CHAPTER 17

Communication for Effective Marketing

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”

—John Wanamaker

Communication is necessary for the promotion of that activity of marketing, which is intended to encourage people to buy a product for sale. In marketing, communication is, rather, called ‘persuasive communication’. In other words, communication in marketing is the process of transmitting selling messages to the target audience. Therefore, it is popularly known as Marketing Communication.

OBJECTIVES OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION

The purpose of Marketing Communication is either to inform, persuade, and/ or remind the target audiences about a product, or to reinforce or modify existing behavior of the target groups. Eventually, all Marketing Communications should end in the sale of the product.

TOOLS OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Traditionally, the following promotion activities have been known as the elements of Marketing Communication: Advertising, Publicity, Personal selling, and Sales promotion. Advertising is most commonly known as any paid form of non-personal promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor (See Exhibit 17.1). Whereas, publicity is known as a non-personal promotion of a product or business that is not paid for, and the sponsor is also not identified (See Exhibit 17.2). On the other hand, personal selling is a face-to-face promotion of a product, which involves conversations with target audiences for the purpose of making sales. Finally, there is sales promotion, which is neither advertising nor publicity or personal selling, but still enhances dealer effectiveness and induces purchases (See Exhibit 17.3).

 

Exhibit 17.1
An Example of Advertising

The first thing to understand is how exactly they are different from each other in a more subtle manner. For instance, what is paid for in advertising is the message and the media space; and, what is not paid for in publicity, therefore, should be for the message and the media space. This is also what is commonly understood. However, in reality, the publicity message does cost the company a fair amount of money, for example, the cost of calling a press conference or developing a press release. And, the actual media space that the publicity message uses does not cost the company because it appears more like a news item. But, why should media carry stories about a product or a company? It could either be because the product and/or the company is too important to be ignored and covering would add value to the medium; or, the company enjoys good relationships with media, which means investments in public relations. Thus, it can be concluded that publicity is not paid for directly and is also not identified directly with the sponsor. An alternative definition of publicity could be, media exposure at no media cost.

Public relations is a programme of action to earn understanding, acceptance, and respect. Common examples of public relations programmes would be public service activities, like adopting important roads and crossings for development and maintenance, adopting parks in colonies for providing various amenities to children and senior citizens, adopting villages for overall development and running of old age homes; newsletters; seminars, speeches, and other such events for the benefit of public in general; etc. All these cost money, time and effort to the company. But, when they get covered by the media, they give visibility to the company. Therefore, in other words, media coverage of public relations activities can also be taken as publicity. In fact, media are always looking for information—good or bad—if they are interested in a company’s affairs. Good public relations ensure that media give a favorable image and/ or avoid an unfavorable aspect. Similarly, it can be said that lack of good public relations

 

Exhibit 17.2
An Example of Publicity

 

Exhibit 17.3
An Example of Sales Promotion

might lend a company into an unfavorable situation vis-à-vis the media. Thus, there is a need to appreciate the relationship between public relations and publicity—without good public relations (including media relations) favorable publicity is not possible. Interestingly, it seems that it is public relations, which is actually a tool of Marketing Communication, and publicity is only an outcome of it. But, the fact remains that they co-exist.

The basic difference between advertising and personal selling is that advertising creates a ‘pull’ from the customers’ end, whereas personal selling gives a ‘push’ from the marketer’s end. Thus, they are the right opposite of each other in nature.

Some New Tools of Marketing Communication

Besides advertising, publicity, personal selling and sales promotion, of late, the marketers have started using newer tools of Marketing Communication also, viz., direct marketing, direct selling, event marketing and exhibit marketing.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is an eclectic tool of Marketing Communication, which has the best of advertising and personal selling. Advertising helps the marketer reach millions of target audience members at the same time, but lacks directness. The marketer is sometimes not even sure of his/her message reaching the target audience. On the other hand, personal selling reaches the target audience directly, face-to-face, and would be able to see the buying intention of the target customer, but, it’s not only very time consuming, but also very expensive for the company. Direct marketing communicates directly with the target audience using different media and it is done in such a way that it gives an impact of a sales person talking to him/her face-to-face. In other words, a direct marketing is that form of marketing communication which has the facility of reaching millions of people simultaneously and the possibility of closing the deal almost on-the-spot. Direct mail, response advertising, tele-marketing, and catalogue marketing are the most commonly employed tools of direct marketing. But, the original form of direct marketing still remains in mail order.

