Developing effective marketing communication

1. A view of the communication process

- Includes 2 steps: identifying the target audience and building effective promotional strategies.

- Nowadays, marketers tend to build strong customer relationships with brands through
communications. To do this, they need to build specific programs for each segment due to the variety of
customer needs. This process begins where target segments touch their companies and then
understanding this process. This process involves 9 elements and these elements’ relationships is shown
in this figure:

At first, the company will send the message to media, which is a communication channels by encoding
them. Customers then assign the meaning of the message and response back to the company. These
responses will turn into feedback that the company needs to consider. However, there may be noise -
unexpected factors affecting this process, which causes misunderstandings between companies and
customers. And the effective message also depends on field of experience, therefore, to communicate
effectively, marketers need to understand their customers’ field of experience.

2. Steps in developing effective marketing communication: 6 steps

2.1. Identifying the target audience

Marketers need to have a clear target audience including current or potential customers because they
will affect the decisions in the communication program.

2.2. Determining the communication objectives

After defining the target group, marketers will seek a purchase response. Before that they must
understand where their target audience stand in the buyer-readiness stages, including awareness,
knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and purchase.
Take the campaign ‘Find Your Greatness’ of Nike as an example, the communication objectives of this
campaign are: creating awareness and interest in the products among a global audience, especially
during the Olympic season, imparting knowledge and information about the benefits and features of
Nike products, stimulating a want or desire for the Nike brand and products among the target market, by
appealing to their emotions, values, and motivations.

2.3. Designing a message

Having the desired response, the message should follow AIDA model, which means getting attention,
holding interest, arousing desire, and obtaining action to reach a desirable quality. Then, marketers need
to decide the message content, structure, and format.

a. Message content

Including 3 types of appeal to produce the useful response:

- Rational appeals: which relate to the preference of the audience.

- Emotional appeals: show negative or positive emotions motivating purchase. For example, with
campaign ‘Mamba Forever’, Nike use emotional storytelling and pay tribute to basketball star Kobe
Bryant to target basketball fan and athletes who were inspired by Bryant.

- Moral appeals: link to the audience’s sense of right or proper, and often used to support social causes.

b. Message structure

There are 3 issues related to structure:

- whether to draw a conclusion or leave it to the audience.

- whether to present the strongest arguments first or last.

- whether to present a one-sided or a two-sided argument.

c. Message format

Strong format also helps the message become more effective. Either print or digital ad, communicator
always needs to plan everything in detail and carefully.

2.4. Choosing communication channels and media

There are 2 broad types of communication channels.

a. Personal communication channels

In this channel, more than 2 people communicate directly with each other. Personal channels also allow
for personal addressing and feedback. Personal communication channels can be controlled by the
company directly or indirectly. Indirect channels, called word-of-mouth influence, have a large effect on
product areas.

Companies can influence personal communication channels by building buzz marketing, which have
opinion leaders to spread information about their products to others.
The Breaking2 Project: In 2017, Nike launched an ambitious project to break the two-hour barrier for the
marathon, by sponsoring three elite runners and providing them with customized shoes, apparel, and
training. The project generated a lot of buzz and media attention, as well as a live-streamed event that
attracted millions of viewers.

b. Nonpersonal communication channels

This channel includes:

- major media: print, broadcast, display, online

- atmosphere: environment designed to create customers awareness of product.

- events: which communicate messages to target audiences.

2.5. Selecting the message source

Whatever kind of communication channel, the effectiveness of message depends on how that message
is delivered.

For example, in 2018, Nike featured Colin Kaepernick who sparked controversy by kneeling during the
national anthem to protest racial injustice, in its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign. This message
source is effective because it attracts attention and generates buzz and appeals to the emotions and
values of the audience.

2.6. Collecting feedback

Marketers must research its effect on the target audience to measure how their communication program
works. Therefore, marketers can make changes to adjust their strategy properly.

3. Setting the total promotion budget

Besides building a communication program to target audience. The company needs to determine its
total promotion budget. There are 4 methods in setting brand promotion budget:

3.1. Affordable method

- Set the budget at the level they think the company can afford and completely ignore the effects of their
promotion on sales. Promotion is placed last among spending priorities although promotion is often the
key factor to succeeding in the market.

3.2. Percentage-of-sales method

- Set the budget at a certain percentage of current or forecasted sales so it can show the relationship
between promotion spending and selling price. However, it is based on the availability of funds rather
than opportunities.

3.3. Competitive-parity method

- Set the budget to match competitors’ outlays. However, this method is not effective because maybe the
company itself has a smarter promotion budget than its competitors. Also, using average budget is not
proved to prevent the promotion wars as believed.
3.4. Objective-and-task method

- set budget based on what it wants to accomplish with promotion. This budgeting method includes
defining specific promotion objectives, determining the tasks needed to achieve these objectives, and
estimating the costs of performing these tasks. Although this method is hard to carry out, it can show
the relationship between promotion spending and promotion results.

Among these 4 methods, Nike choose objective-and-task method to create an appropriate budget as
well as see the relationship between promotion costs and results.