Chapter Fifteen
Communicating with the Market
Authors’ Comments
In this chapter we highlight the role of non-personal communications, emphasizing its
contribution in the buying decision process, but also its limits. So much business–to–
business seller-buyer communication depends on complex interactions at the personal
Opening Vignette
Andersen Consulting Does a Quick Transformation to
Accenture
Andersen Consulting had to change the name of its firm as the result of a split with its
parent firm, Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm. It could not keep the Andersen
name and had to accomplish the changeover in a matter of months. Andersen
Consulting became Accenture and accomplished changeover through a strong, well-
coordinated communications campaign over only a few months period of time.
Accenture’s campaign illustrates many of the key points of this chapter: the
importance of message, paying close attention to audiences’ decision processes and
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 2
Learning Objectives
Understand the distinctions between personal selling and the
nonpersonal types of promotion.
One concept that stands out clearly is that personal selling has one large
distinguishing characteristic–the medium between the sender and receiver is
There are three key ideas in providing value through communications
(PowerPoint 15.3).
• Members of the buying center respond to messages; media are only
a
• Messages must assist members of the buying center to
progress through
Exhibit 15-1: A Model of the Communication Process
Medium
Noise
Noise
Outcome
Sender
Encoding
Receiver
Decoding
Noise
Noise
Outcome can
determined beliefs and other competing influences,
such as fatigue, distractions, crises and competitive
messages. Noise can occur anywhere in the
communication process.
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 3
Elements of the Model have implications for getting the best messages to
audiences in business marketing communications (PowerPoint 15.4). The
Learning Objective
Become familiar with the kinds of promotion used in business-to–
business marketing and their uses.
The general promotional mix includes the following elements (PowerPoint
15.5):
• Personal selling
Personal Selling (PowerPoint 15.6)
• Person to person conversation
Advertising (PowerPoint 15.7)
• Paid access to media–monologue conversation often with no direct
Sales promotion (PowerPoint 15.8)
• Inducements to action–enhance value
• Three general kinds of promotions
o Sales promotion focused on sales team support
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 4
Public relations (PowerPoint 15.9)
• Efforts to get favorable coverage of the business by third-party media
Learning Objective
Understand the role of promotion in providing value, information and
education to customers and influencing the buying decision process.
The focus of communications needs to be on helping customers move through
the buying decision process.
Good communications (PowerPoint 15.11)
• Starts with knowledge of customers
• Maintains a clear and consistent message
Learning Objectives
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 5
Gain a sense of how to manage promotion in conjunction with the
other elements of marketing strategy and the offering.
Gain a sense of how publicity can play a special role in business-to–
business marketing.
Align promotion efforts with the other marketing elements through integrated
marketing communication plans (PowerPoint 15.12).
• Update and review entire marketing effort for communication
Some types of nonpersonal promotion (PowerPoint 15.13)
• Print promotion
o Print advertising
Promotions using multiple elements simultaneously–Public Relations, Trade
Shows, Conferences and Corporate Positioning
These promotional methods are used in an overall integrated corporate
promotional plan.
Trade shows and conferences include (PowerPoint 15.14)
• Personal selling;
Public Relations — integral part of trade shows and conferences (PowerPoint
15.15). Media representatives
• Cover the technical sessions and industry trends panel discussions
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 6
Tradeshow key decisions (PowerPoint 15.16)
In most industries, trade shows and conferences are watched closely by
stakeholders and it is imperative to participate in and take these
seriously. Special opportunities exist in participating in customers’
industry trade show.
The focus of all this activity should be on company and product
Learning Objective
Gain a sense of how Internet communications can play special a role
in business-to-business marketing communications.
Web and Internet use in business-to-business marketing (PowerPoint 15.17)
• Internet communications facilitate rapid detailed interaction between
Three key ideas for effective Internet communications (PowerPoint 15.18):
• As always, know the customers as well as possible;
Internet Communications Tools (PowerPoint 15.19)
• Web site
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 7
©2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall Business-to-Business Marketing
Web site (PowerPoint 15.20)–can be used by customers in the decision process
to
• recognize and understand their problems;
Web Site Design Considerations (PowerPoint 15.21)
• Designed to address different segments as viewed by the customer;
Drawing customers to the web site would usually involve (PowerPoint 15.22)
• Search engine optimization–designing the web site so search engines
Opt-in e-mail (PowerPoint 15.23)
• Used when an interested person gives permission to the marketer to
Newsletters (PowerPoint 15.24)
• On an opt-in basis.
Webinars–online seminars (PowerPoint 15.25)
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 8
Blogs and social media (PowerPoint 15.26)
Effective Internet communications
The main ideas still hold–design messages based on knowing your customers,
coordinate with other forms of communication as well as with the other
elements of marketing and measure results. Because Internet communications
Key Terms
advertising
blog
direct response requests
fulfillment firms
jargon
leave-behind materials
media buy
noise
selective exposure
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 9
Answers to Questions for Review and Discussion
1. Compare the relative importance of the promotion mix variables in consumer
markets versus business-to-business markets. Why do these differences exist?
Most important in consumer marketing are general advertising and sales promotion, followed by
2. When would the use of industry-specific jargon be acceptable in the
communication process?
3. What is the importance of the encoding-decoding process in message accuracy?
How do individuals attach meaning to messages?
When sender encoding matches well with receiver decoding, the process produces shared
4. How will the communication capabilities of the Internet impact the ability of
business customers to receive feedback from customers?
Internet technology allows the sender to receive real-time feedback from customers and
5. Explain what promotion can do and what it cannot do.
Promotion can:
•
inform a buyer about availability
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 10
•
persuade trial
Promotion cannot:
•
sell a bad product with any continuity
6. How are the promotion mix variables interrelated? Why is it necessary to
coordinate efforts between the variables?
7. What types of promotion are most appropriate at different stages of the buying
decision process?
During the buying decision process, applicable promotions can be:
1.
Definition Stage–
•
personal selling programs
8. What are the promotional goals most desired at each stage of the buying
decision process? How well does this relate to your answer to Question 7?
Chapter 15: Communicating with the Market 11
Promotional goals most desired …
Definition Stage–
•
Awareness
9. Trade shows have usually been classified as sales promotions. The text makes
the case that trade shows are excellent publicity and public relations tools.
Which is it: Are trade shows sales promotion or publicity? Does it matter? Why
or why not?
Trade shows can be excellent tools for every aspect of promotion … as sales promotions, they
10. What communication purposes can be addressed in a business–to-business Web
site? What purposes can be addressed by e-mail?
The purpose that can be addressed with e-mail is keeping contact with site visitors who have