How Effectively Develop Marketing Communication to Successfully Deliver a Message about a Company - Coursework Example

Critically discuss with relevant examples how you effectively develop and use marketing communication to successfully deliver a message about a brandor company Introduction First of all, we need to delve into what marketing concept actually is. The sales concept is basically making sure a product is produced and hence sold through proper distribution channels while on the other hand a marketing concept entails the pre-production activities related with a product, selling and marketing it extensively when its on the shelves of the retail outlet and looking after the post purchase dissonance, if any there is found. Similarly, customer satisfaction would mean their retention and eventual further selling of the product. [Applbaum, 2004] Hard sell of the product can come under the marketing concept but then again soft sell is a strategy that tries to smoothly get into the purchase cycles of its intended customers and hence make a sale. The evaluation of the marketing concept is made possible due to the hard line policies drafted by the people who were in charge of carrying out the sales concept which was simply to produce a product and thus sell it, without gaining proper insight as to whether or not this product met the intended requirements of the customer or it had some defect which needed to be repaired at the earliest. Marketing concept has taken its basis from the selling concept which is simply producing a product and then selling it for a nominal return. However marketing looks at defying the odds and aims at conquering the mind, heart and soul of the customers. The terms like share of heart and share of mind come into the equation and not to forget the share of trial which looks at the customer trying a product for the first time in order to seek purchase back and forth. Changing Market Regimes The changing market structure might call for changing strategies and lines of action that would all target the people for whom the product is actually designed as well as the competitors with whom the clutter is being broken in the environs of the marketplace. Thus competition brings in more and more quality at the end of the company with regards to its products as well as more sales in the form of its varied and changed stance on focusing towards the customers rather than the product itself. Apart from that, emphasis on need must be the order of the day rather than bringing out more and more varied stock key units just for the sake of it. [Gill, 1993] The different products should satisfy each and every user rather than satisfy the people sitting in the innovation labs and those who invent just to take the company one step further. This trap should thus be avoided under all circumstances. Thus profits could come out in the middle when a company is the sole and dominant player in the whole market structure. [Young, 2000] Incorporation of a Sound and Cohesive Marketing Plan Marketing plan needs to be in alignment with the organizational strategy so much so that it echoes the fine points of the strategy. Rather than straying from the set course of the organizational pattern in the long term, the role should be to merge the two in a manner that they look a part of each other. The marketing plan is not prepared on a daily basis or for that matter a weekly case. This has to be a tactical and at times a strategic case which needs to keep in mind the strategy of the organization and the target audiences in mind before moving any further ahead. [Holder, 1996] The strategy adopted by the firm thus makes sure that the plan brings out the aspects related with the points which have to be tackled in the plan and which need to be kept aside for future projects and incorporations in the upcoming plans. The conflict that arises can create hurdles for the draft of the plan itself as well as the framework that brings the plan into the execution phase. Without all of these things, the plan cannot be sorted out and hence there would be no looking forward for the organization in terms of its strategy. Furthermore, the marketing mix includes the 4-P’s which are the product, place, price and promotion. These could differ for a new product since its scope would be different and hence the target audience changed. The marketing mix has to go in line with the place the new product would be sold, the audiences it would cater to, the price at which the same would be quoted and the promotional activities that need to be done on this product. All of these things would surely be different since the new product has just entered into the domain and the existing product has already made its mark big time. The 4-P’s thus form the eventual basis for the marketing mix in the real sense. [Delaney, 1994] The Message of Advertising and Marketing Speaking from a psychological standpoint, consumers connect with what is there on the electronic and/or print media for them in the form of a message that says a lot about their preferred brand and lists down the details as to how it could benefit the same person if he or she uses it. Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media. This is all the art of selling and it comes under the heading of marketing and for marketing to happen in the first place, advertising is of fundamental importance. Without advertising, marketers can only think of their product lying on the retail outlets waiting for angels to come and satisfy themselves. [Miller, 1946] People need to be told the plus points of their brands (by the company) so that they actually go out and make the eventual purchase which in all fairness, not an easy job for the company, say that is producing a shoe polish which does not stick on to the shoes as much as do the other competitor shoe polishes already available in the market. If the customers do not know or are not given the liberty to comprehend the different features of the brand which is being advertised by the company, they would not make that valued effort on their part and hence the company will be the one to suffer in the end and no one else. [Pechmann, 1993] A pivotal role is played by persuading the customers and consumers into making the intended vital purchase and for that they need to be given the space that they want and more importantly so the insight and understanding and