Chapter 15: Marketing Communications

Promotion:
- Definition: Communication by marketers that informs, persuades, and reminds potential buyers of a product to influence an opinion or elicit a response.
- Main function: To convince target customers that the goods and services offered are superior to the competition.
- Competitive Advantage: Unique aspects of an organization that cause target consumers to prefer that firm over its competitors.
Promotional Strategy:
- Definition: A plan for the optimal use of elements of promotion, including advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and social media.

Identify five additional advertising opportunities that emerged in the last 20 years beyond print and television.
Technologies enhancing marketers' advertising opportunities.
Which new opportunities in advertising seem more effective personally?

Marketing Communication:
- Definition: The process by which information about the firm and its products is communicated to the target market and various publics through promotional programs.
Communication:
- Definition: The process of exchanging or sharing meaning through a common set of symbols.
Types of Communication:
- Interpersonal Communication:
- Definition: Direct, face-to-face communication that allows participants to see each other’s reactions and respond immediately.
- Mass Communication:
- Definition: Communication to large audiences where individuals cannot respond immediately.
- Challenges include clutter from competitors’ messages and other distractions.
The Communication Process:
- Typically a two-way process involving senders and receivers.
- Sender: Originator of the message (marketer) who executes advertisements, press releases, or campaigns.
- Encoding: Conversion of ideas into a message in words or signs.
- Channel: The medium used to transmit the message.
- Noise: Anything that interferes with the transmission of a message.
- Receiver: The person who decodes the message.
- Decoding: Interpretation of the marketer’s message.
- Feedback: Response from the receiver that lets the sender know if the message was received and understood.

Promotion modifies behavior and thoughts and can perform one or more of the following tasks:
- Inform the target audience
- Persuade the target audience
- Remind the target audience
- Connect with the audience
Informing:
- Aims to convert needs into wants or stimulate interest in new products.
- Important during early product life cycles.
Persuading:
- Aimed at stimulating a purchase or action during the growth stage.
- Messaging emphasizes competitive advantages and often appeals to emotional needs.
Reminding:
- Intended to keep the product in the public’s mind during maturity stages, focusing on memory triggers leading to purchase.
Connecting:
- Involves forming relationships with customers via social media, leading to engagement and advocacy.

Promotional Mix: Combination of promotional tools such as advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and social media used to reach target markets.
Advertising:
- Impersonal, one-way mass communication that is paid for by marketers.
- Shift towards digital media and low cost per contact but high total costs.
Public Relations:
- Function that evaluates public attitudes and takes actions to earn understanding and acceptance.
- Involves maintaining the organization’s image and responding to stakeholder needs.
Sales Promotion:
- Activities aimed at stimulating consumer buying and dealer effectiveness.
- Examples include coupons, contests, and trade shows.
Personal Selling:
- Involves paid communication between salesperson and buyer, focusing on long-term relationships, increasingly reliant on digital channels.
Content Marketing and Social Media:
- Content marketing involves creating valuable content to attract and retain customers.
- Social media promotes conversations and brand engagement.
Communication Process Characteristics:
- Direct and indirect communication modes, control over the message, feedback speed, and audience reach vary across promotional tools.

AIDA Model:
- A model outlining stages of consumer involvement:
- Attention: Gaining consumer attention is essential.
- Interest: Creating interest in the product follows.
- Desire: Convincing the consumer that the product is the best option.
- Action: Motivating them to make a purchase.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC):
- Ensures consistent messages across all promotional types.
- Coordination of timing and monitoring of campaign effectiveness is essential for optimizing marketing efforts.
- Popularity of IMC has risen due to the need for coordinated promotional activities in fragmented markets and the measurement of immediate responses.

Different Factors Influencing the Promotional Mix:
- Nature of the product: Distinguishes between business and consumer products which require different marketing strategies (e.g., personal selling vs. advertising).
- Target Market Characteristics: Demographics and behaviors influence advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling mix.
- Type of Buying Decision: Routine decisions benefit from advertising, while complex decisions may need personal selling.
- Available Funds: The budget influences the mix—more funds typically allow for a greater variety of promotional elements.
- Push vs. Pull Strategies:
- Push Strategy: Uses aggressive selling to convince distributors to carry products (e.g., Walmart's use of discounts).
- Pull Strategy: Stimulates consumer demand to create product distribution (e.g., through sampling, coupons).

Evaluate informative promotion goals, promotional mixes, and strategies based on target characteristics and product nature.
Analyze and recommend push or pull strategies considering unlimited budgets and previous promotional successes.