Module 3

Chapter 3: Persuasion in Marketing Communications

- Marketing communicators attempt to guide people towards the acceptance of a
certain belief, attitude or behaviour by using reasoning and emotional appeals. This
is known as persuasion – the basis of marketing communications
- The receiver is the targeted group of consumers with which the marketer (source)
attempts to share the marketing message. During this phase, it is important that the
consumer derives meaning from the marketing message
- There are various factors that impact on consumers’ understanding of a message:
1. Persuasion Tactics – tools of influence a marketer can use to persuade the
consumer, or increase the level of persuasion. The phrase schemer schema
captures the idea that people form rather strong and stable intuitive theories
about marketers’ efforts to influence their actions. Tools of influence that cut
across persuasion practices include:
 Reciprocation – mutual giving and receiving. e.g. offering gifts and
samples in the hope that consumers will reciprocate by purchasing
products, such as supermarket samples. The tactic of offering gifts is
more effective when the receiver perceives the gift-giver as being
honest and sincere
 Commitment – the act of pledging or engaging oneself. After people
make a choice (commitment), there often is a strong tendency to
remain faithful to that choice. Consistency is a valued human
characteristics and people who are consistent in their opinions and
actions tend to be admired for their consistency. e.g. car salespeople
requiring manager’s approval for certain prices psychologically
commit the consumer to buying the car
 Social Proof (Informational Social Influence) – the process where
consumers experience a need to socially fit into society. These
consumers, often with low self-esteem, buy products that are used by
their reference groups or opinion leaders and believe use of this
product will increase his/her social acceptance in society. In general,
people are most likely to accept the actions of others as correct when
they are unsure of themselves, the situation is unclear or ambiguous
and uncertainty reigns
 Liking – relies on the fact that people are more likely to adopt an
attitude, or undertake an action, when a likeable person promotes the
action. Two examples are physical attractiveness and similarity. e.g.
models used in marketing communications, individuals on magazine
covers and celebrity endorsers are typically attractive and likeable
people to whom consumers can relate
2. Consumers’ Brain Orientation – research shows consumers can be grouped
into a left-side brand orientation and a right-side brand orientation
 Left-side orientation – ‘thinking’ orientated, meaning the consumer is
more inclined to rational, cognitive thinking, and referred to as the
‘thinker’. Their informational needs are more prominent than their
hedonic needs, and are more attracted to those advertisements that
supply knowledge and facts
  Right-side orientation – ‘feeling’ orientated, meaning the consumer is
more inclined to be more visual, emotional and engaged more in the
affective (feeling) functions, and referred to as the ‘feeler’. Their
hedonic needs are more important than their informational needs,
and, are therefore, more attracted to those advertisements that make
them feel good and satisfy their pleasure needs
3. Product Involvement – involvement with a product is a function of the
interest of the consumer in the product and the importance the consumer
attaches to the product. The product category has thus some personal
relevance to the consumer. Normally, consumers are more attached and
involved with a product that they perceive as expensive and risky e.g.