 

Direct Selling

Often confused with personal selling and direct marketing, direct selling is one of the fastest growing tools of Marketing Communication in the recent times. Thanks to companies like Amway, Tupperware, Oriflame, Modi Care, et. al., direct selling has helped thousands of housewives/families become independent entrepreneurs. In very simple terms, direct selling involves becoming a customer of a direct selling company’s products and, in turn, recommending them to relations, friends, and acquaintances. If any of them are interested in buying any of the products, they place an order through the first customer, and, on every such sale, the first customer gets a commission from the company. That is why the first customer is called a distributor, who is more of an advisor or a consultant. The fundamental requirement in direct selling is that the distributor or the consultant has to be a customer of the company in the first place, and then only she/he can promote the products further.

The most important difference between direct selling and personal selling is that the distributor of a direct selling company’s products is not an employee of the company; she/he is an independent operator working on commission only; whereas, in personal selling the individual representing the company and promoting its products are the employees of the company and they work on salary- and/or commission-basis. The second important difference is that the title or ownership of goods does not pass on to the sales persons in personal selling.

Event Marketing

An event is a special and/or interesting happening, like launch of a product. Event management is, therefore, the process of planning and organizing an event. But, event marketing is a form of marketing communication, which helps promote not only the products of a company but also the company and its image.

The origin of event marketing lies in sales promotion. Originally, it is started with sponsoring of events, especially sports activities. For example, the various cricket tournaments were sponsored by different brands and, therefore, they came to be known as Pepsi Cup, Coca Cola cup, Wills Cup, Samsung Cup, Reliance Cup, et.al. Slowly, the companies started sponsoring the teams. For example, ITC sponsored Indian cricket team during its tour of Sri Lanka, Kingfisher sponsored Indian cricket team during its tour of West Indies, and Sahara has been sponsoring the Indian cricket team for quite a few years now. This has led to the emergence of a new area of promotion, i.e., sports marketing. However, they all still remain the case of sales promotion primarily because, in all these cases, there is an attempt to wrap the brands around the events. Whereas, in event marketing, the brand is at the core and the event is wrapped around the brand. For example, Femina Miss India, Filmfare Awards, Hero India’s Best, et.al. In all these cases, events are a natural extension of the brands, and they could all be sponsored by other brands. For example, Femina Miss India sponsored by Ponds, Filmfare Awards sponsored by Jio, and Hero India’s Best sponsored by Zee TV.

In conclusion, event marketing is a promotion tool wherein a brand becomes an event and, in turn, does marketing communication (See Exhibit 17.4).

 

Exhibit 17.4
Sales Promotion Vs. Event Marketing

Exhibit Marketing

Traditionally, window displays, taking parts in exhibitions, or organizing road shows, has been known as a sales promotion activity. But, of late, the art of display has developed so much that it needs to be referred to as an independent promotion tool, Exhibit Marketing—the exhibit and/or the method of display wherein the brand becomes a message (See Exhibit 17.5).

 

Exhibit 17.5
Example of Exhibit Marketing

 

CONSUMER, INDUSTRIAL, AND TRADE MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Marketing Communication aimed at end-consumers is known as Consumer Promotion, which is different from the promotion aimed at manufacturing or processing organizations, like industrial units, i.e., Industrial Promotion. However, promotion aimed at the intermediaries or the distribution channel members is known as Trade Promotion.

For example, consumer and trade promotions are about consumer products like nondurables and durables, but industrial promotion deals with industrial products like raw materials, semi-finished goods, etc.

 

BRAND, INSTITUTIONAL, AND CORPORATE MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Marketing Communication about a brand is known as Brand Promotion, which is different from Marketing Communication about a company or a company as a product, as shown in Corporate Promotion. However, a communication from the company or on behalf of the company is known as Institutional Promotion (See Exhibits 17.6 and 17.7).

