Indira Management Review

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Marketing Communications Management Concepts & Theories, Cases and Practices


Affiliations
1 Commerce & Management, Career College, and Career Institute of International Management, Barkatullah University Bhopal, M.P, India
 

The way marketing communications are used by organizations to reach target audiences has changed significantly in recent years. Once, the emphasis was on promoting 'to' audiences through an acquisition and persuasion orientation, now it is about communicating 'with' audiences, where the focus is on interaction and relationships. The traditional promotional mix was based on the five main communications tools but it is argued that this is no longer representative of contemporary communications practice and an increasingly complex media environment. It appears that the promotional mix approach does not reflect current industry practice neither does it complement contemporary marketing theory. It is accepted that there has been debate about the efficacy of the mix as a concept (Copley, 2012) but the emphasis of this paper is on the exploration of the validity of the promotional mix as a model for explaining how modern marketing communications are operationalized. It considers some of the practical and theoretical issues associated with this convention, and it reviews the way in which the tools and media are used as a focus for understanding the ways in which organizations communicate. Finally, a new framework is presented which, it is hoped, will stimulate discussion and further research in order to better represent both marketing theory and marketing communications practice. The promotional mix element of the 4Ps marketing mix has become established as the conventional method to express the way organizations promote their products and services. Commonly agreed to consist of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and more recently, direct marketing, each tool possesses different properties and capabilities. As a result, the promotional mix can be assembled in a variety of ways to achieve different outcomes, both cognitive and behavioural. However, ideas that organizations should promote and hence persuade customers to think and behave in particular ways have changed.

Keywords

Marketing Communications Mix, Media, Messages, Target Audience, Financial Resources.
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Balanchine, David, (2012), Dialogue and its role in the development of relationship specific knowledge, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 19, 2, p 114-123

  • Belch, George E. and Belch Michael, A. (2010), Advertising and Promotion, 6e, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin

  • Broody, Roderick J. (2012), the challenge to include relational concepts, Marketing Theory, 2, (4), 339-343

  • Chen, Aimee. And Wells, William. (2009), Attitude toward the site, Journal of Advertising Research, 39, (5), September/October, pp27-37

  • Fay, John. And Smither, Alan (2012), Strategic Marketing and the Resource Based View of the Firm, Academy of Marketing Science Review [Online] (10)

  • Fill, Chris. (2009), Marketing Communications; engagement, strategies and practice, 4e, Harlow: FT Prentice Hall

  • Fill, Chris. and Hughes, Graham. (2012), remixing marketing communications: perspectives on the role and value of the promotional mix, Academy of Marketing Conference, London, July.

  • Goldsmith Ronald, E. and Lafferty, Barbara, A. (2011), Consumer response to web sites and their influence on advertising effectiveness, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, 12, 4, pp 318-328

  • Gilliland, David, I. and Johnston, Wesley, J. (2010), towards a model of marketing communications effects. Industrial Marketing Management, 26, pp. 15-29.

  • Gringos, Christian, (2012), the relationship marketing process: communication, interaction, dialogue, value, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 19, 2, p99-113

  • Hall, James. (2009), if it isn't broke: why Marks & Spencer is opting for an old fashioned Crambo, Sunday Telegraph, 12 November.

  • Kumar, Amend and Bruner, Gordon C. (2010), Web commercials and advertising hierarchy of effects, Journal of Advertising Research, 40, (1) January/February, pp35-42

  • Lutz, Richard J., Mackenzie, Scott B. and Belch, George E. (2010), Attitude toward the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness. Advances in Consumer Research X. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research.

  • McNeil, Ian R. (2012), Values in Contract: internal and external, Northwestern Law Review, 78 (2) 340-418


Abstract Views: 489

PDF Views: 210




  • Marketing Communications Management Concepts & Theories, Cases and Practices

Abstract Views: 489  |  PDF Views: 210

Authors

Joshua O. Miluwi
Commerce & Management, Career College, and Career Institute of International Management, Barkatullah University Bhopal, M.P, India

Abstract


The way marketing communications are used by organizations to reach target audiences has changed significantly in recent years. Once, the emphasis was on promoting 'to' audiences through an acquisition and persuasion orientation, now it is about communicating 'with' audiences, where the focus is on interaction and relationships. The traditional promotional mix was based on the five main communications tools but it is argued that this is no longer representative of contemporary communications practice and an increasingly complex media environment. It appears that the promotional mix approach does not reflect current industry practice neither does it complement contemporary marketing theory. It is accepted that there has been debate about the efficacy of the mix as a concept (Copley, 2012) but the emphasis of this paper is on the exploration of the validity of the promotional mix as a model for explaining how modern marketing communications are operationalized. It considers some of the practical and theoretical issues associated with this convention, and it reviews the way in which the tools and media are used as a focus for understanding the ways in which organizations communicate. Finally, a new framework is presented which, it is hoped, will stimulate discussion and further research in order to better represent both marketing theory and marketing communications practice. The promotional mix element of the 4Ps marketing mix has become established as the conventional method to express the way organizations promote their products and services. Commonly agreed to consist of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and more recently, direct marketing, each tool possesses different properties and capabilities. As a result, the promotional mix can be assembled in a variety of ways to achieve different outcomes, both cognitive and behavioural. However, ideas that organizations should promote and hence persuade customers to think and behave in particular ways have changed.

Keywords


Marketing Communications Mix, Media, Messages, Target Audience, Financial Resources.

References