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212икономически науки
Стойчев Любомир Йорданов, Димитрова Теофана Валентинова, Десев Кирил Вълков ПЛАНИРАНЕ И ЕФЕКТИВНОСТ НА МАРКЕТИНГОВАТА ...
UDC 339.138
ПЛАНИРАНЕ И ЕФЕКТИВНОСТ НА МАРКЕТИНГОВАТА КОМУНИКАЦИЯ
© 2019
Стойчев Любомир Йорданов, PhD, главен асистент
Димитрова Теофана Валентинова, PhD, доцент Десев Кирил Вълков, PhD
Пловдивскиуниверситет „ПаисийХилендарски" (4000, България, Пловдив, ул."Цар Асен" № 24, e-mail: lubo.stoychev@abv.bg)
Анотация. Като всяка една съвременна бизнес функция, маркетингът се нуждае от управление. В информацион-ния хаос на 21 век тази необходимост е безспорна и в сферата на маркетинговата комуникация (МК). Въпреки това в научната литература има недостиг на материали по темата за управлението на МК в нейната пълнота и изчерпател-ност с цялото многообразие от инструменти, характерни за нея: рекламирането, връзките с обществеността, форми-те на директния маркетинг, личните продажби, стимулирането на продажбите, интернет маркетинга и маркетинга в социалните медии. Настоящата статия се фокусира върху два фундаментални мениджърски акцента по отношение на МК: нейното планиране и оценяването на ефективността от нея като контролна функция с коригиращо действие. Осъществено е разграничаване между стратегического и тактическото равнище на едно такова управление, разгле-дани са модели и техники за планиране и измерване на резултатите. Посочени са различията между комуникацион-ния план и комуникационната стратегия, които често в практиката се отъждествяват. Изведени са задължителните атрибути на двата документа. По отношение на оценяването на ефективността е подчертана необходимостта от различни равнища, на които то да се осъществява - познавателно, оценъчно и поведенческо. Коментирани са някои измерители за оценка на резултатите на базата на особеностите на отделните комуникационни инструменти.
Ключови думи: маркетингова комуникация, маркетингов мениджмънт, планиране, ефективност, реклама, PR, комуникационна стратегия, медияпланиране.
PLANNING AND EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION
© 2019
Stoychev Lyubomir Yordanov, PhD, Head Assist. Prof.
Dimitrova Teofana Valentinova, PhD, Assoc. Prof.
Desev Kiril Valkov, PhD
Plovdiv University „ Paisii Hilendarski " (4000, Bulgaria, Plovdiv, "Tsar Asen" St., № 24, e-mail: lubo.stoychev@abv.bg)
Abstract. Just like any other contemporary business function, marketing needs management. Amidst the information chaos of the 21st century this necessity is undisputable also in the realm of Marketing Communication (MC). Nevertheless, there is a shortage of resources in scientific literature on the topic of MC management in its exhaustive entirety with the complete variety of tools that are characteristic for it: advertising, public relations, the forms of direct marketing, personal sales, stimulating sales, internet marketing and social media marketing. The current article focuses on two fundamental managerial accents in relation to MC: the planning and the evaluation of its effectiveness as a control function with a corrective role. A distinction between the strategic and tactical levels of such administration is achieved, illustrated with models and techniques for planning and assessing results. The differences between communication plan and communication strategy are indicated, which are often equated in practice. The compulsory attributes for both documents are derived. In relation with evaluating effectiveness is emphasized the importance of different levels that it is realized upon - cognitive, affective and behavioral. Some of the measures for assessing results are discussed on the basis of the features of different communication instruments.
Keywords: marketing communication, marketing management, planning, effectiveness, advertising, PR, communication strategy, media planning.
Even though the idea of marketing as a process that is managed on a strategic and tactical level is not recent (the first book regarding some of the problems of marketing management is Scientific Marketing Management: Its Principles and Methods by P. White from 1927 [1]), in practice organizations do not always cope with this management in its entirety and comprehensiveness. In the realm of Marketing Communication (MC) the problem is likely even deeper because institutions often use marketing communication tools randomly, without coordination, actual objectives and in against a background of serious difficulty in evaluating the effectiveness from such communication on all different levels [2, 96-102]. In the environment of harsh business competition, the organizations should comprehend and use with synergy advertising, public relations (PR), direct marketing, personal sales, stimulating sales (sales promotion), internet marketing and social media marketing to realize a successful communication campaign as the frame of a pre-planned communication strategy. The goal of it all is presenting a stable and convincing image before stakeholders (all interested parties) and target markets. Managerial accents in this effort should be planning and communication (in particular developing a communication strategy) as well as evaluation of marketing communication effectiveness [3], which would play a control and corrective role should re-evaluating communication objectives be necessary.