MARKETING COMMUNICATION CONTINUUM

As can be seen in Exhibit 17.8, generally, in the case of consumer products there is much dependence/emphasis on advertising, whereas in the case of business products, it is on personal selling. This also stems from a common understanding that advertising works most cost effectively during the early stages of buying decision making, and, personal selling during the later. Even though there have been attempts to come out of this continuum, but even the marketing strategies during different stages of the product life cycle suggest that advertising would be more effective during the introduction stage than during the later and the last.

 

Exhibit 17.6
An Example of Corporate Promotion

 

Exhibit 17.7
An Example of Institutional Promotion

Integrated Marketing Communications

Earlier, marketers were able to achieve their marketing communication objectives with the help of one or two promotional tools, mainly advertising and sales promotion. Some of the companies, specially dealing with industrial or organizational products, employed only personal selling; whereas, publicity was largely considered as a public relations exercise. Now, with the changing rules of marketing game, much intensified competition and development of new means of marketing communication like direct marketing, direct selling, event marketing, and exhibit marketing, the marketer has to rely on more than two or three promotion tools and, for optimum marketing communication impact, he has to use them together in a highly focused and integrated manner. The integration brings about a synergy among all marketing communication messages and goals. It turns all forms of marketing into communication and all forms of communication into marketing. But, that is easier said than done, because, in integrated marketing communication, all marketing communications need to converge and create the desired impact. Thus, there is a need for a most detailed planning process. Exhibit 17.9 depicts the integrated marketing communications planning model.

 

 

Exhibit 17.8
Marketing Communication Continuum

A fundamental difference between the new approach to planning for integrated marketing communications and the traditional method is that the focus of the new approach is on the past, present and the future customers, not just the present customers. The second difference can be seen with respect to the marketing objectives in the traditional method, the process would begin with setting of marketing communication objectives, whereas in the new approach, marketing objectives are pushed down and are decided on after the target markets have been identified. The third major way in which the new approach differs from the traditional method is that the new approach uses customer behavior as the basis for classifying customers because behavior not only takes into account what a person would do in the future, but also his/her attitudes and intentions in the present. That is why there is a lot more dependence on the customer databases in the new approach. These databases would contain information on demographics, psychographics, and purchase history of customers. Thus, the new approach starts with the database of information on the customers—present and past—and the prospects.

 

Based on the databases, customers/prospects can be classified into brand loyals, competitors’ brand loyals, brand switchers and category non-users. Brand loyals are further classified into single-brand loyals, customers buying our brand nine out of ten times, and multi-brand loyals, customers buying our brand three to eight times. In reality, no customer would be dependent on a single brand only. There are always one or two back-up brands in case the main brand is not available because of any reason.

Competitors’ brand loyals are to be seen as either totally committed to the other brand or unfavorable and neutral. An unfavorable competitors’ brand loyal is one who has, perhaps, had a bad experience with our brand. On the other hand, the favorable competitors’ brand loyal has our brand in mind, and would like to try it at the first opportunity. Whereas, the neutral competitors’ brand loyal is, perhaps, not even aware of our brand, and, therefore, has no positive or negative attitude towards our brand.

Brand switchers are usually having a set of four to five brands in the same product category and they continuously keep swinging among them. If they include our brand in their switching pattern, they are classified as favorable brand switchers, else unfavorable. In the early stages of the product life cycle, the brand switchers are more exploratory in nature, but during the later stages, their switching behavior becomes more mechanical. Therefore, combining both the classifications, we can have favorable/unfavorable exploratory brand switchers and favorable/unfavorable routinized brand switchers.

The final category of customers/prospects is of those who are the non-users of the product category. As in the case of competitors’ brand loyals, they can also be further classified as favorable, neutral and unfavorable. In their case, it is essentially a matter of attitude. If they are attitudinally not inclined toward the product category, for example, the fast food, then they are definitely unfavorable category non-users, but, if they are attitudinally indifferent or inclined towards the category, they are neutral and favorable category non-users.

It needs to be kept in view that all neutral and favorable categories of customers/ prospects can be converted into customers/loyal customers rather than the unfavorable.

The marketing objectives are defined separately for each of the customer/prospect categories depending on the task to be performed by integrated marketing mix. Therefore,in the case of brand loyals, it is essentially a matter of maintaining or increasing the current level of purchase/usage; in the case of competitors’ brand loyals and brand switchers, it would be to induce trial of the brand, increase volume of purchase, and build loyalty; and, in the case of category of non-users, the marketing objective would be to induce trial of the product/brand. Similarly, the marketing communication objectives are set in terms of communications and sales impacts for all categories of customers/ prospects.

