Models and Concepts of Communication

1. Models and Concepts of Communication Objective: Introducing different models and theories of communications. In the end of this part, students will also understand the effects of communications.

2. Objectives of Communication Marketing communicationsaim to (1) inform, (2) persuade, or (3) remind. • Informative communication; • tells the market about a new product • informs the market of a price change • explains how the product works • describes available services • corrects false impressions • reduces consumer’s fears • builds a company image

3. Persuasive communication; • builds brand preference • encourages switching to the brand of the company • persuades customers to purchase now or make a sales call • Reminder communication; • keeps the product in customer’s mind during off-season • maintains the product’s top-of-mind awareness • remind consumers where to buy the product

4. Models and Concepts of Communications Theories • Four basic perspectives to communication theories; • Mechanistic; communication goes from sender to receiver • Psychological; considers the subjective elements (e.g. emotions) in the interpretation of the messages • Sociological; focuses on the social context in which communications are sent and received • Systems and networks; views communication as complex system of circulating messages

5. Communications Models • To communicate effectively, marketers must first understand how communication works. • Early Mass Communications Models • Schramm model of mass communication • The Shannon-Weaver model of communication • The Osgood-Schramm model of communication • Marketing Communications Transmission Models • Multi-modal Communications Models • Relational and Network Models of Communications

6. Early Mass Communications Models • basic models of mass communication. • based on a linear process in which the communication is between a source and a receiver. • the source is responsible for the production of an “encoded” message which is distributed to a receiver. • in more advance models, the role of the receiver is recognized; “decoding”. • These models also recognise the “noise”.

7. Marketing Communications Transmission Models • recognize the differences between persons and in their interpretations. • the model of Fill (2005) specifically relates to marketing communications and organizational goals, therefore introduces “feedback”. • also stresses the importance of “noise”; the influence of which should be minimised. • noise can occur due to either cognitive or physical factors. • successful communication can occur when the source understands the receiver.

8. Multi-modal Communication Models • recognize the social processes involved in the production and interpretation of messages; the communication process is under the influence of other people in society. • The message sent through mass media reaches some targeted audiences, but at the same time reaches the “opinion leaders” who then reach other audiences; therefore these models recognizes the important role of peer groups; networks of people.

9. Relational and Network Models of Communications • recognize the importance of “context”; not only social background but also social context. • also recognize the importance of relationship between the sender and the receiver; strong and trusting relationships. • CRM is used to establish deep and loyal relationships; more cost-effective communication. • “connective” relationships help firms to serve their customers better; therefore communication does not only consists of advertising,but also impersonal mass communications. • individuals participate in the network and exchange and spread communications depending on how “connected” and “integrated” they are in the network.

10. Elements of Communication • Sender: the party sending the message. • Encoding: the process of putting the message (information) into symbolic form. • Message: the set of symbols in which the sender transmit the information. • Media: the communication channels through which the message moves from sender to receiver. • Decoding: the process by which the receiver assigns meaning to the encoded symbols.

11. Receiver: the party receiving the message. • Response: the reactions of the receiver after interpreting the message. • Feedback: receiver’s response communicated back to the sender. • Noise: the unplanned distortion during the communication process that influences how receiver gets a different message than the one sent by the sender.

12. Steps in Developing Effective Communications 1.Identify the target audience 2. Determine the response sought 3. Choose a message 4. Choose the media through which to send the messages 5. Collectfeedback

13. Identifying the Target Audience • The target audience would be the potential buyers or the current users of the product. • The target audience affects the communicator’s decisions on; • what will be said • how will it be said • when it will be said • where it will be said • who will say it

15. Determining the Response Sought • Of course, the final response is purchase. Purchase is the result of a long process of consumer decision making. The marketing communicator need to know where the target audience now stands, therefore, to what stage it needs to be moved. • If the target market is totally unaware of the product, knows only its name or knows ver little about it, the communicator must first build awarenessandknowledge.

