Marketing communication is a vital function in any organization, connecting businesses with their customers and stakeholders to build brand awareness, influence purchasing decisions, and foster loyalty. In Kenya, where diverse markets and growing digital adoption create dynamic consumer behavior, effective marketing communication is essential for competitive advantage. This chapter focuses on preparing reports for marketing communication activities, providing marketing professionals with the necessary understanding of marketing communication concepts and its defining characteristics. Mastery of these topics ensures that marketing communication efforts can be analyzed, optimized, and aligned with organizational goals.

7.1 Marketing Communication

Marketing communication is the process through which an organisation conveys messages about its products, services and brand to its target audiences, and listens to their responses. It uses a range of tools and channels to inform, persuade and remind customers, driving sales and building long-term relationships. A marketing communication activities report evaluates how well these messages travelled from the organisation to its audience and back, so the marketer must understand how communication works as a process. Example: a dairy processor in Nyeri that ran a radio and WhatsApp campaign for its new yoghurt reviews in its activities report which messages listeners recalled and which channel brought the most orders.

7.1.1 Communication process models

A communication process model is a simplified picture of how a message travels from a sender to a receiver and what can help or hinder it on the way. Marketers use these models to plan campaigns, choose channels, find where communication fails and explain results in their reports.

Elements of the communication process

• Sender (source): The organisation or person with a message to share, such as a bank launching a savings product.
• Encoding: Turning the idea into words, pictures, symbols, music or actions that the audience will understand.
• Message: The set of words, images and symbols the sender transmits.
• Channel (medium): The path the message travels through, such as radio, television, social media, SMS, billboards or a salesperson.
• Decoding: The receiver's interpretation of the message, shaped by their language, culture and experience.
• Receiver: The target audience who gets the message.
• Response: The receiver's reaction, such as noticing, remembering, enquiring or buying.
• Feedback: The part of the response that returns to the sender, such as sales figures, calls, comments or survey results.
• Noise: Anything that distorts or blocks the message, such as competing advertisements, poor network coverage, a misprinted poster or language barriers.

Linear (one-way) model

The linear model, based on the work of Shannon and Weaver (1949), shows communication as a one-way flow: sender, encoding, message, channel, decoding, receiver, with noise able to interfere along the way. It fits mass media advertising, where the audience cannot reply directly, and reminds marketers to reduce noise by choosing clear messages and suitable channels. Its weakness is that it ignores feedback.

Interactive (two-way) model

The interactive model, associated with Schramm, adds feedback: the receiver responds and the sender adjusts the next message. It also stresses that sender and receiver understand each other only where their fields of experience (language, culture, knowledge) overlap. It fits social media, customer care lines and personal selling, where customers reply, ask questions and complain.

Transactional model

The transactional model treats both parties as communicators who send and receive at the same time, within a shared social and cultural context. Meaning is created together, as in a live sales conversation or a brand responding to comments during a social media campaign. It reminds marketers that communication is continuous and that context shapes meaning.

Response hierarchy models

These models describe the stages a buyer passes through after receiving a message, and help marketers set communication objectives for each stage.

• AIDA model: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action; for example, a billboard gains attention, the website builds interest, a testimonial creates desire and a limited offer prompts action.
• Hierarchy of effects model (Lavidge and Steiner): Awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, purchase.
• Innovation adoption model: Awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, adoption, used for new products.
• Communications model: Exposure, reception, cognitive response, attitude, intention, behaviour.

Using the models in a marketing communication report

• Diagnosing failures: Low recall points to channel or noise problems; recall without purchase points to weak persuasion at the desire or conviction stage.
• Measuring each stage: Reach and impressions measure exposure, recall surveys measure awareness, enquiries and clicks measure interest, and sales measure action.
• Using feedback: Customer comments, complaints and sales data are reported and used to adjust the next campaign.

Components of marketing communication

The communication tools, often called the promotional mix, carry the message through the process.

• Advertising: Paid, non-personal communication through mass media, such as television adverts by a coastal hotel aimed at local tourists.
• Sales promotion: Short-term incentives such as discounts, coupons and free samples to stimulate immediate sales.
• Public relations: Building a favourable public image and managing communication with stakeholders through press releases, events and sponsorships.
• Personal selling: Direct, two-way interaction between sales representatives and customers.
• Direct and digital marketing: Targeted messages by email, SMS and social media to specific customer segments.

Channels of marketing communication

• Mass media: Television, radio, newspapers and billboards give broad reach for national campaigns.
• Digital media: Social media, websites, search and email allow targeted, interactive and measurable communication.
• Events and sponsorships: Trade fairs, exhibitions, roadshows and sports sponsorship give direct engagement with audiences.
• Personal channels: Salespeople, brand ambassadors and word of mouth carry messages person to person.
• Point of sale: Shelf displays, posters and packaging reach customers at the moment of purchase.

Role of marketing communication in the marketing mix

• Informing: Communicates the product's availability, features and price.
• Persuading: Differentiates the product from competitors through its unique selling proposition.
• Reminding: Keeps the brand in customers' minds and supports repeat purchase.
• Connecting: Builds relationships through engagement and feedback.
• Supporting the other Ps: Explains product benefits, justifies prices and tells customers where to buy.

Chapter Summary

This chapter explored the concept of marketing communication, emphasizing its role in conveying messages between businesses and their target audiences. It examined various communication process models that illustrate how information flows from the sender to the receiver, highlighting the importance of feedback and noise in the effectiveness of communication. The chapter then discussed the key characteristics of marketing communication, such as clarity, consistency, and relevance, which influence how messages are perceived and acted upon. Finally, it outlined the primary objectives of marketing communication, including creating awareness, generating interest, and encouraging purchase decisions. Understanding these elements equips marketing professionals to design effective communication strategies that resonate with consumers and achieve organizational goals. The chapter's comprehensive coverage provides a strong foundation for preparing detailed marketing communication activities reports.