HOW DOES MARCOMMS

WORKThe way it might work

AIMS To examine some of the theories behind

how marketing communications might work

To think about the complexities associated with understanding how clients can best use marketing communications

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

To explore the strategic context of marketing communications

To explain how marketing communications has developed

To re-engage with the role of marketing communications

To suggest ways in which marketing communications might work To examine the concept of significant value To consider the strengths and weaknesses of a

model to explain how marcomms work

PERSPECTIVE Marketing communications is a rich

mosaic of perceptions, emotions, attitudes, information and patterns of behaviour

This makes trying to understand how marketing communications might work challenging in itself

What’s needed is an appreciation of the complexity and contradictions intrinsic to this complicated commercial activity

STRATEGIC CONTEXT OF MARCOMMS

Long considered a purely operational activity – to deliver messages about products which, if effective, persuaded people to buy

No real consideration given to the bigger picture Now silo approach has changed towards a more

strategic orientation:- Focus on wider range of stakeholders Relationship marketing Developments in digital technology and media

applications Controversy over IMC

Effective marcomms should complement marketing, business and corporate strategies

DEVELOPMENT OF MARCOMMS

In the beginning there was ADVERTISING It was supported by other, separate promotional

tools The task of advertising was to deliver USPs

Based on product features Related to attributes

USP short lived because of technology enable ‘me-toos’ and own brands:-

USP power eroded along with product differentiation as it was known then

Thus the power of advertising to differentiate was challenged and ESPs emerged

DEVELOPMENT OF MARCOMMS, CONT.

Advertising’s role became more focused on developing brand values (based on emotion and imagery)

Such an approach to communication builds brand awareness, desire and aspirational involvement

But it does not offer rationale or explicit reason

to purchase, i.e. no ‘call to action’ Other tools were needed to provide impetus

to act: sales promotion, event marketing and

eventually direct marketing evolved that were capable of creating behavioural change

WHERE ARE WE NOW IN TERMS OF THE COMMUNICATION MIX? An expanded and more complex

managerial tool Capable of two providing two main

solutions:-Developing and maintaining brand values –

strategically long termChanging behaviour through the delivery of

calls to action - strategically short term The rise of below –the –line tools can be

seen to indicate the demise of the USP, but also the increase in financial pressures for organisations to improve performance and returns on investment

THE ROLE OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

A dilemma for organisations: to create brands that are perceived to be of value yet encourage customers into purchasing behaviour

The question is – how much resource to allocate to creating brand value and how much to prompt

behaviour Engagement (buy-in) from target markets, which requires: -

An intellectual element – audiences process rational, functional information An emotional element – audiences align themselves with

emotional and expressive information Considerations: information processing styles of

audiences; access to preferred media; suitable balance between rational and emotional content

Remember DRIP and progression through the decision-making process

HOW MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MIGHT WORK Successful messages should be

meaningful to the recipient:- Targeted at the right audience Capable of gaining attention Be understandable, relevant and acceptable

Effective messages should fit the cognitive ability of the target audiences and follow the ‘model’ of how marketing communications work, but,

No single model but years of research have come up with some influential perspectives........

SEQUENTIAL MODELS OF ADVERTISING AIDA (Strong , 1925): Attention,

Interest, Desire, Action Hierarchy of Effects (Lavidge and

Steiner, 1961): Awareness, Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Conviction, Purchase

Information Processing Model (McGuire, 1978): Presentation, Attention, Comprehension, Yielding, Retention, Behaviour

ISSUES WITH THE SEQUENTIAL APPROACH

What constitutes adequate levels of awareness, comprehension and conviction

How can you determine the stage reached by the target audience at any one time

Assumption that the consumer moves through the stages in a logical, rational manner: learn, then feel then do

COGNITIVE PROCESSING Cognitive processing tries to determine

how external information is changed into meanings or thought patterns and then becomes judgements

Campaigns are developed and evaluated by assessing people’s thoughts (cognitive processes) as they read, view or hear a message.

Three types of cognitive response have been identified and linked to attitudes and intentions

A COGNITIVE PROCESSING MODEL

Message or

stimulus

Product message thoughts

AdvertExecution thoughts

Source-oriented thoughts

Attitudeto the product/brand

Attitudeto the advert

Purchase intentions (Lutz, Mackenzie and Belch, 1983)

Promotionalmessage

Attitudechange

An individual’sability and motivationto process information

Low

High

Central routePeripheral route and

cues

Peripheral route and

cues

The Elaboration Likelihood ModelPetty and Cacioppo, (1983)

DEVELOPING SIGNIFICANT VALUE Marcomms normally pass people by,

unobserved Those that are remembered have particular

characteristics: - Product different or new Different or interesting execution of message Message says something of personal significance to

an individual in their current context The net effect being that the message has to

have significant value to an individual to be remembered

Research repeatedly shows that the ‘take out’ from an ad has to have intrinsic value to the recipient

A MODEL OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

St

Revised relationship knowledgeand/or purchase intentions

Attitude to the message

Associations and memories

AwarenessExperience

Involvement

StimulusOne-way or Two-way

Message/Media triggers

Brand triggers

Transactional context

Collaborative context

Attitude tothe brand

Cognitive processing

Emotions, feelingsand likeability

REFERENCES Strong , E.K. (1925), The Psychology of Selling, New York:McGraw-Hill Lavidge , R.J. and Steiner, G.A.(1961), A model for predictive

measurements of advertising effectiveness, Journal of Marketing, (October) 61

McGuire, W.J. (1978), An information processing model of

advertising effectiveness. In Behavioural and Management Science

in Marketing (eds H.L.Davis and A.J. Silk), 156-80. New York:

Ronald/Wiley Lutz, J, Mackenzie, S.B. And Belch, G.E (1983), Attitude towards

the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness, Advances in

Consumer Research, Assoc. for Consumer Research Goldsmith, R.E and Lafferty, B.A. (2002), Consumer response to

websites and their influence on advertising effectiveness. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, 12(4),

318-28 Petty, R.E and Cacioppo, J.T. (1983), Central and peripheral routes to

persuasion: application to advertising. In Advertising and Consumer Psychology (eds I.Percy and A.Woodside), 3-23, Lexington, MA:

Lexington Books