UNIT 3

Marketing Communication

The Marketing Communication refers to the means adopted by the companies to convey
messages about the products and the brands they sell, either directly or indirectly to the
customers with the intention to persuade them to purchase.

In other words, the different medium that company adopts to exchange the information about

Marketing communication includes Advertising, Sales Promotion, Events and Experiences

(sponsorship), Public Relations and Publicity, Direct Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Word-of-
Mouth Marketing, Personal Selling. These tools of communication are collectively called
as Marketing Communication Mix.

Objective of Marketing Communication

Marketing communication objectives are long-term goals where marketing campaigns are
intended to drive up the value of your brand over time. In contrast to sales promotions, which are
short-term inducements to buy, communication goals succeed when you persuade
customers through consistent reinforcement that your brand has benefits they want or need.
(i) To Increase Awareness

Increased brand awareness is not only one of the most common marketing
communication objectives; it is also typically the first for a new company. When you initially
enter the market, you have to let people know your company and products or services exist.

(ii)To Change Attitudes

Changing company or brand perceptions is another common communication

objective. Sometimes, misconceptions develop in the market about your company, products or
services.

Advertising is a way to address them directly. In other cases, negative publicity results because
your company is involved in a business scandal or unsettling activities.

(iii)To Influence Purchase Intent

A key communication objective is to motivate customers to buy. This is normally done through
persuasive advertising, which involves emphasis of your superior benefits to the user,
usually relative to competitors. It is critical to strike a chord with the underlying need
or want that triggers a customer to act.

(iv)To stimulate Trial Purchase

Two separate but closely related communication objectives are to stimulate trial use and drive
repeat purchases. Free trials or product samples are common techniques to persuade
customers to try your product for the first time. The goal is to take away the risk and
get the customer to experience your brand.
(v) To Drive Brand Switching

Another objective closely tied to stimulating trial use is driving brand switching. This is
a specific objective of getting customers who buy competing products to switch to your
brand. Tide detergent is normally pitted against ―other leading brands‖ in comparative ads
intended to motivate brand switching.

Functional Areas of Marketing Communication

Marketing is all about the activities companies undertake to bring their products to the market.

What makes marketing communication so exciting and challenging is that there are so
many tools from which to choose from.

Here are the eight most Common Tools:

1. Advertising

Any paid form of presenting ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Historically,
advertising messages have been tailored to a group and employ mass media such as radio,
television, newspaper, and magazines. Advertising may also target individuals according to their
profile characteristics or behavior; examples are the weekly ads mailed by supermarkets to local
residents or online banner ads targeted to individuals based on the sites they visit or their Internet
search terms.
2. Sales Promotion

Sales promotions are marketing activities that aim to temporarily boost sales of a product or
service by adding to the basic value offered, such as ―buy one get one free‖ offers to consumers or
―buy twelve cases and get a 10 percent discount‖ to wholesalers, retailers, or distributors.
3. Direct Marketing

This method aims to sell products or services directly to consumers rather than going through
retailer. Catalogs, telemarketing, mailed brochures, or promotional materials and television home
shopping channels are all common traditional direct marketing tools. Email and mobile
marketing are two next-generation direct marketing channels.
4. Public Relations

The purpose of public relations is to create goodwill between an organization (or the things it
promotes) and the ―public‖ or target segments it is trying to reach. This happens through unpaid or
earned promotional opportunities: articles, press and media coverage, winning awards, giving
presentations at conferences and events, and otherwise getting favorable attention through
vehicles not paid for by the sponsor. Although organizations earn rather than pay for the PR
attention they receive, they may spend significant resources on the activities, events, and people who
generate this attention.
5. Personal Selling

Personal selling uses people to develop relationships with target audiences for the purpose of
selling products and services. Personal selling puts an emphasis on face-to-face interaction,
understanding the customer’s needs, and demonstrating how the product or service provides
value.
6. Packaging

A package is a container and conveyor of information. A package can help in brand building.
7. Events and Sponsorships

Events are highly targeted brand-associated activities designed to actively engage customers and
prospects and generate publicity.

