framework: People are need to be persuaded to buy.

 The involvement framework: lures members of the target audience into the
advert and elicits a largely emotional response.

 The salience framework: advertising works by standing out, by being unique

from all other advertisements in the product class.
Marketing Communications: Public
Relations
Public Relations is establishing &
maintaining relationships with
various stakeholders to enhance the
reputation of an organization. It is
an activity that attempts to shape
the attitudes or opinions held by an
organization’s stakeholders.
Through interaction and dialogue
with these stakeholders an
organization seeks to adjust its own
position and/strategy.
Characteristics of Public
Relations
 It is a planned activity  Used to reach specific audiences
 Does not require the purchase of
air space in media vehicles such
as television or magazines.
 Credibility-trusted more.
 No control once message is
disseminated.
 Main costs include time &
opportunity costs associated with
the preparation of press releases.
Types of Media Relations
Media Relations : a range of activities designed to provide media journalists and
editors with information. The intention is that they relay the information, through
their media, for consumption by their audiences.
Press releases a write up report regarding a change in the organization (promotions,
new products, awards, prizes) sent to media houses for inclusion in the media
vehicle as an item of news.
Press Conferences used when a major event has occurred and where a press
release cannot convey the detail required by the organization.
Interviews enable news and the organization’s view of an issue or even to be
conveyed.
Public Events:
 Product events generate
attention/interest and sales of a
particular product.
 Corporate events a gathering that is
sponsored by a business for
employees, business partners, clients
and/or prospective clients.
 Community events waste and pollution
reduction processes, by contributing to
educational and social programs
Public Relations: Crisis
Communication
Crises can occur because of a
simple or minor managerial
mistake, an incorrect decision or
because of a seemingly distant
environmental event.
All organizations face the
prospect of managing a crisis, and
some commentators threateningly
suggest that all organizations have
a crisis just around the corner.
Common Characteristics of a Crisis
Communication
 A high degree of threat to life, safety, or to the continuing existence
of the organization.
 Time pressure (ensuring that decision-makers have to work
urgently).
 Stress placed upon those responsible for managing the situation.
Types of Crises
 Industrial accidents  Product recall
 Environmental problems  Security leaks
 Hostile take overs  Unethical behaviour
 Strikes  workplace violence
 Product tampering  Employee fraud
How to Communicate in a Crisis
Step 1: Define the problem
Step 2: Gather the Relevant Information
Step 3: Centralize Communications
Step 4: Communicate Early and Often
Step 5: Get inside the Media’s Head
Step 6: Communicate Directly with
Affected Constituencies
Step 7: Keep Business Running
Step 8: Make plans Immediately to
Avoid another Crisis
Personal Selling

Personal selling is different from

other forms of communication in
that the transmitted messages
represent two-way
communications (dyadic
communications)-there are at
least two persons involved in the
communication process. Face-to-face selling in which a seller
attempts to persuade a buyer to
make a purchase.
Types of Personal Selling…
 Intermediaries selling offerings onward through a particular channel network to other
resellers that will sell the offering to other members close to the end-user. E.g. computer
manufacturers traditionally distribute their products to specific dealers who then market
the products to their customers and potential customer organizations.
 Industrial the main type of selling here consists of business-to-business marketing and
requires the selling of components and parts to others for assembly or incorporation
within larger offerings. E.g. Goodman manufactures car radio systems and sells them to
Ford, which then builds them into its cars as part of the final product offering.
 Professional requires ideas and offerings to be advanced to specifiers and influencers
who will in-turn incorporate the offering within the project(s) they are developing. E.g. a
sales person could approach an architect to persuade them to include the alarm system
made by the sales person’s organization within the plans for a building that the architect
has been commissioned to design.
 Consumer this form of personal selling requires contact with the retail trade and/or the
end-user consumer.
Strengths and Weaknesses of
Personal selling
Strengths
 Fast, direct feedback
 Receiver to focus attention on
the salespersons
 Tailor messages in response to
the feedback (flexibility)
 Reduced likelihood of distraction
or noise
Weaknesses
 Costs per contact are extremely high
 Cost of training can be quite high
 Reach and frequency through
personal selling are always going to
be low
 Control over message delivery is
very often low
 Message inconsistency
 Misunderstood tool
The Sales Process
1. Prospecting for customers
2. Qualifying prospects
3. Developing the relationship
4. Presenting the sales messages
5. Handling queries and objections
6. Closing the sale
7. Providing service and support
8. Developing the relationship/Maintaining trust and commitment
 Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is an anti-channel
form of marketing communications
tool that permits businesses and
nonprofits organizations to
communicate straight to the
customer, with techniques that can
include cell phone text messaging,
email, interactive consumer
websites, online display ads, fliers,
catalog distribution, promotional
letters etc.
Growth of Direct Marketing
 Growth driver 1: Technology
The popularity and impact of mass communications and advertising in
particular as a single device has declined/diminished in favour of a more
personalized and approach to communications enabled by technology.
 Growth driver 2: Changing market context
Direct marketing provides greater convenience in the current age where
the market expectations in such economies include faster speed of
response and devices that that communicate with discrete audiences.
 Growth driver 3: Changing organizational expectations
New routes to reduce costs as there is pressure to increase margins.
Types/Uses of Direct Marketing
 Type 1: Complementary Tool
Direct response media are used to complement the other promotional activities used to
support a brand.

 Type 2: Primary Differentiator

At this level direct response media are the main form of communication. They are used to
provide a distinct point of differentiation from competitor offerings. They are the main form of
communication.
 Type 3: Sales Channel
By utilizing direct marketing as a sales tool, multiple sales channels can be used to meet the
needs of different customer segments and so release resources to be deployed elsewhere and
more effectively.
Characteristics of Direct Marketing:

 Addressed directly to the

customer and/or customers.
 Specific “call to action”.
 Emphasizes traceable,
measurable responses from
customers — regardless of
medium used.
Integration of Direct Marketing
Not all tools are used as stand-alone activities. There is value in
integrating direct marketing activities with elements of the marketing
mix. Generally successful marketing campaigns integrate activities of
direct marketing with other elements of the marketing communications
mix. Successful direct marketing programmes are using media in
combination, as team of complementary or even integrated tools.
Direct marketing or its various forms can be used to complement other
integrated marketing communications.
Examples of Integrating Direct
Marketing
 A database (direct marketing) can also be used to research the impact
of say a TV advert (advertising) or a sponsorship package (public
relations) among different types of audiences.
 Telesales (direct marketing) can be used to support a sales force
(personal selling) by servicing accounts over the phone instead of
having a sales representative every month (personal selling).

Practice Exercise: Come up with two examples of how direct marketing can be
integrated with other tools of marketing communications.
Benefits of Integrating Directing
Marketing
 Cost reduction,
 Quick response, creation of awareness which impacts demand,
 Improved direct communication,
 Enhanced customer service,
 Interactivity,
 Building relationships,
 Increased market share,
 Competitive advantage,
 Operational efficiency which leads to high revenue and consequently profits
etc.
THE END