Module – 5 & 6

Marketing Communication
BBA 3rd Semester MM Study Notes
Module – 5 & 6 Marketing Communication

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ..........................................................................................................................................1
1. Marketing Communication Mix or Promotional Mix ............................................................................2
2. Objectives of Marketing Communication .............................................................................................5
3. Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) ......................................................................................5
4. Marketing Communications Process ....................................................................................................6
5. Advertising Response - Response Hierarchy Models ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.1. AIDA Model .................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.2. Hierarchy of Effects Model ............................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
6. Steps in Developing Effective Communications ...................................................................................7
7. Elements/Tools/Techniques of Marketing Communications Mix ........................................................9
8. Advertising ......................................................................................................................................... 11
9. Promotion Mix ......................................................................................................................................9
10. Sales Promotion ............................................................................................................................. 12
11. Promotional Strategies .................................................................................................................. 16
12. Personal selling .............................................................................................................................. 18
13. Publicity Public Relation ................................................................................................................. 18
14. Direct Marketing ............................................................................................................................ 19
15. Question Bank ................................................................................................................................ 19

MM Study Notes | Table of Contents 1

Module – 5 & 6 Marketing Communication

1. Marketing Communication Mix or Promotional Mix

 Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,

communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
 Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between two
individuals through a common medium.
 So, Marketing Communication is a process by which product information is
transmitted to the target audience.
Definition:
 Marketing Communications are any form of communication used to inform,
persuade, and remind consumers- directly or indirectly – about the products
and brands they sell.
 The goal of promotion is to...

 To inform:
 Telling the market about a new product
 Suggesting new product uses
 Explaining how the product works
 Correcting false impressions

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 Building company image

 To remind:
 Reminding buyers where to buy the product
 Maintaining a top of the mind awareness
 Reminding the buyers that the product may be needed in future
 To persuade:
 building brand preference
 Encouraging brand switching
 Persuading buyers to purchase now.
 The Marketing Communications Mix is the specific mix of advertising,
personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing a
company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives.
 Communication Mix is also called as “Promotion Mix”

Elements/Tools/Techniques of Marketing Communications Mix

The marketing communications mix consists of eight major modes of

communication:

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 Advertising—Any paid form of no personal presentation and promotion of

ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor via print media (newspapers
and magazines), broadcast media (radio and television), network media
(telephone, cable, satellite, wireless), electronic media (audiotape, videotape,
videodisk, CDROM,Web page) and display media (billboards, signs, posters).
 Sales Promotion— A variety of short-term incentives to encourage trial or
purchase of a product or service including consumer promotions (such as
samples, coupons, and premiums), trade promotions (such as advertising and
display allowances), and business and sales force promotions (contests for
sales reps).
 Events and Experiences—Company-sponsored activities and programs
designed to create daily or special brand-related interactions with consumers,
including sports, arts, entertainment as well as less formal activities.
 Public Relations and Publicity—A variety of programs directed internally to
employees of the company or externally to consumers, other firms, the
government, and media to promote or protect a company’s image or its
individual product communications.
 Direct Marketing—Use of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, or Internet to
communicate directly with or solicit response or dialogue from specific
customers and prospects.
 Interactive Marketing—Online activities and programs designed to engage
customers or prospects and directly or indirectly raise awareness, improve
image, or elicit sales of products and services.
 Word-of-Mouth Marketing—People-to-people oral, written, or electronic
communications that relate to the merits or experiences of purchasing or
using products or services.

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 Personal Selling—Face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective

purchasers for the purpose of making presentations, answering questions, and
procuring orders.

2. Objectives of Marketing Communication

Objectives of Marketing Communication

 Create or increase awareness
 Create interest & cultivate desire
 Motivating purchasing action (induce behaviour)
 Create, enhance & restore corporate image
 Encourage brand loyalty & discourage brand switching
 Educate consumers & other stakeholders
 Inform consumers & other stakeholders about products, prices, courses of
action, changes, community activities
 Positioning & Influence attitudes

3. Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

 Integrated means combining two or more elements. In the same way IMC can
also be defined as a comprehensive plan which integrates all the elements
such as: advertising, personal selling, publicity, internet marketing, public
relations and sales promotion
 Integrated marketing communication refers to integrating all the methods of
brand promotion to promote a particular product or service among target
customers.
 In integrated marketing communication, all aspects of marketing
communication work together for increased sales and maximum cost
effectiveness.