16. If the target market knows the product, the marketer must develop liking (feeling favorable about the product), preference (prefering the product over the other products), and conviction (believing that the product is the best for them) • If the target market is convinced about the product, the marketer must push the consumers to do the purchase. • If the target market has started to forget the product, the marketer must remind them again.

17. Choosing a Message • The communicator must develop an effective message in order to get the desired audience response. Ideally the message should; • get Attention • hold Interest • arouse Desire • obtain Action (known as the AIDA model) • In putting the message together, the marketing communicator must decide (1) what to say (message content) and (2) how to say it (message structure and format).

18. Message Content • The communicator must create an appeal or theme that would produce the desired response. There are three types of appeals; • rational appeals; relate to the audience’s self-interest. They show that the product will produce the desired benefits. Messages include product’s quality, economy, value, or performance. E.g. Mercedes “engineered like no other car in the world”. • emotional appeals; attempt to stir up either negative (such as fear, guilt, shame) or positive (such as love, humor, pride, joy) emotions that can motivate purchase.

19. E.g. Crest in its toothpaste ads “there are some things you just can’t afford to gamble with”. • moral appeals; are directed to the audience’s sense of what is right and proper.Messages include social issues such as cleaner environment, equal rights for women, aid to the needy...

20. Message Structure • Regarding messages, the communicator must also decide; • whether to draw a conclusion or leave it to the audience. • whether to present a one-or-two sided argument. • whether to present the strongest arguements first or last.

21. Message Format • The marketing communicator also needs a strong format for the message. • In a print ad, advertisers can use novelty, contrast, eye-catching pictures and headlines, distinctive formats, message size and position, colour, shape and movement. • In a radio ad, words, sounds, and voices. • On TV or in person, facial expressions, gestures, dress, posture and hair style...

22. Choosing Media After the message is chosen, the communicator must select channels of communication. There are two broad types of communication channels; • personal • nonpersonal

23. Personal Communication Channels • In personal communication channels, two or more people communicate directly (face to face, over the telephone, or even through mail) with each other. • Personal communication channels are effective because they allow for personal addressing and feedback. • Besides company salespeople, consumer buying guides etc, neighbours, friends, family members,

24. and associates may communicate with the target buyers. This is known as word-of-mouth influence. • Personal communication is more important for expensive, risky or highly visible products e.g. automobiles for which consumers seek opinions of knowledgeable people. • Companies can create opinion leaders (people whose opinions are sought by others) to make them work for the company by supplying those opinion leaders with the product on attractive terms. Opinion leaders would be radio personalities, heads of organizations ….

25. Nonpersonal Communication Channels • Nonpersonal communication channels are media that carry messages without personal contact or feedback. • They include media, atmosphere and events. • Media; include print media (newspaper, magazines, direct mail); broadcast media (radio, television); and display media (billboards, signs, posters) • Atmospheres; are designed environments to create and reinforce buyer’s leaning toward purchasing a product. E.g. lobby design of a hotel.

26. Events; are staged occurrences that communicate messages to target audiences. E.g. press conferences, grand openings, shows, exhibitions, public tours, and other events. • Such nonpersonal communications may first flow to the opinion leaders and then from them to the target audiences. That is why, most of the time, mass communicators aim their messages directly at opinion leaders.

27. Selecting the Message Source • The message’s impact on the target market is also affected by the message source. • Messages delivered by highly credible and attcative sources (e.g. celebrities) gain higher attention and recall and are more persuasive. E.g. Kevin Costner in THY ads. As a result, many food companies aim promotions at doctors, dentists…

28. Celebrities are effective when they personify a key product attribute. …Beyaz ads for Rinso ... • Using animals and cartoon characters are also successful; they are more dependable and unlikely to create negative publicity.

29. Collecting Feedback • After sending the message, the communicator must research its effect on the target audience. This involves asking the target members their opinion and behaviour about the message.

30. Communications Effects • People react differently on information. Many people do not automatically purchase products based on the advice received from opinion formers or leaders. • The adoption process takes time. It starts with people becoming aware of the product (e.g. new restaurant in town). Knowledge is built over time until the potential customers are persuaded by the messages.