8. Customer Service

Customer service is a company’s attitude and behavior during interactions with customers.
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC): Concepts and Process
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is an approach used by organizations to brand
and coordinate their communication efforts. The American Association of Advertising Agencies
defines IMC as ―a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of
communication disciplines and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency
and maximum communication impact.‖ The primary idea behind an IMC strategy is to
create a seamless experience for consumers across different aspects of the marketing mix. The
brand’s
core image and messaging are reinforced as each marketing communication channel
works together as parts of a unified whole rather than in isolation.

Developing Effective Marketing Communication

Following are the steps in developing effective marketing communication.

1.Identifying the Target Audience Characteristics: The term target audience refers to people
for whom the marketing communication message is meant; and Communication includes both
present and potential customers. Therefore, to reach such people with a meaningful message, the
sender must identify the target audience and their characteristics (like age, sex, income,
education, occupation, life style, etc.), attitudes, values, past experience, buying habits and
buying decision process.

2.Determining the Response Sought or the Communication Objective: After haying

identified the target audience, the sender decides on what response he is expecting from the
receiver. The marketer may be seeking a cognitive, affective or behavioral response. Of course,
in most cases, the final response is purchase. But purchase is the result of long process of
consumer decision making. The marketing communicator needs to know where the target
audience now stands and to what state it needs to be moved. The response sought depends on the
consumer readiness states.

3.Designing the Effective Message: After deciding about the type of response sought from the
receiver, the next step for the communicator is to develop an effective message. The message
should be able to attract the receiver's attention, arouse interest, kindle desire for the product or
service, and finally get a desired action i.e. the actual purchase. Promotion Decisions and There
are four important decisions which marketing communicator has to keep in Emerging Issues
mind while designing an effective mat communication message.

4.Selecting Communication Channels: Once the promotional message has been designed, the
communicator must select efficient communication channels to cany it. There are two broad
types of communication channels through which the message may reach to the audience. They
are prsonal communication channels and nottpersonal communication channels.

Personal Communication Channels: Personal communication channels involve two or more

persons communicating directly with each other face to face, person to audience, over the
telephone, or through e-mail.

Non-personal Communication Channels: Non-personal communication channels are media that

carry messages without personal contact or feedback. Non-personal communication channels
include media, atmospheres, and events. Media consist of print media (newspapers, magazines,
direct mail), broadcast media (radi0, television), electronic media (audiotape, videotape, CD-
ROM, DVD, Web page), and display media (billboards, signs, posters).
5. Measuring the Communication Results: After implementing the promotional program, the
marketing communicator must measure its impact on the target points they recall, how they felt
about the message, and whether they have changed the product, liked it, and talked to others
about it. This step is also known as feedback.

Process of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

1.Get organizational buy-in

Integrated marketing requires co-ordination between various functional silos within marketing
— media planning, buying, PR, sales, advertising agencies, PPC & SEO agencies and so on.
Ensure the organization recognizes the need for integrated marketing and impresses this need
upon all involved parties for smooth execution. Get ideas from different functional teams on
their ideas and how they can contribute to an integrated marketing program. Set up clear
collaboration processes and zero in on tools to help you do the same.

2.Do a SWOT analysis of your brand

A soul searching process that will tell you exactly where you stand in terms of your
brands strengths, weaknesses, opportunities that can be explored and competitive and market
forces that pose a threat to your brands growth. Identify your products key features that give it an
edge over competition and how you can leverage the same to gain market share.

3.Choose the Best Communication Tools

Based on what you intend to achieve with your communication and what kind of media
consumption habits your target audience displays, pick the right type of communication tools to
reach out to your audience. This means choose between advertising, PR, direct marketing, sales
promotion and personal selling. Whatever options you zero in on, need to work in tandem and
complement each other. This synergy between promotion tools is what gives integrated
marketing its edge over regular marketing.

Within each type of communication tool, drill down to the actual media vehicles that will carry
your message most effectively. So if you decided to go with advertising and direct marketing,
decide what media you will advertise on, whether you will go with brochures or fliers or email
campaigns to achieve your objectives.

Media mix decisions also depend on your budgets and the estimated ROI you hope to achieve
from each media vehicle. Create exact budgets for each media vehicle to guide media
buying decisions.