1. Marketing communication - planning
Many practitioners in the realm of communication ad-
vice on how to administer resources in the areas of promotion and publicity but it can still be concluded that there is a shortage of resources in scientific literature on the topic of MC management in its exhaustive entirety with the complete variety of tools that are characteristic for it. Furthermore, as per Pelsmacker, Geuens and Bergh, an organization would find it difficult to read the integrated services of a given communication agency "under one roof' [4-37], since according to research very often the dominance of PR and advertising disrupts the integration of the other tools and therefore, the achievement of the desired synergic effect.
Before choosing and combining communication tools, the planning of MC needs to be realized. In other words, a marketing plan needs to be developed - as a stand-alone document or an integral part of the business plan of the organization. Depending on the level of planning, it can be strategic (defining future marketing goals and basic marketing strategy) or tactical (breaking down goals into objectives and setting concrete deadlines and supervisors for its execution).
The first (and according to us obligatory) step of MC planning should be the analysis of the environment with its communication capabilities and threats which will define concrete communication objectives. This analysis will aid in accurate differentiation between target groups and stakeholders to whom particular key messages will be directed through different channels and tools. The control managerial function can be realized through the means of strategic control (e.g. through assessing effectiveness) with the ability
to plan and realize changes. It is as early as the planning stage that an appropriate tool-kit for such evaluation has to be implemented. At this stage there is one all-encompassing principle which is typical for assessing PR effectiveness: Marketing Communication is effective not just with increasing information, awareness, distinguishability, attention, interest..., but also with achieving changes in the behavior of stakeholders, including target markets.
From what has been put forth so far, several mandatory attributes for planning can be described in the area of MC:
- the particularly marketing-specific situation analysis of the environment with its communication hurdles but also opportunities, accompanied by the inevitable SWOT analysis;
- setting out hierarchically structured concrete, measurable, achievable communication objectives;
- accurately and carefully defining target groups and stakeholders;
- choice of channels, means and communication instruments at the right scale;
- budgeting;
- implementing means of evaluating effectiveness.
Pelsmacker, Geuens and Bergh are confident on the responsibility that the organization has to take regarding the communication plan and they offer a number of options [438]. In each one the role of the organization itself is fundamental:
- the company plans its marketing communication on its own, seeking experts afterwards who specialize in each single communication instrument for executing the plan;
- the company develops the communication plan and for its execution recruits an outside agency which is capable of integrating the different tools;
- the company develops the plan together with the agency, which afrerwards engages with the execution.
Grahame Dowling asserts that formulating a mission and a vision is the task of top management [5, 73-79]. In other words, setting corporate goals and choosing the route for their achievement cannot be considered a prerogative of communication policy. Marketing Communication monitors and observes those objectives by aiming to enforce and distribute them by informing and convincing communication among employees, users, partners and any other stakeholders.
Often in theory and in practice the terms "communication plan" and "communication strategy" are used as synonyms. What in fact differentiates the two documents is their content and meaning. According to us the communication plan includes all mandatory attributes of any marketing plan but is oriented towards the organization's marketing communication, namely: description of the ongoing communication strategy, communication objectives, communication strategy, communication programs, financial department, means for control.
Communication strategy (as a written long-term document) contains a more detailed information about the set priorities in the organization's communication policy; strategic and tactical objectives on each of the priorities; the tools for evaluating execution, monitoring and control of the strategy.
Practice shows that creating a Communication strategy goes through the following stages:
1. Analysis of the micro- and macro-environment and choice of target market - it is necessary to define the concrete market opportunity or problem and afterwards the communication policy needs to take up the differentiation and positioning of the product, usually by comparing to the competition. If required, at this first stage a formative research of the needs, user preferences, motives and behavior during a purchase should be conducted. Afterwards at the effectiveness evaluation stage, the obtained results serve as a basis. The choice of target market suggests carefully determining the target groups and stakeholders - both inside and outside. Those groups are not always evident, some of them require direct, even personal, and not only media communication. 94
2. Placing communication objectives - the correct formulation and observing organization objectives has to guarantee that the communication policy is not undiscerning but is synchronized with the development of the organization itself.
