IBM 3643

Topic 4: The Communication Process

Note: The content is based on Advertising and Promotion. An Integration Marketing

Communications Perspective (Belch & Belch). McGraw Hill Education.
 The purpose and overview of this chapter:

• To understand the basic elements of the communications process and the role of
communications in IMC.
• To examine various models of the communication process.
• To examine the important role of word-of mouth influence and viral marketing.
• To analyze the response process of receivers of marketing communications including
alternative response hierarchies and their implications for promotional planning and
strategy.
• To understand how the consumer decision process is influenced by social media.
• To examine the nature of consumers’ cognitive processing of marketing
communications.

.
Introduction
• The function of all elements of the integrated marketing
communications program is to communicate.

• An organization’s IMC strategy is implemented through the

various communications it sends to current or prospective
customers as well as other relevant publics.
Introduction
• Communications and Messages in a variety of ways:
– Advertisements
– brand names
– logos
– graphic systems
– Websites
– press releases
– package designs
– Promotions
The Nature of Communication
• Communication has been variously defined as the
passing of information, the exchange of ideas, or the
process of establishing a commonness or oneness of
thought between a sender and a receiver.
A Basic Model of Communication
Source/Encoding
• The sender or source of a communication is the person or organization that
has information to share with another person or group.
• Encoding is the process of putting together thoughts, ideas and
information into a symbolic form to communicate a message.
• The sender’s goal is to encode the message in such a manner so as to
ensure that it will be understood by the receiver.
Message
• The encoding process leads to the development of a message that contains
the information or meaning the source or sender hopes to convey.
• Messages can take a variety of forms and may include symbolic forms or
signs.
• Advertising messages range from simply written words or copy that will be
read or heard as a radio message to the expensive production of elaborate
television commercials with a great deal of visual impact and imagery.
 A Basic • Message
– The encoding process leads to the

Model of development of message containing

information or meaning the sender

Communi hopes to convey.

– Sometime, an ad uses image/picture
to communicate rather than words.
cation
Universal Meaning of Symbols
Channel
• The channel is the method or medium by which the
communication travels from source or sender to receiver. At
the broadest level, channels of communication exist as two
types:
– Personal
– Non-personal
Channel
• Non-Personal channel
– Those that carry a message without direct/inter-
personal contact between sender and receiver.
– Mass-media / Mass-communication
Channel
• Non-Personal channel
– Example
• TV/Radio
• Billboard
Channel
• Non-Personal channel
– Example
• What about an internet?
Channel
• Personal channel
– Direct communication between two or more persons
and can occur through personal contact (face-to-face
or other methods).
Channel
• Personal channel
– Benefits of personal channel?
• Messages can be tailors to individual receivers.
Channel
• WORD OF MOUTH as personal
channel
– WOM is information sharing
between
friends/neighbors/associates/c
o-workers and others.
– One of the most powerful
source of information.
Channel
• Buzz-marketing
– The technique many companies work hard to generate
positive word-of-mouth.
Channel
• Viral Marketing
– The act of propagating marketing relevant messages through help and
cooperation of individual consumers.
– Three major factors affecting viral marketing:
• Message characteristics
• Individual senders/receivers characteristics
• Social network characteristics
– Seeding is an important aspect of viral marketing and involves
identifying and choosing an initial group of consumers who be used to
start the diffusion or spreading of a message.
Channel
• Viral Marketing
– Viral marketing techniques should be integrated with the IMC
program.
– Research has shown that nearly 90 percent of conversations about
products, services, and brands take place off-line and face-to-face
interactions account for the vast majority of word-of-mouth
communications.
– The role of advertising in WOM is very important as a quarter of all
consumer conversations about a brand involve discussions about
advertising.

Click
Receivers/Decoding

• Receivers = audiences
• Decoding = process of transforming the sender’s
message back into thought
Noises

• The unplanned distortion or interference when communicating

messages.