4.Test and Execute

Once you have decided on your messaging and media mix, its finally time to test your
communication and roll it out to your target audience.

Communication testing can be done in many ways, depending upon the platform being tested.
Website communication can be tested with multiple online tools, emails can be tested on
the email marketing software that you use before being sent out, TV commercials can be shown
to test markets to test effectiveness, conduct group discussions with the sample groups to
see if your communication hits bulls eye.

5. Measure Results and Track Progress

There is no way to know how well a campaign performed without measuring the results achieved
against the objectives set out in the beginning. Obsessively track every step of your marketing
campaign to see if your marketing efforts have moved the needle and how significant is
the difference that the campaign has made to organizational goals.

Tracking and measurement against numeric objectives is even more important in the case
of marketing communication as sometimes, communication is well received and appreciated by
the target audience but it may or may not show concrete results.
Advertising Management: Nature & Scope of Advertising
Advertising management is a planned managerial process designed to oversee and control the
various advertising activities involved in a program to communicate with a firm’s target market
and which is ultimately designed to influence the consumer’s purchase decisions. Advertising is
just one element in a company’s promotional mix and as such, must be integrated with
the overall marketing communications program. Advertising is, however, the most expensive of
all the promotional elements and therefore must be managed with care and accountability.

Nature of Advertising
(i) Advertising is a tool of marketing that disseminates information about a product
which is aimed at a large number of people at the same time using purchased space or time in
various mass mediums.
(ii)Advertising messages are delivered through variety of media; television, radio, newspaper,
magazine, billboards, direct-mail campaigns, Internet, clothing lines with messages printed
on them, telemarketing programs, and even messages heard while someone is on hold on
the telephone.

(iii)Advertising intends to sell and at the same time create an aspiration towards a
certain product, which ultimately leads to a vital and persuasive distinction, that makes the
product a brand.

(iv)It is a tremendous challenge for advertisers to design a message which must give an
advantage in a highly cluttered world where customers are becoming increasingly proficient at
simply tuning ads out.

Scope of Advertising
Advertising is often regarded as the most important means of marketing a company’s services
and tools. The scope of advertising is to communicate a message to current customers or
potentially target new customers. It helps a company get a message or a piece of
information across to their customer base regarding a new product or special deal.

1.Scope of advertising by budget

There is always a budget allocated for advertising and promotion within the marketing budget.
The budget allocated should be in coordination with the type of advertisement the organization
wants. The resources and other requirements are to be kept in mind for the budget allocation.

2.Scope of advertising by deliverables

Once the budget is decided, the marketing plan can be projected further. A detailed
scope of work that deliverables require can be outlined. Agencies can now develop a proposed
resource plan.

3.Scope of advertising by allocating deliverables

For creative work, allocating the type of deliverables (TV, online, mobile, press, magazine,etc.)
based on the previous campaign requirements can be more insightful after the previous plan.

4.Scope of advertising by strategy

Once the deliverables are allocated, advertising agencies can define the strategic requirements by
brand or category and develop a scope of work based on past requirements and remuneration for
similar strategic deliverables.
Topic 5 Classification of Advertising
Different classifications of advertising are as follows:

1.Primary vs. Selective Advertising

One way of classifying advertising is into primary as against selective demand advertising. The
objective of commercial advertising is generally to stimulate demand for the goods or services of
the company placing the advertisement.

Demands are of two types namely, primary demand and selective demand. The demand for
a generic product of a whole industry is described as primary demand such as the
demand for motor cars, television receivers, etc.

Selective demand refers to demand for a particular brand such as Fiat motor cars.
Generally, primary demand advertising is indulged in by trade associations to create a general
demand for the products of the industry concerned. Selective demand advertising is loaned by
the companies who are interested in selling their own products.

2.Product vs. Institutional Advertising

The commonest type of advertising is product advertising, where the company tries to sell
its product or service through advertising. At times however, the objective of the
company is to create a good image or sell ideas.

This is referred to as institutional advertising to distinguish it from product advertising.

For example, institutional advertising may be of the ―patronage institutional advertising‖ type.
Here the objective is to sell the idea to the reader to patronize particular producer or shopkeeper
or retailer for reasons mentioned such as wider selection, reliability, etc.