motorcars, televisions and high fashion clothing are high-involvement
products, whereas facial cleaners, toothpaste and yoghurt are low-
involvement products
 When consumers experience low product involvement, they make
purchase decisions on limited product and brand information,
because it is not worth the time and effort. Brand evaluations and
attitudes are normally weak. The sequence of effects is knowledge,
act, feel
 When consumers experience high product involvement, they make
purchase decisions on extended product and brand information,
because the risk to buy is much higher. These consumers normally
form strong, long-term attitudes toward the product or brand. The
sequence of effects is knowledge, feel, act
- Because consumer attitudes have a direct impact on how they feel and behave, it is
necessary to investigate theories on attitudes (hypothetical constructs relating to
ingrained ways a person thinks about a person, object or issue which influences their
behaviour). From a marketing communications perspective, brands are the attitude
objects of primary interest to marketers. They are learned, are relatively enduring,
and influence behaviour
1. The tri-component model of attitudes:
 Cognitive component – a person’s beliefs – that is, his or her
knowledge and thoughts about an object or issue e.g. Mercedes-Benz
cars are well engineered
 Affective component – the positive or negative feeling/belief of the
consumer toward an object or issue e.g. I love Mercedes-Benz cars
 Conative component – a person’s behavioural tendency or
predisposition to act, towards an object e.g. I am buying a Mercedes-
Benz. It represents a person’s intention to buy a particular brand or
product
 An attitude, therefore, can be characterised by a progression
from thinking (cognitive) to feeling (affective) to behaving
(conative)
- Response refers to the consumer’s reaction to the marketer’s message. Research
suggest that persuasion occurs not from external communication per se, but from
self-generated thoughts that the receiver develops in response to persuasive
marketing communications
- There are two primary forms of cognitive responses to marketing messages:
1. Supportive arguments occur when a receiver agrees with a message
argument
2. Counter-arguments arise when the receives challenges a claim that is made
in the marketing message
- It is important that marketers understand the response processes consumers go
through. Numerous models have been developed to predict the response stages of a
consumer during marketing communication. Models investigating the movement of
consumers from one response stage to another include:
1. AIDA (Attention, Interest, Design and Action) Model – explains that is it first
necessary to attract the consumer’s attention and interest, followed by the
desire to obtain the product/service (via purchase)
2. Innovation Adoption Model – involves awareness, interest, evaluations, trial
and adoption. It states that consumers must first be aware of the product
before they may evaluate and trial it. Trial are encouraged through sales
promotion
3. Information Processing Model – involves presentation, attention,
comprehension, yielding, retention and behaviour. It differs from other
models through its focus on retention (the consumers ability to remember
the message in the advertising campaign in the future)
4. Hierarchy of Effects Model – also emphasises the importance of stages the
consumer goes through before actually purchasing the product. The stages
are awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase. An
immediate difference in this model is that advertising does not necessarily
lead to immediate buying action. Each stage must be fulfilled before the
consumer may move to the next stage
5. Foote, Cone and Belding (FCB) Planning Model – based on the Hierarchy of
Effects model, and indicates that consumers may respond differently to a
message based on their involvement with the product and their brain
orientation. The marketer can choose between four strategies:
 Informative (thinker) strategy – focuses on the rational-thinking
consumer looking for information regarding high-involvement
products. It includes the learn-feel-do approach. Media choice should
include messages with long copy format and the creative side should
focus on providing product information and demonstrations
 Affective (feeler) strategy – focuses on the emotional consumer
looking for a possible emotional arousal regarding high-involvement
products. Messages should include psychological and emotional
motives such as building self-esteem and self-image. It includes the
feel-learn-do approach. Media choice should include large space and
image specials with the creative side aiming to create executional
impact
 Habit formation (doer) strategy – focuses on the more
thinking/routinised responsive type of consumer looking for low-
involvement products. Messages should be posted as small space
advertisements, on radio or as part of the point-of-purchase display. It
 includes the do-learn-feel approach. The creative side aims to remind
the consumer about the brand
 Self-satisfaction (reactor) strategy – focuses on the more socially
orientated consumer who seeks sensory pleasures, and is looking for
low-involvement products. Messages should include billboards,
newspapers and point-of-sales displays. It includes the do-learn-feel
approach with the creative side aiming to grab the consumer’s
attention
6. Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) – a theory of persuasion and attitude
change that predicts two forms of message processing and attitude change:
central and peripheral routes. Central routes occur under high involvement
and lead to a more permanent attitude than peripheral routes do. The
elaboration likelihood represents the probability that consumers will
mentally process a marketing communications message by thinking about
and reacting to it, and comparing it with their pre-existing thoughts and
beliefs regarding the product category, the advertising brand and perhaps
competitive brands
 Elaboration occurs when consumers view a commercial that is
personally relevant to them and think about the people in the
commercial and the similarity to their family or friends, and consider
how the advertised product could benefit their lifestyle. The extent to
which a person engages in elaboration depends on that person’s:
 Motivation – high when the message relates to their present
consumption-related goals and needs, and is therefore
relevant to them
 Opportunity – restricted when a message is presented too
quickly, the sound is too low or an individual is distracted and
therefore cannot effectively process the message
 Ability – based on whether a person is familiar with the
message claims and can comprehend them
 The Central Route – when exposed to a message consisting of
message arguments and peripheral cues, the receiver’s level of
motivation, ability and opportunity will determine the elaboration
likelihood level. When high, receivers focus primarily on message
arguments rather than the peripheral cues. This situation defines the
activation of the so-called central route.