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4. Marketing Communications Process

1. Sender- Someone who is sending the message. The maker of the brand is the
sender of the advertising message.
2. Encoding- When we address someone, we use language, visuals, body
gestures to communicate. All these are called symbols. The process of putting
our thought into symbolic forms is called encoding.
3. Message- The symbols themselves constitute the message. Hence the visuals,
headline, body copy, tag line, brand name, logo all are the parts of the
message.
4. Media- The channel used for sending the message across to the receiver
(customer) is called medium (or media). TV is an audio visual medium Radio is
an audio medium.
5. Decoding- Once we receive the message we start interpreting it. The process
of giving a meaning to all these symbols is called decoding.
6. Receiver- A receiver is one who reads/listens/ hears the message of the
communicator.

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7. Response- After having read the ad, I will react to the message. My reaction
could be objective (if I accept what the sender of the message is saying) or
negative (if I don’t accept).
8. Feedback- Every communicator waits to know whether the message (a) has
reached the target audience or not (b) whether it has been accepted or not.
9. Noise: External factors that create unplanned distortion

5. Steps in Developing Effective Communications

1. Identify Target Audience

A specific group of people within the target market at which a product or the
marketing message of a product is aimed.
Thus, the process must start with a clear target audience in mind such as:
 Working woman

 children

 youngster

2. Determine The Communications Objectives

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What should be the main purpose behind company’s need to connect with
the customers?
 Category Need— Establishing a product or service category as necessary to

remove or satisfy a perceived discrepancy between a current motivational

state and a desired motivational state.
 Brand Awareness— Fostering the consumer’s ability to recognize or recall

the brand within the category, in sufficient detail to make a purchase.

 Brand Attitude— Helping consumers evaluate the brand’s perceived ability

to meet a currently relevant need.

 Brand Purchase Intention—Moving consumers to decide to purchase the

brand or take purchase-related action.

3. Design the Communications
Formulating the communications to achieve the desired response requires solving
three problems:
 What to say (message strategy)

 How to say it (creative strategy)

 Who should say it (message source)

Message Strategy. In determining message, management searches for appeals,

themes, or ideas in line with the brand positioning to help establish points of
parity or points of differences.
 Creative Strategy. Creative strategy is how marketers translate their

message into a specific communication:

 Informational Appeals elaborate on product or service
attributes or benefits. They assume very rational and logical
processing of the communication on the part of the consumer.

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 Transformational Appeals elaborate on a non-product-related

benefit or image. They often attempt to stir up emotions that
will motivate purchase.
Message Source. Messages delivered by attractive or popular sources can achieve
higher attention and recall, which is why in India adverting is owned by
Bollywood celebrities and Cricketers.

6. Elements/Tools/Techniques of Marketing Communications Mix

7. Promotion Mix
1. The promotion mix is the specific blend of advertising, sales promotion, public
relations, personal selling, and direct-marketing tools that the company uses to
persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships.
2. Major Promotion Tools
 Advertising
 Sales promotion
 Public relations
 Personal selling
 Direct marketing
3. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of
ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
 Broadcast
 Print
 Internet
 Outdoor

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4. Sales promotion is the short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale

of a product or service.
 Discounts
 Coupons
 Displays
 Demonstrations
5. Public relations involves building good relations with the company’s various
publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image,
and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and events.
 Press releases
 Sponsorships
 Special events
 Web pages
6. Personal selling is the personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the
purpose of making sales and building customer relationships.
 Sales presentations
 Trade shows
 Incentive programs
7. Direct marketing involves making direct connections with carefully targeted
individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate
lasting customer relationships – by using direct mail, telephone, direct-response
television, e-mail, and the Internet to communicate directly with specific
consumers.
 Catalog
 Telemarketing
 Kiosks

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8. Advertising
 Advertising is a paid form of mass communication that consists of the special
message sent by the specific person (advertiser or company), for the specific
group of people (listeners, readers, or viewers), for the specific period of time,
in the specific manner to achieve the specific goals.
 According to Philip Kotler “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services through mass media
such as newspapers, magazines, television or radio by an identified sponsor”.
 Advertising includes oral, written, or audio-visual message addressed to the
people for the purpose of informing and influencing them to buy the products
or to act favourably toward idea or institution.
The 5 M’s of Advertising (Steps in developing an Advertising Program)
1. The first ‘M’ stands for Mission – Advertising Objectives.
2. The second ‘M stands for Money – Advertising Budget.
3. The third ‘M’ stands for Message – Creating Advertising Message and Copy.
4. The fifth ‘M’ stands for Media – Advertising Media Selection and Media
Scheduling.
5. The sixth ‘M’ stands for Measurement – Measuring and Evaluating
Advertising Effectiveness.
Message
Message Decisions
Money  Message Strategy
Mission Measurement
Budget Decisions  Message Execution
Objectives Setting Campaign Evaluation
 Affordable Approach  Communication
 Communication
 Percent of sales Impact
objectives
 Competitive parity Media  Sales Impact
 Sales Objectives
 Objective and task Media Decisions
 Reach, Frequency,
Impact
 Major Media Types
 Specific Media Types
 Media Timing