3.Institutional Sports Sponsorship

Another form of Institutional Image Advertising is the modern trend of companies sponsoring
sports events. The two outstanding illustrations are (i) The ―Charminar Challenge‖ sponsorship
by Vazir Sultan Tobacco Company and (ii) The ―Reliance Cup‖ sponsorship of the 1987 World
Cup Cricket Championship by Reliance Industries Ltd.

Under the Charminar Challenge umbrella, VST sponsors a wide variety of events ranging from
cricket, badminton, table tennis and golf to car-rallying.VST sports sponsorship budget is
estimated at Rs.1.5 crores per annum.

The Ranji Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy and all one-day internationals for the period 1986-89 will
be Charminar Challenge championship matches, which ties up the domestic circuit pretty
comprehensively. ―Charminar‖ is the identity of the company.

4.Commercial vs. Non commercial Advertising

Commercial advertising is concerned with selling a product or an idea to help a

commercial institution. It may consist of ―consumer advertising‖ aimed at the ultimate consumer
or ―business or industrial advertising‖ aimed at industrial producers inducing them to purchase
the product.

It may even include ―professional advertising‖ directed at professionals such as doctors, lawyers,
etc. Non-commercial advertising is advertising indulged in by non-profit organization such as the
government or charitable institutions to support ideas, solicit donations, etc.

The methods used for preparing the advertisements are however the same whether one is
concerned with commercial or non-commercial advertising.

5.Classification by Media

Advertising can also be classified in terms of the media used such as window dressing in case of
shops, press advertising, outdoor advertising and the use of advertising literature.

The several forms media will now be detailed in the subsequent chapters followed by discussions
on preparation of an advertisement as well as an advertising campaign.
Process of Advertising
―Mass demand has been created almost entirely through the development of Advertising‖

For the development of advertising and to get best results one need to follow the
advertising process step by step.

The following are the steps involved in the process of advertising:

Step 1 – Briefing: The advertiser needs to brief about the product or the service which has to be
advertised and doing the SWOT analysis of the company and the product.

Step 2 – Knowing the Objective: One should first know the objective or the purpose of
advertising. i.e. what message is to be delivered to the audience?

Step 3 – Research: This step involves finding out the market behavior, knowing
the competitors, what type of advertising they are using, what is the response of the
consumers, availability of the resources needed in the process, etc.

Step 4 – Target Audience: The next step is to identify the target consumers most likely to buy
the product. The target should be appropriately identified without any confusion. For e.g. if the
product is a health drink for growing kids, then the target customers will be the parents who are
going to buy it and not the kids who are going to drink it.

Step 5 – Media Selection: Now that the target audience is identified, one should select
an appropriate media for advertising so that the customers who are to be informed about the
product and are willing to buy are successfully reached.

Step 6 – Setting the Budget: Then the advertising budget has to be planned so that there is no
short of funds or excess of funds during the process of advertising and also there are no losses to
the company.

Step 7 – Designing and Creating the Ad: First the design that is the outline of ad on papers is
made by the copywriters of the agency, then the actual creation of ad is done with help of the art
directors and the creative personnel of the agency.

Step 8 – Perfection: Then the created ad is re-examined and the ad is redefined to

make it perfect to enter the market.

Step 9 – Place and Time of Ad: The next step is to decide where and when the ad
will be shown.

The place will be decided according to the target customers where the ad is most visible clearly
to them. The finalization of time on which the ad will be telecasted or shown on the selected
media will be done by the traffic department of the agency.

Step 10 – Execution: Finally the advertise is released with perfect creation, perfect placement
and perfect timing in the market.
Step 11 – Performance: The last step is to judge the performance of the ad in terms of
the response from the customers, whether they are satisfied with the ad and the product, did the
ad reached all the targeted people, was the advertise capable enough to compete with the
other players, etc. Every point is studied properly and changes are made, if any.

If these steps are followed properly then there has to be a successful beginning for the product in
the market.

