Nature
of communication
Sender or Source
In the communication process a person or organization that
has information to share to other person is a sender. A sender could be an
individual person like a salesperson or celebrity who talks about the product
or a non-personal entity like a corporation or organization.
The process of
communication starts as soon as the source select words, symbols, pictures,
etc. to present the message to receiver. The sender has to be careful while
selecting the communicator. He should know what knowledge the receiver has and
with whom it can relate itself to. This process is known as encoding. The
sender’s goal is to encode the message in such a way the receiver can decode it
easily. Few brands have already established its image through symbols.
Few examples in this regard could be Apple’s logo of an
apple’s silhouette with a bite taken out of it or the five coinciding circles
of Olympics.
Receiver
The receiver is a person, in the communication process, to
whom the sender shares his thoughts or message or information. They are
involved in the process of decoding. Decoding is the process of transforming the sender’s message back into
thought. The receiver is heavily influenced, to decode the message, by his
experiences or references, which give birth to the perceptions, attitudes and
values. It is very important in the process of communication that there should
be some common grounds between the two parties. The more the sender has the
information about the receiver, better he can put forth the message infront of
the receiver.
There are two major problems in the
communication process:
- No common ground between the sender and the receiver
- Age difference
between the sender and the receiver
If there is no common ground, it often causes great difficulty in the
advertising communications process. Normally, marketing and advertising people are
often educated and lives in urban areas and they advertise often for the
consumers who live in rural areas or small towns and are blue-collar occupants.
This shows the cultural isolation. Both the category is not aware of the
experiences shared by each other.
Another factor of age can lead to problems in establishing common ground
between senders and receivers. There are possibilities that when a young person
makes an advertisement for older customers it can have a youth bias in
advertising
Message
The message is developed in the process of encoding. The
message can be verbal or nonverbal, oral or written, or symbolic. In advertising, the message may range from
simply writing some words or copy that will be read as a radio message to
producing an expensive television commercial. The products and brands acquire
meaning through the way they are advertised and consumers use products and
brands to express their social identities. These days to understand the
symbolic meaning that are communicated or advertised, the special focus is
given to semiotics. Semiotic is the study of the nature of the meaning and how
words, gestures, myths, signs, symbols, products/ services, theories acquire
meaning.
Every marketing message has three basic
components: an object, a sign or symbol and an interpretant. The object is the
product that is the focus of the message (e.g., Marlboro cigarettes). The sign
is the sensory imagery that represents the intended meanings of the object
(e.g., the Marlboro cowboy). The interpretant is the meaning derived (e.g.,
rugged, individualistic, American).
Marketers must consider the meanings consumers attach
to the various signs and symbols. Semiotics may be helpful in analysing how
various aspects of the marketing program—such as advertising messages, packaging,
brand names, and even the nonverbal communications of salespeople (gestures,
mode of dress)—are interpreted by receivers
Channel
The sender communicates
to the receiver through a medium. That medium is called a Channel. Channel of
communications are of two types: personal and non-personal.
Personal channels are direct interpersonal contact
with the receiver. For example salesman uses the personal channel to
communicate to the target individual or group. Other goods examples of personal
channel of communication are friends, co-workers, family members, etc. this
kind of communication could be identified as word of mouth.
The non-personal
communication occurs without the presences of interpersonal contact with the
potential consumers. It is directed to the mass through TV commercial broadcast
or print media. For example, on the television during the prime hour a
commercial of 30 seconds can communicate to millions of household at a time.
Print media includes newspapers, magazines, direct mail, and billboards;
broadcast media include radio and television.
Response/Feedback
The response is the result of the receiver reactions
after seeing, hearing, or reading the message. It could be non-observable actions
such as storing information in memory or immediate action such as dialling a
toll-free number to order a product advertised on television. It is very
essential for a marketer. The feedback can take different forms, closes the
loop in the communications flow and lets the sender monitor how the intended
message is being decoded and received. For example, in a personal-selling
situation, customers may pose questions, comments, or objections or indicate
their reactions through nonverbal responses such as gestures and frowns. The
salesperson has the advantage of receiving instant feedback through the
customer’s reactions. This method is used by Zara so as to be agile and
responsive in their processes.
