Marketing communications

Marketing communications (MC) uses different marketing channels and tools in combination: Marketing communication channels focuses on any way a business communicates a message to its desired market, or the market in general. A marketing communication tool can be anything from: advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sponsorship, communication, promotion and public relations.

MC are made up of the marketing mix which is made up of the 4P's: Price, Promotion, Place and Product, for a business selling goods, and made up of the 7P's: Price, Promotion, Place, Product, People, Physical evidence and Process, for a service based business.

Marketing communications falls into various categories relating to marketing to the public, from advertising, promotions, sales, branding and online promotion. It is so spread out and iconic that it has become a favoured term amongst practitioners. It is a symbolic tool that helps organisations interact with their many stakeholders in the market, by promoting their goods or services to them. Whenever members of the public interact with an organisation, marketing communication has been used. This is a significant process where businesses use to gain success and knowledge on their brand. In order to gain success in marketing both the organisation and members of the public must be involved. Businesses cannot operate if they target every market to satisfy their consumer's satisfactions. By targeting audiences who appreciate the organisations marketing program will gain a successful branding. A target audience is a group of people that aimed at by the marketers, delivering them a message of their brand. The target audience will most likely be people who will react to their marketing communications in a positive way.

Marketing communications can fall in to the same meaning as advertising. Advertising is the most common marketing term that organisations and even members of the public understand and evaluate, it has come across people at least a number of times in their everyday lives. Advertising is only a small section of marketing communications and is not an alternative term to it. Promotion and marketing communications is difficult comprehend, therefore considering it as a term that can be similar within each other is more simple. The concept of the marketing communications mix which is a range of tools available to an organisations to deliver a clear and consistent message to their target audiences, thus impacting the businesses performance negatively or positively. It is also commonly called the promotional mix, Crosier (1990) states that all terms have the same meaning in the context of the 4ps. Marketing communications is very similar to marketing in general, similar to comparing advertising to marketing communications. When asking what marketing is, the marketing mix comes to mind and the most common way of describing it is by explaining the 4p's. Product, price, place and promotion. Price of a product or service can send a message to their target audience. For example, comparing a $10 bag to a $50 bag, the more expensive bag will most likely be a luxury item, more durable than the cheaper one. This is market information that can easily send out a message to all target audiences. The most fundamental part of explains what marketing is using the 4p's is that, it elaborates how promotion is crucial and a significant aspect of what marketing is all about.

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