The Creative Brief

A creative brief is the very foundation of any advertising/marketing campaign. Making a simple
(but relatable) analogy, the briefing is the metaphorical treasure map that creatives follow. The
brief shows the creative professionals not only where to start digging to find the golden ideas but
also how to open the treasure chest.

By definition, a creative brief (or creative briefing) is a document produced by the requesting
party (the customer) with the goal of establishing the defining aspects of a creative piece
of work, such as a print ad or website banner. The term is often heard in the advertising market
where it represents the first step in the journey of producing all sorts of material such
as promotional videos, websites, etc.
Advertising Appeal
Advertising appeals are communication strategies that marketing and advertising professionals
use to grab attention and persuade people to buy or act. In rhetorical theory, the idea of
an ―appeal‖ dates back to Aristotle, who identified the three main appeals of communication
(also known as the rhetorical triangle): ethos, pathos, and logos, or, in modern language,
credibility, emotion, and logic. The idea was that, if you can establish yourself as
credible (ethos), for example, you are more likely to persuade people. Likewise, if you
tugged on your audience’s heartstrings (hit their emotions, pathos) or presented a logical
argument (logos), you could persuade people to act. In other words, you (or your
communication) appealed to people because you were credible, you affected their emotions, or
you made logical sense.

While there are more than twenty that exist, and it’s possible you could even coin your own,
the list below addresses twenty of the most common advertising appeals used by marketing
professionals today, listed alphabetically.
1. Adventure Appeal

Appealing to a person’s sense of adventure and excitement. The goal of the adventure appeal is to
make people feel like the excitement, action, entertainment, and sense of adventure will be
enhanced if they purchase or use a product or service.
2. Bandwagon Appeal

Appealing to people by making them feel like everyone else is doing it. The goal of the
bandwagon appeal is to make people feel like since everyone else is doing something, they
should to. It’s a persuasion-by-numbers tactic.
3. Brand Appeal

Appealing to people who are brand-conscious and have certain proclivities towards brands. The goal
of the brand appeal is to make people buy a product because the brand itself is a statement that the
person hopes to associate with.
4. Endorsement Appeal

Appealing to people by using a celebrity they admire and recognize. The goal of the endoresment
appeal is to encourage people to buy a product or service or act a certain way because people they
know, respect, admire, and recognize also use that product or service. Trust is built by using
recognizable people.
5. Fear Appeal

The fear appeal specifically appeals to a person’s fears in order to encourage them to buy or act. The
goal of the feal appeal is to cause someone to fear an outcome or response if they don’t buy a
product or act in such a way as to reduce risk.

6. Humor Appeal

Appealing to a person’s sense of humor. Because most human beings like to laugh, humor is an
effective appeal for grabbing attention and helping people remember and share information
about
a product or idea. The goal with humor is to help build a positive association with a product,
service, or idea.

7. Masculine/Feminine Appeal

Appealing to a person’s desire to be the perfect man or woman. Often used in clothing
and beauty products, the goal of the masculine/feminine appeal is to make people feel if they use
a product or service, then they are more attractive, sexier, stronger, or any other
characteristic commonly associated with their gender or sex.

8. Music Appeal

Appealing to a person’s tastes in sounds and music. The goal of the music appeal to help increase
recall (as in jingles or mnemonics) and to encourage people to feel an emotion toward a product
that they feel while hearing a particular song or sound.

9. Personal (Emotional) Appeal

Appealing to a person’s emotions. The goal of the personal appeal is to make a consumer feel sad,
angry, excited, jealous, fearful, proud, nostalgic, or any other emotion enough to encourage them
to buy, donate, or act.

10. Plain Appeal

Appealing to people by making something seem ordinary or plain. The goal of the plain appeal is
to persuade people that a product, service, or idea may not be as strange or radical or
extraordinary as people thing, but rather that it is normal and common.
Advertising Agencies- Their Role, Functions Advertising Agencies

―The work of a tailor is to collect the raw material, find matching threads, cut the cloth in desired
shape, finally stitch the cloth and deliver it to the customer.‖

Advertising Agency is just like a tailor. It creates the ads, plans how, when and where it should
be delivered and hands it over to the client. Advertising agencies are mostly not dependent on
any organizations.

