Marketing communications, and everything connected with them

The concept of marketing communications is little known to a wide range of managers. Although marketing communications have been developing for more than sixty years. The main task of applying this approach is the need to systematize the management of marketing functions in commercial organizations.

Marketing communications is the process of managing the promotion of goods and services throughout the entire process, before selling, directly during purchase, during consumption and after it. Systems of such communications are developed individually for a certain market segment. These systems contain mechanisms for the transfer of information to customers, as well as the possibility of feedback from the buyer to the seller. The analysis of marketing communications carried out with the help of such feedback allows us to evaluate together the effectiveness of marketing investments and the campaign as a whole.

The conceptual framework on which you can depict marketing communications can be drawn from seven main stages. And with the fallout, any of them this will negatively affect the quality and effectiveness of the information campaign.

Let's consider each of the stages separately.

The first stage is the definition of the target audience and its analysis.

Improper selection and identification of the target audience leads to one of the most costly mistakes in marketing. Since the audience is always represented by a wide variety of groups of different in directions and preferences, the mistake in choosing leads to a reference to the group of consumers of which your product is simply not interesting. For example, when advertising expensive cosmetics publication even in the central newspaper of such ads will not bring much success, than if you focus on advertising this group of goods in expensive boutiques and beauty salons.

Here you can also include analysis of the target audience. It is usually carried out in advance. This approach allows you to identify those groups that are most suitable for your product or service.

The next stage, without which marketing communications will not have an integral system, are the goals of such communication.

After the marketer has identified the appropriate segment of the market and its characteristics, further it is necessary to form an understanding of what ultimately needs to be achieved from the audience. Among the most common goals in marketing are: winning sympathy among visitors, gaining recognition of your brand, informing the audience about goods and services, which in future will create a demand for them, achieve such a position in the market when buyers give preference to your product, and not Similar to those produced by your competitors, etc.

The next step is to determine the budget of marketing communications.

This is one of the most important tasks. The most common methods for determining the budget are the methods of fixing the sales volumes in percent, the evaluation of opportunities, the method of goals and objectives, as well as the method of matching competitors.

Then, at the next stage of marketing communications, it is time to make a decision about the means of promoting the goods.

By such means we understand the way by which consumers (consumers) communicate information directly to the target audience. It can be a different kind of advertising, or various PR-technologies.

After this comes the stage of sales promotion.

To this stage it is possible to carry carrying out of various actions, lotteries, the offer of sales and discounts of different type. Such approaches noticeably revitalize consumers, which leads to a significant increase in demand for a product or service in the short term.

The next stage of marketing communications is direct marketing and personal sales.

This stage provides for direct and personal communication of the seller with the buyer. It is not only in the form of live communication, as well as to such communication, it is possible to include correspondence with potential buyers, communication via communication lines (Internet, TV, telephone). However, often at this stage, there may be consumer dislike of goods. Since when receiving various letters and notifications that the buyer is imposed on, they do not often cause irritation in the buyers, which is why recently such actions are related to spam and an active struggle has been launched with them.

Well, the last stage is the creation of information messages.

This stage is the crown of the previous. After all, from the informative nature and availability of such messages, the consumer will either buy your product or, on the contrary, avoid it. To do this, there are entire scientific institutions that deal with the impact of information on the consumer for commercial purposes.

Thus, marketing communications is a whole complex of measures and methods that are aimed at the speedy promotion of goods through information technology.