• What can be examples of Noises in international marketing

communication?
Noises
• Noises in international marketing
communication
– Languages
– Cultures
Translation Problem

• Coco-Cola in China
• The Chinese characters sounded
like Coca-Cola but meant “bite
the wax tadpole”
• Change the character by
substituting four Mandarin
character but means ”can happy,
mouth happy”

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/bite-the-wax-
ta
Translation Problem

• KFC in China
• Tagline “Finger-licking
good” is wrongly
translated in Chinese to
“Eat your fingers off”
Translation Problem

• GM in Latin America
• “Nova” model in Spanish means “won’t go”.
• Later change to “Caribe”
Response/Feedback

• Responses
– Range from storing information in memory to
immediate action
• Feedback
– Communicate back to receiver's responses.
A Basic Model of Communication
ANALYZING THE RECEIVER
• To communicate effectively, marketers must have an understanding of who
their target audience is and how they need to be communicated with to
influence their decision-making process.
• The relevant audience must be identified as well as the process consumers
go through in responding to a promotional message.
• Understanding the target audience and their response process serves as an
important foundation for evaluating decisions regarding the controllable
communication variables (source, message, and channel)  Next topic
(Topic 5)
Identify the Target Audience
• The marketing communications process begins with the
identification of the audience that will be the focus of the firm’s
advertising and promotional efforts.
• The target audience can be viewed as consisting of:
– Individuals
– Group Audiences
– Market Segments
– Mass Audience
THE RESPONSE PROCESS
• An important aspect of developing effective communication
involves having an understanding of the response process the
receiver may go through and how the promotional efforts of
the market might influence this process.
– Four traditional response hierarchy models
Traditional Response Hierarchy Models

• The AIDA Model

– Attention interest desireaction
• The Hierarchy-of-Effects Model
– Awarenessknowledgelikingpreferenceconvictionpurchase
• The Innovation-Adoption Model
– Awareness interest evaluation trial adoption
• The Information-Processing Model
– Presentation attention comprehension yielding retention behavior 
Implications of the traditional hierarchy models
• They delineate the series of steps or stages potential purchasers often must
be taken through to move them from a state of no or little awareness to the
point where they are ready to purchase.
• The hierarchy models can also be useful as “intermediate” measures of
communication effectiveness. Knowing where potential buyers are with
respect to the various stages of the hierarchy helps the marketers know the
specific communication task that must be performed.
• Ex: high-tech products are developing profiles of digital adopters who are
among the first to use various digital products and services.
Alternative Response Hierarchy Models
• Research and theorizing over the past two decades has led to a
questioning of the cognitive  affective  conative sequence
of the response process and has resulted in the development of
alternative orderings of these stages.
• Michael Ray’s “three-orders” model of information processing
identifies three alternative orderings of these stages based on
perceived product differentiation and product involvement.
Alternative Response Hierarchy Models
• Standard learning hierarchy—“learn  feel  do” sequence. Under this
hierarchy the receiver is viewed as an active participant in the
communications process who actively seeks or gathers information
through “active learning.”
• Dissonance/attribution hierarchy—“do  feel  learn” sequence. This
hierarchy may occur when consumers are trying to reduce postpurchase
dissonance or anxiety that results from doubt or concern over a purchase.
This dissonance reduction process involves “selective learning” whereby
the receiver seeks information that supports the choice made and avoids
information that does not bolster the wisdom of the decision.
Alternative Response Hierarchy Models
• Low-involvement hierarchy—The low involvement hierarchy is thought to
characterize situations of low consumer involvement in the purchase
process. The response hierarchy under low involvement consists of a
“learn  do  feel” sequence and the receiver is viewed as engaging in
“passive learning” and “random information catching” rather than
active information seeking.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ALTERNATIVE
RESPONSE MODELS
• From an IMC planning perspective, it is important that marketers examine
the communication situation for their product or service and determine
which type of response process is most likely to occur.
• The concept of involvement has received a great deal of attention from
consumer behavior and advertising researchers as it is viewed as a variable
that can help explain the way consumers process information and make
purchase decisions.
THE SOCIAL CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY

• The environment in which consumers evaluate brands and make purchase

decisions has changed dramatically with the growth of digital and social
media as well as the pervasiveness of personal computers, smartphones,
tablets and other digital devices which can be used to access and retrieve
information as well as share it with others.