31. Individual Differences in Adoption • People differ in their readiness to try new products. After a slow start, an increasing number of people adopt the new product. The number of adopters reaches a peak and then drops off as very little adopters remain. • There are five adopter categorization on the basis of time of adoption of innovations; • Innovators: are the first 2.5 percent of the buyers, they are adventurous, take risk, relatively younger, better educated, have higher income, are more receptive to

32. unfamiliar things, rely more on their own values and judgement, are less brand loyal and more likely to tae advantage of special promotions e.g. discounts. • Early adopters: are the next 13.5 percent, are opinion leaders in their communities and adopt new ideas early but carefully. • Early majority: are rarely leaders but adopt new ideas before the average person. • Late majority: adopt an innovation only after a majority of people have tried it. • Laggards: are suspicious of changes and adopt the innovation only when it has become tradition.

33. Adopter categorization on the basis of relative time of adoption of innovations 34% 34% early late 13.5 % majority majority early 16% innovators adopters laggards 2.5%

34. A number of factors infleunce adoption; • Socio-economic characteristics (e.g. stage in family life cycle, education, income, social networks, peer groups, etc.) • Personal characteristics (e.g. personality traits, attitudes, beliefs, values, motivation etc.) • Communication behavior (responses to communications)

35. Setting the Total Promotion Budget • The marketer must decide how much to spend on promotion.According to the type of industry, the promotion spendings vary. E.g. 20-30%of the sales in cosmetics, 2-3%in industrial machinery. • There are basically four methods to set the total budget for advertising; • affordable method • percentage-of-sales method • competitive-parity method • objective-and-task method

36. Affordable Method • Setting the promotion budget at the level that management thinks the company can afford. • Small companies project their total revenues, deduct their operating expenses and capital outlays, and then devote some of the remaining funds to advertising. • This method places advertising last among expenses, therefore, ignores the effects of promotion on sales. • This method may result in either over or underspending for advertising.

37. Percentage-of-Sales Method • Setting the promotion budget at a certain percentage of current or forecasted sales or as a percentage of the sales price. • The advantage of this method is that it helps management think about the relationships between promotion spending, selling price, and profit per unit. • The disadvantages are; (1) it wrongly views sales as the cause of promotion rather than as the result, (2) it may prevent increase in promotional

38. spending, when the sales are falling, (3) it does not provide any basis for choosing a specific percentage, except last year’s and competitors percentages.

39. Competitive-Parity Method • Setting the promotion budget to match competitor’s outlays. The company monitors competitor’s advertising or industry averages. • The advantage of this method is that it mat prevent promotional wars. • The disadvantages of this method are; (1) each company has its own promotional needs, therefore, the competitors’ spending may be misleading, (2) there is no guarantee that this method will prevent promotion wars.

40. Objective-and-Task Method • Setting promotion budgets based on what the company wants to accomplish with promotion. • This is the most logical budget setting where the company (1) defines specific promotion objectives, (2) determines the tasks needed to achieve these objectives, (3) estimates the total costs of performing these tasks. • This is the most difficult method to use because it is hard to understand which tasks will achieve

41. specific objectives. E.g. if Sony wants to create 95% awareness for its new camera within 6 months, it is difficult to decide what messages and promotions to use and how much to spend.

42. Setting the Promotion Mix • After the budget has been determined, the marketer must decide which promotion tools to use - advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. He must blend the promotion tools into a coordinated and integrated promotion mix. • The following factors influence the marketer’s choice of promotion tools; • Nature of each promotion tool • Type of product and market • Push versus pull strategy • Buyer readiness stage • Product-life-cycle stage

43. Useful Links and Sources • McCabe, S. (2009). Marketing Communications in Tourism and Hospitality: Concepts, Strategies and Cases. Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford. • Kotler, P.; Bowen, J. and Makens, J. (1999). Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall: New Jersey. • Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2010) Principles of Marketing (13th ed.). Prentice Hall: New Jersey.