Chapter 5
The
Communication
Process
1
Learning Objectives
▪ Describe the communication process and its role in IMC.
▪ Describe the basic model of the communication process.
▪ Discuss the role of word-of-mouth influence and viral
marketing.
▪ Analyze receivers' responses to marketing communications
won't be in final
and their implications for promotional planning and
strategy.
▪ Describe the influence of social media on the consumer
decision process.
2
Passing of information
Communication Exchange of ideas
Process of establishing a commonness
of thought between sender and receiver
field of experience: common belief & understanding
Factors affecting communication success:
• Nature of message tone, melon(?),text, gesture
• Audience’s interpretation of message receiver's understanding
• Environment in which message is received suitable channel
Evaluate the effectiveness of the communication campaigns in the next slides.
3
An outdoor promotion of Hong Kong Police’s IMC campaign to raise public
awareness about deception crimes. Slogan reads: “The End of Deception Starts with
You.” 4
A Facebook IMC campaign
run by ExxonMobile.
ExxonMobil’s director of
Asia Pacific retail, Mabel
Leung, was the
spokesperson of the
campaign. In this interview,
she said the impact of rising
energy demand in Asia
Pacific means it is important
to encourage more women
into a STEM career is
changing the world.
5
z
An IMC campaign run by a local
company to promote a very
“special” product.
6
Figure 5.1 - A Model of the
Communication Process
7
Basic Model of Communication
Source Encoding
• Source:
▪ Person or organization that has
information to share with another
person or group of people.
▪ Can be an individual
(salesperson/spokesperson) or a
nonpersonal entity (organization
itself).
• Encoding:
▪ Putting thoughts, ideas, or
information into symbolic form.
Source: Citizen Watch Company of America, Inc.
Basic Model of Communication
Encoding
Verbal Graphic Musical Animation
• Spoken • Pictures • Arrange- • Action/
Word ment Motion
• Drawings
• Written • Instrum- • Pace/
Word • Charts entation Speed
• Song • Voices • Shape/
Lyrics Form
Basic Model of Communication
Message
• Contains information or meaning the source hopes to convey.
• Includes content, structure, and design.
This Coach ad uses only a picture
to deliver its message of
aspirational heritage mixed with
an urban attitude. The image
projected by an ad often
communicates more than words.
Source: Coach, Inc.
Communication Channels
Personal
Personal Selling
Channels
Personal
Channels
(Online/ Word of
Offline) Mouth
Print
Media
Nonpersonal
Channels
Broadcast
or Web
Media
Basic Model of Communication
Channel
• Facilitates communication between sender and receiver.
• Nonpersonal channel or mass media.
▪ Lacks direct, interpersonal contact between sender and receiver.
▪ Includes print and broadcast.
• Personal channel or direct communication between two or
more persons.
▪ Word-of-mouth (WOM): Informal communication among consumers
about products and services.
• Buzz marketing: Generating positive word-of-mouth discussion.
Basic Model of Communication
Advertising is telling others why we are good, PR is letting others say why we are good.
Channel
▪ Viral marketing: Propagating marketing-relevant
messages with the help of individual consumers
▪ Factors affecting success
▪ Message characteristics
▪ Individual sender or receiver characteristics
▪ Social network characteristics
▪ Seeding: Identifying and choosing the initial group
of consumers who will be used to start spreading the
message. 13
Experiencing marketing
Nike: “Just Do It” Day
14
“Oreo Stuf Scan” campaign
(Seeding)
15
Basic Model of Communication
• Integrating word of mouth with IMC.
• Consumers ascribe high credibility to information
from others.
• Marketers must develop creative advertisements
and communication that trigger conversations and
are worthy of sharing.
• Online and offline conversation channels often
work independently of one another, and strategies
and tactics may be needed for each.
Case study: Making use of social media in IMC
• The “Like →
comment →
share” formula is
popular for
companies to
generate WOM
on social media.
• Evaluate its
effectiveness.
• How would you
include WOM in
your client’s
IMC campaign?