This is not the case when mass media are used. As
advertisers are not in direct contact with the customers, therefore they use
other mediums to determine how their messages have been received through customer
inquiries, store visits, coupon redemption and reply cards. Research-based
feedback analyses readership and recall of ads, message comprehension, attitude
change, and other forms of response. With the information collected through feedback the advertiser can determine reasons for success or failure in the
communication process and modify accordingly.
Successful communication is accomplished when the marketer selects an
appropriate source, develops an effective message or appeal that is encoded
properly, and then selects the channels or media that will best reach the
target audience so that the message can be effectively decoded and delivered.
Noise
Any kind of distortion or interference, throughout the communication
process, is noise. Errors or problems that occur in the encoding of the
message, distortion in a radio or television signal, or distractions at the
point of reception are examples of noise. When you are watching your favourite
commercial on TV and a problem occurs in the signal transmission, it will
obviously interfere with your reception, lessening the impact of the
commercial. There may be other reasons as well for noises. May be the fields of
experience of the sender and receiver don’t overlap. Lack of common ground may
result in improper encoding of the message—using a sign, symbol, or words that
are unfamiliar or have different meaning to the receiver.
Analyzing the Receiver
To make the communication effective, the marketers must know their target
audience. How do they perceive the company’s’ products or services, how should
the marketer communicate to influence their consumers’ decision making process
or how the market responds to various forms communication? Before they make
decisions regarding source, message, and channel variables, promotional
planners must understand the potential effects associated with each of these
factors. This section focuses on the receiver of the marketing communication.
It examines how the audience is identified and the process it may go through in
responding to a promotional message.
Identifying the Target Audience
Identifying the
audience is the starting point of the marketing communication process. After
identifying, the marketer can focus on advertising and promotion activities.
The target audience may consist of individuals, groups, niche markets, market
segments, or a general public or mass audience. To cater these groups the
approach will be different.
The target market may consist of individuals
who have specific needs and for whom the communication must be specifically
tailored. Mostly requires person-to person communication and is generally
accomplished through personal selling. A second level of audience aggregation
is represented by the group.
Marketers often must communicate with a group of people who make or influence
the purchase decision. Marketers look for customers who have similar needs and
wants and thus represent some type of market segment that can be reached with
the same basic communication strategy. Very small, well-defined groups of
customers are often referred to as market niches.
They can usually be reached through personal-selling efforts or highly targeted
media such as direct mail. The next level of audience aggregation is market segments, broader classes of
buyers who have similar needs and can be reached with similar messages. As
market segments get larger, marketers usually turn to broader-based media such
as newspapers, magazines, and TV to reach them.
Mass communication is a one-way flow of information from
the marketer to the consumer. Feedback on the audience’s reactions to the message
is generally indirect and difficult to measure. TV advertising will only allow
marketer to send the message but there is no guarantee that the information
will be attended to, processed, comprehended, or stored in memory for later
retrieval. Even if the advertising message is processed, it may not interest
consumers or may be misinterpreted by them. The marketer must enter the
communication situation with knowledge of the target audience and how it is
likely to react to the message. This means the receiver’s response process must
be understood, along with its implications for promotional planning and
strategy.
The Response
Process
The most important aspect of developing effective communication programs
involves understanding the response process the receiver may go through in
moving toward a specific behavior (like purchasing a product) and how the
promotional efforts of the marketer influence consumer responses. In many
instances, the marketer’s only objective may be to create awareness of the company
or brand name, which may trigger interest in the product. In other situations,
the marketer may want to convey detailed information to change consumers’
knowledge of and attitudes toward the brand and ultimately change their
behavior.