1. Mission: This refers to the purpose or objective behind advertising. They

include sales promotion, information and guidance to consumers, developing

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brand loyalty, market goodwill, facing market competition effectively, making

the products popular or successful and introduction of a new product.
2. Money: This refers to the finance provided for advertising purpose
(advertising budget). Money provided is a limiting factor as effectiveness of
advertising, media used, coverage of advertising, etc. are related to the funds
provided for advertising purpose. Advertising should be always within the
limits of funds provided.
3. Message: Message is provided through the text of advertisement. The
message is given through written words, pictures, slogans and so on. The
message is for the information, guidance and motivation of prospective
buyers. Attractive and meaningful messages give positive results, and the
advertising becomes result-oriented
4. Media: Media differ as regards cost, coverage, effectiveness, etc. The
selection of media depends on the budget provided, products to be
advertised, and features of prospective buyers, so on.
5. Measure: Measure relates to the effectiveness of advertising. If an
advertisement is not effective, it will be modified or withdrawn. An advertiser
has to measure the effectiveness of his advertisement program or campaign
and take suitable decisions.

9. Sales Promotion
 Short term incentives offered to customers to encourage buying a good
or service.
 The set of marketing activities undertaken to boost sales of the product
or service.
 Can be directed toward manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and
consumers, as well as a company's employees.

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 Usually supported by advertising activities.

8. Objective of Sales Promotion
 Building Product Awareness
 Creating Interest
 To increase sales Volume in short term
 Attract More customer
 Encourage the customer for Buying
9. Promotional Techniques

1) Consumer Promotion
 Sales promotion efforts designed to encourage customers to buy a
product are called consumer promotions.
 Business to Consumer(B2C) Marketing
 Target to end consumer.
10.Major Consumer Promotion Tools
 1. Premiums are low-cost items given to consumers at a discount or for
free. Some popular premiums are:
– Coupons are certificates that entitle customers to cash discounts
on goods or services.
– Factory packs are free gifts placed in product packages. These are
common in cereal boxes.

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– Traffic builders are low-cost premiums such as pens or key chains

given away free to consumers for visiting a new store or attending
an event.
– Coupon plans are ongoing programs offering a variety of
premiums in exchange for labels, coupons, or other
 2. Incentives generally are higher-priced products earned and given
through contests (games of skill), sweepstakes (games of chance), and
rebates (discounts from manufacturers). Businesses use incentives to
promote many products because they create customer excitement and
increase sales.
 3. A product sample is a free trial size of a product sent through the
mail, distributed door-to-door, or given away at retail stores and trade
shows. Detergents, toothpastes, shampoos, deodorants, and colognes
are frequently promoted this way.
 4. Promotional tie-ins involve coordinated sales promotional
arrangements between one or more retailers or manufacturers.
– Example: For the promotion of the Goofy movie, Disney Studios
cooperated with McDonald's which made a special Happy Meal
with a Fisher-Price Toddler Toy.
 5. Loyalty marketing programs, also called frequent buyer programs,
reward customers for making multiple purchases. Loyalty marketing was
popularized in the 1980s by the airline industry, which instituted
frequent flier programs.
 6. With product placement, an organization can develop product
recognition by making sure that a product is featured in special events,
on television, or in the movies.

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– Example: Apple's iMac appeared in popular television shows

when it was first introduced.
 7. Visual merchandising refers to the coordination of all physical
elements in a place of business so that it projects the right image to its
customers.
– Displays refer to the visual and artistic aspects of presenting a
product to a target group of customers.
2) Trade Promotion
 Trade promotions are sales promotion activities designed to gain
manufacturers', wholesalers', and retailers' support for a product. More
money is actually spent on promoting to businesses than to consumers.
 Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing
 Targeted to channel members who conduct business or “trade” with
consumers.
 Liquidating heavy inventories
 Persuade retailers to carry stock, carry more than usual stock, promote
brand franchise
11.Major Trade Promotion Tools
 1. Slotting allowances are cash premiums paid by the manufacturer to a
retail chain for the costs involved in placing a new product on its
shelves.
 2. Buying allowances are price discounts given by manufacturers to
wholesalers and retailers to encourage the purchase of a product.
 3. Trade shows and conventions are events at which businesses can
introduce new products, encourage increased sales of existing products,
and gain continued company and product support.

