IJCEM International Journal of Computational Engineering & Management, Vol. 12, April 2011
ISSN (Online): 2230-7893
www.IJCEM.org
IJCEM
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129
Effective Communication and Marketing
Dr. Rajiv Kaushik
Professor Department of Management,
Vaish College of Engineering,
Rohtak (Haryana)
Email address:
rajivkaushikprince@gmail.com
Abstract
Effective Communication is supplementary to marketing. It
makes marketing campaign memorable and develops an
emotional link between the marketer and target audience.
When a piece of communication is to the point, relevant,
worthwhile, and compelling, it moves audience —
prospect — to consumer. For effective communication
marketers instead of relying only on advertisement are
using integrated marketing communication. Effective
communication has to be both creative and effective. New
ideas which developed emotional touch point with
consumer proved fruitful. Sometimes irreverence generates
new ideas for effective communication.
Keywords
:
Comprehension, Connection, Credibility,
Contagiousness, Integrated Marketing Communication,
Effectiveness or Creativity, Decline or Repetitive Ad and
Irreverence.
1. Introduction
Good communication skills are skills that facilitate people
to communicate effectively with one another. Effectual
communication
engages
the
choice
of
the
best
communications channel, the technical know-how to use
the channel, the presentation of information to the target
audience, and the skill to understand responses received
from others. Self development, interpersonal skills, mutual
understanding, mutual cooperation and trust is also
important to set a complete channel of most effective and
winning communication skills.
There are mainly three types of communication skills,
expressive skills, listening skills and skills for managing
the overall process of communication. The basic
fundamental of all these types of communication is
emotional
skills.
Expressive skills are required to convey message to others
through words, facial expressions and body language.
Listening skills are skills that are used to obtain messages
or information from others. These help to clearly
understand what a person feels and thinks about you or
understand the other person closely. Skills for managing
the overall process of communication help to recognize the
required information and develop a strong hold on the
existing rules of communication and interaction.
The ability to communicate is the primary factor that
distinguishes human beings from animals. And it is the
ability to communicate well that distinguishes one
individual from another.
2. Effective Communication in Marketing
When it is a matter of business success, importance of
effective communication skills cannot be underrated.
What makes marketing campaign, TV/Radio commercial,
product design memorable? Why we dread opening certain
senders‘ emails, but open others as soon as they land in
your inbox? Why do you listen to certain politicians or
business leaders, and glaze over at the very mention of
others?
It‘s all about messaging. When a piece of communication
is to the point, relevant, worthwhile, and compelling, it
moves you — the listener or reader — to action.
Moving people is not magic — it‘s all about effective
communication.
Anyone
can
achieve
effective
communication by using a simple tool that has an uncanny
ability to pinpoint why any message works or doesn‘t
work, and how to improve it. It‘s called the 4Cs Model,
which stands for Comprehension, Connection, Credibility,
and Contagiousness.
The 4Cs Model was originally developed as an assessment
tool for evaluating the impact of advertising and marketing
materials. Brands such as Dunkin‘ Donuts, Suave
Shampoo, and Breyers Ice Cream used the 4Cs Model to
develop marketing campaigns that really spoke to people
and built an emotional connection with their consumers.
The 4Cs Model of Effective Communication
The 4Cs model is a useful tool for objectively evaluating
the effectiveness of many forms of communication: what‘s
working, what isn‘t working, and why. The 4Cs can assess
marketing
communication,
as
well
as
business
communication, political communication, entertainment,
and plain old everyday person-to-person communication,
from email and blogging to relationship talk.
IJCEM International Journal of Computational Engineering & Management, Vol. 12, April 2011
ISSN (Online): 2230-7893
www.IJCEM.org
IJCEM
www.ijcem.org
130
The First C: Comprehension
Does the audience get the message, the main idea, and the
point? What does the message instantly communicate? Can
the audience play the message back? This confirms that
they ―get it‖ and the first C is working. Here are three tips
for better comprehension:
Make the message clear and sharp.
Repetition helps. Tell them what you‘re going to tell them;
next, tell them; and then tell them what you told them.
Keep it simple - don‘t go too deep.
