Communication

Objectives
Are important because they serves as a bench
mark in
2. Communication
• Communications in b/w agencies and organizational
managers/sales promotion firms /media buying services
etc.
• Planning and decision making
• While in decision making process
communication objectives plays an important
role , i.e. how to develop a campaign/media mix
selection /and allocating budget to diff.
elements
4. Measuring results
• The success and failure are relative to the
objectives u have defined.
• Good objective are those which are measurable.
How to determine objectives
 Diff. in between marketing and comm. Objectives
 Marketing objectives are stated in firm’s overall
mkting.plans.
 Are usually defined in terms of specific measurable
outcomes such as sales volume /market
share/profits/ROI.

or
 What the company wanted to accomplish by its
overall marketing program.
Now by defining marketing objective managers must be
able to translate these objectives into communication
objectives. To do this Situation analysis provides some
valuable information's. Like :
The mkt.segment the firm wanted to target and TA.
The product and its convincing attributes to the segment.
Competitors brand analysis. positioning/promotional
expenditure /creative and media strategies /tactics used
in ads. Etc)
How u are going to position ur brand and specific
behavior responses.
Primary Vs secondary objectives.
e.g. primary may be to increase sales /mkt share
Secondary may be that u give a certain personality to the
brand and start promoting the concept .
 Let’s see what are comm. objectives
• Are statements of what various aspects of the IMC
program will accomplish. Must translate general
mkting goals into communications goals.

Goals ?
• To get mkt share

or
• to communicate the information or a selling
message
• Some times u don’t get the desired increase sales
by certain ad. Campaign. Does it means that
advertising fails .
• Consider a football game .
• Same is the case of communication is just a
quarterback of the team if team looses does not
mean the quarterback should be shunted out from
the team.
• Poor performance may be due to
• Quality / Packaging / Distribution /Price /
tech./competition or even the economy
• Other important point in favor of advertising is
that it has a carry over effect.
 Sales based objectives
• Some times only objective of the firm is to
increase the sales. in such a situation the
communication objectives may be:
• Direct response advertising. toll free numbers)
• Retail advertising
• Some times when Ad. Plays a very dominant
role in the marketing plan.e.g is of
Pepsi/coke ,sales-oriented objective are used.
• Repositioning the product.
• When the promotional activities are related with
sales-oriented objectives, measuring results
depends upon the sales generated.
 Communication-based objectives
 Some times marketers recognize that the prime role of IMC is to
communicate and planning should be based on communication
objectives.
 Specific objectives may be to:
 Increase the % of consumers in the TM who associate some benefit or
advantage with our brand .
 Increase the number of TA who prefer our brand over competitors
 Encourage the current user to use more frequently
 Engage new user who have never used the brand.
 When marketers only need to change of attitude /brand knowledge /
image purchase intention ,consumers are not required to respond
immediately u just wanted to create a favorable predisposition before
purchase .
 Effect of advertising on consumers movement from awareness to action
.consumer moves through stages of
 Cognition ----to--- affective----to-----co native Ad stimulate for direct
response)
 Awareness knowledge liking preferences
conviction purchase.
Communication effect pyramid
5% repurchase
20% trial
25% preference
40% liking
70 % knowledge
90 % awareness
 Some problems with
communication objectives

U can not measure in quantitative terms

that how much the consumers are in
the phase of knowledge ,liking
,preferences etc.(no formula to provide
the information)
 DAGMAR an approach to setting
objectives
 A report in the name of “Defining Advertising Goals for
Measuring advertising Results” by Russell Colley and
said:
 Advertising’s job,purly and simply is to
communicate to a defined audience information
and a frame of mind that stimulates action.
Advertising succeed or fails depends upon how
well it has communicated the desired
information and attitudes to the right people at
the right time and at the right cost.
 Communication task be based on (according to
Colley)
 Awareness
– ( making the consumer aware of the existence of
the brand or company )
 Comprehension
– Developing a understanding of what the product
is and what it will do for the consumer.
 Conviction
– Developing a mental disposition in consumers
mind
 Action
– Actual purchase or trial
 Characteristics of objectives
 Concrete ,measurable tasks
– What Appeal /message to communicate
 Target audience
– Well defined target audience ,based on
demographics/psychographics etc.
 Benchmark and degree to change sought
– That is present position of audiences and after the
communication is been done .
 Specified time period
– Time in which advertising objectives is
accomplished.
 Decisions that made diet Coke a success
 Previously diet drinks were Tab
 Due to heavy promotion /a good new taste (new
formula secret known to a very few people) /brand
name already known to world.
 Objectives of promotion were:
– To earn profit from the country’s increasing trends of weight
consciousness
– Break the public’s perception that a soft drink has to lose its
taste when it loses its calories.
– Wanted to expand its TM.
 Decision was made to sell it not on calories but on
taste (Just for the taste of it)
 26 % sales increases in first five yrs of introduction
 Risks involved were :
– If diet coke had flopped, it would have tarnished Coke’s image
also.
 Marketing plan
 Communication
in b/w
communication
analysis and
budgeting is a
two way
interaction.
 Means
objectives
depends upon
budgets also.
 Q
 Weather the communication budget is an
expense or investment?
 Some theoretical approaches on the issue.
 Marginal analysis
 Sales response models
 Top-down approaches
 Affordable method
 Arbitrary allocation
 Percentage of sales
 Competitive parity
 ROI
Marginal
analysis
f(A) = sales

A = ad. expenditure

x axis =exp.
Y axis= sales Mf(A) = gross margin

P= Mf(a)-a = profit
 As advertising exp. Increases sales and gross
margin also increases to a point but then starts
declining.
 Profits = gross margin - adv.exp.
 Optimal level is A where marginal cost =
marginal rev.
But
 Sales are not the only objective of adv.
For that reason
 Relation of adv. On sales does not have a very
direct relation.
 For these reasons this approach is seldom
used.
 Sales response models
(concave Vs S-shaped
 The concave –downward response model
– Says as the effect of adv. Quickly diminish
 As the amount of adv. Increases its incremental value
decreases. i.e. the effect of adv. Quickly begins to
diminish.
 The S- shaped response function.

Incremental
Sales

adv. Expenditure
 Top-down approaches
Top management sets the spending limit

Promotional budget set to stay within limits

Bottom-up budgeting

Promotion objective are set

Activities needed
Cost is determined
Budget is approved by top.
 Affordable method
– After determining the amount of resources for production and
operation ,left over is allocated to promotional activities.
 Arbitrary allocation
– No systematic allocation of budget ,for non profit
organizations or small firms .
 Percentage of sales
– Total sales 100,000
– 10% of sales 10,000
– Advertising budget 10,000
 Percentage of unit cost
– Cost /unit 12
– Allocation for adv. 3
– Forecasted sales 10000 units
– Budget 10000 x 3 30000
 Competitive parity
– Must have a collective wisdom of the industry
– If competitor don’t take an aggressive approach
u don’t
– Useful when u are not a mkt leader and don’t
have the resources to be that.
 Return on investment
– Advertising and promotion are considered as an
investment like plant etc.
– Very difficult to access the return of advertising.