If a company says: “We are for sports”, it means: “Buy bicycles from us”. We understand the essence of marketing communications, their main types and tools.
The essence of marketing communications
Basic elements
Types of Marketing Communications
Marketing communications tools
How to Develop Marketing Communications: Steps
How to evaluate effectiveness
Examples of use
Expert advice
The essence of marketing communications
Table of Contents
Marketing communications in a narrow sense are the delivery of a company’s meanings and messages to potential customers. In a broad sense, they can be considered a tool for increasing sales.
The main goal of marketing in general and marketing communications in particular is to increase sales. This is the ultimate goal of increasing reach, increasing brand awareness and communication with potential and actual customers.
Among the secondary tasks of marketing communications, the following can be distinguished:
1- attracting attention to the brand;
2- increasing recognition;
3- developing a positive reputation;
4- informing about products, promotions and sales.
It is important to understand that communications do not always directly affect sales growth. You should not expect a direct correlation: somehow communicated with the client – got plus 100 to sales. Rather, their influence should be considered in combination with other tools: advertising, promotion, positive reputation, etc. Marketing communications are at the intersection of these tools.
The course “Brand Manager” helps to master the intricacies of promotion and creation of a positive reputation . The authors, mentors and reviewers on the course are active specialists who know everything about their niche and are ready to share their experience. The program is designed for 6 months, the study takes 8-10 hours per week.
Basic elements
Marketing communication consists of:
● from the target audience
to which the brand wants to convey certain information;
● from the message
the message that the brand conveys;
● from the communication channel
the method of transmitting information;
● from feedback
the audience’s response to the message.
It is important to understand that in this case, the meaning and the message are different things. For example, you can say: “We are a top seller” or “Our company is in the top 10 sellers on Ozon.” The meaning is the same, but in the second case, the company will most likely be perceived as more reliable due to the appropriate argumentation in the message. It is important to convey the meanings the company needs through the message. In the example, the company does not directly say that it is a recognized expert in the market, but the audience itself reads this meaning.
● social networks
a fast-growing popular channel, but there is a risk of losing part of the audience due to permanent blocking;
● radio and TV
a classic option with an established audience;
● offline and online media
from Kommersant to Revdinsky Rabochy;
● outdoor advertising
billboards, banners, etc.
● handouts
printed booklets, business cards, leaflets, etc.
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Types of Marketing Communications
Marketing communications can be classified according to different criteria; let’s look at the main options.
Depending on who is communicating, the following types of communication are distinguished:
● on behalf of the entire brand
“We, Canyon, present our new bike”;
● personalized
on behalf of a specific employee, for example, the company director, ambassador , etc.
Another classification is based on the format of communication:
● formal communication
for example, an official presentation of a new company product;
● informal communication
for example, between an employee and a customer he knows in an offline store.
Another option involves division by focus of communication:
● external
aimed at the external market (customers and suppliers, manufacturers, partners, contractors, etc. interacting with the brand);
● internal
aimed at the company’s employees (for example, this could be HR communications).
Within the listed types of communication there are subcategories that largely depend on the established branding and tone of voice.
Marketing communications tools
Let’s take a closer look at the main marketing communications tools.
● Advertising
Its format depends on the distribution channel. It can be an Internet banner, an ad in the Irbitsky Vestnik newspaper, a message on a website, a printed flyer, a video in the subway or an audio message. Often such communication promises benefits to the potential audience, talks about discounts, promotions, sales, etc.
● PR
developing and maintaining a positive reputation. For example, these could be charity events such as “Mercy Miles” or “Give Grandma a Festive Dinner,” business participation in environmental, educational projects, and other socially significant initiatives.
● Event marketing
is an effective way of bringing a brand and audience into contact, through which the audience receives positive emotions, a sense of belonging to the “family” of a favorite brand, gifts, including branded ones, the opportunity to see performances by popular artists, etc. The goal of this communication tool is to reach the maximum potential audience. For example, the VK Fest community on the social network has more than two million subscribers. The festival is supported by Alfa-Bank.
● Sponsorship
is an effective way to be remembered by the target audience. For example, Red Bull organizes and sponsors many extreme sports competitions, from downhill to Formula 1.
