In reading through Argenti, Howell, and
Beck’s quotes about the connection between communication and overall strategy I
would have to say that for the most part, I agree with them. I believe that it does make a difference in
how you communicate your message to people and choosing which medium to
communicate the message, social media, tv, or billboard for example, is part of
your strategy. If we look at it this way
the two go hand in hand. I found the
cartoon, at right, to be comical as well as informative and relevant. It supports the idea that strategy and
communication rely on each other. The
strategy in the picture is to all lift together, but without the proper
communication, it doesn’t work. A
campaign or plan by a company can have the same results. It is one thing to plan out how everything
will go but without the proper communication to its intended audience it may
not yield the results that are wanted.
I believe that the
connection between communication and strategy does carry on through marketing,
advertising and even social media. In this
short article I came across, it dives into different strategies and ways of
communicating them. Some examples they
mention are direct marketing and personal selling (Greene, 2014). It would be extremely hard to have one
without the other.
When Argenti, Howell, and
Beck mention that, "Many companies take a tactical, short-term approach to
communicating with key constituencies, which is not only nonstrategic but may
be inconsistent with the corporate strategy or even impede it (Argenti, Howell,
Beck, 2005)" it made me think. When
companies are running on a campaign idea it is usually a short lived
thing. You create a product, you put a
plan together to sell it, and then you move on to the next product. However, I feel that if we do not access and
link our communication strategies together and look like one company, we could
end up being a bit all over the place.
This is why it is important to always connect your company’s overall
strategies and goals with the means of communication you are choosing. If we align all IMC elements as part of
overall strategy, it will really bring the company together as one. This will be less confusing to customers and
will allow all aspects of the company, including communication and strategy, to
come together.
Do
you guys agree?
-Michele
Works Cited:
Argenti, P., Howell, R.,
& Beck, K. (2005). The Strategic Communication Imperative. Retrieved from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading/Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf
Greene, F. (2014). What is
Marketing Communication Strategy. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-communication-strategy-3442.html
Good post Michele. I like the cartoon you posted, without good communication things can go terribly wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important for a company to align all their IMC elements so everything could be cohesive and look put together. Is there a company you can think of that didn't seem to have their communication efforts with their strategies and goals?
One company I know used to pride themselves in being promoted only by "word of mouth" and now I see commercials on TV and hear commercials on the radio all the time. I want to leave the company name out because I am still affiliated with them but I was surprised when they made the switch. Now they even have a hidden menu that customers solely find out about through social media. This was even more surprising. I think that their original strategy actually changed or they strayed away from it when they changed their means of communication. Either way it is interesting to see the transition and the difference it makes. I suppose as times change they must as well to compete.
DeleteHi Michele - Great comic! Sometimes a one frame comic can say it all!
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a great point about how some marketing campaigns are designed to be "short lived." For example, you'd design a different communications strategy around a Christmas / Holiday offering, as opposed to something for a "Happy Graduation" gift. However, like you said - companies must still have a consistent "voice" regardless of the messaging, so that consumers develop a relationship with the brand.
A great example of a company who has executed this across a wide swath of brand is P&G with their "Thank You Mom" campaign around the Olympics. P&G managed to integrate multiple brands (with different target audiences / product characteristics) around a consumer (Mom) which deeply resonated with not only the target audience (women 25+ who are heads of households) but also the families of those women. P&G's campaign went beyond benefiting the individual brand - but building a relationship with the overall company.
This case study for the 2013 Ogilvy ARF Awards does a great job of explaining the thought process, and results of the campaign. http://bit.ly/1fIuAGD
When you started this entry - you said, "I would have to say that for the most part, I agree with them" - was there any one particular statement that you fundamentally disagreed with?
Bringing up holiday and graduation is a great point! Those are definitely short lived campaigns but they are seasonal. Companies need to do a good job of keeping their holiday campaigns in line with their normal messages. This can be a difficult task but will allow companies to look uniform at all times.
