Marketing communication: principles and practice

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The performance of a communication system can be determined through a
communication audit. This is a systematic review of the systems for
communicating, and their performance. 
We should also beware of the inherent delays in any knowledge system 
that can affect the integrity and coherence of a marketing planning system
(Figure 16.4).
INTEGRATION OF COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES
Managers need to appreciate and take account of the core competencies 
– strengths and weaknesses of the corporation’s value-creation system
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BOX 16.1
VAGUELY RIGHT OR PRECISELY WRONG?
Clem Sunter’s ‘scenario thinking’ tries to shift managers’ thinking of the future as an
extension of the past towards analysis of what the corporation can and cannot change,
thinking of what now seems trivial as potentially crucial, and holding multiple scenarios
in mind as real possibilities. 
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the
mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
(F. Scott Fitzgerald)
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without
accepting it.
(Aristotle) 
Clem Sunter was Head of Scenario Planning at Anglo American Corporation of South
Africa, the world’s largest mining group.
Revised plan
implemented
Information
received
Marketing plan
revised
A change in the
trading environment
Information delay
Decision delay
Implementation delay
Impact delay
Figure 16.4
Feedback is often not incorporated in real time

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(generation, production, and representation), as well as how the marketing
communication activities affect corporate competencies, and the strengths
and limitations of the various marketing and marketing communication
activities. Integration is itself a core competence (see chapter thirteen for
further discussion of integration).
Integration may be created at system or programme level, i.e. integrated
marketing system or integrated media deployment. Technologies are now
available that allow an intelligence system to be used in decision-making
(see CRM in chapter twelve). Information from a wide range of customer
contact points can be shared throughout the value-creation system to support
learning and decision-making (i.e. appreciation) in the generation, produc-
tion, and representation of the various forms of knowledge valued by a range
of internal and external customers and other stakeholders. Marketing
management is today even more about creating an environment within which
the voice of the customer is appreciated (i.e. heard, interpreted, valued, and
acted upon). This becomes the focus of integration. Teams of specialists from
the value-creating chain work together to deliver value to groupings of similar
customers (market segments).