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 4. Sales incentives are awards given to managers and employees who

successfully meet or exceed sales quotas.

10.Promotional Strategies

1. The Push Strategies

 Marketing efforts to push a product from a producer through a
distribution channel (Wholesaler and Retailer) to the consumers.
 The manufacturer concentrates their marketing efforts on promoting
their product to the trade to convince them to stock the product.
 In this strategy, the manufacturer use aggressive personal selling and
trade advertising to convince wholesalers and retailer to carry and sell
the company’s products to consumers.
 Examples of push tactics
– Trade shows demonstrate your products or services to win new
distributors.
– Sales Visits to retailers asking them to stock your products.
– Competitions with retailers to increase sales.
– Point of sale displays to make it easy for retailers to stock your
products.
– Videos demonstrating the product or service.

2. The Pull Strategies

 A pull strategy is based around the manufacturer promoting their
product and directing it to the target market to create demand.

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 In this strategy, the manufacturers try to attract the attention of buyers

through the use of advertising or sales promotion.
 Manufacturer may gives sample of their products and when customers
are satisfied with the products, the retailers will make it available by
ordering the demanded product through wholesalers.
 It could be explained by this line “Let the customers to come to you”
 Examples of pull tactics
– Advertising
– Word of Mouth(online or offline)
– Viral Marketing
– Social media: Facebook or WhatsApp is an especially good
example of push tactics as when your friends like product, this
can be shared with you, making you aware of products you didn’t
know existed!
– Blogging
– Email Marketing

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11.Personal selling

Concept, Features and functions, Steps involved in Personal Selling

 Personal selling is oral communication with potential buyers of a product with

the intention of making a sale. The personal selling may focus initially on
developing a relationship with the potential buyer, but will always ultimately
end with an attempt to "close the sale“
 Personal selling is one of the oldest forms of promotion. It involves the use of
a sales force to support a push strategy (encouraging intermediaries to buy
the product) or a pull strategy (where the role of the sales force may be
limited to supporting retailers and providing after-sales service).

12.Publicity Public Relation

Meaning, Objective, Merits/Demerits.

 “The planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and
mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics”.
 Public relations activities include, press releases. company literature, videos,
websites and annual reports.
 Publicity refers to no personal communications regarding an organization,
product , service , or idea not directly paid for or run under identified
sponsorship .it usually comes in the form of news story , editorial , or
announcement about an organization and/or its products and services.
 Techniques used to gain publicity include news releases, press conferences,
feature articles , photographs , films , and videotapes.

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13.Direct Marketing

Meaning, Features, Functions, Merits/Demerits, Role of media in DM

 Direct marketing is the use of consumer direct channels to reach and deliver
goods and services to customers without using market middlemen.
 Direct marketing is concerned with establishing an individual relationship
between the business offering a product or service and the final customer.
 Direct marketing has been defined by the Institute of Direct Marketing as:
 “The planned recording, analysis and tracking of customer behaviour to
develop a relational marketing strategies”.
 The process of direct marketing covers a wide range of promotional activities,
These include:
 Direct-response adverts on television and radio
 Mail order catalogues
 E-commerce
 Magazine inserts
 Direct mail
 Telemarketing

14.Question Bank
1. What do you mean by Sales Promotion?
2. Elaborate AIDAS
3. Explain personal selling process.
4. What do you mean by promotion mix? Brief about the ingredients of promotion mix.
5. Explain the communication process with diagram.
6. What do you mean by public relations?
7. Define advertisement?
8. Explain personal selling process with reference to gold Jewellery?

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9. What is sales promotion? Explain the different tools of sales promotion.

10. Suggest & give appropriate justification with respect to Sales promotion and
advertisement media for the following product/service.
a. Baby soap
b. Smart Phone
c. Sports shoes
d. BBA program
e. Digital Camera
f. Baby Products
g. cement
11. What do you mean by Trade promotion?
12. Explain the different stages of personal selling process with an example.
13. Write short notes on public Relations.
14. Explain pull and Push strategy?
15. What is sales promotion? Discuss different tools of consumer sales promotion.
16. Explain in details five “M” of advertisement.
17. Discuss the marketing strategies for the service firm.
18. What is prospecting?
19. What are the factors to be considered while designing an advertisement program?
20. Explain personal selling process for packed food items.
21. Explain the advantages & limitations of Newspapers & Television as medium of
advertising.
22. What do you mean by personal selling? Explain tasks to be performed by sales people.

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