PART 3: IMPLEMENTING THE MARKETING MIX
CHAPTER 9: MANAGING MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
The Role of the Marketing Communications Mix
The Marketing Communications Mix consists:
- Five main tools
- Four forms of message/content
- Three types of medium
The expansion of the media is referred to as media fragmentation.
Media fragmentation – the splintering of a few mainstream media channels into a
multitude of media and channels formats.
Also, is there an audience’s choice of media that is referred to as audience
fragmentation.
Audience fragmentation – the disintegration of large media audiences into many
smaller audiences caused by the development of alternative forms of entertainment
that people can experience. This means that, to reach large numbers of people in a
target market, companies need to use a variety of media, not only rely on a few
mass-media channels.
For organizations, one of the key challenge is to find the right mix of tools, messages
and media that will enable them to reach and engage with their target audiences
effectively and economically.
- For example: in the 1990s, there was a dramatic rise in the use of direct-response
media
o Direct-response media = media that carry advertising messages enabling
audiences to respond immediately. Most commonly used in print, banner
adverts, and on television.
- Nowadays the Internet & digital technologies social media
, PART 3: IMPLEMENTING THE MARKETING MIX
CHAPTER 9: MANAGING MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Selecting the Right Tools
Brand placement – the planned and deliberate use of brands within films, television,
and other entertainment vehicles, with a view to developing awareness and brand
values.
Sponsorship – a marketing communications activity whereby one party permits
another an opportunity to exploit an association with a target audience in return for
funds, services, or resources.
Exhibitions – events at which groups of sellers meet collectively with the key
purpose of attracting buyers.
Communications Tools:
1. Advertising
Advertising is a paid, mediated form of communication from an identifiable source,
designed to persuade the receiver to take some action, now or in the future. One of
the distinctive qualities that advertising brings to the mix is that it reaches large, often
mass audiences in an impersonal way.
• Advertising can be used to influence demand for products (and services).
• Advertising can be used to manage perceptions and understanding about the
organization as a whole.
The role of advertising is to engage audiences and the quality of this engagement is
dependent upon the context in which the communication occurs.
2. Sales Promotion
Sales promotions work by offering customers an incentive to buy now rather than in
the future; they ‘accelerate’ sales. They provide additional value, in order to induce
an immediate sale.
• Sales promotions are used extensively in consumer markets.
• Need to be used integrated with other tools, such as advertising, personal
selling and direct marketing.
Sampling, coupons, price deals, premiums and bonus packs are the more common
consumer sales promotion techniques.