Trendjacking
Source: IKEA Facebook page
Basic Model of Communication
▪ Receiver: Person with whom the sender shares
thoughts or information
▪ Decoding: Transforming the sender’s message into
thought
▪ Heavily influenced by the receiver’s field of
experience
▪ Field of experience: The experiences, perceptions,
attitudes, and values a person brings to the
communication situation
▪ Must establish common ground: People differ in
location, education level, social status, age, etc. 19
Basic Model of Communication
▪ Noise: Unplanned distortion in the communication
process
▪ Occurs because the fields of experience of the
sender and receiver don’t overlap
▪ Response: Receiver’s set of reactions after seeing,
hearing, or reading the message
▪ Feedback: Receiver’s response that is
communicated back to the sender
20
Case Study : Women in STEM
▪ If your company wants to promote this message, what
should you consider?
1. Noise: what kind(s) of distortion might create
misunderstanding?
2. Source: who should deliver the message?
3. Encoding: what’s the symbolic form of the sender’s
message? (verbal, graphic, musical, animation?)
4. Decoding: How to establish common ground (reduce noise)
so the receiver understands you?
5. Message: What information/message do you wish to
convey with this campaign?
6. Channel: how to use personal & non-personal channels to
reach the receiver?
21
Case Study : Women in STEM
22
Figure 5-3 Frequency of Multitasking by
Television Viewers
Jump to Appendix 2 long image
description
Source: TiVO, “Second Annual Social Media & Multitasking,” October 16, 2014.
Analyzing the Receiver
Identifying the Target Audience
• Individuals: Specific needs; communication must be
specifically tailored.
• Groups: People who make or influence purchase
decision.
• Market niches: Very small, well-defined groups of
customers.
• Market segments: Broader classes of buyers who
have similar needs and can be reached with similar
messages.
• Mass markets: Large numbers of present or potential
customers.
In-class exercise
Audience Communication situation Suggested
communication
tool(s)
Individuals
Group
Market
niches
Mass
market
25
The Response
Process
Understand the Understand how
steps the receiver promotional efforts
may go through in of marketer
moving toward a influence consumer
specific behavior. responses.
27
The Response Process
Traditional Response Hierarchy Models
• AIDA model:
▪ Stages a buyer passes through in personal selling process, including
attention, interest, desire, and action.
• Innovation adoption model:
▪ Stages a consumer passes through in adoption process for an
innovation, including awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and
adoption.
• Hierarchy of effects model:
▪ Stages a consumer passes through in transition from no awareness to
eventual action, including awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and
adoption.
Figure 5.3 - Models of the Response
Process (Traditional Models)
29
Applying the Traditional Response
Models
▪ How does Apple market its latest iPhone?
Communication
Approaches?
Awareness
Steps that the
receiver (target
audience) goes Interest
through in the
promotion
process Desire
Action
30
The Response Process
• Traditional hierarchy models go through three basic stages:
1. Cognitive stage: what receiver knows or perceives about product or
brand.
2. Affective stage: receiver’s feelings or affect level for brand.
3. Behavioral stage: consumer’s action toward brand.
▪ Alternative response hierarchies:
▪ Based on product/service differentiation and consumer’s level of
involvement
▪ Two models related to the study of IMC:
A. Standard learning model
B. Low-involvement model
The Response Process
Alternative Response Hierarchies
The standard learning hierarchy.
▪ Standard learning model: Consumer goes through response process
in sequence depicted by traditional communication models, including
learn, feel, and do.
▪ Consumers: active participants in the communication process who
gather information through active learning.
▪ Acquire knowledge → develop affect (feelings) → take action
▪ Likely when consumer is highly involved in purchase process and
much differentiation exists among competing brands.
▪ Ads are often detailed; provide information for brand evaluation to
form purchase decision.
Exhibit 5-8
This Honda Pilot ad
addresses the various
stages in the standard
learning hierarchy by
focusing on an important
product feature.
Source: American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
The Response Process
Alternative Response Hierarchies continued
• The low-involvement hierarchy.
▪ Low-involvement hierarchy: Receiver passes from cognition to
behavior to attitude change, including learn, feel, and do.