• Research studies show that Consumers do not make purchase decisions in

the linear manner depicted by the various traditional hierarchy of effects.
THE SOCIAL CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY

• The Social Consumer Decision Journey model has four basic

stages:
– Consider
– Evaluate
– Buy
– Enjoy-advocate-bond
THE SOCIAL CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY

• This framework recognizes that consumers connect with large

numbers of brands through digital and social media channels
which are a unique component of the consumer decision
journey as they are the only form of marketing that can touch
and influence consumers at each and every stage.
THE SOCIAL CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY

• Marketers often allocate much of their IMC budget to influencing

consumers at the consider and buy stages. However, consideration should
also be given to influencing them during the evaluate and enjoy-advocate-
bond stages as the most important incentive to buy may be another
person’s advocacy or recommendation.
• It is important for marketers to focus on the portion of their IMC budget
allocated to paid or “working” media as well as owned media that a brand
controls (websites, Facebook and Twitter pages) and earned media
generated through various forms of social media.
COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF COMMUNICATIONS

• Cognitive processing concerns how external information

(such as an advertising message) is transformed into meanings
or patterns of thought and how these meanings are combined
to form judgments. Several approaches and models have been
developed to examine the nature of consumers’ cognitive
processing of advertising messages.
COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF COMMUNICATIONS

• The Cognitive Response Approach: A commonly used method for

examining consumers cognitive processing of advertising messages is
through the assessment of their cognitive responses or thoughts that occur
to them while reading, viewing, and/or hearing the communication.
• The focus of this approach, which is commonly used by academic
researchers as well as practitioners, is to determine the types of thought
evoked by an advertising message and how these responses relate to
traditional “outcome” measures such as attitude toward the ad, brand
attitudes and purchase intention.
COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF COMMUNICATIONS

The Cognitive Response Approach: Three basic categories of cognitive responses

identified by researchers and their relationship to attitude and intention constructs
include:
• Product message thoughts—counterarguments and support arguments
• Source-oriented thoughts—source derogations and source bolsters
• Ad execution thoughts—thoughts individuals have toward the ad itself. These
thoughts can be either positive or negative and are important because they are
related to attitude toward the ad which represents the receivers’ feelings of
favorability or unfavorability toward the ad.  
 Cognitive Processing of Communications

Cognitive
Processing of
Communicatio
ns
COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF COMMUNICATIONS

• Product/Message Thought
– Counter arguments
– Support arguments
COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF COMMUNICATIONS

• Source-oriented Thought
– Source derogations  Negative thoughts about the spokesperson
or organization making the claims
– Source bolsters  Positive thoughts
COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF COMMUNICATIONS

• Ad Execution Thought
– Thought about the ad itself
– Not related to products/Serviced advertised

Ex1
Ex2
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
• The model is popular for analyzing differences in the
way consumers process and respond to persuasive
messages.
• According to the ELM, there are two basic processes
or routes to persuasion, which are based on
motivation and ability to process the message.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
• Two Routes to Persuasions
– Central: the receiver is viewed as a very active and involved participant
in the communications process whose ability and motivation to attend,
comprehend and evaluate a message are very high.
– Peripheral: the receiver is viewed as lacking motivation or ability to
process information and is not likely to engage in detailed cognitive
processing. (The receiver may use “peripheral cues” such as focusing
on the message source or executional elements of the ad rather than
message content)
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
End of Topic 4
Discussions
• Discuss how the implications of the social consumer decision
journey framework might differ for a marketer of a high
involvement product such as a tablet computer versus a
company marketing a low-involvement product such as a soft-
drink or paper towels?
• How marketers should respond to these differences?