Introduction

If man has always had a need to communicate, for companies communication is not only a
necessity but an obligation. As we have already repeated throughout the module,
companies obtain their profitability from the sale of
its products and services , which are made known to the public through
communication .
More and more companies are becoming aware of the important role of communication
in their marketing strategy . Hence, companies like COCA-COLA or PEPSI are
continually sending us messages through different media , in order to invite us to buy
their products.
In this unit and the next we will study the different instruments used by the
communication policy in the company : advertising, public relations ,
personal selling, sales promotion, merchandising and direct marketing.
CONCEPT, TYPES AND PROCESS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION.
We know that exchange constitutes the central phenomenon in MK. For this exchange
to occur there must be two or more parties with something of value to the other, in
addition
of a desire, intention to exchange, but it is also necessary that there be communication
between the two. This is why the communication variable
It plays a very important role in the exchange process since it informs consumers
about the product/service and convinces them of its ability to satisfy needs.
Therefore, marketing requires more than developing a product, putting an attractive
price on it, and making it accessible to consumers. The companies
They have to transmit it to both current and potential clients, assuming the role of
promoters and communicators in order for the exchange to take place.
The communication variable is another element of the marketing mix that the
company has to carry out this exchange, and therefore it has to be configured as part of
the marketing strategy and be coordinated with the other activities.
of marketing. As an example, a company can spend large amounts of money on
advertising or sales promotion and yet have little chance of success if its product is of
low quality, has an inadequate price, or does not have adequate distribution and
availability of products. the consumers.
The model where communication is framed in the company begins with the
development of a marketing strategy where the company decides the product/service
and the specific markets in which it wants to compete. It will be necessary to coordinate
the various commercial instruments into a coherent marketing program that will be
aimed at a target market. The communication program will not only be directed to the
final consumer but also to the other members of the channel that distribute the
products to the final consumer.
BASIC COMMUNICATION TOOLS.
The basic elements of the communication variable are advertising,
sales force, public relations, sales promotion, and in some texts direct marketing is also
included.
Each of these elements plays a different role within that integrated
communication and presents limitations, advantages, etc...
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ADVERTISING: It is defined as any form of paid and impersonal communication (it

is directed indiscriminately to the entire market) about a company, organization,
product, service or idea through mass media (press, radio, television, etc.) ...) The
term paid reflects the fact that the space or time of the message has to be purchased.
The term impersonal indicates that it is carried out through mass media where the
message can be transmitted to large groups of individuals at the same time.
SALES PROMOTION: A set of activities that, through the use of material or
economic incentives (prizes, gifts, coupons, discounts, greater quantity of product,
etc...) try to directly and immediately stimulate the short-term demand for a product or
service.
PUBLIC RELATIONS : Set of generic programs and activities that include
relations with the press, image care and sponsorship. They are carried out by
companies or institutions to achieve the dissemination of favorable information
through the media, improve, maintain or protect the image of a company or product
or services, both before the different audiences they target and before the public.
society in general.
SALES FORCE: Form of verbal and interactive communication, through which
information is transmitted in a manner. direct and personal to a specific potential client
and the response of the recipient of the information is received simultaneously and
immediately. In short, we can deduce that the communication strategy contributes,
together with the rest of the variables of the marketing-mix, to achieving the objectives
of marketing. These cannot be achieved with uncoordinated communication that is
autonomous from the rest.
To develop a communication strategy you must combine and balance the strengths and
weaknesses of each communication element to produce an effective communication
campaign. To do this, the company has to consider which communication mix
instruments it has to use and how to combine them to achieve marketing and
communication objectives. In addition, decisions will also have to be made about the
distribution of the communication budget as well as, for example, the type of product,
the target market, the buyer's decision process, the product life cycle phase, distribution
channels,...
EXAMPLE: Companies that sell consumer products and services to the final consumer
normally use advertising through mass media, while in Industrial Marketing, where
more complex, risky and expensive products are sold, more emphasis is placed on the
sales staff. Although communication efforts may vary depending on the type of market
the company addresses, there may also be divergences regarding the location of
communication efforts within the same market. (For example AVON: personal selling
and other cosmetic companies: advertising)
The common element to all elements of commercial communication is that their
function is to communicate. Therefore, it is necessary to understand and analyze the
communication process. That is, it is necessary to understand the way in which
consumers interpret, react and respond to said strategy, how the messages are
perceived and interpreted by consumers and how their reactions will determine
responses to the product or service.
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
From a general approach, communication consists of the transmission of certain
information from some people or entities to others. This process is often very complex.
Its success depends on many factors such as: the nature of the message, the audience's
interpretation of it, and the medium used to transmit the message.
There are numerous examples of misinterpretation of messages, especially in companies
that market their products internationally. General Motors attempted to sell a Chevrolet
model in Mexico and Latin America under the name Nova (which in Spanish means "no
go"). A Pepsi−Cola "Come Alive with
Pepsi” was literally translated into Chinese “Pepsi raises your dead.”
There are also linguistic problems with the branding of the products. So, for example,
when Coca-Cola was introduced in China, the Chinese translated the name Coca-Cola
into Chinese characters that sounded like Coca-Cola, but those characters meant
"bite the wax tadpole." The case of the Toyata car brand is also in this situation,
which introduced a range of cars called “Pajero” and had to change it to “Montero”.
All these aspects indicate that communicating is not easy.
Every communication process involves, at least, the following elements: Main
elements in communication: sender and receiver.
Communication tools: message and medium. 4