The Second C: Connection
Making a connection with a communicated idea or
message means not only that the audience ―gets it,‖ but that
it resonates with them, has meaning and significance for
them, and usually triggers an irrational or emotional
response: frustration, excitement, anger, passion, joy,
happiness, sadness, and so on. When connection is there, it
will spark new behaviors‘ and actions.
The Third C: Credibility
The audience needs to believe
who
is saying it (the brand
or messenger‘s voice),
what
is being said, and
how
it is
being said. Otherwise, any connection begins to break
down - immediately. Credibility is the critical C, because
the audience may completely understand a communicator‘s
message, and even connect with it on an emotional level,
then promptly turn around and say that coming from this
particular source: company, political candidate, supervisor,
whatever, they aren‘t buying it.
The Fourth C: Contagiousness
In communications, contagiousness is a good thing. You
want your audience to ―catch the message,‖ run with it, and
spread it around. Think of the last time you saw a TV ad
that was so funny or clever that you discussed it with your
friends, found yourself re-enacting it, or repeated the
slogan
or
catch
phrase
in
conversations.
That‘s
contagiousness. To be contagious, a message has to be
energetic, new, different, and memorable. It should also
evoke a vivid emotional response, have ―talk‖ potential,
motivate the target to do something, and elicit a
demonstrable reaction.
3. Integrated Marketing Communication
Instead of relying on one or two components of marketing
communication, marketers now days are using integrated
marketing communication for effective communication.
The goal of selecting the elements of proposed integrated
marketing communications is to create a campaign that is
effective and consistent across media platforms. Some
marketers may want only ads with greatest breadth of
appeal: the executions that, when combined, provide the
greatest number of attention-getting, branded, and
motivational moments. Others may only want ads with the
greatest depth of appeal: the ads with the greatest number
of attention-getting, branded, and motivational points
within each.
Although integrated marketing communications is more
than just an advertising campaign, the bulk of marketing
rupees is spent on the creation and distribution of
advertisements. Hence, the bulk of the research budget is
also spent on these elements of the campaign. Once the key
marketing pieces have been tested, the researched elements
can then be applied to other contact points: letterhead,
packaging, logistics, customer service training, and more,
to complete the IMC cycle.
One common type of integrated marketing communication
is personal selling. Personal selling can be defined as "face
to face selling in which a seller attempts to persuade a
buyer to make a purchase."
Personal selling is occasionally called the "last 3 feet" of
the marketing functions. It is called the "last 3 feet"
because this is usually the distance between a salesperson
and his customer on the retail sales floor. The ―last 3 feet‖
also applies to the distance across the desk from a sales
representative to his prospective business customer.
Personal selling occurs in two main categories:
1. Retail sales
2. Business-to-business selling
IJCEM International Journal of Computational Engineering & Management, Vol. 12, April 2011
ISSN (Online): 2230-7893
www.IJCEM.org
IJCEM
www.ijcem.org
131
4. Effectiveness or Creativity
Global Effie Award is presented for effective brand
communication. In contrast with creative awards that
reward creative brilliance, the Effie awards go beyond the
craft, and reward proven effectiveness in terms of return on
communication investments. So can a communication be
effective, if it is not creative? Or can it be creative, if it is
not effective? Great communication has to be both creative
and effective! While this is the professed theory, Shelly
Lazarus‘s comparison of winners of Cannes creative
awards and Global Effie awards over past 40 years showed
that there were only two years that both of these top
awards went to the same campaign: Apple Macintosh 1984
campaign in 1984 and Dove real beauty campaign in 2007!
Clearly, creative awards were not concerned with
effectiveness, and perhaps the vice-versa. While former
celebrates of craft, the latter celebrates very purpose of
advertising.
It can be argued that in life, creativity usually pays back in
terms of effectiveness. That J K Rowling‘s creation of
Harry Potter made her very rich is just one example. Box
Office success of cinema, music and other performing arts
also prove the premise that it pays to be creative. The new
era success of social networks, Google and other search
engines also points in this direction. Why it should be any
different in advertising? Most advertising gurus mouth
common goal of creativity and effectiveness, but do they
really believe in it?