These agencies take all the efforts for selling the product of the clients. They have a group of
people expert in their particular fields, thus helping the companies or organizations to reach their
target customer in an easy and simple way.

The first Advertising Agency was William Taylor in 1786 followed by James ―Jem‖ White in
1800 in London and Reynell & Son in 1812.

Role of Advertising Agencies

1.Creating an advertise on the basis of information gathered about product

2.Doing research on the company and the product and reactions of the customers.
3.Planning for type of media to be used, when and where to be used, and for how much time to
be used.
4.Taking the feedbacks from the clients as well as the customers and then deciding the further
line of action.

All companies can do this work by themselves. They can make ads, print or advertise them on
televisions or other media places; they can manage the accounts also. Then why do they need
advertising agencies? The reasons behind hiring the advertising agencies by the companies are:-

The agencies are expert in this field. They have a team of different people for different functions
like copywriters, art directors, planners, etc.
The agencies make optimum use of these people, their experience and their knowledge.
They work with an objective and are very professionals.
Hiring them leads in saving the costs up to some extent.

10 Major Functions of Advertising Agency

1.Attracting clients

Advertising agency needs clients (advertisers). Without them, it cannot survive.

2.Account Management
Within an advertising agency the account manager or account executive is tasked with handling
all major decisions related to a specific client.

The account manager works closely with the client to develop an advertising strategy.

3.Creative Team

The principle role of account managers is to manage the overall advertising campaign
for a client, which often includes delegating selective tasks to specialists.

Advertising agency put the advertising-plan into action under its creative function. Creation of
ads is the most important function of an ad agency.

These jobs are done by experts like copy writers, artists, designers, etc. These people are highly
skilled and creative. They make an advertisement more appealing. Attractive ads help to increase
the sales of the product.

4.Researchers

Full-service advertising agencies employ market researchers who assess a client’s market
situation, including understanding customers and competitors, and also are used to test creative
ideas. Advertising agency gathers information related to the client’s product. It collects
following information about a product under its research function: –

Features, quality, advantages and limitations of a product, Present and future market
possibilities, Competition in the market, Situation in the market, Distribution methods, Buyers’
preferences, so on
Ad agency analyses (studies) all this collected information properly and draws conclusions for
its research. It helps in planning an advertising campaign, selecting proper media and
creation function.

5. Media Planners

Advertising agency helps an advertiser to select a proper media (ad platform) to promote
his advertisement effectively.

Media selection is a highly specialized function of an ad agency. It must select the most suitable
media for its client’s ad.

Advertising agency plans the entire ad campaign of its client. Advertising planning is a primary
function of an ad agency. It is done when its research function is completed. That is,
after analyzing the client’s product, its competitors, market conditions, etc. It is done by experts
who use their professional experience to make a result-oriented advertising-plan.

Once an advertisement is created, it must be placed through an appropriate advertising media.

Each advertising media, of which there are thousands, has its own unique methods for accepting
advertisements, such as different advertising cost structures (i.e., what it costs marketers to place
an ad), different requirements for accepting ad designs (e.g., size of ad), different ways
placements can be purchased (e.g., direct contact with media or through third-party seller), and
different time schedules (i.e., when ad will be run). Understanding the nuances of different media
is the role of a media planner, who looks for the best media match for a client and also negotiates
the best deals.

6.Advertising Budget

Advertising agency helps an advertiser to prepare his ad budget. It helps him to use his budget
economically and make the best use of it.

Without a proper advertising budget, there is a risk of client’s funds getting wasted or lost.

7.Coordination

Advertising agency brings a good coordination between the advertiser, itself, media and
distributors.

8.Sales Promotion

Advertising agency performs sales promotion. It helps an advertiser to introduce sales promotion
measures for the dealers and consumers. This helps to increase the sales of the product.

9.Public Relations

Advertising agency does the public relations (PR) work for its clients. It increases the goodwill
between its clients and other parties like consumers, employees, middlemen, shareholders, etc. It
also maintains good relations between the client and media owner.

10.Non-advertising functions

Advertising agency also performs many non-advertising functions:

It fixes the prices of the product, It determines the discounts, It designs the product, It
also designs its package, trademarks, labels, etc.