 When activated, receivers listen to, watch or read about a
brand’s attributes and benefits but do not necessarily accept
them at face value but will rather react to the arguments with
cognitive and emotional responses, offering counter-
arguments to some brand messages
o Emotion-based persuasion
o Message-based persuasion – based on the theory of
reasoned action (TORA)
 Attitude towards a particular brand is
determined by the beliefs regarding the
outcomes – or consequences – of owning the
 brand, weighed by evaluations of those
outcomes
o Attitude change strategies:
 Change beliefs
 Alter outcome evaluations, or
 Introduce a new outcome into the evaluation
process
 The Peripheral Route – when the MOA factors – motivation,
opportunity and ability – are at low levels, a different form of
persuasion is required. Specifically, when consumers are not
motivated to pay attention to and comprehend message arguments,
they may nonetheless attend to a message’s peripheral features. The
peripheral route occurs when attention is focused on processing the
peripheral (unrelated to the primary selling points in the message)
cues rather than message arguments
 Classical Conditioning – the use of a stimulus that the audience
likes, such as music, being consistently paired with the brand
name. Over time, some of the positive effects associated with
the music will transfer to the brand
 Temporary versus enduring attitude change – people only
experience a temporary change in attitude when persuaded
via the peripheral route, compared with a relatively enduring
change experienced under the central route. Thus, in
circumstances where the receivers think about and process
message arguments, the attitudes that are formed are
relatively enduring and will be comparatively stronger, more
accessible and more resistant to change, compared to
attitudes formed via the peripheral route
 Dual Routes – in general, there are combinations of central and
peripheral processes operating simultaneously, which occurs when
the MOA factors produce a moderate elaboration likelihood level
- Channel Factors:
1. The nature of the channel – the manner in which the information travels
from the source to the receiver, whether personal (face-to-face) or non-
personal (non-social and less persuasive, however allows the target audience
to read and process at their own pace)
2. The environment of the channel – each media channel communicates a
specific brand image, regardless of the advertisement. The environment
refers to the mood the program sets. Programs that communicate a more
positive mood have a more positive impact on the image of the
advertisements
 Processing time of message – persuasion is enhanced if the
communicator can reduce the time required by the consumer to read
or listen to and, ultimately, comprehend the meaning of a marketing
message. Use of pictures and imagery allows the consumer to encode
the totality of a message rather than process the information section
by section
  Consumer knowledge structures
 Accessing existing knowledge structures – to facilitate this,
marketing communicators need to provide a context for the
text or pictures e.g. verbal framing
 Development of new knowledge structures in the minds of the
consumer – accomplished by facilitating exemplar-based
learning by appealing to exemplars (specimen or models of a
concept or idea)
 Create brand benefits – the development of specific and definite
brand benefits is used extensively in marketing communications to
facilitate both consumer learning and retrieval of brand information.
It is easier for consumers to recall and retrieve tangible, rather than
abstract, information. Specific claims should be capable of being
perceived by consumers are real, evident and vivid, which can be
achieved by using definite words and readily understood examples
- During the communication model, the message contains the information the source
hopes to convey to the receiver. The main determinants of whether, and to what
extent, persuasion occurs is often the strength or quality of message arguments.
Persuasion depends on whether consumers are motivated to attend and process the
message.
