Communication policy (marketing)

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The communication policy , including marketing communications called, is a function of marketing in business administration . From the customer's point of view (see Marketing), it represents the area between product policy and pricing on the one hand and sales policy in the distribution of a service on the other. It is therefore the link between entrepreneurial initiative and sales implementation in the market. It is an important part of the marketing mix , and its most popular tool is advertising . The overarching article Communication Policy deals with the corporate strategy aspects of the topic that go beyond marketing.

Definition of communication policy

The communication policy is understood to mean all measures of the planned, conscious design and personal or impersonal communication of information for the purpose of influencing the knowledge, attitudes, expectations and behavior of the company's target groups, which ultimately has a lasting effect on the behavior towards the recipient.

The communication theory of the transmitter-receiver model is the basis of communication policy . A distinction must be made between direct and indirect communication. In direct communication, the company transmits the communication message in a direct relationship to the consumer , in indirect communication, various elements are interposed. The advantage of indirect communication is that the transmitter, the intermediate element that is directly related to the company and the consumer, filters the economic aspect out of the company's message and thus increases the credibility of the communication message for the consumer.

Communication policy is assigned a special position in the marketing mix . Since all elements of marketing can develop communicative effects, market communication is the link between all instruments of the marketing mix (a “good price”, for example, also communicates a benefit).

Functions of communication policy:

  • Information function
  • Actuality function
  • Influencing function
  • Confirmation function

Communication policy objectives

The communication policy goals are made up of the economic and psychographic goals:

  1. The economic goals include sales expansion and cost savings:
    1. Fall under sales expansion
      1. the methods of introducing new products on the market,
      2. or for existing products
        1. the increase in sales prices,
        2. the increase in sales volumes,
        3. reaching new buyer groups and
        4. opening up new markets.
    2. Cost savings include the two methods of managing demand and rationalizing sales.
      1. When directing demand, continuity advertising is used to compensate for fluctuations in sales and synchronization advertising is used to adjust demand in the case of production rhythms.
      2. In the case of sales rationalization, advertising for bulk purchases or minimum order sizes and advertising for certain purchasing techniques are common.
  2. Psychographic goals include:
    1. increasing brand and company awareness ,
    2. improving attitudes and the company's image,
    3. increasing the customer's intention to buy and
    4. the positioning of one's own company in the market alongside the competition.

The aim of the positioning of the products is to convey emotion, information and topicality to the consumers, which serve to differentiate them from the other competitions on the market. Two methods are used here: the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) , which represents a unique promise made by the company for its product that other products from competitors do not have, and the UAP (Unique Advertising Proposition), which is used in saturated markets where products are interchangeable are used to make your own product stand out through its unique advertising position.

Establishing the processes of communication policy

The communication policy is based on a ten-step model:

  1. Situation analysis and forecast for the company
  2. Agree on corporate goals
  3. Derive marketing goals
  4. Define communication goals and target groups
  5. Develop communication strategy
  6. Budgeting and media selection , e.g. B. Selection of suitable advertising media
  7. plan individual communication measures
  8. Pre-test, check the effect, return the result to step 7 to make improvements
  9. Implement communication measures
  10. Measure the impact, return the result to steps 5 to 9 to make improvements and corrections

This process is based in its sequence (analysis - strategy - implementation - evaluation) on the phases of strategic management in business administration.

Marketing communication tools

The communication instruments are used in the ten-level model of communication policy and are used as media to convey the communication message to the target group. The instruments of the communication mix include:

above the line

below the line

(Here above the line represents the "classical" and below the line the "non-classical" instruments.)

out of house

Other aspects of communication policy

Corporate Identity, Corporate Image & Corporate Behavior

Corporate identity and corporate image also represent a goal of the entire communication policy and are therefore not to be seen as pure instruments of the marketing mix, but the state to be changed. The corporate identity is the communicated feeling about the company, which it represents internally and which has to be conveyed externally. The corporate image is the actual image of the company in the minds of market participants and should be aligned with the corporate identity through the use of communication measures.

The important question in strategic marketing here is: How does a company present (communicates) as a whole to the outside world and internally, to the employees? For this purpose, the concept of corporate identity was developed in the 1980s . The corporate identity (CI, corporate identity ) with its three sub-aspects Corporate Communication (CC), Corporate Design (CD) and Corporate Behavior (CB) systematically develops a uniform, concise image of the company with external and internal effects.

Internal effect

Employees identify with their company. A sense of togetherness is created: the employee of a vehicle manufacturer ideally drives a car from his company and not a competitor's product.

External impact

The company is presented uniformly to the outside world. Operationally, this includes the business equipment with logo, color scheme, typography and layout specifications (corporate design) as well as a strategically perceptible communication policy , with which the other elements of the marketing mix are made accessible to market participants.

The communicated togetherness (corporate behavior), which in connection with the other components of the CI represents a coherent and consistent alignment of the behavior of an organization inwards and outwards, leads to a clear and unmistakable market presence. If the CI is consistent, the company appears more credible.

The tools of corporate identity include corporate design (used in the design of signs, work clothes, forms, architecture of company buildings, etc.), corporate communication (used in advertising, public relations and internal company communication) and corporate behavior , the the behavior of employees among each other as well as towards customers, suppliers, partners and the public is generally defined.

Integrated communication

Integrated communication describes the process of planning, organizing, executing and controlling all communication measures between the company and consumers in order to achieve the company's goals. Integrated communication has the task of creating a self-contained and consistent communication system from the variety of communication instruments and measures used for internal and external communication in order to convey a consistent corporate image for the company's target groups.

Marketing communication

The term marketing communication, which is used more and more frequently in research and teaching as well as in practice, is a synonym for communication policy. In the meantime, the former advertising clerk is now also being trained as a marketing communications clerk in state training .

Legal framework

The law against unfair competition (UWG) defines a legal framework for the market behavior of companies and thus also for marketing communication. Violations of these laws are sanctioned and can lead to injunctive relief and claims for damages.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Christian Homburg, Harley Krohmer: Marketingmanagement. 2006.