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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.
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A Basic Model of Communication: Two
elements represent the major participants in the communication process, the
sender and the receiver. Another two are the major communication tools, message
and channel. Four others are the major communication functions and processes:
encoding, decoding, response, and feedback. The last element, noise, refers to
any extraneous factors in the system that can interfere with the process and
work against effective communication.
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Source Encoding: The sender, or source, of a communication is the person or
organization that has information to share with another person or group of
people. The source may be an individual (say, a salesperson or hired
spokesperson, such as a celebrity, who appears in a company’s advertisements)
or a non-personal entity (such as the corporation or organization itself).The
communication process begins when the source selects words, symbols, pictures,
and the like, to represent the message that will be delivered to the
receiver(s). This process, known as encoding, involves putting thoughts, ideas,
or information into a symbolic form.
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Message: The encoding process leads to development of a message that
contains the information or meaning the source hopes to convey. The message may
be verbal or nonverbal, oral or written, or symbolic. Messages must be put into
a transmittable form that is appropriate for the channel of communication being
used.
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Channel: The channel is the method by which the communication travels from the
source or sender to the receiver. At the broadest level, channels of
communication are of two types, personal and non-personal. Personal channels of
communication are direct interpersonal (face-to-face) contact with target
individuals or groups. Non-personal channels of communication are those that
carry a message without interpersonal contact between sender and receiver. Non-
personal channels are generally referred to as the mass media or mass
communications, since the message is sent to many individuals at one time.
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Receiver/Decoding: The receiver is the person(s) with whom the sender shares thoughts
or information. Generally, receivers are the consumers in the target market or
audience who read, hear, and/or see the marketer’s message and decode it. Decoding
is the process of transforming the sender’s message back into thought. This
process is heavily influenced by the receiver’s frame of reference or field of
experience, which refers to the experiences, perceptions, attitudes, and values
he or she brings to the communication situation.
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Noise: Throughout the communication process, the message is subject to
extraneous factors that can distort or interfere with its reception. This
unplanned distortion or interference is known as noise. Noise may also occur
because the fields of experience of the sender and receiver don’t overlap. Lack
of common ground may result in improper encoding of the message—using a sign,
symbol, or words that are unfamiliar or have different meaning to the receiver.
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Response/Feedback: The receiver’s set of reactions after seeing, hearing, or reading
the message is known as a response. Receivers’ responses can range from
non-observable actions such as storing information in memory to immediate
action such as dialing a toll-free number to order a product advertised on
television. Marketers are very interested in feedback, that part of the
receiver’s response that is communicated back to the sender. Feedback, which
may take a variety of forms, closes the loop in the communications flow and
lets the sender monitor how the intended message is being decoded and received.
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Identifying the Target Audience
§ The marketing communication process really begins with identifying
the audience that will be the focus of the firm’s advertising and promotional
efforts.
§ The target market may consist of individuals who have specific needs
and for whom the communication must be specifically tailored. This often
requires person-to person communication and is generally accomplished through
personal selling.
§ Response Process
§ Perhaps the most important aspect of developing effective
communication programs involves understanding the response process the receiver
may go through in moving toward a specific behavior like purchasing a product) and how the
promotional efforts of the marketer influence consumer responses. In many
instances, the marketer’s only objective may be to create awareness of the
company or brand name, which may trigger interest in the product. In other situations,
the marketer may want to convey detailed information to change consumers’ knowledge
of and attitudes toward the brand and ultimately change their behavior.
§ Traditional Response
Hierarchy Models
§ A number of models have been developed to depict the stages a
consumer may pass through in moving from a state of not being aware of a
company, product, or brand to actual purchase behavior.
§ Hierarchy of effects model shows the process by which advertising works; it assumes a consumer
passes through a series of steps in sequential order from initial awareness of
a product or service to actual purchase. A basic premise of this model is that
advertising effects occur over a period of time.
§ The innovation adoption model
evolved from work on the diffusion of innovations. This model represents the
stages a consumer passes through in adopting a new product or service. Like the
other models, it says potential adopters must be moved through a series of
steps before taking some action (in this case, deciding to adopt a new
product). The steps preceding adoption are awareness, interest, evaluation, and
trial.
§ The final hierarchy model is the information processing model of advertising effects, developed by
William McGuire. This model assumes the receiver in a persuasive communication
situation like advertising is an information processor or problem solver.
§ Evaluating Traditional
Response Hierarchy Models :The cognitive stage
represents what the receiver knows or perceives about the particular product or
brand. This stage includes awareness that the brand exists and knowledge,
information, or comprehension about its attributes, characteristics, or
benefits. The affective stage refers to the receiver’s feelings or affect level
(like or dislike) for the particular brand. This stage also includes stronger
levels of affect such as desire, preference, or conviction. The conative or
behavioral stage refers to the consumer’s action toward the brand: trial,
purchase, adoption, or rejection. All four models assume a similar ordering of
these three stages. Cognitive development precedes affective reactions, which
precede behavior. One might assume that consumers become aware of and
knowledgeable about a brand, develop feelings toward it, form a desire or
preference, and then make a purchase. While this logical progression is often
accurate, the response sequence does not always operate this way.
