Marketing communication: principles and practice

A D V E R T I S I N G A S C O M M U N I C A T I N G
286

---

Most success comes from ignoring the obvious.
(Trevor Holdsworth)
INTRODUCTION
Marketing strategy is the plan that marketers use to guide their efforts to
provide particular products to specified market segments through exchanges.
Communication strategy is the plan developed and used by marketing
communication managers to provide the necessary communication environ-
ment for such exchanges to become possible and to be consummated. It
chapter 
fifteen
COMMUNICATION
STRATEGIES AND
OBJECTIVES
LEARNING POINTS
Careful study of this chapter will help you to:
• recognize the role of strategy-making and communication objective-setting
• distinguish marketing objectives, marketing communication objectives, and
communication objectives
• broaden your thinking beyond promotional intentions to consider objectives
for total communication systems

---

should be noted that these objectives and even the concept of communication
are in most marketing practice defined outside the social system to which
they are targeted. That is, both the definition of the problem (i.e. customer
satisfaction) and the communication solution are defined by providers but
not consumers and buyers. This is a significant point in considering the
management of the social system of exchange we call marketing – consider
Figure 15.1.
Market segmentation divides the total market into groupings (based on
similarities in consumption pattern, identified need, media usage, and so
on, i.e. their likely similarity in response to marketing interventions) and then
offers specific products to selected segments (see Box 15.1). These groupings
of consumers and buyers require separate marketing mixes, which might
entail differing communication systems and activities. Product positioning
conveys to consumers and buyers in the selected segment that a product is
more appropriate and desirable for them than other offerings and signals to
people in other segments that it will not meet their needs. 
We will examine the planning process in fuller detail in chapter sixteen, but
we need an outline here in order to appreciate the place of communication
strategies and communication objectives in the marketing plan.