3. Developing key messages depending on the target groups or stakeholders. The message has to be accessible, clear and concrete but with a different emphasis in relation to the different groups.
4. Planning and applying communication activities and tools depending on the goals, messages and target groups. Some of the communication tools are contradicting while others complete and complement each other successfully. They all have their positive and negative sides. The planned activities and tools have to take into account the time, man and financial resources as well as take into consideration a number of factors. Only then we can determine which elements would dominate and which would take a backseat in the communication policy, or plan their „relative weight" [6-33] in the promotional mix.
5. Planning time schedules, media planning, budgeting and engaging man resources. The specificity of this stage may be absent from a communication plan but is mandatory for a communication strategy. The stage is related to organizing communication activity, albeit at a tactical or even operational level. Determining time schedules and supervisors for executing the particular communication activities has a key importance in executing a strategy. Media planning is a process for identifying and choosing the most appropriate means for mass communication in relation with the tools of promotional mix which require the assistance of media - advertising, PR, direct marketing (via email, fliers, catalogues, on television or by phone), internet marketing, social media marketing... Media planning is directly related to budgeting with two main options: a) determining in advance what budget can be dedicated to marketing communication and realizing media planning on the basis of this blueprint; b) the budget is formed in relation with a pre-determined media plan whose goal is to reach a maximum number of people and select channels and tools in such a way that the attention is drawn and the degree of information and awareness is maximized.
6. Measuring results/evaluation of effectiveness - a complex process at different levels for the different communication instruments with corrective function.
One of the popular models for planning marketing communication is the SOSTAC model which was developed at the end of the 1990s [7-175]: Situation - suggests a thorough internal and external analysis of the situation and the complete environment in which the organization exists. Objectives - setting objectives. Strategy - developing a strategy. Tactics - tactical solutions of channels, tools and techniques which will be used for the achievement of a pre-determined targets. Action - action with three main components: time (date schedules), funds (budgeting) and people (individuals responsible for the execution of particular communication activities). Control - introducing means of control. SOSTAC, as a universal model for planning, has its critics in the realm of marketing communication [8]. The circumstance that communication strategy is subordinate to the communication plan is set in the model for planning, determined specifically for marketing communication - Dutch expert and university professor Theo Zweers' PASTA model. By differentiating the strategic and tactical objectives, the model attempts to solve the problem whether formulating goals should precede marketing strategy or be part of it. PASTA however lacks set measures for assessing the results of MC and they should be present as early as the planning stage.
For communication experts it is axiomatic that even though integrated planning of marketing communication takes a lot of effort, it undoubtedly brings a number of advantages: it can create a competitive advantage, increase
sales income or profit, save funds and time [9]._
Balkan Scientific Review. 2019. T.3. № 1(3)
икономически науки
Стойчев Любомир Йорданов, Димитрова Теофана Валентинова, Десев Кирил Вълков ПЛАНИРАНЕ И ЕФЕКТИВНОСТ НА МАРКЕТИНГОВАТА ...
2. Marketing communication - evaluating effectiveness
Marketing communication is extremely multi-directional (using a rich array of tools) and is also performed at multiple levels (inter-organizationally, communicating with the elements of the micro- and macro-environment). Those positive circumstances immediately turn into obstacles for assessing MC effectiveness since from a systematic point of view the number of variables that would determine such effectiveness increases. The term effectiveness itself is so multi-layered that its definition in the field of marketing communication would be the subject of a separate scientific paper. For instance Peter Danaher and John Rossiter [10] study exclusively the effectiveness of different communication channels (media) from the point of view of senders and recipients of messages.
Every marketing communication campaign is unique and there does not exist a single reliable all-encompassing universal methodology for measuring and assessing the results from it. Of no less importance and also significant is who is doing the evaluation (the organization itself or an outside structure) and how will the results from it be used: to improve the confidence of the high management, to defend marketing budgeting or to part ways with an inconvenient employee or a marketing head. Those are just some of the barriers before measuring the effectiveness from marketing communication. To those basic difficulties before this evaluation, Australian professor Jim Macnamara adds the traps of the time frame and the traditional understanding that the measuring should be done towards the end of the campaign. He insists that formative research of trends, needs, preferences and interests of target groups and stakeholders is fundamental for strategic planning [11]. Macnamara falls back on mass-scale research in the UK and USA whose primary question is why PR practitioners do not undertake measuring the results from their activity. Almost 2/3 of the respondents show as the main reason the lack of funding, and more than 1/3 - the lack of knowledge for realizing the evaluation and the lack of set standards for such activity.