 

Exhibit 17.9
Integrated Marketing Communications Planning Model

 

Finally, the marketing communication tools or tactics are decided very specifically for each category of customers/prospects selecting from among the total promotion mix at the disposal of the marketer. For example, in the case of brand loyals, there would be more of direct marketing, advertising, sales promotion, public relations and event marketing, preferably in this order, whereas in the case of competitors brand loyals, there would be mainly advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing. In the case of brand switchers, there would again be sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, event marketing and advertising, preferably in this order, whereas in the case of category of non-users, there would be advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing. What needs to be appreciated here is that, for each of the sub-categories, the marketing communications mix is defined in a particular combination and order of promotion tools keeping in view the nature of the task marketing communications are expected to do. This approach ensures not only the customized communications for each of the customer/prospect classifications, but also brings about the desired integration among different marketing communications tools.

SUMMARY

Communication in marketing is the process of transmitting selling messages to the target audience. Therefore, it is popularly known as Marketing Communication. The purpose of Marketing Communication is the sale of the product. The following promotion activities have been known as the elements of Marketing Communication Mix: Advertising, Publicity, Personal selling, and Sales promotion. Advertising is most commonly known as any paid form of non-personal promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Whereas, publicity is known as a non-personal promotion of a product or business that is not paid for, and the sponsor is also not identified. On the other hand, personal selling is a face-to-face promotion of a product, which involves conversations with target audiences for the purpose of making sales. Finally, there is sales promotion, which is neither advertising nor publicity and/or personal selling, but still enhances dealer effectiveness and induces purchases. Further, Public Relations is a programme of action to earn understanding, acceptance, and respect. More recently, marketers have started using newer tools of Marketing Communication, viz., direct marketing, direct selling, event marketing and exhibit marketing.

CASE: Celebrity Endorsement: Shaken or Stirred

Celebrity Endorsements in India has been a popular way to target the consumers at large, as Bollywood is what sets the trends in personal grooming, fashion, etc., mostly. Therefore, to run a successful campaign, multinational and home grown organisations get a popular celebrity to promote their brands/products. The success of the campaign is usually, determined not by the copy of the promotion campaign but by the popularity of the celebrity.

Recently, a Hollywood star, who has been playing a popular fictional character, was hired by an Indian creative agency to promote and convince the Indian population about a popular pan masala brand. The campaign was launched with big bang showcasing the Hollywood star perform like a secret-service agent, but with a difference of weaponry, a tin-pack of the product.

According to the company, the choice of a celebrity endorser for such a campaign was in line with the personality of the brand.

The interesting thing about the campaign in the Indian scenario is that the Indian consumer perceives consumption of tobacco and nicotine products as unhealthy and a Hollywood celebrity lending her face to such a product was scandalizing.

The campaign since its inception had attracted reactions from all corners of the advertising and marketing fraternity including the opinion leaders in social media. The range of reactions, comments, and discussions ranged from being bizarre to disbelief to being an example of merriment.

One of the reactions raised an interesting point and is worth noting that the awareness of the campaign was much higher amongst the fan base of the Hollywood celebrity than the actual consumers of the product. This is because many (actual consumers) may not be even aware about the celebrity per se, endorsing the popular brand. Another reaction re-established the futile notion of looking for logic in celebrity endorsements. This logic is built on the assumption that in such celebrity led advertising usually the celebrity is the centre of attention rather than the celebrity-brand fit. Leading the argument further was the case of feeding the ego. It was remarked that such a strategy where the fit seems to be not clear judging by such decisions only proves the point that some decision maker across the organisation fed to his/her ego and probably a direct image boost to his/her social network.?

Another fascinating fact about the entire campaign appeared as the campaign grew popular and criticism grew louder. The Hollywood celebrity in a state of shock accused the panmasala brand for damaging the image of the start actor and for violating the contract on grounds of unauthorised and deceptive use of her image. The Hollywood celebrity also expressed her distress over the entire incident. On the other hand, the promoters of the brand continued with the airing of the advertisements citing reasons such as response awaited from the celebrity’s team and insisted that there was no violation of any contract terms. This left the Hollywood celebrity shaken.