▪ Likely when involvement in purchase decision is low, minimal
differences among brand alternative.
▪ Consumers engage in passive learning and random information
catching.
▪ Mass media advertising (repetitive/non-message elements) important.
Message exposure (low involvement) → Shift in
cognitive structure → Purchase →
Positive/negative experience → attitude
formation
Role of low-involvement hierarchy
explained
▪ McDonald’s successful
IMC in the 1980s
resulted in subtle
changes in the target
audience’s knowledge
structure through
repeated exposures of
the advertised product
(Big Mac) in both
online and offline
communication
channels.
Figure 5.5 – Summary of Alternative Response
Hierarchies
37
Implications of Response Process Models
Helps us to understand the steps Different comm. challenges for
taken by potential customers customers at different stages
▪ Awareness (esp. one-way ▪ Different comm. tools to reach out
communication) is not to customers at different stages of
the hierarchy
enough
▪ Find out where your audience
▪ Comm. campaigns should: gathers in the response hierarchy,
▪ Establish a symbol for your identify reasons and adjust IMC
client’s brand goal
▪ Encourage customers to learn
more about it
▪ Develop emotional connection
38
The Social Consumer Decision
Journey
▪ In this model, consumers do not make purchase
decisions in a linear manner, unlike the ones we’ve
discussed earlier.
▪ Four basic stages:
▪ Consider → evaluate → buy → enjoy-advocate-
bond
▪ Consumers can enter a purchase path at various
points, depending on whether they first engage with
a brand, research a product, or hear about it through
their social networks.
Where can customers enter the PS5
purchase path?
40
Where can customers enter the PS5
purchase path?
41
Figure 5.6 - The Social Consumer
Decision Journey
42
Apply this framework to a customer who
is considering to buy the latest iPhone
43
Appendix:
Writing your
communication
proposal:
Problem
Statement
44
Learning Objectives
▪ Understand the role of analysis in the IMC planning
process.
▪ Become familiarized with the four components of situation
analysis.
▪ Identify the internal and external forces that provide the
context for IMC campaigns.
▪ Be able to conduct a communications audit for a selected
client.
45
Situation Analysis
Stakeholder
Environment Organization
and publics
Specific
issues
(positive /
negative)
46
Analyzing the (external)
environment
▪ PEST analysis
▪ Political, economic, social and technology
▪ What are the main environmental factors that affect
the organization?
▪ Which of these are currently most important?
▪ Which will be the most important in the next four
years?
▪ Issues facing organizations are dynamic.
47
Issues Management
▪ PEST makes it possible to identify potentially most
significant issues (and track them). Works two ways:
1. Follow public opinion for issues outside company’s
control.
2. Detect issues where organization can have input, and
therefore can shape outcome of ongoing debates.
Company Exchange and Effect Issue
48
Analyzing the organization
▪ SWOT Analysis
▪ An assessment of your client’s performance.
▪ Strengths & Weaknesses: internally driven
▪ Opportunities & Threats: external; identified
through the PEST analysis
▪ Purpose: identify and prioritize major issues
▪ SWOT can be applied to the whole organization or
the individual product/service.
49
Analyzing stakeholders
▪ Investigate the current state of stakeholder and
publics’ attitudes, opinions and behaviors
▪ Visibility: extent to which your company is known
▪ Reputation: how do people regard your company?
▪ Conducting a communications audit:
▪ What is that problem exactly?
▪ With whom is that problem about?
▪ What needs to be communicated, and how?
▪ Has there been effective communication in the past?
50
Your next proposal section
▪ Conduct a situation analysis of your organization and
product/service.
SWOT, PEST CRISIS, NEED
▪ Identify the issues, problems, and opportunities that
need to be addressed.
▪ Review previous and current communication programs
for the product or service, including but not limited to
promotion mix, message strategies, and media strategies.
summarise paragraph
▪ Write up a problem statement based on your findings.
▪ You DO NOT have to say what you wish to do for your
client yet. Focus on the CURRENT STATUS of the
organization.
51