Marketing communication: principles and practice

THE TRADITIONAL COMMUNICATION TOOLS
The role of each traditional communication ‘tool’ was to sell – by attracting
attention, promoting and persuading, prior to making the sale. We here argue
that this is only part of the whole story, which has two aspects: 
•
Asking
: eliciting views from consumers and buyers (i.e. understanding
the consumer/buyer need for a product).
•
Telling
: informing and reminding to raise awareness of the product for
inclusion in the decision set, to persuade for acceptance, and to prompt
purchase action (i.e. selling the product to increase the level of business
and to accelerate the diffusion process).
This is on an ongoing dialogue between provider interests and consumer/buyer
interests, which is represented by Figure 7.4.
The degree of organization of such communicative events varies
considerably in different situations, depending on the nature of the competitive
environment, consumption pattern, and product attributes and benefits 
(Table 7.6).
Today, the fact that there are so many options available for impersonal
communication means that this has become in many ways the defining style
of communication. It seems that interpersonal communication, for many, is
for special occasions only!
S O C I A L C O M M U N I C A T O R
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‘Tell us what you
like and want, and
what you think of
our offer and
performance’
‘Buy (more of)
our product and
recommend it to
other people’
Figure 7.4
Desired responses to marketing communication

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BUYER STATE
If we imagine, from the provider’s point of view, that each consumer or buyer
is mentally located along a continuum of purchasing readiness from total
ignorance at one extreme to brand ambassador at the other, we can attempt
to select communication means that are suitable for the communication
objective set (Table 7.7).
The general roles of the main means of promotional communication are
suggested in Figure 7.5.