not to forget the knowledge about this very brand that would make their brand sell and competitors’ brands to stay on the shelves when the moment of truth hits the retail chains. This moment of truth is the eventual moment when the consumer goes out to a retail chain and makes a purchase. An Example Marketing to an audience which consumes alcohol can be risky. This is because it consists of those people who like to see it get promoted and then there are the masses who are simply opposed to the whole idea. The positives and negatives need to be studied with regards to marketing on alcohol. The positives are that it brings a sort of choosing platform for the eventual consumers of alcohol when it comes to brand and the negatives include the wrong target market which is touched upon. The role of society is something that has to be understood in the proper contexts here. It is just not fulfilling its duties with the amount of dedication and devotion it should have in the first place. The society is thus no way close to being a perfect fit for this hopeless situation. [Goldberg, 1997] The psychological angle related with a patient is exploited when a marketing activity portrays a particular brand of alcohol as being the best one for his needs and wants, in fact the same had ruined up his domestic and social life. Hence the implications to think from social and psychological perspectives are pertinent. Now in such a situation when alcohol is marketed, the society has to bear the brunt for the kind of thinking which is present within it. This means that the liberals would see this as a step in the right direction and would feel nothing in entirety when they see alcohol promotions. However the hard line opposition groups would exert their pressure and force their way into the companies’ stance related with its marketing, advertising and different promotional campaigns. Marketing is not a bad thing but then again it should be developed in such a manner that the people who detest alcohol within the confines of a society should not get offended. Their relation with the product and indeed the whole concept of alcoholism must remain intact and the negative feelings should be warded off no matter what happens. However this is easier said than done really and in the factual sense becomes a real nightmare for the marketers when they have to get the cutting edge campaign dedicated solely to their primary target audiences. The positive impacts are such that the people who are normal alcohol users would receive thorough know-how of a particular brand of alcohol as well as have more choices from which they can pick their favorite one. But the downside is that the negative impact is much more lethal. The ethical angle should also be considered since kids, teenagers and non- alcohol users are also attracted to the marketing campaigns. There should be proper guidance for these people and the campaigns must list who must drink and who should abstain from the same. This means that the benefits of choice and the disadvantages of getting to the undesired audiences are both two sides of the same coin. The marketing gurus need to take care of both the social and the psychological constructs before delving any further on their respective agendas. Role of Brand Equity Brand equity is only built when there is brand loyalty, related associations with the brand, the brand with its name and attached symbols and the brand personalities which portray it in their respective lifestyles and endorsements. Equity is not built overnight rather it is a long process that takes years to come up. Such is the intensity of brand equity that it takes a lot of convincing and planning on the part of the organization bringing out the brand towards its target audiences. Brand equity requires hard loyal customers to back up the whole ideology. It is for this matter that consumer loyalty is very specific to the hearts of the people who use the products and/or services. The loyalty to a brand raises a lot of questions that the competitors have to answer. [Phillips, 2005] Conclusion It is significant to apprise ourselves of the fact that marketing communication practitioners need to play their due role in the related scheme of things and more so where the patterns of consumer lifestyles and loyalties so that consumers’ perception and influence builds the equity of not only the brand but the organization that it is working under. More focus should be given on the roles adopted by the consumers and the manners in which they are actually making the purchase in the first place. Also emphasis should be laid on the fact that the cutting edge scenarios are found out so that the industry grows as a result of the same and there is a lot of competition that can occur in the market. This will only help the consumers as it would provide for more options and hence the value delivery network would also improve as a result of the very same. [Lazer, 1971] Lastly, it is correctly stated here that marketing communication planners need to understand the role of consumer loyalty and brand equity in the whole equation and thus carry out measures which run parallel with the consumer demands, expectations and more so the needs that have to be satisfied all this while. BIBLIOGRAPHY Applbaum, Kalman. (2004). The Marketing Era: From Professional Practice to Global Provisioning. Routledge Gill, Jas. (1993). Corporate Vision and Rapid Technological Change: The Evolution of Market Structure. Routledge Young, David P. T. (2000). Modeling Media Markets: How Important is Market Structure? Journal of Media Economics, Vol. 13 Holder, Basil. (1996). First, Build a Marketing Plan. ABA Banking Journal, Vol. 88 Delaney, Joan. (1994). Crafting a Marketing Plan That Works. Black Enterprise, Vol. 25 Miller, Clyde R. (1946). The Process of Persuasion. Crown Publishers Pechmann, Cornelia. (1993). Persuasion Processes Associated with Direct Comparative and Noncomparative Advertising and Implications for Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 2 Goldberg, Marvin E. (1997). Social Marketing: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Phillips, Carol B. (2005). In Search of True Brand Equity Metrics: All Market Share Aint Created Equal. Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 45 Lazer, William. (1971). Marketing Management: A Systems Perspective. John Wiley & Sons Word Count: 2,044 Read More