- There are two forms of consumer attention: voluntary and involuntary. Marketers
try to attract voluntary attention by appealing to consumers’ needs for brand
information. Involuntary attention is usually when marketers apply techniques, such
as novel stimuli, intense or prominent cues, complex pictures and, in the case of
broadcast ads, edits and cuts to attract attention that would otherwise not be given
to the marketing message
- The factors that impact how the receiver understands the message include:
1. Message Structure
 Order of presentation – whether to place the strongest argument at
the beginning, the middle or the conclusion of the message.
Consumers remember information better when the important points
are at the beginning or the end
 Conclusion draw – the advertisement’s ability to allow consumers to
draw their own conclusion of the message, or whether the
advertisement provides an explicit firm conclusion. This is more
effective when marketers develop a clear end to the message
 Message sidedness – the advertisement’s ability to provide a one-
sided message or a two-sided message. One-sided messages only
offer positive information about the product or brand, while two-
sided provide both positive and negative. While one-sided messages
are more popular among marketers, two-sided messages are more
credible and therefore more effective for well-educated audiences
 Visual messages – the visual element of the advertisement
contributes to the persuasion level of the advertisement. It must be
decided whether the visual side is consistent with the verbal side.
When the verbal side is low, the visual side can increase recall of
brand attributes. When the verbal information is already high, the
 visual component does not increase recall. Inconsistent verbal and
visual components may increase recall and processing
2. Message Appeal
 Hedonic Needs – satisfied when consumers attend to messages that
make them feel good and satisfy their pleasure needs. People are
more likely to pay attention to those messages that they associate
with good times, enjoyment and the things they value, which are
generally derived from consuming a particular product. As these are
more experiential, television is an effective medium e.g. food
advertisements when people are driving home from work
 Informational Needs – satisfied when consumers attend to messages
that supply relevant facts and figures
 Fear Appeal – fear is an effective means of enhancing
consumer persuasion. Advertisers use feelings of fear to
motivate consumers to process information and to take action
by identifying the negative consequences of either not using
the advertised product or engaging in unsafe behaviour, such
as drink-driving, smoking or using drugs. Consequently,
audience involvement with the message is stimulated and
thereby acceptance of the message arguments is encouraged
e.g. fears of social disapproval or physical danger
o The more an audience experiences fear from an
advertised threat, the more likely they will be
persuaded to take the recommended action
o The degree of threat intensity that is effective in
evoking fear in an audience depends on how relevant
the topic is for an audience. The greater the relevance,
the lower the threat intensity needed
o Fear appeals are more effective among non-users than
users of products and services, and thus are more
effective in prevention campaigns
 Humour Appeal – advertisers turn to humour to achieve
various communication objectives: to gain attention, to guide
consumer comprehension of product claims, to influence
attitudes, to enhance recall of advertised claims and,
ultimately, to encourage consumer action
o Humorous advertisements typically involve incongruity
resolution. Incongruity exists when the meaning of an
advertisement is not immediately clear, provoking the
consumer to understand the ad’s meaning, resulting in
a more pleasant response and favourable attitude
when the meaning is eventually determined
o In general, humour is an effective method for attracting
attention to an advertisement and enhances liking of
the advertisement and brand itself, and is more
appropriate for feeling-oriented, or experiential,
products and those that are low involvement
  Guilt Appeal – attempt to trigger negative consumer emotions.
They are powerful persuaders because they motivate
emotionally mature individuals to undertake responsible
action, leading to a reduction in the level of guilt in response
to violation of standards, rules or beliefs or irresponsible
behaviour. In general, it focuses on people’s past or future
transgressions or failure to care for others
 Sex Appeal – sexual material in advertising initially captures
consumers’ attention and retains that attention for a longer
period (the stopping-power role of sex), enhances recall of
message points and evokes emotional responses such as
feelings of arousal or even lust, which may increase an
advertisement’s persuasive impact
3. Peripheral Cues
 Music – jingles, background music, popular tunes and classical
arrangements are used to attract attention, convey selling points, set
an emotional tone for an advertisement and to influence listeners’
moods. Music can attract attention, put consumers in a positive
mood, make them more receptive to message arguments and
communicate meanings about advertised products
 Motion – both attracts and directs consumer attention to the brand
name and the ad copy. It is used in TV advertising, however is more
relevant to print, which is a static medium e.g. falling objects, people
running and cars in motion are used in print ads to attract attention
 Intense Stimuli – use of stimuli that are louder, more colourful, bigger
or brighter increases the probability of attracting attention by cutting
through the clutter of marketing communication messages, making it
more difficult to avoid and leading to involuntary attention
 Celebrities – may draw attention and increase the brand image of the
endorser brand
- The source is a communicator with some marketing communications capacity – such
as an advertiser, salesperson or sales promoter. It is the person who aims a specific
message at the receiver (target audience)
- Types of sources:
1. Celebrity endorsers – well-known personalities who are known to the public
for their accomplishments in areas other than the product class endorsed.