Communication functions: encoding, decoding, response and feedback.

We must include a strange element: noise, which interferes with the process and can
harm the operation of the system and the effectiveness of the communication process.
COMUNICATION ELEMENTS:
A) ISSUER OR SOURCE:
It is the person, group or entity that has information to share with another person or
group and therefore begins communication and prepares communicative messages.

This may be a salesperson, a spokesperson (celebrity appearing in advertising), or a non-

personal entity such as an organization or the company itself.
Since the perception that the receiver has of the sender will influence the
way in which the communication-message is received, care must be taken when
selecting the communicator, since the effectiveness of the communication will depend
largely on its credibility. Thus, for example, if a certain doctor belonging to Public
Health talks about the benefits derived from the use of certain vitamins, the
effectiveness of his communication will possibly be much higher than that of the same
communication made by the advertising director of a company. vitamin producer.
The communication process begins when the sender chooses the words, symbols,
pictures and the way of presenting the message that the receiver will receive. The
encoding process refers to the process of translating thoughts, ideas or information into
a symbolic way. The objective of the sender is to encode the message
in such a way that guarantees or ensures that it will be understood by the recipient.
This involves using symbols, words or signs that are familiar and understandable to the
audience.
B) THE MESSAGE:
The encoding process leads to the development of a message that contains the
information or meaning that the sender wants to convey. The message can be verbal or
not, written with words or with symbols, photos, etc.
The messages must be put in such a way that they are transmittable through the
chosen communication channel; communicating on the radio is not the same as
communicating on television or in the press: for many products, it is not the words
that really transmit the message and the that determine the effectiveness of the
communication but the impression or image that the communication/advertising itself
creates.
C) THE CHANNEL:
It is the means or method by which communication takes place between the sender and
the receiver. Channels can be grouped into two types: personal and impersonal.
Personal ones are those − in which there is direct and personal contact between those
who transmit or collaborate in the transmission and the receivers. At the same time, we
can subdivide them into controllable (sellers of the company and in a certain way the
distributors of its products) and uncontrollable (people or organizations that selflessly
collaborate, consciously or unconsciously, in communication (prescribers, opinion
leaders, family, friends, etc.)
The impersonal ones are made up of the different mass media in which there is no
personal contact. In general, these are the mass media (TV, press, radio,...).
The use of one type of communication channel or another will depend largely on the
degree of grouping of the public, that is, depending on whether the individual considers
himself isolated, in small groups or in very large groups. Thus, personal communication
channels will be used when you want to get the message to a particular individual or to
certain small groups. For large groups or the general public, impersonal channels must
be used and within these, the mass media mainly.
D) THE RECEPTOR:
The receiver is made up of the different entities or people who can receive the message,
who share the message with the sender. It is generally made up of consumers who read,
see and hear the company's message and interpret it. The process through which the
receiver translates and gives meaning to the symbols emitted by the sender is what we
call decoding. This process is strongly influenced by the receiver's frame of reference,
just as the encoding process is influenced by the sender's frame.
For effective communication to take place, the receiver must have correctly understood
and interpreted what the sender is trying to communicate. Effective communication is
more likely when there is common ground between both parties: the more information
we have about the consumer. more likely that we will know your needs, tastes, etc. This
notion of common ground between sender and receiver is often difficult to obtain,
which is why more and more money is spent on researching the consumer and
understanding their frames of reference.
E) NOISE.
Throughout the communication process, the message is subject to foreign/extraneous
factors that can distort or interfere with its perception. They are noises: errors or
problems that occur in the process of decoding the message: distortions in radio signals
or TV images, distractions at the point of reception of the message, etc... An important
consequence of a noise situation such as the interruption in the transmission of a
person's favorite advertisement is the reduction of its impact.

