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Marketing communication
Marketing communications include every activity a business undertakes to communicate with target consumers and prospects using one or more media, such as direct mail, newspapers and magazines, television, radio, billboards, telemarketing and the internet. Every customer has individual tastes and preferences and can be classified as a distinct target audience. The taste of two customers will never exactly match. So it is not feasible for manufacturers to customize products to suit the requirements of each and every customer. It is imperative for marketers to identify groups of customers who have similar attributes so that they can be targeted more effectively (Kotler, 2002).
Readiness stages of target market
The marketing communicator must know exactly in what stage the consumer is. The marketer will than be able to develop communication objectives by deciding what type of communication should be used at what stage. These objectives should be in tune with the company's marketing strategies for the product or services. A communication tool is selected depending on the objective because every communication method cannot satisfy all organizational communication needs. The marketing communication objectives of a company involve creating awareness and knowledge about the company's product or services and enhancing the image of the product by developing suitable positioning strategies (Kotler, 2002). Different readiness stages of the target market, which need to be focused by marketing communicator, are as follows:
Awareness- Marketing communicator communicates with customers to create awareness about a new product of the upgrades for an existing product. It can be seen when a company introduce its product in new market. For example, if a company is operating in the United States, it want to introduce its product in China and the people in China are not aware of the product then the company's communication objective will be to make people of China aware about its products and services.
Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers...Knowledge- If consumers are aware of a product but have little or no knowledge about it, the company's communication objective will be to increase the knowledge of potential customers about the products and services.
Liking- If customers are aware of a company's product; the marketing communicator can try to find out their liking for the product. If people do not like them, the communicator has to take steps to rectify the problem and redesign the communication stressing on the enhanced quality of the products.
Preferences- Sometimes, it happens that customers may like a product but do not prefer to buy it. One of the common reasons for this could be the higher cost. The marketer's communication objective in this case is to develop the preference of potential customers for its products. The marketers can focus on the quality, performance, value, etc.
Conviction- Sometimes, customers may prefer a product but may not have the conviction to but it. A marketer's objective then will be to build up this conviction among potential customers. A product sample could be given at this stage to the customer by supplementing it with suitable promotional activities.
Purchase or Action- The customer at this stage has to be exposed to reminder advertising, which will reinforce his purchase decision to an extent (Kotler, 2002).
Advertisement of Santro
Hyundai launched its brand Santro in Indian market. The communication strategy was an important part of the launch strategy. The advertising contract of Hyundai's Santro was given to Saatchi and Saatchi and Bollywood star Sahrukh Khan was signed as a brand ambassador. Thew initial commercial featured a Hyundai official persuading Shahrukh Khan to feature in a Santro advertisement. The star raised a series of questions likely to be asked by new customer like 'What is Hyundai?', 'Why should I advertise for Santro?', 'What about service network and dealer network?', 'Can an international car meet the requirements of Indian roads?' etc. The Hyundai official answered these questions. The commercial gave a lot of information about the company and the product and developed a preference for the car in viewers.
When the car was actually launched, the commercial changed to show that Shahrukh Khan was now willing to star in a Santro ad. In the meantime, the company also developed a dealer network all over the country. When the bookings for the car opened, people booked the car against full payment. Within three months of the launch, Santro captured 30% market share in the small car segment and became no. 2 in this segment after Maruti Udyog Limited (The Hyundai Santro Launch Ad Campaign, 2006).
The above ad was prepared by keeping in the mind all the readiness stages of huying behavior. In the initial part of ad, the communicator tried to create awareness of the product among its target customers by answering the questions related to Hyundai, Santro and its services. The information related to the network of dealers and services provided the knowledge of the company and its product. The information regarding design of car and requirement of Indian roads created liking of the product in the mind of the customers. The complete information regarding the company, product, design and services developed the preference factor among its target customers. The willingness of Shahrukh Khan to act in Santro ad built up the conviction to pay for the product.
The advertisement of Santro is based on Lavidge and Steiner Model, which is used for long term effects of advertising. It is imperative that all the communication and promotional activities stimulate the demand for the product and lead a potential customer to take the final step, i.e. purchase the product.
References
- The Hyundai Santro Launch Ad Campaign. (April 27, 2006). Retrieved August 29, 2008, from http://theshashwat.blogspot.com/2006/04/hyundai-santro-launch-ad-campaign.html
- Kotler, P. (2002). Marketing Management (11th ed.). New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India.
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