COMMUNICATION MIX
The word ‘promotion is derived from the Latin word ‘promovere’, meaning ‘an attempt to shift the attention of people from one end of the spectrum (disinterest) to the other (interest)’. Service marketers have used this marketing tool to great advantage in positioning their service, adding tangibility and value to their offer. Promotion is used only as a temporary tool and is communication oriented. Promotion consists of the following major areas of marketing:
– Advertising
– Public relations
– Sales promotion
– Personal selling
– Word of mouth
– Direct mail
These areas are called the promotion mix or the communication mix. The service marketer can use a blend of all of these to achieve his communication and other goals. The choice of the communication or the promotion blend would depend on whether the advertiser wants to increase awareness, changes opinions, alter attitudes, use high degree of persuasion, etc. The advertiser or the service firm also has to take decisions on the choice of media, which would depend on the target audience and the reach of the medium (circulation and viewership/readership)’
Comprehensive Communication Programme and Model
Word ‘communication’ is derived from the Latin word communicoi, meaning ‘to share’. Communication needs an objective that the service marketer must set and achieve. Following are the components of the communication programme:
Identify the target audience or receivers;
Determine the promotion objectives;
Develop the message
Select the communication mix or the promotion blend-,
Select the media vehicle;
Set up systems for feedback and feed forward’
Identify the target audience or receivers: Although this would have been done in the market segmentation process, a more detailed picture of the target audience would be required for specific promotions. For example, a high-priced hospital would have chosen the upper income group through segmentation. But now for promotion it would require to address people who are interested in the treatment of, say, cancer or heart, diseases or plain cosmetic surgery. Its message, Promotions and media choices would be decided accordingly, i.e., tailormade for this select audience.
Determine the promotion objectives: Every communication has an objective and the success of the communication programme depends on how the marketer has been able to clearly perceive his objectives and integrate the components. The service marketer has three promotional goals: to inform, to peruade and to remind. Some of the objectives for a service marketer are:
- Reinforce positioning,
- Develop brand image;
- Make customers aware of the offer, its attributes and benefits,
- Persuade customers to buy the offer,
- Continually remind customers about the service through remembrance exercises.
Develop the message: There are many models for describing the customer responses. One simplest and widely used is the AIDA model, developed by E.K. strong and is illustrated below:
According to this model, the service consumer moves through various stages in sequence. The customer is first aware of the service brand, which will generate interest & then desire in the offer. Once the desire is present, the customer is motivated or ‘driven’ to purchase the service product. The whole sequence grinds to a halt even if one of the tasks is unachieved. This implies that without even basic consumer awareness, the service marketer cannot hope for any sales.
The message formulation will depend upon which of these AIDA sequence tasks is to be achieved. Message development is guided by the encoding process, which involves the consideration of issues:
Message content – what to say’,
Message structure – how to say it logically,
Message style – creating a strong presence; and
Message source – which should develop it.
The service communication has four choices in encoding: words, symbols, pictures and images.
Select the communication mix or the promotion blend: The communication could have personal interaction (one-to-one) or impersonal messages (one-way). Personal communication consists of personal selling (insurance advisors making a presentation customers), word of mouth (publicity and public relations exercises for a restaurant or for a movie like Devdas), & interaction during service delivery (like inside a retail bank). I m personal communication consists of mass communications like advertising in newspapers, TV, outdoor advertising, point of sale, leaflets and brochures, and the service environment or the services cape itself.
Select the media Vehicle: The media vehicle is selected by effectiveness & efficiency with which it reaches the messages to the target audience. This message also guides the media vehicle: if the message is personal, then mass media cannot be used. What becomes effective are letters (on paper or through e-mails), personal interaction, etc. this is where media analysis would be required for its audience profile & viewers reading or media habits.
Set up system for feedback & feedforward: The communication should undertake two important exercises to make its present & future messages effective:
Feedback is a kind of pre-test undertaken before the message has been broadcast to ensure the message will be received.
Feed forward is a kind of post-test undertaken after the message has been broadcast to ensure the message was received.
The issue of promotion blends like whether to use public relations more than advertising etc. have to be clarified by the service marketer. The decision is guided by the following factors for their deferential impact ability on the communication mixes:
Service is for profit or not-for-profit.
Constrains of ethics exist in some services, like hospitals, healthcare and with doctors.
Competitive intensity is high or low.
The geographic spread is large or small.
The custom within a specific service sector dictates promotional practice.
Managers are sophisticated or not.
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