DeleteThe P&G campaign is a great example. I remember the, "Thank You Mom" commercials very well. They did a really good job of incorporating multiple brands into the campaign and even though it was short lived it worked seamlessly into their strategy. That was a really good example!
I did say that I agree for the most part because one quote from Argenti, Howell, and Beck says, "Many companies take a tactical, short-term approach to communicating with key constituencies, which is not only nonstrategic but... (Argenti, Howell, and Beck, 2005)" I feel that short term approaches can still be strategic if a company really puts effort into it. Just because a campaign is short does not mean that it wasn't properly planned out.
-Michele
Works Cited:
Argenti, P., Howell, R., & Beck, K. (2005). The Strategic Communication Imperative. Retrieved from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading/Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf
Michele,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I like how you bring up how bringing the company together as one can create a unified message that will help keep things clear for the consumer. If one aspect of the company is saying one thing while another contradicts or goes a different way, this can create mistrust that stretches beyond to consumers at large. Forming a consistent communications strategy can go a long way towards letting a consumer know what a company is about and that company’s approach into the future.
I also really enjoyed your cartoon and it very much illustrates your point on how vital communication across a wide spectrum of the company will help the company achieve success. If even one part of the company is communicating differently or on a different page, the entire endeavor can fall apart and leave the entire corporation in a lurch. Especially on social media, where it can be tempting to post a funny remark on Twitter, repercussions reverberate far beyond that if it’s in contradiction to a known company policy or goal or even just outwardly offensive.
Can you think of any instances where a misalignment created a sense of customer confusion? The one that immediately jumps to my mind is JCPenney, who’s marketing and social media communications often feel muddled and confused. (http://bit.ly/1erBfVp) Their recent Super Bowl tweets were especially confusing, without being informative or maintaining an interesting interaction with consumers about the brand. What were they even attempting with this interaction?
Wow Nash I had not even seen that JCPenny ad until you posted about it and that is just crazy. To me that is an extremely confusing advertisement. If I had seen that on my Twitter feed I would have thought it was some kind of prank. I personally like that other major companies like Doritos and Kia replied to JCPenny's tweets. To me that was entertaining. That is a great example of misalignment.
Delete-Michele
And I think, in regards to Doritos and Kia's responses, it was a great way to create a strong brand personality over social media. It was certainly more clever, interesting, and funny than JCPenney's botched attempt.
DeleteNashrid, I like how you used JCPenney as an example. I missed the whole Super Bowl/JCPenny/Tweeting story, but after reading the article, I was definitely confused. In general I think JCPenny is just trying things out to see what works, with no clear direction. From giving up the "every day low price" pricing, to creating a pricing that incorporates sales, to going back partially to the "every day low price" pricing, they seem to be all over the place. I have no idea what they were trying to convey through those tweets. Maybe it was just for attention, to get people talking about them. The incident did make headlines. Can you think of another marketing attempt that left you confused?
ReplyDeleteHi Michele,
ReplyDeleteIn your last paragraph you talked about the short-lived approach vs. the long-term strategy. I agree with you that many times brands are very much about moving on to the next product or big thing. I find that they use social media to push out messages to educate and earn product trial, but I don't think they do enough to retain that long-term engagement to retain the momentum. The funny part is that utilizing social media is probably the easiest way to keep that momentum going and expand upon a grander communication strategy by incorporating a push and pull strategy to engage consumers.
Do you have a favorite brand that you feel does a good job communicating strategically with you as a consumer?
I like that you mention how social media can be a great way to build momentum up and expanding. Once you put something online you cannot take it back. Previous tweets and status' are still going to be on your page even when you are posting about new things. I had never really thought about it that way.
DeleteThere are a lot of brands that I take to but I think that Apple is one company that does a good job communicating strategically, ironically it is not as much with social media. They do not dive into these sites like other companies but they have such good customer service and when you reach out to them via phone or e-mail they reach back and I suppose that is why they can get away with not utilizing social media.
