Integrated Marketing Reviewer PDF

MODULE 1 Introduction to Marketing Communication The Communication Process Communication is from the Latin word ‘COMMUNIS’ meaning “common”. Communication can be thought of as the process of establishing a commonness, or oneness, of thought between a message sender, s...

MODULE 1 Introduction to Marketing Communication The Communication Process Communication is from the Latin word ‘COMMUNIS’ meaning “common”. Communication can be thought of as the process of establishing a commonness, or oneness, of thought between a message sender, such as an advertiser, and a receiver, such as a consumer. Thus, for communications to occur, there must be a commonness of thought between sender and receiver—not just messages sent from sender to receiver. This implies a sharing relationship between sender and receiver. Elements in the Communication Process All communication activities involve the following elements: (1) a source (sender) (2) a message, (3) message channel, (4) receiver, (5) decoding, (6) feedback, and (7) The Interference or interrupt The Source or the Sender; The message is of an abbreviated nature, as in the case of a 30-second commercial, in which the sender uses a variety of verbal and visual devices to communicate with the intended audience. Encoding is the process of translating thought into symbolic form and different mechanisms are used to assist the receiver to recall other relevant information Once the message has been created, the sender will use one or more of a variety of channels of communication. These may be commercial channels such as television, radio, print media or posters, or phone call. The receiver is the person or group of people (target audience) with whom the source attempts to share ideas. In marketing communications, receivers are the prospective and present customers of an organization’s product or service. Decoding is when the receiver of the message interprets its meaning, which can often become confused. The intended recipient may only see part of a commercial, or mishear some of the spoken words. He or she will bring their own views and beliefs to the interpretation process, which may also affect the way in which the message is understood.  Feedback allows the source to determine whether the original message hit the target accurately or whether it needs to be altered. A message moving through a channel is subject to the influence of extraneous and distracting stimuli. These stimuli interfere with or interrupt reception of the message in its pure and original form. Such interference and distortion is called noise. Noise may occur at any stage in the communication process. II. MARKETING COMMUNICATION AND MEANING Meaning can be thought of as the thoughts and feelings that are evoked within a person when presented with a sign in a particular context. It should be clear that meaning is internal to an individual, subjective, and highly context dependent. Again, meaning is not imposed upon us, but rather is constructed by the interpreter of signs, such as consumers who are barraged daily with hundreds of advertisements and other marcom massage: a. Denotative meaning is a direct representation of an object from real life. This might be found in express ad claims, such as “Our car gets 100 miles per gallon” b. In contrast, connotative meaning refers to implied or interpretative meaning in. An example might be the use of puffery in an implied ad claim, such as “Kills Coronavirus in 60 seconds” c. Structural meaning provides understanding from simple sign-to-sign relationships. For example, if you saw a service, “TRX your body!*,” most of us would probably not know what TRX your body means. d. Contextual meaning provides a description of signs to aid in their interpretation. “To TRX your body”, also known as Total Resistance Exercises, refers to a specialized form of suspension training that utilizes equipment.” III. THE USE OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION Marketers use figurative language extensively in their persuasive communications to consumers. SIMILE Simile uses a comparative term such as like or as to join items from different classes of experience. - Advertising slogans sometimes use similes, as illustrated in the billboard advertisement below that likens a Honda Cars – “The Honda's ride is as smooth as a gazelle in the Sahara.” These marketing metaphor examples are commonly used in the marketing space due to their ability to communicate complex topics in relatable ways. When used effectively, marketing metaphors can strengthen your message and create strong emotional responses from consumers. The Use of Figurative Language Incorporating metaphors in content is also a great way to enhance your storytelling in marketing. A good metaphor provides deeper meaning to your marketing messages and can add spice to your writing. When marketing messages become stale and repetitive, it's vital to shake things up and take different approaches. Adding metaphorical language or visual metaphorical elements to your marketing efforts helps you stand out against the competition and make a memorable impression on potential customers. Most metaphors contain a visual element, helping your messaging shine against basic copy. (examples) 3. ALLEGORY - a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. - This often is used in promoting products that are difficult to advertise without upsetting, offending, or boring some audience members. Advertisers have found that using personifications (e.g., human-like animals or person-like product characters) makes advertising of these potentially offensive or mundane products more palatable to the audience. ( examples) IV. BEHAVIORAL FOUNDATIONS OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION Consumer Behavior - is the mental, emotional and physical activities that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, using and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy needs and desires. It extends all the way from ‘How do we know what we want?’ – not as obvious a question as it may sound – to ‘What do we do with something we no longer want” 2 Perspectives: - Consumer-Processing Perspective (CPM)- recognition occurs when a consumer identifies a need & thinks of a product that might meet his need. - Hedonic, Experiential Perspective(HEM) - a facet of human behavior that relates to the multisensory,fantasy & emotive aspects of product usage experience. (examples) Behavioral Foundations It is also vital to understand how consumers process information. The following are interrelated stages based on William McGuire’s Stages of Information Processing: Stage 1: Information exposure. Stage 2: Paying attention to the information. Stage 3: Comprehending attended information. Stage 4: Agreeing with comprehended information. Stage 5: Retaining accepted information in memory. Stage 6: Retrieving information -Concretizing and imagery are used extensively in marketing communications to facilitate both consumer learning and retrieval of brand information Behavioral Foundations Stage 7: Deciding from alternatives. Stage 8: Acting on the basis of the decision. Examples: Concretizing - Ariel, Tide ( detergent ads showing comparison before & after use) Imagery - is the representation of sensory experiences in short term or working memory- visual, auditory and other sensory experiences. Like perfumes, tourist destinations etc. Remember: No single positioning strategy, whether aimed at CPM or HEM processing, is effective in all instances. What works best depends on the specific nature of the product category, the competitive situation, and the character and needs of the target audience. Marketing Is An Investment It’s important to remember that whether you invest $1M or $100K into driving association between your brand and a CEP, results won’t materialize overnight. Mental pathways take time to develop, but when done consistently and over time can set your business up for long-term profitability, lower price sensitivity, and market share gains. “Advertising mainly works by building and refreshing memory links to the brand. These memory links activate when buyers do come into the market. So, if your advertising is better at building brand-relevant memories, your brand becomes more competitive.” LOCAL MARKETING Local marketing is a brand promotion strategy that targets consumers who live nearby (for eg: within a particular city, or state or belong to a community, etc). UNIT A: SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITION The purpose of this unit is to describe how marcom practitioners go through the segmentation process, target prospective customers, and position a brand. Segmentation, targeting, and positioning allow marketing communicators to deliver their messages precisely and prevent wasted coverage on people falling outside the targeted market Market Segment A group of customers who share a similar set of needs and wants In general, the process of market segmentation is the act of dividing a market into distinct groups of customers who might require separate products and/or marketing mixes. E.G. Mountain Dew Campaign Pitch for new Flavors: “Pitch Black” and “Supernova” Target Demographic: young urban males ages 14 to 21 who enjoy skateboarding, alternative or “indie” music, snowboarding, Facebook, and YouTube videos. TYPES OF TARGET MARKETS / MARKET SEGMENTS A. Geographic A geographic target market can be consumers in a city, state, or country. This is often important when it comes to international advertising. Some products may do well in some countries but not in others. The more personalized offer you can provide, and the higher the chance your campaign will result in the desired outcome 1. Climate As its name suggests, climate-based segmentation involves marketing products based on a particular region’s climate 2. Cultural Preferences Many companies practice cultural-based geographic marketing. Fast food and restaurant Businesses are a prime example. 3. Population Type and Density People living in urban, suburban, and rural areas often have contrasting wants and needs, so to make advertising more personalized, geographic segmentation makes sense. Consider a bicycle company as another example. Ideally, here’s how they would market their varying product line: Urban areas: Lightweight bikes with skinny tires, for riding among traffic Suburban areas: Comfortable, long-range, race bikes Rural areas: Durable mountain bikes with thick tires for uneven terrains B. Demographic/Socio-economic A demographic or socioeconomic target market would focus on a specific gender, age group, income level, or education level. 