Marketing communications

Marketing communications have been used to convey product-related information to customer-based audiences. Today, a range of stake holders have connections and relationships of varying dimensions and marketing communications need to incorporate this variety and breadth.

Stakeholder audiences, comprising customers, are all interested in a range of corporate issues: sometimes these are product related, and sometimes they are related to policies, procedures and values of the organisation itself. Marketing communications must be an audience-centred activity, and in that sense it is significant that messages be based on a firm understanding of both the needs and environment of the audience.

To be successful, marketing communications should be grounded in the behaviour and information-processing needs and style of the target audience. This is referred to as understanding the context in which communications event is to happen. From this base it is easier to present and position brands so that they are perceived to be different and of value to the target audience.