Marketing communication: principles and practice

The buyer/consumer’s point of view on an
exchange
Our excursion into buyer and consumer behaviour in chapter three
introduced some ideas on linking communication, thinking, and action in
an attempt to identify things that can be managed in a marketing process.
Here we take another look at the, often implicit, questions asked by a person
as they move towards a purchase activity. How do they arrive at recognition
of the possibility and desirability of a particular exchange?
• What is my need?
• What/who will satisfy this for me?
• Who is offering something appropriate?
S O C I A L C O M M U N I C A T O R
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BOX 7.2
AN ALTERNATIVE DEFINITION OF MARKETING
COMMUNICATION
The managerial system that ensures timely and comprehensive input to the corporate
information and decision-making (generative) process, and the consequent production
and expression of credible, persuasive representations of beneficial exchange
opportunities with actual and prospective customers and other stakeholders. Marketing
is thus the interface element of the corporate appreciative system. 

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• How will it satisfy my need?
• Which option offers the best value with an acceptable level of risk?
• When?
• Where?
• How much will it cost me?
The provider’s point of view on an exchange
In trying to understand consumer and buyer behaviour, the manager is trying
to anticipate such questions and to influence the answers in order to create
an exchange. The traditional notion of the marketing mix is a detailed
definition of the decisions to be made on a range of facets of an offering
(sometimes referred to as the value package). The manager has to ask:
• Who do we wish to trade with?
• Why?
• What is their need?
• How can we satisfy it better than competitors?
• How best can we make an offer to them?