§ Alternative Response Hierarchies
§ Michael Ray has developed a model of information processing that
identifies three alternative orderings of the three stages based on perceived
product differentiation and product involvement.
§ Standard learning model, which consists of a learn → feel → do
sequence. Information and knowledge acquired or learned about the various
brands are the basis for developing affect, or feelings, that guide what the consumer
will do (e.g., actual trial or purchase). In this hierarchy, the consumer is
viewed as an active participant in the communication process who gathers
information through active learning.
§ The Dissonance/Attribution Hierarchy
§ A second response hierarchy proposed by Ray involves situations
where consumers first behave, then develop attitudes or feelings as a result of
that behavior, and then learn or process information that supports the
behavior. This dissonance/attribution model, or do →feel →learn, occurs in
situations where consumers must choose between two alternatives that are
similar in quality but are complex and may have hidden or unknown attributes.
The consumer may purchase the product on the basis of a recommendation by some
non-media source and then attempt to support the decision by developing a
positive attitude toward the brand and perhaps even developing negative
feelings toward the rejected alternative(s). This reduces any post-purchase
dissonance or anxiety the consumer may experience resulting from doubt over the
purchase
§ The Low-Involvement Hierarchy
§ Perhaps the most intriguing of the three response hierarchies
proposed by Ray is the low-involvement hierarchy, in which the receiver is
viewed as passing from cognition to behavior to attitude change. This learn→ do
→ feel sequence is thought to characterize situations of low consumer
involvement in the purchase process. Ray suggests this hierarchy tends to occur
when involvement in the purchase decision is low, there are minimal differences
among brand alternatives, and mass-media (especially broadcast) advertising is
important
§ Understanding Involvement
§ Involvement is viewed as a variable that can help explain how
consumers process advertising information and how this information might affect
message recipients. One problem that has plagued the study of involvement has
been agreeing on how to define and measure it. Advertising managers must be able
to determine targeted consumers’ involvement levels with their products.
§ The FCB Planning Model: An interesting approach to analyzing the communication situation
comes from the work of Richard Vaughn of the Foote, Cone & Belding
advertising agency. Vaughn and his associates developed an advertising planning
model by building on traditional response theories such as the hierarchy of
effects model and its variants and research on high and low involvement
§ Cognitive Processing of
Communications
§ The hierarchical response models were for many years the primary
focus of approaches for studying the receivers’ responses to marketing
communications. Attention centered on identifying relationships between
specific controllable variables (such as source and message factors) and
outcome or response variables (such as attention, comprehension, attitudes, and
purchase intentions). This approach has been criticized on a including its
black-box nature, since it can’t explain what is causing these reactions. In
response to these concerns, researchers began trying to understand the nature
of cognitive reactions to persuasive messages.
§ Product/Message Thoughts: The first
category of thoughts comprises those directed at the product or service and/or
the claims being made in the communication. Much attention has focused on two
particular types of responses, counterarguments and support arguments.
Counterarguments are thoughts the recipient has that are opposed to the
position taken in the message.
§ Source-Oriented Thoughts: A second category of cognitive responses is directed at the source
of the communication. One of the most important types of responses in this
category is source derogations, or negative thoughts about the spokesperson or
organization making the claims.
§ Ad Execution Thoughts: The third category of cognitive responses
consists of the individual’s thoughts about the ad itself. Ad execution-related
thoughts can be either favorable or unfavorable. They are important because of
their effect on attitudes toward the advertisement as well as the brand.
Attitude toward the ad (A → ad) represents the receivers’ feelings of
favorability or un-favorability toward the ad.
§ Elaboration Likelihood
Model: The Elaboration Likelihood Model differences
in the ways consumers’ process and respond to persuasive messages are addressed
in the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion. It explains the
process by which persuasive communications (such as ads) lead to persuasion by
influencing attitudes. According to this model, the attitude formation or
change process depends on the amount and nature of elaboration, or processing,
of relevant information that occurs in response to a persuasive message. High
elaboration means the receiver engages in careful consideration, thinking, and
evaluation of the information or arguments contained in the message. Low
elaboration occurs when the receiver does not engage in active information
processing or thinking but rather makes inferences about the position being
advocated in the message on the basis of simple positive or negative cues.
§ Implications: The elaboration
likelihood model has important implications for marketing communications,
particularly with respect to involvement. For example, if the involvement level
of consumers in the target audience is high, an ad or sales presentation should
contain strong arguments that are difficult for the message recipient to refute
or counter argue. If the involvement level of the target audience is low,
peripheral cues may be more important than detailed message arguments.
§ Summarizing the Response
Process and the Effects of Advertising