5. Decline or Repetitive Ad
Audience have (fortunately) left behind an era when it was
possible to get sales, or effectiveness based on high decibel
repetition. In that era, as long as product or service had a
functional superiority , sales would happen simply by
bringing that point of difference alive; and repeating the
communication again and again until the consumer gets it.
Remember the hugely successful Nirma, Nirma jingle of
1980s?
Today functional superiority of products lasts for at least
six months, before being replicated. In service categories,
time is even shorter. With many brands within the category
claiming the same functional superiority, the consumer has
learnt to discount these claims. And thanks to increased
volume of advertising, consumer have learnt to selectively
discard messages that mean nothing to them, even if the
repetition is high.
The task of communication has become more challenging.
Effectiveness from communication is a daunting task in a
world where most consumers are naturally wary of
advertising and are taking active steps to expunge it! And
functional superiority of the product or service is no longer
a luxury that is available to marketers. In this new world,
the ad has to connect emotionally to get noticed. And it has
to connect in a relevant way too, for the sale to happen.
6. The Idea Wins!
To
be
able
to
achieve
these
twin
objectives,
communicators and marketers have to get creative even
before the so called ‗creative process‘ begins within the
agency. Creativity has to be deployed to synthesise all that
we know about our consumer‘s attitudes and behaviour
into a simple statement of what the brand stands for. This
tightly defined brand essence or ‗Brand Idea‘ than has to
permeate and come to life all touch points of interaction
with consumers-advertising included.
Apple Computer‘s core idea of ―Think Different‖ is one
good example. This idea was born in 1984, and still drives
the key differentiation for the company and its products
whether it is the iMac, iPod or iPhone. Once a great brand
idea was discovered, it can help shape products, help select
distribution environments, help create communication. A
good brand idea is worth many times more than a good ad,
because in the end, big idea wins and good ads do not.
‗Impossible is nothing‘ idea of Adidas liberated it from
shackles of traditional print and TV advertising. In Japan,
it led to the creation of giant billboard, replicating a
vertical football field, where performers played football on
a vertical surface live. It was an awe-inspiring spectacle
that brought alive the core thought ‗Impossible is Nothing‘
through the sheer innovative choice of the medium.
7. Irreverence
Sir John Hegarty‘s presentation argued for ‗irreverence‘ as
an important ingredient in the discovery of big ideas.
Through a study of art and pop culture over the centuries,
even predating advertising, he demonstrated the power of
irreverence to create ideas that connected with the real
people. Jazz music, for example, was born out of
irreverence of under-class.
Rules are boring because they lead to consistent,
established way of interpreting our lives. Irreverence frees
and forces us to look at the world in different and
challenging way. Observation of the brand and category
through rule free, irreverent eyes leads to the visibility of
some simple truths that could become big ideas. Truth that
was invisible under the weight of rule-book. These are the
truths that build big long term ideas for brands.
IJCEM International Journal of Computational Engineering & Management, Vol. 12, April 2011
ISSN (Online): 2230-7893
www.IJCEM.org
IJCEM
www.ijcem.org
132
8. Conclusion:
Effective communication helps the marketers to achieve
their
objective.
Anyone
can
achieve
effective
communication by using a simple tool that has an uncanny
ability to pinpoint why any message works or doesn‘t
work, and how to improve it. With the help of 4 C model
one
can
assess
the
effectiveness
of
marketing
communication message. Impact of integrated marketing
communication is much more than advertisement alone in
effective communication of brand messages. Brand
messages should innovative, relevant, creative and
worthwhile for effective communication.
References
:
1.1
Clow, Kenneth E.; Baack, Donald (2007).
Integrated
Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications
3rd edition
. Pearson Education. pp. 9–10.
1.2
Pranesh Mishra; The Economics Times of India, New
Delhi published on 10.12.2008.
1.3
www.marketingprofs.com
1.4
www.entrepreneur.com
1.5
en.wikipedia.org
1.6
www.mail
marketing
.com
About Author
: Dr. Rajiv Kaushik is presently working as
Professor in department of management, Vaish College of
Engineering, Rohtak. He is having more than 15 years of
experience both in industry and academia. He has
conducted MDPs in HIPA & SISI. His area of interest is
marketing, retailing and strategic management.
