The Communications Process Models

The Communications Process Models:-

Marketers should understand the fundamental elements of effective communications. Two models are useful: a macromodel and a micromodel.

MACROMODEL OF THE COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS:-

a macromodel with nine key factors in effective communication. Two represent the major parties— sender and receiver. Two represent the major tools—message and media. Four represent major communication functions—encoding, decoding, response, and feedback. The last element in the system is noise, random and competing messages that may interfere with the intended communication.11 Senders must know what audiences they want to reach and what responses they want to get. They must encode their messages so the target audience can decode them. They must transmit the message through media that reach the target audience and develop feedback channels to monitor the responses. The more the sender’s field of experience overlaps that of the receiver, the more effective the message is likely to be. Note that selective attention, distortion, and retention processes—concepts first introduced in Chapter 6—may be operating during communication.

MICROMODEL OF CONSUMER RESPONSES:-

Micromodels of marketing communications concentrate on consumers’ specific responses to communications. Four classic response hierarchy models. All these models assume the buyer passes through cognitive, affective, and behavioral stages, in that order. This “learn-feel-do” sequence is appropriate when the audience has high involvement with a product category perceived to have high differentiation, such as an automobile or house. An alternative sequence, “do-feel-learn,” is relevant when the audience has high involvement but perceives little or no differentiation within the product category, such as an airline ticket or personal SENDER Encoding Decoding Feedback Response Noise Message RECEIVER Media Elements in the Communications Process The runaway success of the interactive, long-form Internet film Carousel for its new Home Cinema TV model led Philips to launch an even more extensive follow-up campaign.

DESIGNING AND MANAGING INTEGRATED MARKETING OMMUNICATIONS

AIDA Modela Hierarchy-of-Effects Modelb Innovation-Adoption Modelc Models Communications Modeld Cognitive Stage Attention Awareness Awareness Exposure Knowledge Cognitive response Reception Affective Stage Liking Attitude Conviction Interest Desire Intention Preference Interest Evaluation Behavior Stage Action Purchase Behavior Trial Adoption |Fig. 17.2| Response Hierarchy Models Sources: a E. K. Strong, The Psychology of Selling (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1925), p. 9; b Robert J. Lavidge and Gary A. Steiner, “A Model for Predictive Measurements of Advertising Effectiveness,” Journal of Marketing (October 1961), p. 61; c Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovation (New York: Free Press, 1962), pp. 79–86; d various sources. computer. A third sequence,“learn-do-feel,” is relevant when the audience has low involvement and perceives little differentiation, such as with salt or batteries. By choosing the right sequence, the marketer can do a better job of planning communications.12 Let’s assume the buyer has high involvement with the product category and perceives high differentiation within it. We will illustrate the hierarchy-of-effects model (the second column of Figure 17.2) in the context of a marketing communications campaign for a small Iowa college named Pottsville: • Awareness. If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicator’s task is to build awareness. Suppose Pottsville seeks applicants from Nebraska but has no name recognition there, although 30,000 Nebraska high school juniors and seniors could be interested in it. The college might set the objective of making 70 percent of these students aware of its name within one year. • Knowledge. The target audience might have brand awareness but not know much more. Pottsville may want its target audience to know it is a private four-year college with excellent programs in English, foreign languages, and history. It needs to learn how many people in the target audience have little, some, or much knowledge about Pottsville. If knowledge is weak, Pottsville may select brand knowledge as its communications objective. • Liking. Given target members know the brand, how do they feel about it? If the audience looks unfavorably on Pottsville College, the communicator needs to find out why. In the case of real problems, Pottsville will need to fix these and then communicate its renewed quality. Good public relations calls for “good deeds followed by good words.” • Preference. The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others. The communicator must then try to build consumer preference by comparing quality, value, performance, and other features to those of likely competitors. • Conviction. A target audience might prefer a particular product but not develop a conviction about buying it. The communicator’s job is to build conviction and intent to apply among students interested in Pottsville College. • Purchase. Finally, some members of the target audience might have conviction but not quite get around to making the purchase. The communicator must lead these consumers to take the final step, perhaps by offering the product at a low price, offering a premium, or letting them try it out. Pottsville might invite selected high school students to visit the campus and attend some classes, or it might offer partial scholarships to deserving students. 482 PART 7 COMMUNICATING VALUE To see how fragile the communication process is, assume the probability of each of the six steps being successfully accomplished is 50 percent. The laws of probability suggest that the likelihood of all six steps occurring successfully, assuming they are independent events, is .5 × .5 × .5 × .5 × .5 × .5, which equals 1.5625 percent. If the probability of each step’s occurring were, on average, a more moderate 10 percent, then the joint probability of all six events occurring is .0001 percent—or only 1 chance in 1,000,000! To increase the odds for a successful marketing communications campaign, marketers must attempt to increase the likelihood that each step occurs. For example, the ideal ad campaign would ensure that: 1. The right consumer is exposed to the right message at the right place and at the right time. 2. The ad causes the consumer to pay attention but does not distract from the intended message. 3. The ad properly reflects the consumer’s level of understanding of and behaviors with the product and the brand. 4. The ad correctly positions the brand in terms of desirable and deliverable points-of-difference and points-of-parity. 5. The ad motivates consumers to consider purchase of the brand. 6. The ad creates strong brand associations with all these stored communications effects so they can have an impact when consumers are considering making a purchase. The challenges in achieving success with communications necessitates careful planning, a topic we turn to next.