Managers however want to know what the investments led to and how adequate the work was on conducting the entire campaign. Practitioners and theoreticians therefore are looking for a way out in assessment through "rational" measurers such as:
- percentage change in recognition, interest and engagement (with the methods of sociology);
- growth in number of received queries for a given goods (automated online systems exist that track those approaches);
- frequency and type of media coverage (through full media monitoring and content analysis of positive, neutral and negative messages);
- improving the market position compared to competition - market share, volume of sales, income from sales, earnings, export... (through marketing research).
In each particular situation other "calculable" components of the final result can be found without missing the main objective - checking the success of the conducted campaign. In the realm of personal sales, direct marketing and sales promotion it is definitely possible to offer measurements for effectiveness that are stable and definitive. However it is important to point out that those instruments are usually not applied alone but are combined with advertising and PR depending mainly on the characteristics of the product or the stage of its life cycle. For instance stimulating sales can be taken up only after the other tools have been exhausted because in practice it leads to devaluation of the product and can cause dependency in mediators (traders) and final customers, who in turn stop buying if the additional benefit for them disappears. This is why we say that stimulating sales has a powerful but short-lived effect and contains a call for action, like a purchase, registration, participation in a raffle or lottery game... Such a call for action in a relatively short period is also carried by different forms of direct marketing, i.e. the number of caused reactions is a reliable
measure for effectiveness. Furthermore, unlike major hetero-genic and anonymous target groups for advertisement, direct marketing for instance allows for a much better targeting, concentration and even personalizing communication. The exposed facts about direct marketing and stimulating sales is far from universal for all tools, particularly for those which need the media in order to work: PR (when it is not based on direct communication with any of the stakeholders, e.g. as a part of a given special event), advertisement (which is implicitly a non-personal form of communication and requires a communication channel), internet marketing, marketing in social media... Nevertheless, there is a strive to apply measurable approaches and rational methods which should be considered and analyzed afterwards.
In times of intensive development of computer technology, intense competition and even more successful methodologies for assessing the effectiveness, the "orientation towards results" is imperative. Concepts such as "Management by objectives" (MBO), invented in the 1950s by Peter Drucker, or „Results Based Management" (RBM, MBR) fix desired results and criteria for the selection of strategies for their achievement by allowing for assessing the program's effectiveness. Therefore, if the organizational objectives are formulated in an MBO aspect, this should also be done by the division in charge of marketing communication. One of the most adequate examples in that direction is the so called performance-based marketing - a dynamic method for interaction only with online target audiences that were initially targeted with precision, where the payment for the marketing service is made only after a certain user activity - e.g. cost-per-click or cost-per-lead campaigns. Thus, the client pays only for tangible obtained results at a practically minimal risk.
Again to a large extent the problem for measuring the effectiveness of advertisement is solved, particularly in internet media and social media. One of the most well-known coefficients for measuring the effectiveness of internet advertising is the CTR (click through rate): the percentage ratio between the number of views and clicks of a given advertisement. A number of factors impact internet advertisement effectiveness - look, frequency of views, banner type... If the advertisement channels are different, in order to calculate the results from each source it is best to use an analytical tool such as Google Analytics to measure and compare the value of each action. Besides conversion, the important factors which determine the success of internet advertisements are: unique visitors, visits (or sessions) - number for the campaign duration; frequency of visits - how often one unique user returns to the website during the campaign; ad impressions; page impressions; new visits to the website in comparison to the previous month...
Also feasible is measuring advertisement effectiveness in traditional electronic and print media even though it is more complex, more expensive and more laborious. For radio and television it is realized by the so called people-metrics through a pre-selected target sample of households which are paid to have each member of the household register certain activities by pressing a given button. In this way, through marketing research one can measure advertisement in print media. Measuring the returns of advertisement spending (ROAS) has been well-known for awhile, as well as returns of investment (ROI) with the goal of optimizing advertising expenditure.
