Literature Review

Marketing CommunicationMarketing communication is defined in a different way by different authors.

Pickton and Broderick defined marketing communication as “a conversation between a brand and its audience and it is the collective term for all the communication function used in marketing a product or service.1”

Keller further defines marketing communication as “the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, incite, and remind consumers directly or indirectly about the brands they sell”.2

The simple concept which can be derived from above definitions is that communicating a message is the most important activity in the marketing communication (Ibid).

Interactive Marketing Communication Process

Duncan defines the interactive marketing communication process as the marketing communication activity in which message is created and sent to a receiver through different channels3. However, the environment in which this process occurs has disturbances called noise which affect the message transmission and it is received differently than planned by the sender (Ibid).

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Pickton and Broderick pointed out that in order to compete in today’s competitive environment, it is very important for the marketers to integrate their marketing communication in such a way that it breaks through the barrier of noise and reaches the target market4.

Schultz, Tannebaum and Lautherborn worked on this idea and introduced a new concept in 1993, known as the “Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) (Ibid).

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

Duncan defined the concept of Integrated Marketing Communication as follows:

“IMC is a process for managing the customer relationships that derive brand value. In addition, it is a cross-functional process for creating and nourishing profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialogue with them5”.

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Communication Strategy

One of the key elements in Integrated Marketing Communication is the strategic communication plan. It helps marketers in building a communication strategy which targets every market segment with a single unified message6. Different experts have described integrated marketing communication plan differently. This paper focuses on two different communication strategy models:

1. Stages in Designing Communication Strategies by Rowley, and 2. Steps in Formulating Marketing Communication Strategy by Czinkota and

Ronkainen.

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Stages in Designing Communication Strategies

Rowley (1998) identified the stages in the design of communication strategies7. These stages support the realization of promotional objectives suggested by Rowley and form the steps for a promotion campaign, at the time of new or re-designed product or service. However many organizations also use these for maintaining the positive attitude of their product or service.

1. Identifying the target audience2. Determining communication objectives3. Designing the message4. Selecting the communication channels5. Establishing the promotional budget6. Deciding the promotion mix7. Measuring results

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These stages are briefly described below:

1. Identifying the target audience

This first stage is to identify that target audience to whom the message is to be conveyed. Target audience can be the complete market segment or a narrow niche market. Identifying the correct audience and understanding their characteristics is very important because it helps to create the right message. It guides marketers that which strategy they have to apply in order to compete in the market.

2. Determining communication objectives

The strategy selected to be used helps to determine the communication strategy objectives. Different communication models also help to determine the communication objectives. The most common model used is the AIDA model which has four stages ; attention, interest, desire and action. When designing the communication strategy, it is very important to know that the objective is to draw attention, develop interest, create desire or force audience to take action (Rowley 1988)8.

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3. Designing the message

A consistent message should be designed through all separate campaigns. Rowley pointed out that a message consistent with its communication objectives is very important in each communication strategy.

4. Selecting the communication channels

Communication channels can be divided into personal and non – personal communication. In personal communication channel, two people communicate with each other while the non –personal communication occurs through some other medium than person to person.

5. Establishing the promotional budgetDifferent approaches are used for calculating the promotional budget. Some companies set it as a percentage of sales while others set it on the basis of desired objectives (ibid)9.

6. Deciding the promotion mix

Promotional mix consists of a group of strategies which are made using more than one communication tools. Different factors are considered when deciding the promotional mix, these include; competition, the budget, message to be marketed, distribution of product or service, stage in the product life cycle etc.

It is also composed keeping in mind the focus of the promotional activities. For example whether focusing directly on end users, known as pull strategy or on intermediaries, known as push strategy(ibid).

7. Measuring results9

It is not easy to measure the results of promotion because it is difficult to differentiate between the promotion and other elements of marketing mix. However, evaluation has to be done, in order to find out if strategy was successful; this can be done by looking at the sales figure and other measures.

Steps in Formulating Marketing Communication Strategy

The steps in formulation of the marketing communication strategy for promoting the products and services of the company were also suggested by Czinkota and Ronkainen (2001) in the form of five basic steps model, shown in the following figure.

Figure: Steps in Formulating Marketing Communication StrategySource: Czinkota and Ronkainen (2001), pg 366

Integrated Marketing Communication Tools

Integrated marketing communication tools should be designed with the purpose of supporting the same objectives for a company. All channels must express same message and creation of separate messages for each medium should be avoided10.

The most important communication tools to be used for the tourism industry are as follows11:

1. Direct marketing2. Advertising3. Public relations4. personal selling5. Trade shows 6. Sales promotions

There are also many other marketing communication tools which include12:

1. Internet2. Sponsorships3. Packaging4. Corporate identity5. Word of mouth

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