Traditional Response Hierarchy Models
A number of models
have been developed to depict the stages a consumer may pass through in moving
from a state of not being aware of a company, product, or brand to actual
purchase behavior. The figure shows four of the best-known response hierarchy
models. While these response models may appear similar, they were developed for
different reasons.
The AIDA model was developed to
represent the stages a salesperson must take a customer through in the
personal-selling process. The salesperson must first get the customer’s
attention and then arouse some interest in the company’s product or service.
Strong levels of interest should create desire to own or use the product and
finally the action taken by the customer to buy the product or service.
The hierarchy of effects model shows
the process by which advertising works; it assumes a consumer passes through a
series of steps in sequential order from initial awareness of a product or
service to actual purchase. A basic premise of this model is that advertising
effects occur over a period of time. Advertising communication may not lead to
immediate behavioural response or purchase; rather, a series of effects must
occur, with each step fulfilled before the consumer can move to the next stage
in the hierarchy.
The innovation adoption model
evolved from work on the diffusion of innovations. This model represents the stages a
consumer passes through in adopting a new product or service. The steps
preceding adoption are awareness, interest, evaluation, and trial.
The information processing model
of advertising effects assumes the receiver in a persuasive communication
situation like advertising is an information processor or problem solver. The
stages of this model are similar to the hierarchy of effects sequence;
attention and comprehension are similar to awareness and knowledge, and
yielding is synonymous with liking. In this model there is one more stage
called retention. Retention stage is important since most promotional campaigns
are designed to provide information to the customers to use later when making a
purchase decision.
Each stage of the response hierarchy is a dependent variable that must be
attained and that may serve as an objective of the communication process. Each
stage can be measured, providing the advertiser with feedback regarding the
effectiveness of various strategies designed to move the consumer to purchase.
The information processing model may be an effective framework for planning and
evaluating the effects of a promotional campaign.
The hierarchy models of communication response are
useful to promotional planners from several perspectives.
- They delineate the series of steps potential purchasers
must be taken through to move them from unawareness of a product or service to
readiness to purchase it.
- Potential buyers may be at different stages in the
hierarchy, so the advertiser will face different sets of communication
problems.
- The hierarchy models can also be useful as intermediate
measures of communication effectiveness.
Alternative Response Hierarchies
Michael Ray has developed a model of information processing that
identifies three alternative orderings of the three stages based on perceived
product differentiation and product involvement. These alternative response
hierarchies are the standard learning, dissonance/attribution, and
low-involvement models.
The Standard Learning Hierarchy
In many purchase
situations, the consumer will go through the response process in the sequence
depicted by the traditional communication models. Ray terms this a standard
learning model, which consists of a learn → feel → do sequence. Information and knowledge acquired or
learned about the various brands are the basis for developing affect, or
feelings, that guide what the consumer will do (e.g., actual trial or
purchase). In this hierarchy, the consumer is viewed as an active participant
in the communication process who gathers information through active learning.
The
Dissonance/Attribution Hierarchy
This response hierarchy proposed by Ray involves
situations where consumers first behave, then develop attitudes or feelings as
a result of that behaviour, and then learn or process information that supports
the behaviour. This dissonance/attribution model, or do → feel → learn, occurs in situations where consumers must
choose between two alternatives that are similar in quality but are complex and
may have hidden or unknown attributes.
The consumer may purchase the product on
the basis of a recommendation by some non-media source and then attempt to
support the decision by developing a positive attitude toward the brand and
perhaps even developing negative feelings toward the rejected alternative.
The Low-Involvement
Hierarchy
In this model the receiver
is viewed as passing from cognition to behavior to attitude change. This learn
→ do → feel
sequence is thought to characterize situations of low consumer involvement in
the purchase process. Ray suggests this hierarchy tends to occur when
involvement in the purchase decision is low, there are minimal differences
among brand alternatives, and mass-media (especially broadcast) advertising is
important.