1. Age This variable can be viewed regarding specific age ranges or life cycle stages: babies, children, adolescents, to seniors Age groups/generations differ in thoughts and actions, and buying habits, but also in how they respond to advertising. 2. Gender Men and women generally have different likes, dislikes, needs, and thought processes. These are all key factors to consider when creating a campaign. 3. Income and occupation If people can’t afford your product or service, there is no point in targeting them. 3.1. Income targeting Helps measure the buying power of your audience.When you know the income range of consumers, you can usually find data to support how people spend money on both the higher and lower end of the spectrum. 3.2. Occupation targeting Also important since certain resources are aimed at different industries and job titles. 4.Ethnicity and religion With the tremendous increase in international business and global advertising brings an increase in segmentation based on ethnicity, race, nationality, and religion. These groups have many individual cultures that come with conflicting interests, preferences, attitudes, and beliefs. 5. Family Structure Family makeup can be instrumental in segmentation because when a family’s dynamic changes, its needs and desires often do too. This strongly affects their buying habits and your sales process. C. Psychographic A psychographic target market would be a market that has similar attitudes, values, or lifestyle. It is the qualitative methodology of studying consumers based on psychological characteristics and traits such as values, desires, goals, interests, and lifestyle choices.Consider the stories of your customers: How will they use your product? Can they be used for specific celebrations, projects, or hobbies? D. Behavioral The behavioral target market focuses on occasions and degree of loyalty. It divides consumers according to behavior patterns as they interact with a company. As the name suggests, this category of segmentation studies the behavioral traits of consumers' knowledge of, attitude towards, use of, likes/dislikes of, or response to a product, service,promotion, or brand. Positioning of Marketing Communication There are two fundamental questions that must be answered in order to ensure an effective positioning which involves how a brand is to be positioned within message executions to the target audience: To what need, from the consumer perspective, should the brand be linked? What benefits should be emphasized in order to best communicate what the brand offers? A good positioning statement should satisfy two requirements: 1. It should reflect a brand’s competitive advantage (vis-a-vis competitive offerings in the same product category) 2. it should motivate consumers to action Framework for Brand Positioning BRAND POSITIONING, described as representing the key feature, benefit, or image that a brand stands for in the target audience’s collective mind. A positioning statement is the central idea that encapsulates a brand’s meaning and distinctiveness vis-a-vis competitive brands A. Brand Attributes Brand benefits consist of ways by which a brand satisfies customers’ needs and wants and can be classified as functional, symbolic, or experiential. Generally speaking, we can position a brand by focusing on product attributes or benefits. 1. Positioning Based on Functional Needs This is used when the brand or products provide solutions to problems and provide benefits to customers. It focuses on the function, benefit or utility that it gives to the customer. SOMETHING THAT YOU NEED 2. Positioning Based on Symbolic Needs Useful for creating a brand image which helps create brand equity, a sense of social belongingness and ego-identification. SOMETHING THAT YOU WANT B. Attribute Positioning A brand can be positioned in terms of a particular attribute or feature, provided that the attribute represents a competitive advantage and can motivate customers to purchase that brand rather than a competitive offering. 1. Product-Related With a product-oriented positioning, the benefits of a product are the message. While the execution may feature users, the focus of the message will be upon the benefit and the brand’s performance. A product-oriented positioning will seek to present what the brand offers. C. Repositioning a Brand There are points in a brand’s life cycle where brand managers need to alter what the brand stands for in order to enhance the brand’s competitiveness. EXAMPLE TIME: Cadbury, an iconic British brand with heritage dating back to 1824, is currently owned by two American companies: Mondelēz International, everywhere in the world except for the US,and the Hershey Company, in the US Until 2018, Cadbury's positioning was defined as “providing moments of joy”. It was executed by means of a few communications platforms, from the campaign“Aglassandahalf full of joy” In 2018, Cadbury announced a new brand strategy, which for the first time in more than a decade does not revolve around the moments of joy. The new positioning focuses on “GENUINE ACTS OF KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY”. Cadbury executives wanted thebrandtobe“more human, more real and relatable”