Transcript HC marketing blok 3 week 1

A theory of communication
Hoorcollege marketing communication blok 4
week 1
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Learning goals
 By the end of the reading and college you should:
 Be aware of the importance of marketing communication in
the marketing process
 Understand the communications loop and the issues
involved in communication in general
 Be able to to define shared meaning
 See how important understanding your target group is
when developing marketing communications
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Agenda
 The importance of marketing communication
 The communication process
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The importance of marketing
communication
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Introduction
 Good product is nothing if consumers don’t know
about it, like it and want to have it
 So marketing communications is a very important part of
the marketing mix
 Marketing communications (a.k.a. marcoms, a.k.a the
communications mix) is the fourth P of marketing:
Promotion
 It has high visibility
 However promotion in the marketing mix is not just
advertising
 It can relate to all aspects of an organization’s
communication with its target group(s) and other
stakeholders
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Elements of the communication mix
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Which element is the most important?
 The answer is:
 It depends
 Like the 4Ps marcoms is a question of getting the
mix right and this depends on:
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The target customer
The market itself
The communications channels available
Competitor activity
Regulations
Etc., etc., etc…
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Blok 4 plan
 During this blok we will cover these elements of the
promotional mix
 You will get to use some of them out while developing a
campaign for eBay
 In addition we will look at some of the changes
interactive media is causing for promotion.
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The communications process
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Communication
 Communication can be defined as a “transactional
process between two or more parties where
meaning is exchanged through the use of signs”*
Or put another way
 Communication is about getting your message
through to others, so that:
 They understand what you think
AND
 You know that they do
 This is known a shared meaning
* Source: Engel, J.F., Warshaw, M.R. and Kinnear T.C., 1994. Promotional Strategy, Chicago: Irwin
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Parties in communication
 Communication needs more than one person to be
involved
 At a minimum there should be 2 parties
 Usually one party is the sender and the other party is the
receiver
 In reality it is more complex than this
 Often many parties can make up the sender and / or the
receiver
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One-to-one
One-to-many
Many-to-one
Many-to-many
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Communication as we seem to think it
works
Message!
We understand - message!
Message
Me
(with dyed hair)
You lot
(in hats)
This is obviously a fantasy
In the real world this doesn’t happen
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The communications process in the real
world
His hair
looks stupid
They’re all
wearing hats!
Did he say massage?
Msge!
Mxxsage
Me
(with dyed hair)
You lot
(in hats)
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The communication loop
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Shared meaning
 The aim of any communication is to develop shared
meaning
 This means that both the sender and the receiver in a
communication process have (roughly) the same
understanding of what was communicated
* Source: Engel, J.F., Warshaw, M.R. and Kinnear T.C., 1994. Promotional Strategy, Chicago: Irwin
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Goals of communication
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Persuasion and shared meaning
 When persuading I would argue that:
it is the responsibility of the
sender to ensure that
shared meaning has been
achieved
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Achieving shared meaning for
persuasion involves
 Ensuring you know your receiver
 Encoding your message in a way that can be
decoded by the receiver
 Choosing the right media, time and place to get you
message to the receiver
 Making sure your message is above the noise level
 Finding out if your message was understood
(feedback) and adapting your communication if not
 Remembering that communication is a dynamic
process
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Some issues in communication
 Encoding the message effectively
 Cultural issues
 Silent communication
 Problems of media, time and place
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Encoding
 Communication involves using signs, Semiotics
classifies signs into three categories:
 Icon
 A sign that looks like an object or represents it in a visual
way
 Index
 A sign that relates to an object via a causal connection
 Symbol
 An artificial sign created for the purpose of creating
meaning (e.g. words)
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Problems with encoding
 The problem is that signs (especially words) have
denotative (expliciet) and connotative (connotatief)
meaning
 In order to communicate you have to use signs that have
the same meaning to your receiver
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Cultural issues
 Ethnocentrism (the assumption that everyone does
and thinks as we do) is perhaps the only thing
constant between cultures
 Understanding the receiver's cultural beliefs and
practices is essential to encoding the message
effectively
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Silent communication
 Communication is not just carried verbally or in the
written word
 The receiver decodes other elements of the
encoded message such as:
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Numbers (what is 911?)
Space (the distance between people for example)
Things (what people own suggest status)
Movement
Body language
 All of these (and other elements) make up the
message and should be considered
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Media, time and place
 Our openness to a message is affected not just by
how the message is encoded, but also by
 The media used to transmit the message
 The time we receive it
 And the place we receive it
 When communicating the sender needs to be
sensitive to the problems
 It is the sender’s job to ensure the message is understood
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This means that noise can happen
anywhere!
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Important stuff to remember when
communicating
 Know your audience (target customer)
 One message (promotional mix) will not suit every group
 Send a clear message
 What do you want to say?
 KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
 Understand the communications process
 What are the barriers to communication?
 Look for feedback
 Remember that you decode the feedback
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Summary
 The goal of communication is to develop shared
meaning
 However, this is much more complex than we
sometimes believe
 There are many things that can get in the way of
developing shared meaning
 The best way to develop shared meaning is to
understand your receiver (target customer)
 In marketing communications this is especially important as
you know your competitors will
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