The communication process - chap. 5

Communication → passing of info, exchange of ideas

• Process of establishing a commonness of thought between sender and receiver

• Factors for successful communication:

  • Nature of message

  • Audience’s interpretation

  • Environment

  • Receiver’s perception of source

  • Medium used to transmit message

• Language is significant barrier

Basic model of Communication

• Source

  • Person or org. That has info to share w/other

• Encoding

  • Putting thoughts, ideas, or information into symbolic form

• Message

  • Contains info or meaning the sources hopes to convey

  • Verbal, nonverbal, oral, written, or symbolic

    • Determine content, structure, and design

• Channel

  • Method which communication travels between sender & receiver

  • Non Personal or mass media

    • Lacks direct, interpersonal contact between sender and receiver

    • Includes print and broadcast

      • Internet → personal & non personal forms of communication

  • Personal channels:

    • Word-of-mouth (WOM) → informal communication amongst consumers

      • WOM conversations

      • Electronic WOM

      • Online reviews

      • Engineered WOM

    • Buzz Marketing → generating (paid) positive WOM discussion

  • Viral Marketing

    • Propagating mktg-relevant messages w/the help of consumers

      • Message characteristics

      • Individual sender or receiver characteristics

      • Social network characteristics

    • Seeding → identifying & choosing the initial grp of consumers who will start the spread

  • Influencer Marketing

    • Social media influencers

  • Integrating WOM w/IMC

    • Consumers associate high credibility to info from others

      • Pass along benefits frm consumers talking favorably abt a brand

    • creative advert. → trigger conversations & are worthy of sharing

    • WOM Mktg. Association sets rules & guidelines for marketers

    • Federal Trade commission requires anyone endorsing prod. or service through SM to disclose relationship w/company or brand

• Receiver/Decoding

  • Receiver → person who sender shares thoughts or info

  • Decoding → transforming the sender’s message into thought

    • Influenced by field of experience (experiences, perceptions, attitudes, & values)

    • Effective communication → establish common ground

      • Mkters & adverts. have diff. Fields of experience than the consumers they are trying to reach

      • Ppl differ in location, education, social statues

      • Ageism major prob in industry

• Nosie

  • Unplanned twist in the communication process

    • Errors in encoding process

    • Distortion ina radio or TV signal

    • Fields of experience of the sender and receiver don't overlap

• Response/Feedback

  • Response → receiver’s reactions after the message

  • Feedback → receiver's response communicated back to the sender

Analyzing the Receiver

• Identifying the target audience

  • Individuals: specific needs; communication must be specifically tailored

  • Groups: ppl who make or influence decisions

  • Market niches: vry small, well-defined grps of consumers

  • Market segments: broader classes of buyers w/similar needs

  • Mass markets: large numbers of present or potential consumers

• Levels of audience aggregation

The response process

• AIDA model

  • Stages a buyer goes thrgh in personal selling process → attention, interest, desire, & action

    • Selling & persuasion

• Innovation adoption model

  • Stages consumer has in adoption process for an innovation → awareness, interest, evaluation, trail, & adoption

    • New products

• Hierarchy of effects model

  • Stages consumers progresses through, moving from no awareness to evental action → awareness, interest, evaluation, trail, & adoption

    • Person’s overall decision making process when they encounter a product

• Alternative response hierarchies

• Traditional hierarchy 3 stages:

  • Cognitive stage → what receiver knows or perceives abt the product or brand

  • Affective stage → receiver’s feelings or affect level for the brand

  • Behavioral stage → consumer’s action toward brand

  • Standard learning model → consumer response in sequence depicted by trad. communication models including learn, feel, and do

    • Perceives much differentiation among competing brands

  • Low-involvement hierarchy → receiver passes frm cognition to behavior to attitude change, includes learn, feel, and do

    • Minimal differences among brand alternatives

    • Mass-media advertising is important

    • Consumer engages in passive learning & random information catching rather than active ino seeking

      • Use cathay jingles & repeat simple product claims

• Implications of response process

  • Delineate steps taking potential purchases frm unawareness to readiness to purchase

  • Identify which stage in hierarchy potential consumer in

  • Mrkters should analyze:

    • Involvement levels & product/service differentiation

    • Consumers use of various information sources

    • Level of experience w product or service

• Social consum. decision journey

  • Four basic stages: consider, evaluate, buy, & enjoy-advocate-bond

  • Mrkters should:

    • Target stages in decision journey

    • Consider the role of owned media & earned media

Cognitive processing of communications

• Cognitive response approach

• Cognitive responses:

  • Thoughts that occur to individuals while reading, viewing, and/or hearing a communication

  • Product/message thoughts

    • Counter Arguments:

      • Thoughts the recipient has that are diff. From message trying to convey

      • Relate negatively to message acception

    • Support arguments:

      • Thoughts had to affirm info or claims that message hope to convey

      • Relate positively to message acceptance

  • Source-oriented thoughts

    • Source derogations (weaken):

      • Negative thoughts abt spokesperson or org. making the claims

      • Leads to lower message acceptance

    • Source bolsters (support)

      • Positive thoughts abt spokesperson or org. making the claims

  • Ad Execution thoughts

    • Ad execution-related thoughts:

      • Containing the information or meaning the sources hopes to convey

    • Attitude toward the ad:

      • Represents the receivers feeling of favorability or unfavorability toward the ad

• Elaboration likelihood model (E L M)

  • Ways consumers process & respond to persuasive messages

  • Two central routes to persuasion:

    • Central route to persuasion

      • Ability & motivation to process a message are high → receivers pays close attention

    • Peripheral route to persuasion

      • Ability & motivation to process a message is low → focus more on peripheral cues

        • May focus more or celebrity or a smaller attribute that may be desirable to receiver

  • Implications:

  • Consumers level of involvement important

    • High involvement:

      • Ad contain strong arguments that are difficult to reject

    • Low involvement:

      • Peripheral cues more important than detailed message arguments

  • Effectiveness of message depends on route to persuasion

Summarizing the Response Process & the Effects of Advertising

• Criticisms of Hierarchy of Effects models

• Three critical intermediate effects between advertising and purchase:

  • Cognition: thinning dimension (impulse)

  • Affect: “feeling” dimension

  • Experience: feedback dimension based on purchasing & usage outcomes (cognitive dissonance)

    • The effects of advertising should be evaluated using those three dimensions

• Values:

  • Help predict behavior

  • Essential to learn as much abt target audience & how it may respond to advertising & mktg. comm