Marketing Communications: Strategies, Products, and Content

Posted on Jan 28, 2025 in Business Management and Marketing

Marketing Communications

Marketing Communications encompasses all messages and media used to communicate with the market, including advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, social media marketing, branding, packaging, digital advertising, influencer marketing, word of mouth, and sponsorship.

Product Levels and Types

A product is anything offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that satisfies a need. Product levels include core, actual, and augmented products. Consumer goods are categorized as convenience, shopping, specialty, and unsought products.

Advertising Decisions

The advertising decisions process involves setting objectives, budget decisions, message decisions, media decisions, and evaluation.

Advertising Objectives

Advertising objectives include persuading, reminding, and driving immediate action.

Key Considerations

It’s important to consider the product life cycle and market share.

Message Decisions

Message Decisions: Brands must identify an appeal that produces the desired response. Common types of appeals include:

  • Rational: Appeals to the customer’s self-interest, promoting quality, performance, or price.
  • Emotional: Appeals to stir up positive or negative emotions, motivating purchase.
  • Moral: Directed to the audience’s sense of what is ‘right’ and ‘proper’.
Budget Decisions

Budget decisions can be approached in four common ways:

  1. The Affordable Method: Setting the budget based on what the company can afford. Common among small businesses, often resulting in under spending.
  2. The Percentage of Sales Method: Setting the budget at a percentage of current or forecasted sales. This method wrongly views sales as the cause of promotion rather than the result.
  3. Competitive Parity Method: Setting the promotional budget to match competitor’s outlays. Companies should consider the stage of the product life cycle.
  4. Objective & Task Method: Defining specific promotion objectives, determining the tasks needed to achieve them, and estimating the costs of each task.
Media Decisions

Media decisions involve reach, frequency, and impact.

Content Marketing

Content Marketing involves creating and sharing online material (videos, blogs, social media posts) that stimulates interest in a brand’s products and services without explicitly promoting the brand.

Building a Content Marketing Strategy

Steps include:

  1. Identifying your target audience.
  2. Defining your objectives.
  3. Choosing the type of content.
  4. Selecting digital channels.
  5. Measuring success.

Types of Social Media Content

Types of Social Media Content: content marketing, social commerce, influencer marketing, social engagement.

Social Commerce

Social commerce is selling products directly on social media platforms, encompassing the entire shopping experience.

Video Marketing

Video Marketing: includes brand story videos, demo videos, how-to videos, UGC videos, and live videos.

Culture

Culture: includes religion, aesthetics, greetings, and segmentation techniques.