The communication process is the steps we take in order to successfully communicate.There are 8 stages of communication. The stages are the official message, encoding, transmission through choice of channel & medium, then comes the decoding and understanding after the transmission is done, then reception, and the response and feedback after the reception in complete.
Even if we see the current situation then we can see advertisements and communications related to COVID-19 by most of the companies, even the airline companies either international or domestic companies, all are facing these challenges, even when all the services are on hold due to LOCKDOWN.
So, this is what we are going to discuss here. This whole COVID-19 situation can help us learn the importance of the communication process.
“THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS”
The below figure demonstrates a Macro-Model with nine key contributors in an effective communication. Two represent the major parties— sender and receiver. Two represent the major tools—message and media. Four represent major communication functions—encoding, decoding, response, and feedback. The last factor in the system is noise, random and competing messages which may interfere with the intended communication.
The image which you see is the basic communication channel which we have seen a lot of times, but what we need to understand is the importance of the channel to the organisations around the world and the way marketing has to be done, despite of any situations.
We can have a clear view of the communication process and its use in the organization with the help of an example.
Example: Let’s see this whole channel through real life example.
1. SENDER- Let’s assume that the sender in the process is the Brand Manager of LIFEBUOY and is handling the account(Account means the client specifically in B2B ) of UNILEVER.
"Marketing Problem- Considering today’s world and the situation of COVID-19 the sender has a problem that the sales growth of lifebuoy is 8% with that of Dettol that is 20%."
2. ENCODING- This could be the advertising agency, and now assume that the sender above is discussing the problem and wants to create a communication that could increase the growth from 8% to 12% or more.
Minimum for this a research has to be conducted for knowing the behaviour of the consumer , and may be what we get is the antiseptic properties in Dettol is better that Lifebuoy which is the reason for slow growth.
This is where the communication channel comes in place to find out that what and how to communicate the solution to this issue so that the mindset of the consumer changes, benefitting the organization, and this is called ENCODING.
So, with this a marketing strategy has to be created, or may be a new product (such as Lifebuoy +) to show the antiseptic properties, as that may be the reason for slow growth rate.
3. TRANSMISSION DEVICE- Consists of MEDIA BUYER or the MEDIA PLANNER. This also includes Media Vehicle and Media Type. Media is considered to be the most expensive part of the communication.
4. RECEIVER- This is none other that the customer himself/herself.
5.DECODING: This is that part of the communication channel that is done by the customer himself/herself after the message is received by the customer from the sender.
After all this a research has to be done to solve the problem. Let's assume that a research has been conducted as per the requirement that was to increase the propensity of the purchase of our product that is LIFEBUOY as per the example.
Example: Earlier the propensity of purchase was 40% and requirement is to increase it to 50% which means that if 2 times DETTOL is being purchased then the chance of purchasing LIFEBUOY will be 1.
6. FEEDBACK: This is after the research is done and the feedback from the consumer is received i.e. the consumer research. This is done to check that weather the objective has been achieved or not.?
7. NOISE- Noise in this whole process in the advertisement clutter, as because we are bombarded with advertisements through different modes, such as YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK, TELEVISION etc.
This at times lead to “Perceptual Blocking” which means the customer ignores the advertisement.
And these perceptual blocking is handled buy the companies by showing the same advertisement multiple time in multiple platforms, which is known by the term “ROAD BLOCKING” which is part of the company tactics.
And, this was all about the basics of the communication process.
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