Chapter 1 - Introduction to Marketing Communications

Introduction

The essence of any organisation's advertising and promotional activity is the ability to communicate what they want to sell. In this first chapter of the block, I will take you through the bedrock of advertising and promotion; marketing communication.

In the previous block, I spoke about marketing channel design; this block sees the channel in action. Simply put, how can the channels be used to communicate value to the customers will be understood in advertising and promotions.

Marketing communication channels are associated with conveying a message to their target market or the wider public. There are primarily eight different forms of marketing communication platforms. Email, telephone etc., are a couple of examples.

More about the methods of communication platforms will be seen in the second chapter. In this chapter, I would like to introduce the whole gamut in a nutshell. The various terms or terminologies which you can encounter while dealing with advertising and promotions or marketing communications, in general, will be explained here.

Marketing Communication Definition

Marketing communication is usually the most crucial aspect of a company’s communication, whether to promote firm values, aims, or specific products and services to investors, consumers, or the general public.

Marketing communication definition can be put as the various mediums that a company uses to communicate information about its goods and services to clients with the aim of, usually, achieving one of the two things:

Create brand awareness among potential customers
Retain existing customers by constantly positioning in their minds

Broadly classified, there are four different ways this communication takes place. These are not the communication platforms (more about this will be seen in chapter 2) but the communication method.

Type of marketing communication methods

As mentioned above, there are four different types of Marketing communications. The differentiation primarily arises from the nature of information communicated. The urgency of communication and the longevity of communication dictate the way adopted. The four methods are:

One-to-one: this is the most complete and interactive form of communication. It allows dealers and buyers to communicate more directly. Instant Messaging Applications like Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger are popular examples of one-to-one communication channels.
One-to-many: is done on a single broadcast point and then broadcast over the airwaves or printed in large quantities. Businesses sending mass promotional campaigns over text messages are an example of a one-to-many form of communication.
Many-to-one: A single reception receives numerous different kinds of information. An example of this type of communication can be a CEO eliciting information over various branches in the country via video conferencing.
Many-to Many: This is a type of bi-directional flow of communication. Participants in an advertising or marketing channel will be able to interact easily with each other. Online chat rooms can be an example of many-to-many information exchange methods.

With the types of marketing communication methods back in our minds, let me take you’ll through the strategic place where marketing communications find their place in a typical framework.

The 4P’s Marketing Framework and Communications

Neil Borden was a Harvard University’s advertising professor. He wrote an article, "The Concept of the Marketing Mix," which was published in 1964, and it illustrated how businesses should employ advertising methods to engage their customers.

This paper is considered the birth of the most popular framework in Marketing; the 4P’s Framework. Advertising is all about one of the P’s in 4P’s; the Promotions. You can read more about it in our earlier article here.

Hence communication is an essential aspect of marketing. It can be the one differentiating your product from others, and it has found a place in the earliest of marketing frameworks.

What can Marketing Communication achieve for the organisation?

I have tried to explain what marketing communication can achieve for the organisation in a gist. Here I will walk through the specific set of outcomes that marketing communication aims to attain

Some of the crucial effects are as follows:

What is the purpose of using the product?

The main motive behind the product will be the foremost agenda of marketing communication. For example, Phillips advertisements show how the idea was to drive away from the darkness.

What is the best way to use the product?

How the product can be utilised for maximum benefit. For example, Cadburys advertisements have made precise use of this. They cleverly position in various scenarios like a gift for Diwali or a celebration of love on valentine’s day.

Who is eligible to use the product?

Not all products are helpful for everyone. Marketing communication ensures that fact as to whom the product is being made. For example, Durex advertisements make sure the suitable age group of people are cast in their advertisements.

Which environment can the product be used?

Marketing communication sets the place where the products can be used. For example, Pesticides advertisements are mainly shown outdoors and on large farms.

When can you use the product?

Advertisements show clearly when the products are used. For example, an Apple watch ad clearly shows a range of instances when the product can be used apart from seeing time. You can see the ad here.

These are various agendas that are primarily found in the marketer's mind while designing marketing communications. The management usually employs multiple methods to create a perfect communication mix. We will see more about the marketing communication mix in the next chapter.

Conclusion

I have tried to incorporate a basic understanding of marketing communication in this chapter. The vital role that marketing communication plays and the various types of marketing communication have been thoroughly understood here.