A View of the Communications Process

A View of the communication Process

Marketers are moving toward viewing communications as managing the customer relationship over time.

Not only "How can we reach our customers?" but also "How can our customers reach us?"

The communications process should start with an audit of all the potential contacts target customers may have with the company and its brands. Then the marketer needs to assess what influence each of these communication experiences will have at different stages of the buying process. This understanding will help marketers allocate their communications dollars more efficiently and effectively.

Communication involves nine elements

Sender (major party) - The party sending the message to another party. Encoding (major communication function) - The process of putting thought into symbolic form. Message (major communication tool) - The set of symbols that the sender transmits. Media (major communication tool) - The communication channels through which the message moves from sender to receiver. Decoding (major communication function) - The process by which the receiver assigns meaning to the symbols encoded by the sender. Receiver (major party) - The party receiving the message sent by another party. Response (major communication function) - The reactions of the receiver after being exposed to the message. Feedback (major communication function) - The part of the receiver's response communicated back to the sender. Noise - The unplanned static or distortion during the communication process, which results in the receiver getting a different message than the one the sender sent. E.g, distraction.