Questions to Answer

1. What are the potential risks in celebrity advertising?
2. Who is responsible for all the controversy raised by the ad in question?
3. Does celebrity endorsement really work?

REVIEW YOUR LEARNING

1. Explain clearly the differences between Advertising and Publicity.
2. Enumerate the position and role of Public Relations in Promotion Mix.
3. What are the main points of comparison between Personal selling and Direct Selling?
4. What is Event Marketing, and how is it different from Sales Promotion?
5. What is Integrated Marketing Communications?

REFLECT ON YOUR LEARNING

1. Why Publicity should not be taken as an element of Promotion Mix in the same sense as others? What should it be replaced with, ideally?
2. ‘Direct Marketing and Direct Selling’ are one and the same thing. The difference is only in approach. Discuss.
3. ‘Event Marketing is nothing but Sales Promotion at a higher level’. Agree/Disagree?
4. ‘Corporate Communications is the most important element of Promotion today’. Discuss.
5. How is the Integrated Marketing Communications Planning Model different from the traditional Marketing Communication Planning model? Reflect.

APPLY YOUR LEARNING

Study a real-life campaign that is truly integrated in all its forms, like advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, event marketing, and corporate communications.

SELF-CHECK YOUR LEARNING

From the given options, please choose the most appropriate answer:

1. In marketing, communication is rather called:
   • Verbal communication
   • non-verbal communication
   • persuasive communication
   • organizational communication
2. The purpose of Marketing Communication is to:
   • inform
   • persuade
   • remind
   • all of the above
3. Traditionally, the following promotion activities have been known as the elements of Marketing Communication Mix:
   • Advertising, Publicity, Personal Selling, and Sales Promotion
   • Advertising, Public Relations, Personal Selling, and Sales Promotion
   • Neither (a) nor (b)d
   • Both (a) and (b)
4. Publicity is ‘paid for’:
   • always
   • indirectly
   • directly
   • never
5. Sales Promotion:
   • enhances dealer effectiveness
   • induces purchases
   • Neither (a), nor (b)
   • Both (a) and (b)
6. Newer tools of Marketing Communication are:
   • Direct Marketing, Direct Selling, Event Marketing and Exhibit Marketing
   • Direct Marketing, PR, Corporate Communications and Exhibit Marketing
   • Direct Marketing, CSR, Direct Selling, and Digital Marketing
   • None of the above
7. Direct Marketing is same as:
   • personal selling
   • direct selling
   • direct sales
   • none of the above
8. Direct Selling is nothing but:
   • direct sales
   • personal selling
   • both (a) and (b)
   • neither (a) nor (b)
9. Event Marketing is an evolved form of:
   • advertising
   • publicity
   • sales promotion
   • personal selling
10. Exhibit Marketing has its origin in:
    • advertising
    • publicity
    • sales promotion
    • personal selling

ENDNOTES

1. Hanoz Mogrelia, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi. ‘Flashback’, http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/flashback-105020101045_1.html, 1 February 2005 at 12 pm
2. Partha Sinha, head of planning and strategy, Ambience Publicis and Publicis India. ‘Flashback’, http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/flashback-105020101045_1.html, 1 February 2005 at 12 pm
3. ‘EVEolution’ of women in Indian advertising. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/brand-equity/eveolutionof-women-in-indian-advertising/articleshow/57536456.cms, 8 March 2017 at 3 pm
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. 7Up out to Offer ‘New Clarity’ in its Fight with Rival Sprite. http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31815&articlexml=7Up-Out-to-Offer-New-Clarity-in-its-06042017005023, 6 April 2017: The Economic Times (Bangalore) at 4 pm
9. Ibid.
10. All IPL spots sold even before a ball is bowled. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/services/advertising/all-ipl-spots-sold-even-before-a-ball-is-bowled/articleshow/57980273.cms, 10 May 2017 at 10.46 am
11. Ibid.
12. Kellogg’s Pays $4 Million Settlement After Claiming Frosted Mini Wheats Make You Smarter. http://www.businessinsider.com/kelloggs-4m-frosted-mini-wheatssettlement-2013-5?IR=T, Associated Press, 29 May 2013 at 4 pm
13. Ibid.