Celebrities who are liked and respected by target audiences are more likely
to favourably influence consumers’ attitudes and behaviour towards the
endorsed brands. It is important to get the celebrity and brand match right
2. Typical-person endorsers – showing regular people – non-celebrities – using
or endorsing a product is less expensive and can avoid potential backlash
from using ‘beautiful people’ who may be resented or dismissed for having
typical showbiz physical attractiveness or other individual traits. Real people
possess a degree of credibility that likely is unsurpassed. Use of multiple
people rather than a single individual increases likelihood that an
advertisement will generate high levels of message involvement and
correspondingly, greater message elaboration and attitude influence
- Studies in source attributes show that marketers use specific sources are
spokespeople in marketing communication messages because of specific brand
attributes (credibility). Credible information sources are perceived to be reliable,
trustworthy or knowledgeable in relation to the message being conveyed.
- Consumer attitudes can be changed through a psychological process called
internalisation (when the receiver accepts the endorser’s position on an issue as
their own).
- Credibility consists of three important constructs:
1. Expertise – commonly used to influence the receiver’s acceptance of the
message. Expertise is a perceived, rather than an absolute, phenomenon.
Whether an endorser in indeed an expert is unimportant; what matters is
how the target audience perceives the endorser
2. Attractiveness – means more than simply physical attractiveness, but instead
any number of virtuous characteristics that consumers may perceive in an
endorser
 Similarity – the degree to which an endorser matches an audience in
terms of characteristics pertinent to the endorsement relationship
e.g. age, gender and ethnicity. Consumers tend to better like
individuals who share common features or traits with them
 Familiarity – the knowledge of the celebrity through repeated media
exposure. The more familiar a celebrity is, the more effective and
persuasive they will be as a spokesperson
 Likeability – fondness for the celebrity due to their physical
appearance, behaviour and personality. The more likeable, the more
persuasive they will be as a spokesperson (occurs through
identification)
 Physical Attractiveness
3. Trustworthiness – the honesty, integrity and believability of a source. A
particular endorser may be perceived as being trustworthy, but not
necessarily an expert. Their trustworthiness rests upon the audience’s
perception of his or her motivations. An endorser motivated by self-interest
will be viewed as less persuasive as someone who is regarded as having little
to gain by endorsing the brand
 Advertisers sometimes use the overheard conversation technique to
enhance trustworthiness
 Respect (level of admiration on esteem due to one’s personal
qualities and accomplishments) may also influence the audience’s
acceptance of the message

- Ethics are society’s beliefs about what is right and wrong, or what is morally
acceptable, and although the intensity of these beliefs varies between individuals,
ethics and corporate responsibility are an important element of persuasion in
marketing communications
- Research shows that when celebrity spokespeople misbehave it impacts negatively
on their brand image, in that it has a negative impact on their role model ability and
their level of trustworthiness, thus impacting the persuasion level of the campaign
- Marketers should be aware of the identity value that a brand provides to consumers,
especially during a marketing communication campaign. When loyal customers
perceive their brand as abandoning its promise, the brand can experience a total
backlash against them
- The societal marketing concept requires organisations to build social responsibility
into their marketing communications that contribute to consumer values,
satisfaction, profitability and society’s wellbeing. Therefore, organisations needs to
do more than satisfy their customers, they also need to uphold the values of the
community they operate within