-Michele
Michele, you make a great point about Apple. They don't utilize social media, but their products have created such brand loyalty that the feel they don't need to. After seeing folks standing on line for days for a new iPhone or iPad, I don't think they need social media either.
DeleteHi Michele-
ReplyDeleteI love the comic strip! It certainly does get the point across and emphasizes the consequences of poor communication!
We have learned over and over in our coursework about the importance of consistency of image and messaging. If all aspects of a business strategy are not aligned, how can it convey the same message and work toward the same goals?
The article you referenced is really a good one. I like the focus on “using a marketing communication strategy appropriate for each product” (Green, 2013). I think the more segmented and customized marketers can make their messaging by product and customer, the better the results. Marketers have to remember the many niche markets that make up the long tail we read about. “Try to reach people who are interested in your product, and then tell your story” (Hrabovsky, 2013). The story had better be an interesting one, as well, as consumers are being bombarded with more and more ads. Social media allows us the ability to more effectively reach our audience. “Thanks to the marketing segmentation available in social channels, you have the opportunity to reach exactly the part of the population you wish, which makes advertising that much more effective” (Hrabovsky, 2013).
Greene mentioned another basic IMC principal; the fact that the communications strategy begins with a focus on the customer. A marketer’s focus should always be on the customer’s needs and preferences. This will never change, no matter the technological advances social media has to offer. Do you agree?
Greene, F. (2014). What is marketing communication strategy. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-communication-strategy-3442.html
Hrabovsky, J. (2013, October 9). Tips for social media targeting and segmentation | Social Media Statistics & Metrics | Socialbakers [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/1917-tips-for-social-media-targeting-and-segmentation
Hey Susan,
DeleteI think I am going to have to agree with that statement. Without the customers there would be no business so we need to give them what they want. As the times and technologies change so do their wants so I see it as a domino effect. A product or service begins and ends with the customer because that is how the business will succeed. Even as times change the bottom line will not.
-Michele
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteGreeting from Joanna on Team 1.
I really like your cartoon caption and agree with others who replied to you that a picture can say it all. In this caption it is clear that communication is everything and when missing the consequences are devastating. However, I feel you have to have the correct people leading the communication process in order to communicate the message downward. I also believe its not what you say, its how you say it and should be part of an organizations overall strategy.
The comic reminds me of the movie Pitch Perfect, where without the proper leadership communicating to the group, the whole group suffers. However, with the proper communication the group with thrive.
Thank you,
Joanna
Hey Joanna,
DeleteI love the Pitch Perfect reference! That was a really good example. You also make a good point that it isn't what you say it is how you say it. People respond differently when they are spoken to differently and that can make all the difference.
-Michele
Joanna, I completely agree - it's not what you say, it's how you say it. This goes for communicating with anyone from the simplest thing to the most major issue. And if the leaders don't know how to communicate, the message will definitely get lost in transition.
DeleteCan you remember a time in marketing where it seems like the brand didn't take in to account "it's not what you say, it's how you say it?"
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ReplyDeleteAndrea,
ReplyDeleteHi- When you asked this question, I immediately thought back 2 classes ago, where we had to think of an unethical ad. The one ad that stuck in my head was the Belvedere Vodka Ad. When paired with an image, the message really stands out.
article
-Joanna
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ReplyDeleteI also came across come cultural marketing translations were went wrong. This was really something I never thought about. However, from this as a marketer, you must really be careful.
ReplyDeletearticle
-Joanna
Joanna, I too remember that assignment. It's very interesting how an ad can go so wrong. How one person might see it, is not how another might see it. Thanks for your response.
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ReplyDeleteMichele, week 3 is coming to an end and you did a fantastic job with the forum this week! I will be posting in the iLearn forum shortly.
ReplyDelete