Not always evaluating the effectiveness of a given communication instrument is possible on a single level even though a lot of organizations, because of insufficient knowledge on the subject or shortage of funds or qualified specialists ignore this fact. It is not a coincidence however that for decades there have been talks about "hierarchy of effects" of marketing communication, with the beginnings going back to 120 years ago by an American pioneer in the realm of personal sales and advertising St. Elmo Lewis with the still-popular AIDA model. It has been related to the effects of the complete communication mix even before the
existence of the term "marketing mix". AIDA describes the process during which clients are being motivated to act (buy) under the influence of outside factors in the following order: Attention (attracting awareness) -> Interest (through learning about product benefits) -> Desire (to develop a favorable disposition towards a product) -> Action (forming an intention for a trial or a purchase of a product). Throughout the years to this processing model are added more stages such as Comprehension, Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Conviction, Evaluation, Adoption, Satisfaction... [12]. The common grounds however are the following: per Pelsmacker, Geuens and Bergh, in response to marketing communication the users go through three main stages in relation to the sequence of the "think-feel-do" states [13-86], namely: cognitive, affective and behavioral. At the cognitive (perceptive) stage is where knowledge is formed and attention is directed towards the product; at the next stage is where feelings and emotions appear which are related to the promoted product under the influence of convincing communication. Unlike the first stage where cognition can be achieved with practically no effort, the affective stage requires an assessing element. Acting and eventual satisfaction appear at the behavioral stage. Only after contemplating these features are we able to evaluate the specifics of communication instruments and the levels at which we can monitor their effectiveness. For instance advertisement is capable of drawing attention, increasing interest and desires but does it guarantee a purchase/action? The same is valid for PR messages as well.
Miroslawa Malinowska suggests the impact of marketing communication be examined by [14-134]:
- the impact of marketing communications on the level of knowledge about the company and its offer;
- the impact of marketing communications on the attitudes and preferences of customers to the company and its offer;
- the impact of marketing communications on the purchasing behavior of customers.
When the instruments included in a communication campaign are numerous, effects are multi-dimensional and it is difficult to separate them. Therefore, whatever practice is taken up in the realm of public relations, the communication campaign should be assessed at several levels. PR gurus Cutlip, Center and Broom differentiate between three levels of the complete evaluation [15-417]: Level I: Assessing preparation; Level II: Assessing implementation; Level III: Assessing impact.
The PII (Preparation, Implementation, Impact) model can be considered applicable not only in the realm of PR but also for any communication campaign requiring the participation of mass media. It is also not a coincidence that many practitioners and scientists consider PR the leading and connecting stage in Integrated Marketing Communications. After all, this model does not prescribe concrete methods and means of research with the assumption that programs or campaigns will be assessed with the toolkit of social studies and with adequate financing from the client. On the basis of the PII model in the 1990s Macnamara developed the popular practical Pyramidal model for PR research, according to which the research needs to be done mainly at the early stages of communication [11]. The model develops upwards and it also includes methods and techniques which are applicable at different stages, and are also inexpensive:
- analysis of secondary data that the organization has access to - marketing research, employee pooling, complaints database, et al. On the internet a number of academic journals are accessible as well as sociological and statistical data which can be useful.
- informal mechanisms for receiving feedback such as comments under online publications in social media, cha-trooms, forums, et al.
- analysis of calls to free client numbers as well as the complete web statistics - number of visits to the organization website, views of a given product or publication, downloading of files, shares and "likes" in social media.
- preliminary testing of the campaign materials - such
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as early announcement of the program and expected guests for a special organized event, sending pdf materials to representatives of different interested parties or placing hinting publications on the internet which would entice anticipation.
Again on three levels, albeit different from the aforementioned ones, are the criteria for research and evaluation of PR activities, suggested by Walter Lindemann [16], which can be considered valid in marketing communication in its entirety. Even though these criteria do not follow the communication process chronologically, in relation to impact Lindemann also differentiates between cognitive and behavioral effects.
In the 21st century users live among an information chaos. This is why it is inconceivable to approach them without pre-planned and pre-coordinated messages. Furthermore, it is the task of marketing communication to not just attract attention but also urge towards action and change in behavior. Only then can it be classified as effective and in order to be that it needs to be accurately planned, which suggests a deep analysis, setting "SMART" objectives but also placing reliable measures for evaluating the results in an ocean of factors impacting the clients' thinking and behavior.
REFERENCES:
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The current paper is a part of Project on "Marketing communication and Building competitive advantages of Higher Education Institutions" - contract No МУ17-ФИСН-008, financed by the Scientific Research Fund of the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv.
Balkan Scientific Review. 2019. Т.3. № 1(3)