F) RESPONSE/FEEDBACK OR FEEDBACK.
The set of reactions of the receiver after seeing, hearing, or reading the message is
known as response, feedback or feedback. These responses can range from
unobservable actions such as storing that information or message in memory, to
reacting immediately and purchasing the product. This aspect is interesting for
companies since it provides information about how the consumer/receiver is receiving,
decoding and interpreting the message. Receiving this response will depend on the
type of channel used. For example, in a personal sale, the seller instantly receives said
response, while mass media pose more difficulties, making it necessary to design other
means to discover the way in which the recipient is interpreting the message. .

DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES.

Perhaps one of the reasons why companies fail to establish the objectives of their
communication programs is that they ignore the importance of establishing them. The
specification of the communication objectives facilitates the coordination of the
different groups that work on the development of said campaign or communication
tasks, in addition to constituting the development guide for the communication plan
and its measurement and evaluation.
For many companies, the only objective of the communication program is to sell the
product; they take the position that the basic reason the company spends money on
communication activities is to sell the product or service. In this way, the objectives as
well as the success or failure of the communication activity must be based on the
achievement of certain sales results. At this point, it must be taken into account that the
level of sales that a company achieves will not determine the effectiveness of the
communication, to the extent that said sales are also influenced by other factors such as
product quality, price, channels. distribution, competition, economic environment,...
Another problem with sales-oriented objectives is that the effects of communication are
not always immediate and often occur over a long period of time.
In other situations however, the objective of communication activities is not really
sales-oriented but rather designed to enhance the image or reputation of the company,
achieve a certain recognition of the brand by the consumer, provide information about
others commercial aspects or characteristics of the product/service, etc. These
communication objectives are therefore related to the creation of a certain level of
interest and knowledge of the product, image, favorable attitude and purchase
intentions. The consumer is not expected to respond immediately after seeing the
advertisement. For example, company advertorials such as PULEVA, EL POZO, etc.
TRANSMITTER.
Companies usually take great care when selecting those individuals who are going to
communicate their commercial messages. Companies select as communicators those
individuals whose characteristics will maximize the influence of the message. The
influence (due to credibility, etc.) that said person exerts is based on the fact that he or
she is qualified in a certain area of knowledge, is very popular and/or physically
attractive, represents the audience, etc.
There are three characteristics, or attributes of the message that we are going to
analyze: credibility, attractiveness and power. Each of them involves a different
process by which the recipient's attitude influences or causes.
Credibility:
Credibility refers to the degree to which the source is perceived as having knowledge,
skill, or experience relevant to the topic being communicated and therefore may be
distrusted to give an unbiased, and therefore objective, opinion on the topic in
question. issue (for example, medications: doctors are expected to testify about their
benefits, anti-drug campaigns, informed by former addicts themselves).
Information from a credible source can influence beliefs, opinions, attitudes
and/or behavior through the process known as internalization. Internalization
occurs when the recipient learns and adopts the opinion or attitude of the credible
source, believing that the information coming from this source represents a
correct attitude or position. Attractive:
In the case of the advantages that the audience obtains from an attractive message,
they are of a different order, perhaps less rational. Now it is about the individual
achieving a certain self-satisfaction by identifying with the attractive
communicator.
However, the attractiveness of the font is not everything. The persuasive influence of
celebrities is mediated by the perception that they are paid, so the attractiveness of the
source can be enhanced or minimized depending on the level of objectivity perceived in
them. To truly have persuasive force, the communicator must identify himself as a user
of the product or service.
Can:
A source is perceived as having power when it can actually punish or reward the
recipient of the message. As a result of that power, the source may be able to induce the
other person to respond or adopt the stance they are communicating. (For example,
campaigns in favor of cleaning the environment with the punitive capacity of city
councils).
THE MESSAGE
The way in which commercial communication is presented is very important in
determining its effectiveness. Companies not only have to consider the content of their
commercial messages but also how this information will be structured for presentation
and the way in which it will be appealed in the message (in almost all media, except
radio). , there is a lot of appeal to visual and written information). Message structure: