Topics: Marketing Communications

Meaning and Definition

‘The Marketing Communication refers to the means adopted by the companies to convey messages about the products and the brands they sell, either directly or indirectly to the customers with the intention to persuade them to purchase’ (Business Jargons)

Marketing communications is a term used for the different channel’s brands use to promote their products. There are two types of marketing channels: Traditional and Digital. Traditional channels are ones that have been used for decades such as television, radio, billboards, and newspapers. Digital channels are now more communally used, especially with newer brands. These include marketing digitally through the internet and social media applications such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.

Scholarly Points of View

o ‘Marketing communications objectives tend to refer to how the communication will affect or impact upon the minds of the target audience, for example levels of consumer awareness, attitude changes, product/brand/service interest and the like hood of tribal purchase.’ (Jackson and Shaw, 2008)

Marketing communications signify how the communication and promotion between the brand and the consumer is assessed and what impact it has on the brand. It allows brands to influence their target audience into buying their products as well as giving the brand an idea of what consumers think of it.

o ‘To develop a fully integrated marketing communication program, it is first necessary to

understand how communications work over a consumer’s decision journey. Specifically, the resources and mind-sets a consumer brings to the reception and processing of different messages, as well as the outcomes these messages can lead to in terms of consumer knowledge, attitudes, and action tendencies’.

(Barta and Keller, 2016)

In order for brands to have a good marketing strategy they need to know how their communications will best affect their consumers. In more recent times, consumers have gotten used to receiving various promotional advertising from numerous brands each day. Which is why it’s important for a brand to truly understand who their target audience is and how they are best communicated to in order for them to stand out in the crowd.

o ‘Celebrity endorsement is recognised as a potentially potent tool in communications, with

celebrities viewed as more powerful than anonymous models and campaigns tending to verbalise the meaning of the celebrity in relation to the brand’ (carroll, 2009)

One tool that is often adopted in marketing communications in the use of celebrities. Celebrities are frequently used as brand ambassadors as opposed to unknown models because fans tend find their personalities to be more relatable. If a brand were to use a celebrity in their marketing schemes, then there is a potential increase of brand awareness.

Real Life Example

Dior Make Up- Featuring Natalie Portman

Ever since 2010, Oscar winning actress Natalie Portman has been an ambassador for the Dior make up brand (see figure 1).

Figure 1, Natalie Portman for Dior Make Up

In the past decade, Portman has been featured in numerous advertisements and ‘short movies’ promoting Dior fragrances and make up.

Dior make up is known for using celebrities within their promotions. They frequently collaborate with well-known and successful women who are in the limelight such as Jennifer Lawrence and Bella Hadid.

These are famous women with vast followings, which makes the choice of collaborating with these women valid for Dior makeup because it will increase brand awareness.

Dior make up takes advantage of both the traditional channels and the digital channels to promote their products. They keep a consistent rhythm throughout each of their channels. Meaning, their campaigns will all be versatile to each channel.

For example, they will have campaign images that will be used for magazines, newspapers and billboards as well as a numerous video with different time scales that can fit into a variety of video channels such as television ads, YouTube videos and Instagram advertisements (see figures 2 and 3) .

Figure 2, Portman promotions on Dior Make Up's Instagram feed

Figure 3, Portman promotions on Dior Make Up's YouTube page

As a way to further promote the Dior brand as a whole, Dior dresses Portman for special occasions such as award ceremonies and galas. This can be considered as another tool that is used as part of the marketing strategies and communications. Even though Portman is an ambassador for Dior make up, she is now also promoting the Dior brand as a whole by wearing Dior dresses to events that are greatly covered by the press.

Figure 4, Portman wearing Dior for the 2017 Golden Globes

Personal Evaluations

Marketing communications is key for any brand that desire to become successful. It is important for the brands to know exactly who their target audience is and how best to influence them via promotions.

Marketing can be done in traditional forms such as advertising in newspapers and radio. However, marketing can also be done in digital forms such as using a variety of social media platforms.

I think new brands can only promoting on digital channels, however older brands such as Dior and Chanel should keep using traditional channels in order to keep their stature because their marketing practices are already embedded in their brand identity and they have an older following. Nevertheless, older brands do need to also use the more recent digital marketing platforms in order to stay relevant in the fashion industry.

A good example of a newer brand using only digital marketing is Fashion Nova who have managed to get worldwide success just by marketing on Instagram. Today they are the most searched fashion brand on Google. Nevertheless, it is important to note that they do use celebrity endorsements and collaborations as part of their marketing communications. Both Kylie Jenner (who has 125 million Instagram followers) and Cardi B (who has 40.6 million Instagram followers) have advertised Fashion Nova in their Instagram pages. Founder Richard Sagihan has said “a post from Kylies page is better than any Super Bowl ad” (Saghian, 2017). This proves that digital media has taken over marketing communications. By using Instagram as a means of marketing communication, Fashion Nova has managed to flourish in the fashion industry and become one of the most well-known brands in recent times.

Fashion Nova knowns exactly who their target audience is and who influences them. That is why they have carefully chosen to collaborate with certain types of women (such as Jenner and B), and in addition they advertise in certain types of medias that their target audience go on such as the popular celebrity news outlet The Shade Room who have over 14 million followers on Instagram.