● Product placement
(from the English product placement – “product placement”) is the demonstration of a brand, its goods or services in content: films, games, books, etc. The Bond films contain many such examples: James Bond advertises expensive cars, watches and even beer.
How to Develop Marketing Communications: Steps
Step 1. Choose which target audience the company will address
This may be a message for the entire target audience or for one segment of potential buyers of a product or service. It is important to imagine a general portrait of your target audience , its interests and needs.
Step 2. Determine the meaning that needs to be conveyed
For example, “we are about sports”, “we are about health”, “we are about peace”, “we are about quality and speed”, etc. It is desirable that the semantic message be short, two or three words. You should not try to fit the entire brand strategy and extensive meanings into such a message: “Our goal is to achieve peace throughout the world, happiness and well-being of all mankind by saving the whales of Greenland and the disappearing forests of Siberia”. This can be expressed more simply: “We are for the environment”.
Step 3: Choose a message format
Determine how best to convey your message to your audience: through a picture, text, video, or a special event.
Step 4. Identify placement channels and platforms with a focus on the target audience
It is important to correlate the relevance of the message and the audience on the platform. It would be strange to look for buyers of dog hair belts for radiculitis on TikTok and, conversely, advertise premium tours to the Maldives in the newspaper “Looking for a Job”, published in the regional center with a circulation of 5,000 copies.
Step 5. Decide on metrics
Decide how to evaluate the results of communication and what numbers and indicators to count: reach, transitions, clicks, likes or the number of queries in Yandex Wordstat. The selected metrics need to be measured before the start and after the marketing communication. The period – in a week or in a month there will be a result – depends on the channel: for example, in social networks, feedback comes quickly.
Step 6. We receive and analyze the intermediate results
We compare the metrics and draw conclusions about the success or failure of this marketing communication.
Step 7. Adjust or scale communications depending on the intermediate results
Continue moving in the given direction, test another message or launch a new communication channel.
How to evaluate effectiveness
Marketing communication effectiveness metrics vary depending on the channel. Here are some of them:
● ROI (Return On Investment)
return on investment in different channels and formats. This is the difference between invested and earned money. But it is important to consider that it is difficult to estimate the amount of money earned through marketing communications; more often, it is the result of using several tools.
● Reach
the number of users from the entire audience who saw the marketing message.
● Various indices
for example, the number of registrations for an event or the overall number of visitors to a festival, holiday, race, etc.
● The number of clicks, likes, views, reposts, and forwards
social media metrics.
For each channel, metrics must be calculated separately, depending on which message format was selected.
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Examples of use
There are many examples on the market where companies have made mistakes in marketing communications or large-scale advertising campaigns: they made mistakes with the audience, chose the wrong channel, and generally built communications incorrectly. Not only does this not lead to sales growth, but it can also cause the opposite effect: negativity from the audience, inspections by regulatory agencies, or even fines.
For example, several years ago, Burger King regularly released provocative advertising messages that turned into viral content. They attracted the attention of not only the audience, but also the Federal Antimonopoly Service, which conducted an audit of the creatives. As a result, the company was fined for using obscene language: the FAS equated the proposal to distribute electronic points, abbreviated “E-points”, to it. Such a communication result can hardly be called successful.
Another high-profile example of ambiguous marketing communications is the Chistaya Liniya advertising campaign dedicated to taste buds. Some people found the cartoon characters cute, while some viewers found them unpleasant and even vulgar.
An interesting example of marketing communication with a clear positive result is the image of the sailor Popeye from the eponymous cartoon of 1933. The superhero received his strength by constantly eating spinach. After the release of the cartoon, the consumption of this plant in America increased by 33%.
In conclusion, we will give an example of unsuccessful marketing communication, when the brand did not reach the target audience and could not correctly convey the meaning and formulate its idea. In the early 2000s, Danone released a yogurt for teenagers called “Skeletons”. The brand wanted to convey a message about the benefits of dairy products and calcium for strengthening the skeleton. But the “scary” yogurts caused rejection among parents, and later the Russian Orthodox Church and the Commission on the Ethics of Social Advertising joined in the indignation – the project was shut down.
